RE: Ford Mondeo ST TDCI | Shed of the Week
Discussion
I had one of these I bought nearly new in 2005 and kept it until 2013. It was a great car, did 80K in it and despite a few issues it never broke down. It was far better to drive than most of the competition of the time, being both pretty comfortable hacking up and down the motorway and a really decent steer when you were pressing on - and being in my early 20's when I had it I very often did. I had to replace the OE Conti SportContact 2's at 7K. It served me well on some European trips including to Spa with a few mates to watch the Grand Prix.
The main criticism was the OE brakes weren't very sharp but they'd stop you when you stood on them. The engines were agricultural when cold and a lot of them sounded awful at idle because of an issue with the aux belt resonating but they were fine once you were on the move. I had the belt and pulleys sorted under warranty, along with a full set of injectors and new rear bumper. The exhaust back box fell off around 2010 due to corrosion and Ford parts were eye wateringly expensive and did not exactly match the originals so I took it to the local PowerFlow dealer who did a custom exhaust for £250. Other than that the only other non-consumable/service expenses I had was a rear brake calliper - failed handbrake mechanism, and £90 for a new front foglight after the original was destroyed in a high speed collision with a pheasant that jumped out of the central reservation on the M58.
I had a Mk4 2.0 Ecoboost Titanium X Sport later which was also a good car for me but the ST TDCi definitely handled better and was 15MPG better on fuel.
I do have a bit of a hankering for a late ST220 but I don't think it's do well as an infrequently used second car.
The main criticism was the OE brakes weren't very sharp but they'd stop you when you stood on them. The engines were agricultural when cold and a lot of them sounded awful at idle because of an issue with the aux belt resonating but they were fine once you were on the move. I had the belt and pulleys sorted under warranty, along with a full set of injectors and new rear bumper. The exhaust back box fell off around 2010 due to corrosion and Ford parts were eye wateringly expensive and did not exactly match the originals so I took it to the local PowerFlow dealer who did a custom exhaust for £250. Other than that the only other non-consumable/service expenses I had was a rear brake calliper - failed handbrake mechanism, and £90 for a new front foglight after the original was destroyed in a high speed collision with a pheasant that jumped out of the central reservation on the M58.
I had a Mk4 2.0 Ecoboost Titanium X Sport later which was also a good car for me but the ST TDCi definitely handled better and was 15MPG better on fuel.
I do have a bit of a hankering for a late ST220 but I don't think it's do well as an infrequently used second car.
LosingGrip said:
....The MPG was shockingly bad as well for a diesel.
A knackered thermostat (there are two on these) will cause horrendous mpg. After fitting new thermostats to mine I'd get around 38mpg when doing lots of short trips and on a longer run it would crack 50mpg easily. It was actually better on fuel after I'd had it remapped.
njw1 said:
LosingGrip said:
....The MPG was shockingly bad as well for a diesel.
A knackered thermostat (there are two on these) will cause horrendous mpg. After fitting new thermostats to mine I'd get around 38mpg when doing lots of short trips and on a longer run it would crack 50mpg easily. It was actually better on fuel after I'd had it remapped.
When they had eventually fixed my car I was told that the people who worked there who had the same engines (that didn't warm up) were going to fix their cars too....
Economy was always brilliant on mine - never dipped below 50mpg regardless of how it was driven. Most of the mileage was commuting from Halifax to Cheshire and back daily along the M62 and around the M60 so a mixture of spanking it along the M62 and sitting in slow traffic around the M60. 60 miles pretty much exactly door to door so 600 miles a week and I'd fill it up weekly.
As someone else mentioned, jacking point covers tended to fall off etc but its one of those cars that I have really fond memories of owning (that said, the Octavia vRS that I replaced it with felt like a massive step up in build quality vs the Ford and that in turn felt like a rattly tin of crap vs the BMW I replaced that with!).
As someone else mentioned, jacking point covers tended to fall off etc but its one of those cars that I have really fond memories of owning (that said, the Octavia vRS that I replaced it with felt like a massive step up in build quality vs the Ford and that in turn felt like a rattly tin of crap vs the BMW I replaced that with!).
