1998 Ford Mondeo Ghia X review from UK and Ireland

Nothing major, the heater unit stopped blowing cold, but was easily sorted out with a new control box from a local breakers for £10.

The driver's heated seat has stopped working.

This car is brilliant. It is both a comfortable daily driver and a blistering hot-hatch hunter.

The V6 engine is a sweet as a nut and pulls like a bull from standstill to the red line in every gear. Its easily as quick as some serious hot-hatches such as modern Golf GTi's and VTR's and does not embarrass itself in the twisty-turny bits considering its really a luxury cruiser rather than a B road blaster!

All this being said the best facet is that the car is comfortable, fast and yet understated so you can happily glide past traffic without gaining much unwanted attention, unlike with the 'sportier' ST models.

The cabin is comfortable and well equipped with full leather, air con, electric seats and lots of other toys and gadgets to play with. The stereo is excellent with the 6-disk CD changer.

Fuel economy is not for the feint hearted, returning about 24 mpg in town and about 35 on a motorway run. Expect about 15 if you blast it everywhere at full throttle. Other running costs are low, it doesn't use oil, mechanicals seem reliable and strong and after 10K miles in 12 months it hasn't caused me any serious headaches.

The only problem or 'minor gripe' I have is a slight rattle on cold start up.

I am told that this is just because the tensioners on the timing chain relax as the oil drains back to the sump and it takes a few seconds to get the oil moving again on cold start. My friends '04 registration ST220 does this too so I am not that concerned.

Any knowledge of this problem would be welcomed.