2005 Ford Mondeo ST TDCi from UK and Ireland - Comments

No faults.

This car does everything.

Beautifully finished interior with gorgeous leather Recaros. I think the finish is on a par with a friends 2005 Mercedes C220 CDi, and actually so does he! Not that the C-class is the best finished Merc ever, but when you consider the price difference....

Tasteful bodykit which looks aggressive, but is not too heavy handed.

Tremendous performance from the 2.2 TDCi engine, especially after the recent Superchips Bluefin remap. Now making 181 bhp, and 400Nm of torque at just 1800 RPM (peaks 426 at 2,200). Effortlessly fast, and will still return 45-48 mpg on a motorway cruise in 6th, although knock 10 mpg off that when "on it". Pulls convincingly away from BMW 330d drivers which it couldn't do before - not bad for 800 cc less.

Chassis still better than anything else in this class in my opinion. Drove a Vauxhall Vectra, VW Passat, Nissan Primera and an Audi A4 and none got close to the Mondeo's turn in or feel.

If I had to complain it would be about the depreciation and the fact that everyone asks why I didn't buy an Audi. Simple answer is, "cachet" apart, this is a better car for less money, but nobody believes you. Their loss. Cracking value "nearly new" which this was.

Good without the remap - amazing with it. Test drive one with an open mind.

I bought one of the first ones of these and agree with what you say. I always thought the performance was dissapointingly similar to the 130PS Mondeo (I had high hopes when ordering the ST from the dealer without a test drive) and did 10,000m in 6months in it and yet never felt that it was 'alive'. I was actively watching the Superchips site for a chip and contacted them several times to be told they had no plans to do one for the car. I traded it in for a Boxster and then sure enough a month later a chip appeared!

Economy was excellent and even when cruising at 120mph for half an hour or so I was still returning 38mpg to the tank. 50+ was easy whilst navigating a clear M1. Handling, looks and features were excellent, as you again say - depreciation agonising though.

Sadly the newer models have got nasty bits of chrome stuck on the car in random places and it's lost it's mean street-sleeper image it had. Based on this alone I wouldn't buy another.

Now if only we in the States could get ahold of that snazzy 2.2 diesel.

Traded in my Passat Estate V6 Turbo Diesel (lovely looking car, but unreliable, good on morways, but appalling on twisty roads, falling to bits) for a ST TDCI estate and agree with everything above.

Great chassis. Really great. Such impressive handling for a big car. Not as smooth as the passat on motorways, but still comfortable, and a different league on back roads.

And Why didn't I get an Audi? Well, I have a Audi S6, and although the Audi is obviously faster, the mondeos handling disgraces the Audi. Sooooo much more alive, with far, far superior steering feel.

Just took delivery of a 2005 54 plate Mondeo 2.2 ST TDCi hatch - What a wonderful car!

I couldn't care less if people say it's just a Mondeo - I throughly enjoy driving it - overtaking is effortless and on a 500 mile round trip to London and back, I achieved 54mpg (as per the fuel computer and confirmed after refueling) Some of this was in heavy traffic using the Cruise function, and some was having a bit of fun with the power and torque so potentially this could be higher still. I would also add that at no time did I 'hang around'.

I have previously owned a Golf TDi 130 so I knew what to expect from the Mondeo and I'm not disappointed. I know there are petrolheads out there who won't bring themselves to drive a Diesel car, but hey, it's their loss! If they can't handle this amount of torque, then they can stick with their petrol cars and lower MPG!!!

I have a 54-plate ST diesel in performance blue (sat nav too) and use it mostly as a motorway tool. Fuel computer always seems to register about 5mpg more than the real world figure (fill to near the brim between fill-ups and reset gauge). I swapped the original tyres for budget Khumo SPT and I reckon i'll get close to 20,000 with them - and they are quieter, cheaper than originals. Trying to keep in the fast lane at (indicated) 100mph - real speed 90mph is an effort in 6th, ideally I could do with a bit more torque/power so the superchip might be of interest.

Generally an excellent car, and good value for money.