DaveyBoyWonder said:
Economy was always brilliant on mine - never dipped below 50mpg regardless of how it was driven. Most of the mileage was commuting from Halifax to Cheshire and back daily along the M62 and around the M60 so a mixture of spanking it along the M62 and sitting in slow traffic around the M60. 60 miles pretty much exactly door to door so 600 miles a week and I'd fill it up weekly.
As someone else mentioned, jacking point covers tended to fall off etc but its one of those cars that I have really fond memories of owning (that said, the Octavia vRS that I replaced it with felt like a massive step up in build quality vs the Ford and that in turn felt like a rattly tin of crap vs the BMW I replaced that with!).
Interestingly, I went from a MK1 Octavia vRs to a Mk3 Mondeo Ghia X and the Mondeo was vastly nicer. It also rode and handled far better. Other than straight line speed, the Mondeo was superior in every way. Both cars were fairly new at the time. As someone else mentioned, jacking point covers tended to fall off etc but its one of those cars that I have really fond memories of owning (that said, the Octavia vRS that I replaced it with felt like a massive step up in build quality vs the Ford and that in turn felt like a rattly tin of crap vs the BMW I replaced that with!).
Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 16th December 10:18
Apologies for the late arrival! But….
Owned a Dec 2006 Mondeo ST TDCi 5 door from 9 months old to 12 years old / 119,000 miles. Overall, it was a great car and fitted the bill perfectly as a family car and something that I could enjoy when the kids were not aboard! Mine was Stardust silver with the optional Leather/Alcantara Recaro Seats and Bluetooth/Voice Activation.
Pros:
Recaros were fantastic and shamed the seats in many much more expensive cars.
Voice activation worked well and completely blew the minds of people who experienced it back in 2007!
The colour was a lighter shade of silver than normal and I think suited the car brilliantly and hid the excessive chrome elements that did not suit a ST, in my view.
Thought it drove really nicely with good steering and a nice balance between ride and handling. You had to fit decent tyres, though, as the chassis really leans on them. I went from the original Conti Sport Contact 2 to Good Year F1 Assym 1,2 & 3, which suited the car (although steering feel went a bit off on the later versions).
At 9 months old, you had to try quite hard to get 45mpg. By 12 years, 50mpg was easy !
Well equipped: Heated 8 way Elec Leather/Alcantara Recaros, Heated windscreen, decent Audio, Auto headlights/wipers, Bluetooth, ESP….
295lb ft torque – although only on over boost, over boost was available for 10 secs – so pretty much available all the time! Although one of the issues with this car, was that torque was restricted in 1st & 2nd gear and so it was no traffic light dragster and hence the poor 0-60 for a 295 lb ft car. Although once in 3rd it was a different proposition!
Really practical as a large 5 door hatchback.
Issues:
9 months - The centre caps, which were plated so they matched the machined finished wheel, were showing signs of corrosion when I bought it! Ford warranty covers trim for 1 year and so they replaced them under warranty. I bought a can of lacquer and gave the new ones a couple of extra coats and they lasted for next 11 years without corroding!!
3 & 6 years - Dreaded “flashing glow plug light” occurred to indicate EGR issues. This was replaced under warranty. It then failed again 3 years later! Did a bit of research and discovered that it was mainly caused by the EGR valve clogging up which stopped the valve operating (mine was a Euro 4 engine – which had the ECU controlled valve – which could not be completely blanked off – an option I considered!) and simply cleaning it occasionally would sort it. Cleaning was easy as the EGR was very accessible on these engines. I cleaned it every other service and the 3rd EGR valve never gave me any issues for the subsequent 6 years.
5 years - I was really careful with the wheels and had the beautiful, but crap, brass valves removed and replaced with rubber versions at the first tyre change! So, the wheels lasted 5 years before the corrosion became obvious. Went to a place that could do the machined/diamond cut finish, but the guy talked me out of it (you will be back in a couple of years!!) and in the end I went for a painted finish in “platinum” that matched the unchanged centre caps quite well.
