Couple of lads at work are looking at buying Mondeo ST TDCi's. One went to look at one at a dealer and found the rear seats had no carpet on the back of them on the boot facing side.

No carpet?! My lowly Mondeo has carpetting on the boot side seats. My lowly Fabia did not

Chris

Yup, surprised me too. Perhaps only later Fabias got carpet in the boot? Either that or only the higher spec ones.

I get the feeling though not all Fabias are equal. I had a 1.2 thingy as a courtesy car when mine was in the bodyshop and that felt cheap inside compared to my vRS. The little touches on the sportier one seem to make all the difference.

As I say, the Fiesta's switchgear is what didn't cut it for me really.

But, after all this I to am looking at a Mondeo ST diesel as the next car when I hand the Furby down to the SWMBO. Carpet or not, I still want one.

Ford do have a reputation though that they are struggling to shake off. Depreciation being one problem due to lots and lots of repmobiles and also the problem of rust. Even newer Focus's suffered from it (the Ghia's I think) on the boot lid and I heard of the Mondeo suffering from it in the bottom of the doors due to blocked drains.

Do they electrogalvanise the bodies yet?

IIRC the Elegance *is* the highest spec Fabia

I had heard about the rusting doors on Mondeo's but allegedly it only affects the early ones (pre-facelift) but I've had no trouble with mine. Depreciation will always be a problem though due to the sheer volumes sold, however, it does mean that even cars as young as a year old are serious bargains, especially with the help of the new shape one......

Chris

IIRC the Elegance *is* the highest spec Fabia

I had heard about the rusting doors on Mondeo's but allegedly it only affects the early ones (pre-facelift) but I've had no trouble with mine. Depreciation will always be a problem though due to the sheer volumes sold, however, it does mean that even cars as young as a year old are serious bargains, especially with the help of the new shape one......

Chris

Perhaps yours being built in 1938 may have been the cause then, back in the days where they used wood panelling instead of carpet.

One of the lads here that is looking at Mondeo ST's is off to look at an 07 plate with nack all miles on the clock, listed at about 13k. Sooo cheap, and a lot of car for the money.

Would have a Mondeo ST, would have a Focus ST (if I could afford to run the bonkers T5 engine) but wouldn't have the Fiesta ST. Not 100% sure why, but I don't quite like the look of them. Also, the standard Mondeo handles well, as does the standard Focus, but the standard Fiesta made me poop myself the 1st corner I took. So, to make it go round the twisties with any kind of vigour I imagine they've had to make it as stiff as buggery.

Not saying the standard Fabia handles well either, but compared to the other Fords it's not as good a base platform to upgrade from.

Any idea what the rear suspension setup is like on the Fiesta? Twist beam like the Fabia? Looks like it from the rear when I'm behind one but it's hard to tell.

Wow, just read through this biggie. Lots of heated arguments haha. Who really cares tbh.

You bought the car cos your happy with it, if not sell it for something quicker. Obviously everyone wants the fastest toy, but there is gonna be faster boys and girls out there than you. Get over it.

I drive mine like a joey now with fuel cost and just smile to my self when people fly past me, yet i'm right behind them at the next set of traffic lights.

Any idea what the rear suspension setup is like on the Fiesta? Twist beam like the Fabia? Looks like it from the rear when I'm behind one but it's hard to tell.

Google turned up:

"The rough stuff is handled by MacPherson struts with adjustable spring platforms and an adjustable anti-roll bar at the front, with a specially developed Ford Rallye Sport trailing arm beam at the rear."

No idea what FRS did to it

Chris

I am not argueing about which car is faster,the Fabia is heavy so won't keep up with some cars.

I took exception to a new member, joining the site and being personal about other members

he was clearly referring to the car and clearly replying to fatty5000. there was nothing untoward or out of order :confused: or has your subtlety gone right over my head

Google turned up:

"The rough stuff is handled by MacPherson struts with adjustable spring platforms and an adjustable anti-roll bar at the front, with a specially developed Ford Rallye Sport trailing arm beam at the rear."

No idea what FRS did to it

Chris

Hmm, a specially developed Ford Rallye Sport trailing arm beam at the rear. In other words a twist beam with trailing arms, same as the Fabia then.

Thing is, to sort out the Fabias handling you just fit a RARB thus stiffening up the rear twist beam a bit. If Skoda fitted a more aggressive beam in the first place it would be fine, albeit a bit less safe and understeery.

If Ford have fitted a suitably stiff beam then fine.

