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All Torque! |
by Murph |
Super Trooper |
| We are fast approaching the British Touring Car Championship. One of the teams that I think will have a turn of fortune this season will be the Ford Racing Team - the Mondeos are now developed and prepared by Prodrive - the company responsible for the Subaru WRC cars. In the hands of Messrs. Menu and Reid, winter testing has been good. Over the past few months The Car Enthusiast has had the chance to test the Mondeo ST24 which shares similar body style to it's racing brother. Having clocked up almost 7000 miles in Ford's sports saloon it's easy to see that the ST24 has some of the race Mondeo in its genetic make up. One Mr. Clarkson raved about this particular edition of the mid range family saloon albeit in sport trim. |
| The styling is very different to the family run-around; with aggressive front and rear low slung spoilers, sporty wire mesh grill, side skirts and rear lid spoiler. Parking the front end to a kerb, however, can soon make the low front spoiler look scruffy... A tasteful set of chunky four spoke alloy wheels (6.5 x 16 inch) add to the aesthetics, and prove very functional, covered with 205 x 50 low profile tyres. Removing the telltale ST24 badge on the rear has many people taking a double take, as they realise that this is no ordinary Mondeo! |
| In the cabin there are subtle changes which aid the sporty feel. Leather sports steering wheel, half leather trimmed front sport seats (not unlike Recaros) and a wonderful CD autochanger with controls on the steering column. The later, however can lead you to turn up the volume when you need to indicate right! Under the bonnet the ST24 is equipped with the famous Ford Duratec 2.5-litre V6 powerplant, recently voted one of the top ten engines in production - pumping out 170bhp at 6250rpm with ease. What you really notice is how quiet the engine is, even when pushed hard. |
Photographs copyright Ford UK
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Photographs copyright Ford UK
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Sports independent suspension with stiffened front struts and larger diameter anti-roll bars front and rear give the car superb handling at any speed on any road. We have to say that, on the tight twisty, bumpy Irish roads this car is a delight - absolutely in its element. Disc brakes all-round and traction control give you that extra confidence. This may be an underrated car, but love him or hate
him we have to agree with Mr. Clarkson - this is one car Murph will find hard to part with unless persuaded otherwise by the new 200bhp ST200 coming soon....
Murph - 12 March 1999 |
Ford Mondeo ST24 Specifications |
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