Suffered from the sagging rear bumper around this time (who didn’t ?!), but this was fixed by the “remove fake air vents and attach to actual bumper using self tapping screws” fix!
8 years - the exhaust developed a hole in the mid-section and the sound proofing “bung” in the bulkhead around the brake pedal shaft disintegrated! As both these events happened co-incidentally I was confronted with more turbo noise and a much louder engine (amazing how much noise can come through a 1” square hole!), I initially convinced myself that a major engine malfunction was imminent! Fortunately, with a new exhaust and bung, normal service was resumed!
Frustratingly the replacement Ford sourced exhaust did not have the same chrome tip as the original. It did not follow the profile of the bumper and did not even align with the cut out! So, I managed to rescue the original tip and got a mate help me un-weld the new tip and weld on the original tip. This gave me a newfound respect for the effort required to mass produce at the level of precision required (well at least for the original tip!)! As it took us several attempts to get it close the original position in relation to the bumper!!!
11 years - I never had any major issues until the last months of my ownership where the alternator gave up but did not trigger the warning light and so left me stranded in rush hour traffic. The day after I had picked it up after being fixed, discovered it sitting in a pool of its own power steering fluid!!
Obviously originally thought the garage had screwed up during replacing the alternator. They were puzzled as the join between the power steering pump and rigid pipe had failed as if some force had been applied down on the pipe and they could not explain how that had happened while replacing the alternator.
When I realised where the pump and rigid pipe is (the pump is low at the front of the engine, the rigid pipe exits vertically and angles over the top of the engine. About halfway across the engine it becomes a rubber pipe that disappears behind the engine, down to the rack), I had a flashback to the rather large AA recovery man lying flat across the engine trying to inspect the alternator (which is low down at the back of the engine bay!). So Mk3 Mondeo TDCi owner’s, be aware of large men lying on your engine !!
Other obs
I never had an issue with the hand brake, but hand brake cables and rear calipers quite often came up on services. I think the cables were replaced twice and the calipers at least once.
Suffered from Water ingress through the ventilation air intake (wet passenger footwell). Spent ages trying to improve the seal between windscreen and panel, with mixed results. Eventually gave up and fashioned a pollen filter housing cover out of a 2 x 1 ltr Coke bottles and duck tape! This solved it !
~ 9-11 years both front springs failed and one rear. But I lucked out and none where catastrophic as only the ends fell off and the car was still drivable (only noticed one of them when I was cleaning the car!)
I was initially petrified of injector failure due to the various internet TDCi doomsday scenarios! So, I used additives for a bit and then almost exclusively Shell V Power Diesel. I never had any injector issues for the 11 years I had it. It was also the only diesel I’ve driven when you could tell that V power wasn’t in the tank! The throttle response and general engine performance & refinement were noticeably better on V power.
I believe that the 2.2 TDCi was more reliable than the 2.0, however the 2.0 was launched first and was one of the first common rail diesels on the market back in 2002 and were far more complex than they previous generation Di engines. No doubt though, that the later PSA derived TDCi used in the Mk4 was more reliable. Although the Mk3 Mondeo TDCis never had a DPF to worry about.
The Euro 4 versions are more refined than the Euro 3, although either is more refined than a previous generation Di engine e.g. VAG PD (I remember thinking when someone would mention that the Audi A4 PD sounded like a Transit – it was an afront to Transits, which were using more refined TDCi engines years before Audi got common rail !!!)
The ST220 vs ST TDCI chassis is an interesting debate that has raged for ages on the ST forums ! I knew from experience the ST TDCi did not have the same setup as a standard Mondeo. When I first enquired, the dealership only had a 2.2 TDCi Titanium X demonstrator (complete with cooling seats – these were only available on Titanium X & Ghia X). This had the same size 18” wheels and identical tyres to the ST plus the same engine. It drove OK but was certainly setup for comfort as it had noticeable body roll. (my previous cars were a 2001 Zetec-S 2.5 V6 (from new to 2005) – nice, but a bit nose heavy and 2002 Zetec-S 2.0 TDCi 130 – bought second hand complete with ditch finders (which is why I know how important tyres are to these Mondeos!). Both were nicer to drive than this Titanium X.
