The Ford Contour SVT is one of our favourite American cars from the 1990s for many reasons, one of which being that it was underestimated by many. Ford had a very similar car on sale here in Europe, wearing the Mondeo ST200 moniker and based on what was called the Mondeo MK2. It was not an actual second generation of the model but a major facelift for the Mondeo MK1 which, in turn, was introduced as a brand new nameplate for the 1993 model year on the Old Continent.
The Mondeo ST200 is still a heavily praised no-frills performance vehicle on this side of the pond, especially in the United Kingdom where you can buy one for as little as a few hundred pounds. That’s exactly what the Drivetribe team did, purchasing a lovely performance blue Mondeo ST200 as a daily ride.
The Mondeo's future:
Their car was produced way back in 2000 and currently has approximately 150,000 miles (241,000 kilometres) on the odometer. Originally, the 2.5-litre V6 naturally aspirated engine under the bonnet produced 202 bhp (151 kilowatts) and 173 pound-feet (235 Newton-metres) of torque. How many of these ponies are still alive after two decades on the road? Let’s find out.
Drivetribe took the Mondeo ST200 to a dyno and the best result they got was 169.37 bhp (126.29 kW). It’s important to note that the dyno was converting the wheel horsepower directly to crank power, which means we are comparing apples to apples here - essentially, the V6 engine has lost approximately 33 bhp (24.6 kW).
That’s not surprising at all. A lot of factors are contributing to the reduced output, including dirty air filter, dodgy spark plugs, carbon build-up, worn fuel pump and injectors, and many more. The good news is that Drivetribe will be restoring the lovely Mondeo ST200 and we’ll be eager to see the dyno results once all the work is done.
Gallery: 2000 Ford Mondeo ST200
Source: Drivetribe