Faults:

Almost nothing. Driver's seat feels a bit loose and Ford wants £300 to replace the bracket. Uh huh.

Passenger airbag cover has popped up. Don't know how that happened. Nothing wrong with the airbag. It looks tatty, but isn't an MOT failure.

Gaskets around tail light lenses were letting a bit of water into the spare tyre area.

Windows are always fogging up... even without any noticeable water in the wheel well.

All minor stuff, really. Even has original clutch!

General Comments:

Sounds good, brilliant to drive... though I agree it can be a bit of a problem to park in tight spots... usually have to do a 3-point turn to get it in to a spot at the shops, but you get used to it after a while.

Finish is still good, even after 6 years of being left outside in North Yorkshire weather. Still a quick, smooth car that sticks to the road. BMWs are nice motors, I can't argue, but the ST24 can hold its own against a 325, has more room all around, and is far less nickable. And I like the look of my old ST better than the squarish new ones. Though I do like the ST220 colours.

Faults:

So far, absolutely nothing at all!

General Comments:

This Ford has been one of the most dependable a reliable cars I have owned. I have driven across France, Spain and Germany and have had no reliability issues at all.

Inside -

The only gripe I have is that Ford should have made the seats a bit more comfortable, but it is only the humble LX model. There OK, but could be better. The steering wheel moves up/down/in/out which is good for this LX spec model too.

Plastics do look a bit cheap looking, but are durable and nothings broken yet.

Air-condition is exceptional as its standard on Mondeo's after from 1998 and is more than adequate to cool the car.

Overall plenty of space inside and boot is a good size and all electrics work fine.

Outside -

No issues on my car although I do see a lot of Mondeos with cracked bumpers and rust on rear wheel arches, why did ford no galvanise these cars. Paintwork still has a good shine, not bad for a 9 year old Ford.

Design is a little dated now, but still looks OK plently about so nothing special.

Fuel Economy is very reasonable at about 36-38 on Motorways, good for a large saloon, in town this will drop to about 30. With the Air-con I have not noticed any difference in fuel economy, but does affect performance slightly, no worse though that other car manufacturers.

Mechanicals seem near bomb proof on these cars, engines are good if a tad noisy when revved some times, I have the car reguarly serviced with oil changes at 6000 miles, Ford say 10,000 is okay, but I think this is too long.

Ford got the handling with the Mondeo spot on and the Mondeo is delight to drive.

So far I have serviced the car myself and spent £192 so far in 11,000 miles. This takes in 2 oil/filter changes, air and cabin filters, sparks plugs, new front brake discs/pad and having the air-con serviced. Parts are extremely cheap compared to other cars and usually in stock at Motor Factors, Scrap Yards have plenty of parts for these.

For price, reliability, space, servicing and driving it is difficult to find anything to match the Ford Mondeo of any age new or old.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing (yet).

General Comments:

A great all round car.

Even though it's a sporty model the ride isn't too harsh, and the resultant grip and handling are very impressive.

Being a "Plain Jane" Si model it lacks the RSA kit the ST24 has, and a few of the toys, but engine and chassis wise it is identical. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on your viewpoint. It's a mostly good thing in my eyes. It seems to lead to owners of other V6 engined Mondeos being aware of what it is from the few external distinguishing features.

Although I keep hearing that it is a fast car, it is not as fast as I thought it would be, but still pretty rapid. But the effortless way in which it does what it does do never fails to impress. And as for the soundtrack... Although it's not that fast or powerful, I do think it is a great engine, and its design heritage bears this out, as do contemporary reports.

Town-bound fuel consumption can be a little scary, but it's much better on a run. And in any case the noise it makes more than makes up for the penalty at the pumps.