Mondeo Man will have the last, fast, laugh
If one has the time or the inclination to measure it, there’s a Ford Mondeo which has a slightly larger blue oval badge than standard. It is the least important difference between a 1.8 basic Mondeo and the startling ST220 version that I drove last week. The most important difference is the 220bhp under the hood.
The other important difference is that this flagship Mondeo, due in Ireland in July, costs the same as an entry-level BMW 5-Series, give or take a euro.
And thereby is the Big Question: why would anybody spend as much on a Ford as they would on a Beemer ... or on an equivalent Merc?
The Big Answer is harder to arrive at with any conclusive certainty. But there are people who will do that thing. People who appreciate that a car is more than an elite badge. Who take their car out to appreciate the tactiles of exceptional performance and the sound of engineering which has been built by people who love their work.
People who want something different, but who are indifferent to such common executive concerns as to whether the badge in their office parking space reflects the level their desk has reached.
People, in short, who know their worth and their wants, and don’t need the ego self-boost of an ‘accepted’ grille motif in the teatime gridlock.
In the executive washroom, all are equal. On the road, some are more equal than others. Mostly those in front.
And those with a Mondeo ST220 are likely to go to work earlier, and leave later, simply to avoid the gridlock and enjoy their drive from or to home. Probably taking the long route each time.
They’re not likely to be the kind who throw keys with elite fobs on the bar counter, expecting admiring or envious glances. In fact, they’re more likely to keep their keyfobs to themselves. If you’ve got it, you don’t always want to flaunt it.
So where did the Mondeo ST220 come from? Oddly enough, as a by-product of a prototype for the basic car built to see how much punch the suspension, brakes and general chassis systems could take. They were using a 170PS 3-litre V6 engine for the project, a power unit way bigger than originally planned for the car. What happened was that the engineers doing their various tests preferred to be driving this car over all the other versions which were scooting around.
It begged the question: should Ford build a real Mondeo around this test-bed?
They did. Of course, it took a lot more development, But that’s what engineers, particularly motor engineers, like to do. So the latest version of the Mondeo went into the ST programme. The previous version had also borned itself an ST200. But this was to be significantly more.
There’s never been a 3-litre Mondeo before. But there are 3-litre engines in the Ford empire which form a basis for a number of their power units under different brands. The unit which underpins the 3-litre Jaguar X- and S-Types is a case in point.
It is a quad-cam V6, based on the classic profile of Formula One V8 engines built for Ford by Cosworth 36 years ago. But a profile using the knowledge and production techniques of the 21st century.
The ST220 engine is all-aluminium and comes from this. It uses a 60deg V which obviates the need for extra balencer shafts. It has the wide bore cylinders and short stroke that has proved itself in motorsport for several generations of engine design. The unit also fits perfectly under the Mondeo hood.
A fair bit of sophisticated intake and exhaust tuning has also been involved, part of the exhaust design related to systems developed for the AJ6 engine used in the X-Type Jaguar.
Then there’s an intriguing oil/water heat exchange system makes the most of the dissimilar characteristics of the two essential engine fluids so that at different operating temperatures, they take turns keeping each other at the optimum degrees.
There’s a lot more, but going too deep technically bores most readers, so we’ll leave the engine now.
The power has to be transferred to the road. The 5-speed gearbox is a modified version of the Mondeo’s standard unit, with different gear ratios and some work on making the shifting smoother. The real job had to be done beyond the cogs, on the suspension.
The essential systems from the standard Mondeo were very good. But the performance potential of this engine required the ST220 to be capable of delivering the newtown-metres to the asphalt in a most efficient way.
The car itself is 15mm lower than normal. The springs and shocks are much more substantial. The steering has faster gearing. Subtle but serious improvements have been made to individual components of both front and rear suspensions. And, because there’s a wagon version of the ST220, enough attention had to be given to its different suspension architecture to make sure that it performed at least as well as the 4- and 5-door cars.
It took a fair bit of testing on the Nürburgring race track to achieve a suspension performance which managed properly the requirements of a powerful sporting saloon with the comfort characteristics of the standard Mondeo. Ford’s engineers succeeded, at least according to my recent brief experience.
The rubber also needed to be more, so there are 18” alloys sporting 225/40 low-profile tyres.
And the interior, which is where the owner lives after all, had to reflect what he owns. It’s not that much different, actually, than the standard Mondeo with trimmings. A bit of snazz in the instruments, with metallic surrounds. More than snazz in the seats and trim, where leather is standard. But you can pick your own special favourites. Like the red leather with black which, apparently, has not been seen in a Ford since the early Mustangs in the US.
(Bordello comes to mind. But VERY high class!)
So, I drove this car in the mountains behind Nice, for an all-too-short period. And I’m not going to make a premature judgement until I’ve driven it in Ireland.
But it seemed VERY good. And for the kind of people whom I profiled at the beginning of this piece, the ST220 will be their real kind of vehicle. Maybe less than 100 of them in Ireland in a year.
But they will be people very satisfied with their driving pleasure. If they take the long way home, late enough to enjoy it.
More soon. When I get home, the long way.
©2002irishcar.com
