The "I love my ST220" thread...

[GaryST220]

Piepiepie said:

Im the opposite. The seats in the ST have made me hate leater, full stop. Next car needs to be cloth. The recaros are uncomfortable, especially on the leater seem that runs left to right, just under your shoulder blades.

You need to put on more weight if you can feel the seam

[Kidders]

Piepiepie said:

Im the opposite. The seats in the ST have made me hate leater, full stop. Next car needs to be cloth. The recaros are uncomfortable, especially on the leater seem that runs left to right, just under your shoulder blades.

First person i've ever heard say that

The V6 is excellent, but they do like clean oil, FSH is essential. But far more reliable than modern diesels, 250k is not uncommon and yes, they get better with the miles.

[Dave_ST220]

Piepiepie said:

Im the opposite. The seats in the ST have made me hate leater, full stop. Next car needs to be cloth. The recaros are uncomfortable, especially on the leater seem that runs left to right, just under your shoulder blades.

Never heard of that before!!

[CharlieHotel]

I'd loved the look of the ST220 and obviously the power for a few years.
Couple months back I decided they weren't for me as insurance was silly for me (21 y/o) and I do quite a few miles a year so I opted for the ST155 TDCi and bought one last week.
It has its looks, not all the power of the 220 but i'm more than happy coming from a 65bhp Fiesta.

[Howard-]

GaryST220 said:

The most reliable engine Ford (Porsche?) have ever produced? Plently of them in the states with 300k+ on them. Mine is on 102k and still goes round the Nurburgring ok, its whisper quiet and normal driving returns 31-34mpg average per tank.

Porsche?

[junglie]

I wanted a big family car that I would not mind driving and the ST220 estate was perfect.

- 2004
- 37,000 miles
- FSH
- 1 owner
- Blue
- Light interior
- Touch screen sat nav etc
- Perfect alloys
- 30 mpg (ish)
- £5,500

Where else can you buy a huge car that is so competent (and this is after running 10 BMWs in the past) for so little that has all the spec. It may 'only' do 30 mpg but it does not suffer problems like many other cars (touch wood) so you do not actually lose anything. It would take 5 years to break even with a diesel and you get none of the benefits of a great V6 - only wish it was RWD but hey, you can't have it all!

Just don't tell everybody about them!

[neiljohnson]

Howard- said:

Porsche?

they desingned the engine (not sure what for ) it has also been doubled up to make a v12 as seen in Astons

Not read the whole thread but its worth doing the water pump as a prenventive measure above 60k miles its cheap & easy to do but the damage caused when they fail can cause head gasket failure.

[Dave_ST220]

/\ They had input, check out some websites in the US where an Englishman by the name of Terry Haines has lots of interesting pictures of development mules.

[Podie]

neiljohnson said:

... it has also been doubled up to make a v12 as seen in Astons

no no no no no!

[neiljohnson]

Podie said:

no no no no no!

Have i been misinformed

[Podie]

neiljohnson said:

Podie said:

no no no no no!

Have i been misinformed

Very, very different engines. It's a Clarkson-ism that people have taken as gospel.

Much like the Jag Duratec engine is very different to the Ford one.

[neiljohnson]

Podie said:

Very, very different engines. It's a Clarkson-ism that people have taken as gospel.

Much like the Jag Duratec engine is very different to the Ford one.

Its not 'that' differant ive had both in bits although the Jag does have the vvc & differant manifolds amoung other odds & sods

Also seen 3000cc Jags throw rods but never a Ford one.

[Podie]

neiljohnson said:

Podie said:

Very, very different engines. It's a Clarkson-ism that people have taken as gospel.

Much like the Jag Duratec engine is very different to the Ford one.

Its not 'that' differant ive had both in bits although the Jag does have the vvc & differant manifolds amoung other odds & sods

Also seen 3000cc Jags throw rods but never a Ford one.

... and DAMB rather than finger followers, forged crank, different cylinder head design with different port angles, pent roof chamber angles, different pistons, a resonance charge inlet manifold, continuously variable inlet VCT... they are very different engines.

[neiljohnson]

Podie said:

... and DAMB rather than finger followers, forged crank, different cylinder head design with different port angles, pent roof chamber angles, different pistons, a resonance charge inlet manifold, continuously variable inlet VCT... they are very different engines.

i wonder which bit causes the rod failure ???

[Podie]

neiljohnson said:

Podie said:

... and DAMB rather than finger followers, forged crank, different cylinder head design with different port angles, pent roof chamber angles, different pistons, a resonance charge inlet manifold, continuously variable inlet VCT... they are very different engines.

i wonder which bit causes the rod failure ???

Interesting point...

Marquis Rex will know

[Zad]

I heard of the Aston thing waaaaaay before Clarkson spouted it. Fairly sure it was from somewhere like Autocar. Not that it makes it any more true of course, but not everything misleading is down to Clarkson.

[GaryST220]

This is my understanding;-

• Porsche were developing a V6 sometime in the late 80’s, they decided to sell it to Ford, who finalised it in conjunction with Cosworth (cylinder heads?).

• The Jaguar and Aston engine are similar to the Mondeo, in the same way us humans are similar to apes. It’s the last 2% difference that is the crucial part.

• I’m led to believe the DB9 V12 is mostly an extended version of the Duratec 30 - they share the same cylinder block and piston dimensions, as well as upper inlet manifold properties.

[Sexual H Panda]

Hey guys,

I went looked at an st220 today at a main dealer in Belfast. This is the car in question:

http://www.charleshurstgroup.co.uk/used-cars/4993/...

I was kind of rushed today due to other commitments so only had limited time to take a look at it. The interior is in very good condition and the paint work is quite good as well bar some minor scratches and stone chips. Two of the alloys however are curbed in places badly. Spoke to sales guy about some figures and I mentioned about the alloys and other minor defects I had noticed and said that I did not want to go above £5000. He came back with £5400 which included re-furbing the damaged alloys and giving me an extended warranty (12 months). How do guys view this deal? And after searching UsedCarsNI, nicarfinder, autotraderni, utvdrive this seems to be the only ST220 for sale in Northern Ireland.

My mk2 1.8 verona is falling apart and needs a couple of hundred quid thrown at it to put it right which I'm not prepared to do again, as I spent 200quid putting an electrical problem right on it in January, so I'm looking to buy car quite soon. I have been looking for past couple of months and had it narrowed down to 330ci, Golf gti and ST220. Choose the ST220 as I have just bought a house and thought this would provide the least hassle and money in terms of running costs.

Car is 2003 registered on 30/9/2003 and seems to be the facelift model with sony radio and six speed gear box. What would it cost me a year to tax?

Booked in to test drive on Monday when I will get a better look at the car and feel for how it drives. What things should I be looking out for? Also what is the service intervals for the car, only got a quick look at the service booklet and it did look like it had FSH.

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks,
Panda

[Podie]

VED on those cars is £260.... not sure if NI is different.

[Podie]

That car has late facelift rear lights and no lower reflectors... some MOT places might get tetchy and fail it.

Doesn't look like an OEM exhaust either (which is usually good!)