My stealth black Ford Mondeo ST220

[micloi]

Well, it was about time to start a thread with the whole story of my car, documenting everything since I bought it around 7 months ago.

The reason I got the ST220 is because of the birth of my lovely daughter, needed something significantly larger than the Mitsubishi colt I had before for longer trips.

I started looking at a few different cars but did not have many choices with the criteria I set:

1. Had to be the 3rd and last facelift that includes: wider side skirts, red stitching on the steering wheel, on the hand brake and on the gear stick, black floor carpets with red bordering, ST220 badge on the front grille and limited 155 mph top speed (older cars had top speed of 151 mph).

2. Had to be in the lower TAX bracket too, which limited me to cars between Sept 2005 and Mar 2006

3. Had to have the parking sensors, Alcantara recaro seats and, most importantly, the Navigation system

4. Had to have less than 60,000 miles on the clock (this is something personal, I never buy cars with more miles than that if I can help it).

One car just over an hour from me caught my attention and I went to have a look.

It had 54k, was the 3rd facelift, had all the extras I wanted and was within my budget.

When I got there I checked the car with the help with a mechanic friend and except from some of the common ST220 issues, it seemed very straight so I made an offer and I found myself driving back in my new ST220 

Since then I took care of everything that needed to be done on the car and a lot more:

1. Changed all 6 Spark plugs
2. replaced Cabin filter
3. replaced Fuel filter
4. changed the Aux belt
5. replaced rear calipers/disks/pads with original Ford items
6. replaced front calipers/disks/pads with ST225 (ASBO) ones
7. replaced all brake lines with HELL braided ones
8. replaced Oil/oil filter 2 times in 7 months which only covering 800 miles
9. replaced thermostats and put fresh Antifreeze

10. fixed the rear hanging bumper and put the required foam inserts


I also used plastidip for covering the front and rear FORD emblems and debadged the rear (still have a set of emblems in case I change my mind).

I have 2 sets of original ford 18” alloy wheels:
- Winter set in silver with Pirelli Winter 240 Snowsport front and Maloya Winter DOT 2008 Cresta 300 rear
- Summer set in anthracite grey with Pirelli Pilot sport 3 front and TOYO Proxes rear

0-60 (just one try) was 6.53 with 2 people in the car and a full boot

Some photos:

[micloi]

It is just plastidip over the ford badges, can remove and put it back any time I feel like it but rather like the completely debadged look at the moment.

[micloi]

S10GTA said:

My "comment" was aimed more at the Dad Taxi sign...

Guilty as charged but playing the silly dad card

[micloi]

Marneus said:

We're expecting our 1st child in June & I have been looking at the estate ST220's (Baby things & a fully grown Chow Chow take up a surprising amount of space) so will be watching this thread with interest to see how you get on.

One question though is what's the MPG like? I had a 2007 Focus ST-2 & that liked to drink, how does the V6 stack up?

Cheers

Jamie

Better than I expected to be honest. I average between 32 and 34mpg if I take it easy for trips. Around 24mpg in the city.

[micloi]

Podie said:

Surprised you haven't done the "black eyes" mod...

Did it on halogen lights but when I put xenon ones I decided to keep them as is

[micloi]

No Idea, just repeating what I read online

Btw are these the badge overlays everyone is talking about?

http://www.dmb.uk.com/prod/373/ford-badges-gel-ove...

If yes then I might try black/chrome and see how it looks

[micloi]

My city driving is between my house and the train station and does not involve start stop traffic, thus the better mpg. My highway consumption is a little worse than the official one.

Alcantara leather was an option for the ST220 only from September 2005 onwards.

[micloi]

Seats are cream and dark grey (close to black) and do match well when you see them in person.
Will try black and chrome gel overlays to see how they work, did not know they existed.

[micloi]

Yep, found them and ready to order, just looking for a 10% discount code that some of the forums seem to get

[micloi]

Just ordered gel overlays in black and chrome for the front, rear, steering wheel and all alloy caps from Dave at DMB graphics!

Cannot wait to try them on

[micloi]

tali1 said:

You still seem to be doing a bit better than most ST220s.

Mine is mapped though and gives more economy at part throttle and more power at full throttle.
Tested it again today and during a 6 miles urban trip (30mph max limit, some traffic lights and roundabouts) I got an average of 24mpg.
That is driving it very carefully though (i.e. changing to 4th gear from 25mph)

[micloi]

BlackST said:

Micloi, did you find a 10% code? I think the code used to exist on MondeoSTOC a year or two ago but I think stopped, so if you did find one could you PM me it?

Did not find it after all I am afraid

[micloi]

rb5er said:

Looks very nice, I have not seen 2 tone seats before, very smart.

As said though "Dad Taxi" sign? Nooooooo

And it would look better with the Ford badges uncovered.

Already posted that I ordered gel covers for the badges in the right colour, give them a few days to arrive!

[micloi]

Gary is right. During a recent trip from Warwick to Rugby I got 34mpg door to door with around 35-36mpg on the highway at just over 70mph

[micloi]

Caulkhead said:

You seem to be able to exceed the official test MPG by a large margin which is unusual.

Maybe his car was mapped too?

[micloi]

Received and installed the black/chrome gel overlays for:
1. Front
2. Rear
3. Alloys
4. Steering wheel

Very happy with the result. Excuse the photo quality but they were taken with my phone in the rain.
Better photos to follow when dry and sunny!

[micloi]

They are addictive aren't they?