Thinking of buying a mondeo next, something that is a bit more of a cruiser than a balls out racer, but not sure what is the best compromise between performance / running costs / tax etc...

Im thinking of one of the following :
Ghia X (Although fookin hate the wood trim inside, but has a good spec)
ST24
ST200

I like the idea of the ST200, but not sure if my budget would stretch to getting a reasonable one (not nescesseraily mint), the ST24 is seeming like a good alternative.

I only want one with RSAP kit as otherwise they are just too boring looking for my taste.

I got about £2000 to spend, and was wondering if any one had any advice / tails to tell of the above mentioned models ?

Thanks.

 

I would go for 2.5 ghia X, st200 not much faster than st24.
tabetha

 

ST24 would still be cheap tax mate, although you will be lucky to get 20mpg, but no one is getting good mpg with petrol prices at the minute, so it aint that bad really. the major problem with them is the plastic impeller water pump, they are prone to failing when the miles get up, although there is an aftermarket water pump with a metal impeller, its about £50, i fitted one to mine, and its not a difficult job. apart from that, there pretty good engines. another option if you like the rsap look would be a mk2 zetec-s, they have the rsap kit and the 16" version of the escort gti rims, they look the part, but are a 2 litre black top zetec, so cheap tax and running costs. you might be surprised with an ST200, with the price of petrol, they have dropped in price, so you might get a £2k bargain.

 

Am I right in thinking that the v6 is quite a cruising engine, in other words, get into 5th and you can pretty much leave it there, and they go ok but not to expect anything too exciting ?

Im just trying to get an image of what they are actually like as I have never been in one, let alone drive one.

Thanks.

 

Yes mate, they are a good car for cruising. they are a very smooth and quiet engine, they have enough power to move the cars around comfortably, but there not quick, although they do pull well when the secondaries open, but there flat up untill then. if you can find a good one, im sure you wont be dissapointed fella.

 

Maybe a daft question, but how do you think a standard st200 would compare in terms of performance to a standard rs turbo (s2) ? as this was my last car.

Im not really too bothered, just curious really.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Well if you compare standard cars, the performance figures according to fast ford are 8.2 to 60 and 128mph top end for the rst, 7.8 to 60 and 141mph top end for the ST200.

 

Just had a quick look around, and there is a couple of nice looking 24's around your budget,

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/584966.htm

 

yeah m8, I seen that one and I do like it.

However, dont know why, just really dont like the seats in it, there slightly different to all the other ones that I have seen.

 

Thats because its not normal 24 interior mate, most 24's have half leather, the interior in that one is full leather, like in the ghia x's. its an hour job to change mate, and you could swap it for standard 24 interior and probs make a bit of money at the same time if you wanted to. the car looks very nice in white with diamond cuts imo .

 

yeah it is a good looking example and the wheels do suite it. In an ideal world I would be able to place ST200 interior into as I quite like the recaro's in them, but not sure if they are a straight swap, in other words would the ST200 seats have some electic functions that wouldnt work if they was placed into the ST24 ?

Thanks for all your help!

 

They should swap straight over mate. i put ghia x leather in my last mondy, that was a glx that only had electric height adjustment, everything else was manual, the ghia x leather i put in had electric everything, and it just plugged it into my normal plug and everything worked. i can put a thread on a few mondy forums and get a deffinate answer for you if you want one, or, if you want to know anything mondy related, register at http://scottishmondeoforum.net/index.php , its not the biggest forum in the world, but there a very freindly and helpfull bunch, and there is a couple of lads on there who really know there mondys. would defo be good for advice if you do buy one, it has been a great help to me over the years

 

Thanks again m8.

 

No probs bud, you need anything else give me a shout, and if i cant help, ill find out for you.

 

Have you ever driven a 200 properly as they are quite a bit quicker in real life than a 24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with Fiddy as there are a few good 200's out there at reasonable money at the moment as they are just not selling as well as they used to.

As for the interior then any MK2 interior will be a straight swap (like for like body shapes) and even then with a little bit of work anything can be made to fit. I have an ST200 estate with the limited blue/grey interior from a saloon it in so know that things can be done.

It all depends on what you really want though, the Ghia X is a nice comforatble cruiser with all of the toys, the ST24 shares the engine and drive train with the Ghia X but comes kitted with the slightly better seats. The ST200 is leagues above the rest in both looks and performance, most ST24 drivers swear their's are the best until they drive a 200 and then they cant get rid of them quick enough!!!!!!!!

