Hello everybody, I am a newbie looking for some advice please. I am currently looking for an st200. I have seen one that has a couple of issues, so I would be grateful for any input. Firstly the car has 110,000 miles on the clock, how many miles can I expect one of these engines to do, I know its down to servicing etc, but it does seem to run at tickover quietly, although it does look desperate for an oil change. However there seems to be an oil leak around the front pulley, should I be concerned or is it a simple oil seal change, is it a common problem with this motor. Other easy fixes such as headlamp bust, and aftermarket cone air filter I can sort out. Thanks for any input.

 

prices on these are rock bottom for a reason and unless its silly cheap I would pick another car, these cars is where the expression can or worms comes from plus they can empty a tank of fuel just as fast as you can fill it

 

Always liked the 200s I went to have a look at one a while back. Rare sight these days. They sound superb, and go well too. 2.5 v6 so cant really expect much mpg wise but then you wouldn't buy it to be economical

 

I always fancied one of these, but good ones must be getting thin on the ground now. The ST220 that replaced it was a better car in reality, but I like them all the same.

The MK2 Mondeo is a tough old cookie too.

 

I like the ST200s too. The saloon is the rare ones to buy.

 

I remember these when I worked at ford. The price of a hatch was around Ł23.500 and the estate and ltd saloon approx Ł24.500+. Very nice car in their day but didn't catch on with enthusiasts and now is in banger territory.
I had an ex police one in 2003 with calibrated dials and SVP dampers and sump guard along with a build sticker on the b post from Ford SVP. As said it wasn't the best on fuel and driven enthusiastically would drink it quite a bit.

 

I really like these, always wanted one since they first came out but when the st220 came out I kinda went over to them. Never owned either but driven an st200 of a mates and was good fun and imperial blue and them wheels still look good. I remember having to do some work on it for him in the engine bay and everything was a complete twat to get at. Also drinks fuel like crAzy when giving it some

 

Thanks guys for the input, bought it forŁ750, and as you say getting rare these days. So I intend to mint it up, and use it as a toy which gives plenty of smiles. Hoping to attend some of the local meets to. Regards.

 

Seems good at Ł750. Itll be one of the over looked fords that will probably rocket in value in a few years abit like the fez rs1800 and go the same way as the st170s eventually

 

as long as its not got bad rust especially the rear arches and sills and usual engine related issues theres no reason it cant be made into a good car, I'm a fan of the saloons

 

It does have rot on the rear arches, but then they all seem to suffer from that. Will cut it out and repair. A mate of mine used to have aST24,and it sounded great and really shifted. I know it is a bit of a punt, but with a bit of TLC I can see a really nice motor at the end of it. Its even still got the original spare alloy and jack. One question having blue dials, does that make it a limited edition, or did they all have them, Cheers.

 

If the engine goes bandy I wouldn't bother repairing it as its cheaper to replace one these days. Personally I would opt for the mondeo 3.0 with 22bhp or the x type 3.0 that's about 240-260bhp.
See if it has they typical leaking rear light seals as this helps to rot the boot floor.

 

I had one of these for a couple of years, cracking car for the money if you ask me. They're not without their issues of course, chief amongst which being a Ford is of course rust, but then what car of that age isn't. At Ł750 you're never going to lose a lot of money if it all goes wrong either way especially as bits like the wheels and seats will make you a fair bit back.


Re fuel consumption, I think it was best summed up by someone on here I read once - "little better than a range rover"! But hey, as long as you're not doing a mega mile commute every day who really cares!


Pretty sure they all had blue ST dials. There was a limited edition version, had different (heated?) seats as opposed to the standard black leather if I recall correctly.


Get some pics up mate

 

Cheers for that Matt, will get pics up when I get it. Picking it up on Monday. I have already being doing my homework on the car and what jobs need doing, Had a lot of great advice from you all on this site, and I will no doubt be asking for a lot more. It will be a long term project with the intention of minting it up the best I can, and making it reliable. So many of them seem to be getting broken up, so I need to keep this one going for good old heritage reasons.

 

Yeah all ST200's had blue dials. Even the police ones but they had IRS calibrated items that only shown upto 140MPH and had a slightly different shade of blue to the rev counter etc

The Ltd edition saloon had blue dash inserts and blue centres on the seats.

Early ones had half leather (no black b post sticker cars) late ones classed as Mondeo MY2000 had black b post sticker and full leather heated seats.

Some very early ST200's had been logged as an SI theses are mainly 99 T reg cars.

 

I had an st24 for many years, one of my favourite cars I've owned.
My only complaint was the steering felt light and kind of ruined the feel of the car but other than that it was well equipped, quick enough, sounded great and I just enjoyed owning it, look out for rusty arches and a recent mot with good service history, they can cost if you get a bad one that's been neglected.
Milieage no issue so long as it's been regularly serviced as I think it was chain driven also but not 100percent on that.

Good luck and show us what you get

 

Don't these have issues with water pumps or something?

A friend had one that was hilariously poor on fuel! But By god they sound good with a set of pipes.

 

You can change the water pump with the metal propeller type. A piece of piss to do.

 

They had a plastic impeller or something in the pump, had mine upgraded if I recall correctly, would have thought they had sorted that by the time the st200 was produced if it was an issue.

 

Yes think they sorted the water pump, the later ST24's like mine (2000) had cream coloured plastic water pump impeller, I changed mine to metal impeller anyway on hearing the horror stories and not knowing state of my car. The dodgy impellers were black plastic iirc on earlier 97/98 cars.

They are chain driven as well, so no cambelt to change.