Eventually they got a ST TDCi to test drive and, as I think someone has already commented, it was night and day compared to the Titanium X. Felt much better tied down, really nice turn in etc. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the 2005 Mk2 Focus ST, I’d test driven a year earlier! It was a bit keener than my 2 Zetec-S’s too (although I think, less nose weight and better tyres played their part here – plus something else…).
So, I assumed that it must have some/all of the ST220 chassis tweaks and although there were many debates on ST forums, there never seemed to be a definitive answer. (Although many ST TDCi owners were caught out fitting standard springs to their cars)
So, before writing this I decided to do some more investigating and stumbled across this site:
https://ford.7zap.com/en/car/99/no/
This shows all parts and drawings for the 2000-07 Mondeo aka Mk3 and it reveals that:
The ST220 certainly had suspension components that were unique to the ST220 (Front Shock, Spring, Arm, Stabiliser, Bushes & Knuckle + Rear Spring, Shock & drop link)
Other Mondeos suspension components vary (in addition to because of Engine/Gearbox) to either Standard, Special or Heavy Duty
Special is effectively “Sport” suspension and is mainly lowered springs front and rear. (+ the front shock bumper is shared between ST220 & Special as are the rear shocks on the Estate, although this also complicated by Self levelling on Estate and different rear springs depending on tow bar fitted!)
All ST TDCi, Zetec S and some Zetecs (depending on model year) had “Special” suspension as standard. Zetec-S ran from 2001 to 2005 and ST TDCi ran from 2004 to 2007 and so kind of replaced it.
Special/Sport suspension was available as an option on all other models.
Also, over the year’s suspension components were updated. There seems to be an introduction of new suspension parts in 2003 including new front stabiliser and bushes, which may explain why my 2006 ST TDCi felt better to drive than the 2001/02 Zetec-S even though they all had “Special” suspension.
Apologies for the excessive post... Had 17 years of Mk3 Mondeo ownership to get off my chest! (and I still have more ST TDCi tales!......)
And here are some pics of my 2006 ST TDCi when I sold it back in 2018....
Owned a Dec 2006 Mondeo ST TDCi 5 door from 9 months old to 12 years old / 119,000 miles. Overall, it was a great car and fitted the bill perfectly as a family car and something that I could enjoy when the kids were not aboard! Mine was Stardust silver with the optional Leather/Alcantara Recaro Seats and Bluetooth/Voice Activation.
Pros:
Recaros were fantastic and shamed the seats in many much more expensive cars.
Voice activation worked well and completely blew the minds of people who experienced it back in 2007!
The colour was a lighter shade of silver than normal and I think suited the car brilliantly and hid the excessive chrome elements that did not suit a ST, in my view.
Thought it drove really nicely with good steering and a nice balance between ride and handling. You had to fit decent tyres, though, as the chassis really leans on them. I went from the original Conti Sport Contact 2 to Good Year F1 Assym 1,2 & 3, which suited the car (although steering feel went a bit off on the later versions).
At 9 months old, you had to try quite hard to get 45mpg. By 12 years, 50mpg was easy !
Well equipped: Heated 8 way Elec Leather/Alcantara Recaros, Heated windscreen, decent Audio, Auto headlights/wipers, Bluetooth, ESP….
295lb ft torque – although only on over boost, over boost was available for 10 secs – so pretty much available all the time! Although one of the issues with this car, was that torque was restricted in 1st & 2nd gear and so it was no traffic light dragster and hence the poor 0-60 for a 295 lb ft car. Although once in 3rd it was a different proposition!
Really practical as a large 5 door hatchback.
Issues:
9 months - The centre caps, which were plated so they matched the machined finished wheel, were showing signs of corrosion when I bought it! Ford warranty covers trim for 1 year and so they replaced them under warranty. I bought a can of lacquer and gave the new ones a couple of extra coats and they lasted for next 11 years without corroding!!
