Err frombenz...........there's absolutely nuthin sad about it mate. I made a decision based on running costs / fuel costs, maintenance etc etc and got myself a newer vehicle more or less fully loaded that is as fast as the X if not faster and much much more economical......my choice!

Ok, so I'll miss the Jag, but thats not to say I won't revisit the brand again in the future at some point!

Jim

 

Jeez Bo, give the guy a break. I know where you're commin from though, but if thats the case, you better lock me up to mate. I dread to think if the laws I've broken
A bit of duckin n divin......Always nice to get a little extra or get away with something.
I don't care who it is everyone loves somthin for nuthin.

Jim

 

Boooo, needs more ST220! As Mr. Jeremy Clarkson said it best, "The poor man's BMW." That car sounds absolutely brilliant. I mean, I've been in and seen Contours/Cougars with the 3.0L swap, but none sounded as refined as the St220. Aren't they putting the 3.5L Duratec in there?

Well, whatever you do Jim, keep us posted. If you do purchase the Mondy, welcome to the CDW27 platform! Join MEG and venture down to CEG.

 

There are a few Focuses over here.We are repairing one in our bodyshop at the moment which looks similar to the pic posted by Aquill.Versions available here include 4 door saloon,5 door hatch and estates as far as I know.Over here the Focus is teh Mondeos liitle brother.

 

Thanks for that ancient mate.............I'll bear it in mind

Jim

 

Focus ST is another brilliant vehicle.

Ford's US division is ridiculous. You should see our new Focus....oooogly. [:@]

I would love to see a few of the foreign Ford vehicles, like the Mondy, Focus ST or even the FPV Typhoon. I'm not familiar but does England have the FPV? I believe Australia does w/the Typhoon GT/Cobra GT.

 

Mondeo ST TDCI Ancient












Ford Focus ST








There you go mate

Jim

 

Opps, lol, I meant to say, I would love to see some of those cars on this side of the pond!

Nice pics , though. Have you driven the Focus ST, personally?

 

Well that was a bloody waste of time then wasn't it?
Haven't driven the Focus ST mate but goes well I believe

Jim

 

We repaired one the other month and I drove it the 20 miles back to the customer.It got there a lot quicker than it got to our bodyshop.
Slightly wet roads suffered from traction problems in 1st and 2nd when the turbo comes in.
Nothing spectacular but then nothing much is when you've been spoiled by an tweaked Toyota MR2 Turbo.

 

Tell you what Buck, you're soo spoiled workin in that bodyshop mate......any jobs goin?

Jim

 

Sweet! What other 'cool' cars have you driven? Any exotics?

modded boosted MR2??? Do tell :drool"

 

Yeah, he had a belter seemingly ancient, all modded up to the hilt and did track days n stuff.
Hopefully, he'll be about and tell us about it again,probably with about 50 pics knowing Buck
He'll probably manage to slip one of his quad pipes in there too..lol

Jim

 

Cool. Talking about tracking, do you guys do auto-crossing over there? Sure we may not raise an eyebrow down a track, but I'm sure this platform turns a few heads in auto-crossing events.

 

Sorry mate, don't know what you mean......stoopid newbie n all that.
Try talkin English....lol

Jim

 

Autocross: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocross

Secondly, Jim, buy an ST200! This guy from Machester, posted a picture of his St200 on our contour forums. Gorgeous specimen.

http://www.neo-fusion.co.uk/gallery/...6/snowdon1.jpg

 

Cool...........autocross sounds great ancient although I haven't seen it here, thats not to say it doesn't exist....lol

The ST200 is an awesome car ancient, but the ST tdci is a lookalike in diesel form.
The point, is I'm tryin g to get away from petrol powered cars due to the huge cost of fuel here, that seems to be getting worse on a weekly basis.
The good thing about the ST is that it starts life at 155bhp. I'm gonna get her chipped to 193bhp and with a few tweaks here n there, she wont be far off the pace anyway and still be able to get 45+ mpg from her. Now thats what I call the best of both worlds

Bear in mind that my Saab 93 was only chipped to 175 bhp and could do 0-60 in around 8secs flat and I had her topped out at 152mph on the clock.........I'm talkin 193bhp!!!!
To be honest its more the torque than the bhp that will do the job!!

Jim

 

40bhp from a "few" tweaks????

Shesh, sounds like our engine swaps here from the 2.5L to the 3.0L. What are you guys doing to gain that much power? I understand it's diesel so that helps, but shesh, that's a nice bump of power.

Yeah, I hear ya on the gasoline price issue. America is mentally fixated in the 70's when diesel meant clouds of black smog out of tail-pipes.

 

38bhp from a customised remap of the ECU as I understand it ancient. Because its a turbocharged diesel its really the huge torque gains that offer up a real improvement.
Bear in mind that when OEM's produce Family cars they tune them for the average driver and mid range everything. When I got my Saab remapped by Saab themselves they took it from 150bhp to 175bhp. Now being the OEM they'll always always play on the safe side ( well within those parameters ) and they increased it by 25bhp, still a hefty increase but on the safe side.
38bhp is taking it a little further buy still within safety parameters, just MORRRRREEEEEE OOOOOMMMPH

Think maybe I'll need to uprate the brakes


Jim