Cast your mind back a few years to when the crossover didn’t have family saloons on the back foot, and you’ll recall that Ford once made a sporting version of the Mondeo. Called the ST220, it was powered by a 220bhp 3.0-litre V6 and despite the fact it was a bit niche, it was a brilliant car.

Fast forward to today and the market for a V6 Mondeo just isn’t there anymore, but there are still buyers who would like the look and feel of a hot family car but without the compromises of a full-fat performance model.

Enter the Mondeo ST-Line. Also available on the Fiesta, Focus and Kuga, the ST-Line trim was previously known as Zetec S and offers looks and driving dynamics inspired by the ST performance cars, but at a lower price and without sky high running costs.

The ST-Line Mondeo sits on a sports suspension that’s 10mm lower than the regular car, and also benefits from a black honeycombed grille and optional 19-inch wheels. A rear spoiler is standard on the estate version too, and to us we reckon it looks really rather good.

So does it live up to the ST name, or does it lean too heavily on sensibility rather than sportiness?

Performance

As you’d imagine for a model that fancies itself as a performance car-lite, the Mondeo ST-Line comes with the two most powerful engines in the Mondeo range, the 148bhp and 178bhp versions of the same 2.0-litre TDCi diesel engine.

A six-speed manual gearbox comes as standard, but buyers can also have the option of a Powershift automatic and four-wheel drive as optional extras, and our test car comes with the auto and the more potent engine.

With 178bhp on tap, you might expect that the Mondeo ST-Line can hustle along at a fairly spry pace and you’d be right too, with the car able to cover the 0-62mph sprint time in just 8.3 seconds.

However, we reckon you’d be able to make much better use of all those horses with the standard gearbox, as the automatic tends to be quite lazy in its shifts and makes the engine feel disappointing.

Acceleration is smooth and the car pulls well with 370Nm of torque, however, and so we’d recommend the automatic more to drivers who spend a lot of time on the motorway or who perhaps want ST looks but not ST performance.

Ride and Handling

It  won’t set your hair on fire, as a family or fleet vehicle it’s a winner

Styling aside, the revised sports suspension setup is really the only mechanical tweak that the ST-Line Mondeo gets over the regular version, with springs and dampers that are ever-so-slightly stiffer and a ride height that sits 10mm closer to the tarmac. Unfortunately, we struggled to really tell the difference between the suspension in this car and that in the regular Mondeo after driving them back to back. There are a couple more bumps that creep into the cabin, which attest to its slightly harder setup, but performance fans will probably walk away disappointed. Which isn’t to say that the Mondeo ST-Line is a bad car to drive. Far from it in fact; although it won’t set your hair on fire, as a family or fleet vehicle it’s a winner, with well-weighted steering and a composed, comfortable ride. Personally, we reckon that the ST-Line treatment serves the Focus and Fiesta better, where the suspension upgrade is more noticeable, but the Mondeo stays true to its purpose as a car for drivers who want a little more excitement without dipping their toes into proper performance car territory.

Interior and Equipment

The most powerful Ford Mondeo ever made is the current Mondeo Titanium, which comes with the option of a 238bhp EcoBoost engine.

Inside, the ST-Line Mondeo comes with a range of sportier appointments to remind you that you’re driving something that’s meant to be a little bit naughtier than your average Mondeo, with front sports seats, alloy pedals and a steering wheel upholstered in grippy perforated leather. The seats are comfortable and hug your sides well, while the exclusive ST-Line bits and bobs work well to give the interior just that little extra glamour without detracting from the Mondeo’s well put together cabin. As well as the extra sporty touches, buyers can choose to upgrade their Mondeo ST-Line with optional extras like a rear view camera, active park assist to help navigating into tight spaces, plus an automatic tailgate and Ford’s SYNC 2 sat-nav system. Seeing as it’s based on the Mondeo Estate, you also get the same 500-litre boot space, which can expand to a maximum of 1,605 litres and which offers more space than the Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer but lags behind rivals like the Skoda Superb.

Cost

Anybody who wants a proper performance estate will find the likes of the Volkswagen Golf R Estate priced tantalisingly close

The standard Ford Mondeo is priced fairly competitively in its segment, costing just over £20,000, however to get the ST-Line version you’ll have to fork out at least £25,095 or £26,595 for the estate. With £2,490’s worth of optional extras fitted, our fully-loaded test car clocked in at an eye-watering £29,835, which seems a little expensive for what’s essentially a Mondeo with a few styling add-ons. Anybody who wants a proper performance estate will find the likes of the Volkswagen Golf R Estate tantalisingly close at £33,585, while for those not bothered about the go-faster parts, it’s a lot to ask for looks alone. However, to its credit the Mondeo will be a darn sight more efficient. Ford says the 148bhp version can return up to 65.7mpg, while the more powerful version isn’t that far behind with an official rating of 62.8mpg. CO2 emissions, meanwhile, are 112g/km for the less powerful model and 117g/km for the most potent.

Our Verdict

Our major bugbear with the Mondeo ST-Line is that we can’t escape the feeling that Ford might be tooting its own horn a little too loudly by associating this car with the ST range. If it was still called Zetec S we’d have less of a problem, but to us the ST-Line Mondeo is just too much like the standard Mondeo to warrant a badge so closely associated with some of the best hot hatches around, regardless of its ‘-Line’ suffix. All the same, the ST-Line trim does offer that little bit extra for buyers and importantly doesn’t take away from the Mondeo Estate’s key strengths of comfort, practicality and plenty of kit. It certainly looks the part too, and for many that’ll be reason enough to consider one.