3 & 6 years - Dreaded “flashing glow plug light” occurred to indicate EGR issues. This was replaced under warranty. It then failed again 3 years later! Did a bit of research and discovered that it was mainly caused by the EGR valve clogging up which stopped the valve operating (mine was a Euro 4 engine – which had the ECU controlled valve – which could not be completely blanked off – an option I considered!) and simply cleaning it occasionally would sort it. Cleaning was easy as the EGR was very accessible on these engines. I cleaned it every other service and the 3rd EGR valve never gave me any issues for the subsequent 6 years.
5 years - I was really careful with the wheels and had the beautiful, but crap, brass valves removed and replaced with rubber versions at the first tyre change! So, the wheels lasted 5 years before the corrosion became obvious. Went to a place that could do the machined/diamond cut finish, but the guy talked me out of it (you will be back in a couple of years!!) and in the end I went for a painted finish in “platinum” that matched the unchanged centre caps quite well.
Suffered from the sagging rear bumper around this time (who didn’t ?!), but this was fixed by the “remove fake air vents and attach to actual bumper using self tapping screws” fix!
8 years - the exhaust developed a hole in the mid-section and the sound proofing “bung” in the bulkhead around the brake pedal shaft disintegrated! As both these events happened co-incidentally I was confronted with more turbo noise and a much louder engine (amazing how much noise can come through a 1” square hole!), I initially convinced myself that a major engine malfunction was imminent! Fortunately, with a new exhaust and bung, normal service was resumed!
Frustratingly the replacement Ford sourced exhaust did not have the same chrome tip as the original. It did not follow the profile of the bumper and did not even align with the cut out! So, I managed to rescue the original tip and got a mate help me un-weld the new tip and weld on the original tip. This gave me a newfound respect for the effort required to mass produce at the level of precision required (well at least for the original tip!)! As it took us several attempts to get it close the original position in relation to the bumper!!!
11 years - I never had any major issues until the last months of my ownership where the alternator gave up but did not trigger the warning light and so left me stranded in rush hour traffic. The day after I had picked it up after being fixed, discovered it sitting in a pool of its own power steering fluid!!
Obviously originally thought the garage had screwed up during replacing the alternator. They were puzzled as the join between the power steering pump and rigid pipe had failed as if some force had been applied down on the pipe and they could not explain how that had happened while replacing the alternator.
When I realised where the pump and rigid pipe is (the pump is low at the front of the engine, the rigid pipe exits vertically and angles over the top of the engine. About halfway across the engine it becomes a rubber pipe that disappears behind the engine, down to the rack), I had a flashback to the rather large AA recovery man lying flat across the engine trying to inspect the alternator (which is low down at the back of the engine bay!). So Mk3 Mondeo TDCi owner’s, be aware of large men lying on your engine !!
Other obs
I never had an issue with the hand brake, but hand brake cables and rear calipers quite often came up on services. I think the cables were replaced twice and the calipers at least once.
Suffered from Water ingress through the ventilation air intake (wet passenger footwell). Spent ages trying to improve the seal between windscreen and panel, with mixed results. Eventually gave up and fashioned a pollen filter housing cover out of a 2 x 1 ltr Coke bottles and duck tape! This solved it !
~ 9-11 years both front springs failed and one rear. But I lucked out and none where catastrophic as only the ends fell off and the car was still drivable (only noticed one of them when I was cleaning the car!)
I was initially petrified of injector failure due to the various internet TDCi doomsday scenarios! So, I used additives for a bit and then almost exclusively Shell V Power Diesel. I never had any injector issues for the 11 years I had it. It was also the only diesel I’ve driven when you could tell that V power wasn’t in the tank! The throttle response and general engine performance & refinement were noticeably better on V power.
I believe that the 2.2 TDCi was more reliable than the 2.0, however the 2.0 was launched first and was one of the first common rail diesels on the market back in 2002 and were far more complex than they previous generation Di engines. No doubt though, that the later PSA derived TDCi used in the Mk4 was more reliable. Although the Mk3 Mondeo TDCis never had a DPF to worry about.
The Euro 4 versions are more refined than the Euro 3, although either is more refined than a previous generation Di engine e.g. VAG PD (I remember thinking when someone would mention that the Audi A4 PD sounded like a Transit – it was an afront to Transits, which were using more refined TDCi engines years before Audi got common rail !!!)