Can anyone comment on the ST's driving characteristics in terms of understeer?

i've experienced new fiesta's and think they are built perfectly fine and inside i find it no worse than the fabia vRS sat on my drive quality wise.

what i love about the fabia owners is that when the arguement is going one way you love your fabia because it is sooo fast and surprises so many "unsuspecting"(read not racing) drivers but when its shown that they aren't eh all beating evo muncher you bought it because it goes quite well(true), is cheap(true) and returns excellent mpg(true).

i think i am gonna go off to collect my cake and eat, hang on i can't as its been nicked by a fabia driver

hi all how ya doin,

sorry for bumping this thread but its been funny to read and uv mentioned the car i drive so i thought i'd share my thoughts with u cos i used to be like a lot of people in here thinking of cars in terms of BHP and 0-60 times/ straight line speeds but since i got this 2 months ago, 0-60 times etc mean nothing to me

Your cars a nippy little fecker and from a standing start you cant arf shift, you might even be able to give me a run for my money in a straight line, but the difference between imprezas/Evo's and other cars like yours is the level of grip they produce. It makes no diference whether there's a monsoon or 8 inches of snow they find it and even when you can feel you have absolutely no grip at all under you, the car still goes where ever you want it to go.

what this means on the road is, imagine approaching a round about at 70 mph, while u will have to brake and drop to 3rd to go round it, i drop to 4th and accelerate and it dont matter how bad a driver i am or fast im going or how out of shape i am, the ecu will keep the car pointing in the right direction and get me round. its great fun !!!

great fun = gp 19 insurance and 15mpg :eek:

you still need skill,the bloke i went past at silverstone after he overcooked it will vouch for that,did a couple of skylines and an evo too,so to disprove a myth,you do still require skill to drive these motors:thumbup:

gary, they were in reverse mate. or at least it seemed like it!

that scooby nearly had the entire briskoda trax crew in the side of it,i had a proper brown trouser moment when i rounded the corner to find that in the way:thumbup:

May I post this?

YouTube - 5gear Colt CZT vs Fiesta ST

In particular pay attention to the leaderboard - Faster than the Leon Cupra R, Mini Cooper S...

That has impressed me watching that :thumbup:

Can anyone comment on the ST's driving characteristics in terms of understeer?

Yes, understeer on the factory set up is minimal - none. Handling is very impressive, although my friends now has Toyo T1R's fitted, not the Pirellis, which were dreadful. Lift off oversteer is hilarious too.

new Evo reveals an ST185 package from Ford

new cams, exhaust, intake, and suspension

new Evo reveals an ST185 package from Ford

new cams, exhaust, intake, and suspension

And pricey it is too..

My mate has popped a filter on his, which has given a noticable improvement. Manifold, exhaust and cosworth cams are next He wants 200 bhp, which will be pretty fun in that car.

but you have to weigh the price against the full Ford warranty

Kit is developed by Mountune who were excellent and now part of the equally excellent Roush Thechonlogies of Ford GT fame. Two companies Essex is proud of.

I thought the Fiesta ST to be quite a nose heavy beast when I drove it. Not as much understeer as a Fabia, but still FWD at the end of the day. The smaller engined 1.6 Zetec S is a nicer drive IMO, much less harshness (the ST lump is really not even remotely sweet sounding) but nowhere near as fast.

Chris

Couple of lads at work are looking at buying Mondeo ST TDCi's. One went to look at one at a dealer and found the rear seats had no carpet on the back of them on the boot facing side. This surprised me as the lowly Fabia has this. He also said that it felt a little cheap and plasticy, and this is compared to his own car- a Peugeot 307 XSi.....

Well, I've got a Mondeo ST and I can assure you it has carpet on the back of the rear seats, someone must have spilled something/damaged the carpet and decided to pull it out rather than clean/repair it!

Half the dash is metal so dont see how that can feel cheap and plasticy? and coming from a Skoda and previous to that a Peugeot the interior quality of the plastics are way superior, particularly compared to Skoda's peeling rubber coating over cheap shiny plastic affair, Personally I think the interior quality of my old Pug 406 was better than my Superb was!

Couple of things with the ST TDCi, Fuel injection system can give trouble as the injectors aren't brill, and there was a re-call to fit new tensioner/pulley to rectify drumming/droning noise at idle, plus the rear bumper can drop requiring replacement and additional supporting foam blocks, it's all covered under warranty though, and thats about the only problems they have.

Rusting doors is no longer an issue, I believe it was only a small number of cars (pre facelift) affected that had no drain holes in the doors for some reason!

If they are seriously looking for a second hand ST then they should go on the Ford Direct website, they are all top spec cars at lower than forecourt prices, and they come with 2 years unlimited mileage warranty, which a ford dealer wont give you.

I quite like the Mondeo ST's but couldn't convince SWMBO we should get one... had to settle for the Focus instead

All the previous shape Mondeo's I've been in have felt nicely put together and well finished.