I would never go backwards and love the 200's. Hence the reason why we run a pair of them!!!!!

Again if you need info, pictures etc I am more than happy to help.

 

Just out of curiosity, would you have any idea as to how much an ST200 interior would fetch ? Im imagining they may sell for reasonable money as I guess they dont come along that often.

 

Depends whether its half leather or full leather jimmy as they fitted both to the 200, but being recaro, there not cheap mate, ive seen them on ebay fetching £200-£300. what you really want is the ST200 LE interior that bookwyse mentioned he has in his, its blue and black leather, looks really nice, but they hardly ever come up for sale, and i would expect them to go for silly money due to the rarity as they only made 300 LE's iirc.

 

Prices for the interiors, like Fiddy says, depends on if you want the half leather (£200+), Full leather (£300+) Limited, name your own price.

The diffrences can be seen here:

Limited Edition (Also the only HEATED ones)



Full leather:



Half leather:




The half leather set is for sale as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I thought the ST200 ones where heated aswell ?

Must admit that the grey/blue ones are very nice, but I would also be very happy with the standard ST200 interior, and the half leather aint too shabby! hehe

 

Only the limited edition ones were heated. Some of the later ST24's had heated seats but none of the half or full black leather 200's were. Took me ages to source a set of the blue for my estate as well as they are rarer than hens teeth!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, you done well to find any I think!!

Im a little confused (as always!), but the st24 interior you posted there looks slightly different to some of the ones I have seem, for example :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ford-mondeo-ST...3286.m14.l1318

I much prefer the ones that you posted up, are they from a later model or something than the ones I have posted there on ebay ?

Again, thanks for all your help!

 

hmmm, and these one look nice! NOT! lol

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-leather-...3286.m14.l1318

He could of at least got the dogs off them for the photo!, they look fooked!

 

The ones I have posted up are the half leather Recaro's from an ST200. The ST24 are totally diffrent and are the same as the Mondeo SI but with half leather and are not recaro's.

Having used both I would say that the 200 recaro's are most definately the better ones.

 

Found this on my travels jimmy, its over your budget i know, but if you could come up a little bit, and he will drop a little bit, could be doable.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/614461.htm

 

I know the lad selling this jimmy, from a mondeo forum i use, its a good straight car, and honest description of the car in the advert.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/622795.htm

 

hmmmmm, it would be a mighty old trek for me as im cornwall!!

 

Would be a fair old mission for you from cornwall jim, but as i said, i know the owner, he looks after his cars, so could be worth the journey, one of the reason's he selling the 200 is he doesnt use it, another is he's having a few problems with his pulsar gtir which are not going to be cheap to fix, i know he wouldnt be selling the car if he didnt need the money, he loves it.

 

Just spoke to him jim, he said he was going to advertise it for £2800 but decided on £2400 for a quick sale, but he said will knock a bit off the price if someone wants it who he knows through the mondy forum, so if you are interested, mention me and you will get it cheaper than £2400.

 

Seems a good price for an ST200. I had one, great car, only sold it as I wanted an escos.

Also had an st24, trust me, the st200 is a much much better car mate

 

hmmm, it is certainly tempting, but there are a couple of factors :

a) such a long travel
b) if I got an st200 I would really like to have full leather
c) waiting for someone to pay me (grrrrr), so until I have that payment I dont have the money yet

Appreciate all your help though m8, and appologise for any late replies, as I usually get an email telling me about a reply to the topic, but it doesnt seem to be happening for this topic

 

I told him you were interested but there was a couple of factors jim, it was over your budget and the other end of the country, so it wasn't concrete, you were just generally interested, he said he totally understands, and if there's anything you want to know, or any pics you want him to take and send etc is no problem. tbh jimmy id be tempted to sell my car and buy it myself at that price mate, but my car is worth peanuts compared to what i gave for it just before christmas due to the new tax situation, so ill probs wait till the 220's drop in price and get one of those.

 

Does seem a good car for £2400 imo

 

Well, I may possibly be going to look at one in the next few days, so was wondering if anyone could give me some advice as to what to look out for?, ive read something about head gaskets ?

Thanks in advance.