The ST220 vs ST TDCI chassis is an interesting debate that has raged for ages on the ST forums ! I knew from experience the ST TDCi did not have the same setup as a standard Mondeo. When I first enquired, the dealership only had a 2.2 TDCi Titanium X demonstrator (complete with cooling seats – these were only available on Titanium X & Ghia X). This had the same size 18” wheels and identical tyres to the ST plus the same engine. It drove OK but was certainly setup for comfort as it had noticeable body roll. (my previous cars were a 2001 Zetec-S 2.5 V6 (from new to 2005) – nice, but a bit nose heavy and 2002 Zetec-S 2.0 TDCi 130 – bought second hand complete with ditch finders (which is why I know how important tyres are to these Mondeos!). Both were nicer to drive than this Titanium X.
Eventually they got a ST TDCi to test drive and, as I think someone has already commented, it was night and day compared to the Titanium X. Felt much better tied down, really nice turn in etc. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the 2005 Mk2 Focus ST, I’d test driven a year earlier! It was a bit keener than my 2 Zetec-S’s too (although I think, less nose weight and better tyres played their part here – plus something else…).
So, I assumed that it must have some/all of the ST220 chassis tweaks and although there were many debates on ST forums, there never seemed to be a definitive answer. (Although many ST TDCi owners were caught out fitting standard springs to their cars)
So, before writing this I decided to do some more investigating and stumbled across this site:
https://ford.7zap.com/en/car/99/no/
This shows all parts and drawings for the 2000-07 Mondeo aka Mk3 and it reveals that:
The ST220 certainly had suspension components that were unique to the ST220 (Front Shock, Spring, Arm, Stabiliser, Bushes & Knuckle + Rear Spring, Shock & drop link)
Other Mondeos suspension components vary (in addition to because of Engine/Gearbox) to either Standard, Special or Heavy Duty
Special is effectively “Sport” suspension and is mainly lowered springs front and rear. (+ the front shock bumper is shared between ST220 & Special as are the rear shocks on the Estate, although this also complicated by Self levelling on Estate and different rear springs depending on tow bar fitted!)
All ST TDCi, Zetec S and some Zetecs (depending on model year) had “Special” suspension as standard. Zetec-S ran from 2001 to 2005 and ST TDCi ran from 2004 to 2007 and so kind of replaced it.
Special/Sport suspension was available as an option on all other models.
Also, over the year’s suspension components were updated. There seems to be an introduction of new suspension parts in 2003 including new front stabiliser and bushes, which may explain why my 2006 ST TDCi felt better to drive than the 2001/02 Zetec-S even though they all had “Special” suspension.
Apologies for the excessive post... Had 17 years of Mk3 Mondeo ownership to get off my chest! (and I still have more ST TDCi tales!......)
And here are some pics of my 2006 ST TDCi when I sold it back in 2018....
This particular Shed was for sale on my local facebook car selling page but seems to have sold now. You don't see many Mk3 Mondeos now do you. One of those cars that in a fairly short space of time has gone from being something you saw everyday to something you might see a couple of times a week. I wonder how many were killed by that expensive DMF/clutch repair bill? Probably an awful lot I would say. I know at least one person who scrapped their Mk3 at that point.
Engine issues aside, the Mk3 Mondeo was definitely a high point for Ford. Probably fair to say that after the Mk3 the Mondeo got just a bit too large and combined with the rise of the Audi A4/BMW 3 series, sales weren't ever the same. Shame as I think the Mondeo was a much nicer riding and handling car than the Audi A4 of the period.
Engine issues aside, the Mk3 Mondeo was definitely a high point for Ford. Probably fair to say that after the Mk3 the Mondeo got just a bit too large and combined with the rise of the Audi A4/BMW 3 series, sales weren't ever the same. Shame as I think the Mondeo was a much nicer riding and handling car than the Audi A4 of the period.
I do still see a few Mk3 Mondeos about, although nowhere near as many as I do the Fiesta or Focus of similar vintage. The Mondeos presumably did more miles.
