From ownership and spending many hours going through the owners club forums for them, they are prone to a few problems.

Firstly is something called moosing. Basically sounding like...well... a moose. There's also throttle hanging too where it will hold the revs. Both can be apparently solved with a small mod in an air inlet pipe. Something as simple as the cap of a house raditor with some 5mm holes drilled in. Haven't had to do this myself thankfully but a 5 minute job that solves a few problems.

Lower arms as mentioned. The ST24's are cheaper than the ST200 which are something like £180 each from Ford and there are currently no pattern parts avalible for the 200.

The secondaries can get a bit clogged up which means the throttle response about 4krpm is stunted. You should feel a surge of power at this rev range. Cleaning the secondaries is not a particularly difficult job if you are a little mechanically minded. It will chuck out a load of black smoke when you do it but will make the engine better.

Typical niggles with them being a Mondeo with the rear lights leaking, but easily solved with some sealant. The metal impellor is a good idea. Much money to fix if that break up. A company called Quinton Hazel (?) does them in the metal version, but try any motor factor or there's always the Ebay seller who punts them out on a regular bases.

Ermm... washer jets. Can come unfixed as there is bugger all slack in the pipe line. PITA to get to (under the car, remove one of the horns and get someone to feed the tubes down to you) but do-able.

Running gear is pretty sturdy, like any car keep it serviced and it will keep going and going.

Couple of places to visit...

http://www.fordmondeo.org/workshop/p...=Main.HomePage

http://www.mirez.co.uk/

...then there's the stownersclub. 28 day's trial membership which is generally a good amount of time to have a nosey around and get a good idea of the cars.

There's only a hand full of white ones which weren't Police. And apparently only 150ish taxed and tested Estate 200's on the road.

Myself? I've had my ST200 for about three months now. Based on the prices of them it's worth getting the 200 over the 24 for the money. You get full leather Recaros on the 200 (apart from a small minority - most of those which were Ex-police). Full climate, airbags everywhere, electric this and that, 6 CD changer, 17" alloys, the ST200 bodykit, trip computer with average speed, mpg, instant mpg, miles left/travelled.... basically you do get alot of car for you money.

Fuel economy isn't that bad either. My other half has borrowed mine for his job (postie) and even with taking it upto triple figures on the way to work (private road officer etc...) and the stop/start/stop nature of his job he hasn't dropped it lower than an average 26mpg. I drive it a bit more sedate and it's seen over 36mpg. Averagng now abour 28ish over a dozen or so tanks. Takes about £55 quids worth of petrol at current prices.

I do love it, it's nice to have a bit of power from my old car and with all the space (I've got an Estate) it's a good work horse too. However saying that some extra torque wouldn't go amiss. I've had a few problems though. The handbrake light goes off with the rest of the dash lights on start up (multiplug somewhere needs looking at), it holds its revs at 2krpm on start up for about 5 seconds, but then is fine after. Bodywork has seen much better days, and my tracking and front brakes need sorting/replacing soon and I've had to replace a few bulbs. It also was holding it's revs on the drive home from collecting it, but having owned a Ka where it did this too with the TPS getting gunked up, I just cleaned out all the sensors in the engine and it's never done it since.

Also my exhaust is on it's way out...but considering it's the original, Ford stamped exhausted that's covered 136,000 miles, I think I'll put that down to reasonable wear and tear.

Got mine for £2k back in March. Bargain car, and even if things need replacing it's no big deal, with Ford prices and the fact that under that V6 badge, it's just a Mondeo, you can replace all the bits on it for peanuts. I was going to spend £4Kish on a hatch, but this was too go to turn down.

One thing is go though, over that magical 4krpm, foot to the floor, that V6 roar as it's winding up.... coor, can't go wrong.

Anyhoo, sorry for that essay!