I agree that they were a very good car. When I changed my Mk3 for a MK4, I noticed immediately the extra heft when doing a quick left-right-left , although I quickly adapted and that was a good car (with a better diesel engine).
I agree that they were a very good car. When I changed my Mk3 for a MK4, I noticed immediately the extra heft when doing a quick left-right-left , although I quickly adapted and that was a good car (with a better diesel engine).
[quote=MC BodgeWhen I changed my Mk3 for a MK4, I noticed immediately the extra heft when doing a quick left-right-left
[/quote]
I think that is both the extra weight and that weight is higher up (it's *MUCH* taller). I really noticed it coming from a Mk2 to a Mk4, the Mk4 is stiffer but under the same kind of right->left corner (eg going from a "constant" corner round a roundabout to exiting it) the Mk4 would noticeably push the nose more and have a more pronounced roll.
Then again the 5-pot in mine is also much heavier than the old 2.0i Zetec I had in the Mk2 which will also make a big difference!
[/quote]
I think that is both the extra weight and that weight is higher up (it's *MUCH* taller). I really noticed it coming from a Mk2 to a Mk4, the Mk4 is stiffer but under the same kind of right->left corner (eg going from a "constant" corner round a roundabout to exiting it) the Mk4 would noticeably push the nose more and have a more pronounced roll.
Then again the 5-pot in mine is also much heavier than the old 2.0i Zetec I had in the Mk2 which will also make a big difference!
Fastdruid said:
I think that is both the extra weight and that weight is higher up (it's *MUCH* taller). I really noticed it coming from a Mk2 to a Mk4, the Mk4 is stiffer but under the same kind of right->left corner (eg going from a "constant" corner round a roundabout to exiting it) the Mk4 would noticeably push the nose more and have a more pronounced roll.
Yes, it was taller too, with a strong roof/window pillars. The MK4 also started feeling a bit floaty at around 130mph, which the Mk3 didn't. GhiaInjection said:
Owned a Dec 2006 Mondeo ST TDCi 5 door from 9 months old to 12 years old / 119,000 miles.
<snip>
I never had an issue with the hand brake, but hand brake cables and rear calipers quite often came up on services. I think the cables were replaced twice and the calipers at least once.
Probably just age/wear related then. The caliper design on the Mondeo (and the Jag X-Type which used the same components) was changed for the 2005 MY. The original design had a big rubber bushing around the spline for the handbrake mechanism that perished and allowed water and dirt in causing the mechanism to corrode and stick or seize completely.<snip>
I never had an issue with the hand brake, but hand brake cables and rear calipers quite often came up on services. I think the cables were replaced twice and the calipers at least once.
Replacement calipers were completely different and used a different brake pad as well.
CarlosSainz100 said:
The ST's always looked fantastic but are a bit long in the tooth now. What's the best mk 4 equivalent to the mk 3 ST/ST tdci? Was there one?
Titanium X Sport maybe? The facelift version of that model looks rally good I reckon with the agressive looking splitter etc.CarlosSainz100 said:
The ST's always looked fantastic but are a bit long in the tooth now. What's the best mk 4 equivalent to the mk 3 ST/ST tdci? Was there one?
2.2 Titanium X in Mk4 or 2.0 190 in Mk 4.5I've had a couple of Mk4s and one thing I will say is they ride much better on 17 inch wheels, even if it slightly dulls the sharpness
Mk4, as others have said, has more roll than Mk3 anyway
Ntv said:
2.2 Titanium X in Mk4 or 2.0 190 in Mk 4.5
I've had a couple of Mk4s and one thing I will say is they ride much better on 17 inch wheels, even if it slightly dulls the sharpness
Mk4, as others have said, has more roll than Mk3 anyway
My MK4 was on 16" steels (painted Smoothrite black and trims removed for the full Police effect). It was very composed on a bumpy, twisty back road for such a big car. I've had a couple of Mk4s and one thing I will say is they ride much better on 17 inch wheels, even if it slightly dulls the sharpness
Mk4, as others have said, has more roll than Mk3 anyway
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