Fiesta ST

We have a 55 plate Fiesta ST. I love the look of it and at the moment its completely standard as its really my wifes car!
In terms of performance its not bad, not the fastest in its class and some say not great for a 2l engine. There are some cheap mods such as the K&N Induction kit and replacing the flexy pipe which can be done for about £250 or so.
My biggest gripe is that it needs a 6th gear and motorway driving can be noisy as the engine is revving quite high in 5th gear.

Other than that I look out the window and smile every time I see it, oh and i'm 38!!
 
182 could do with a 6th gear too. Sits at just under 3000rpm @70mph.

Other than a brake upgrade, stripping weight and a remap there's not much point unless you want to spend a couple of grand on ITB's or more recently JMS have a new inlet manifold for £1800 which will boost it to just over 190bhp and doesn't affect any of the existing body.

You could have lots of fun with £6k for a turbo :) Brakes or don't bother. Buy a more tuneable car.
 
Having driven the Fiesta ST I was really disappointed, it didn't feel like a quick or warm hatch at all compared with a Clio, Civic or even my car.

I'm sure it's a pretty good car for someone after something midly warm but with the running costs of a 2.0l N/A engine I'd be wanting something quicker personally.

It did hold the road better than the Clio though.
 
Clio 182 is a better car for the same money as a Fiesta mate, test drive them both and see what you prefer. There is a reason why the Clio is so popular!
 
Thinking about it if you were to modify the ST surely your premium would shoot up a massive amount. Reason why the ST is a few groups down (on the old group system) from the Clio is because it's generally very constricted by the intake & exhaust system as standard. Doing anything to gain any real power would involve removing these and probaly putting you into Clio premium territory.

Worth waiting untill you can afford to insure a modded ST/ stock Clio? Or just leave the ST as standard.

Either way both are fun cars.
 
Not the best of ideas, with him being unable to insure a renault clio?

iirc he has an Oldham postcode, which is 1 IG better than Beirut:p

Not impossible but not feasible.

OL postcode but in Rochdale, which is just slightly behind the Warzone that Oldham is. I dunno why the 2 towns share this dreaded postcode :confused:
 
Hi Guys,

Just my two cents, fiesta st is a decent hot hatch, not the best though. A mate of mine has me work on his. I would advise it pointless to modify though, your not gonna see much just move the power around the rev range. Handling wise they are pretty good standard as long as you use decent rubber. I must admit though when I drove one I was suprised how well it handled, just the right amount of slide with the ability to steer on throttle. However the fiesta st is nothing special. Its just a 2.0l focus engine in a small car.


As said a clio 182 is by far the superior hot hatch, handling and power wise, out of the box a hoot to drive. Renault also seem to have got better reliability wise, however still full of irritating driver aids. Although the cup model doesn't have these. They also have good low rev torque meaning decent city driving mpg.

You could go for a Subaru but be very careful there are a lot of dogs around nowadays. You also cannot compare the running costs of a scooby to that of a hot hatch.

If you can insure one a higher mileage civic type r is a good bet as long as it has service history. Dont believe the hype these arn't as reliable as the honda type r's from the 90's but with decent history are a good buy. If I had 5k to spend then a 182 or a type r would be what i'd have if I wanted something newer. However if that wasn't a problem a DC2 integra, EK9 civic type r from the late 90's would be what i'd buy. Even Accord type r's do for under 3k nowadays and they are bulletproof.

Being a spanner monkey I see the very bowels of cars regularly if you need any advise just ask.
 
Not sure about the fiesta ST, but I currently own a focus ST and it's a great car to drive and very relaxing.

The fiesta doesn't have anywhere near the same kind of power or setup, but I suppose the basics are similar :P
 
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I have a Fiesta ST and whilst I do like it when I'm on the right road (read as, a twisty back road with little traffic), the fact that it is so rattly and the engine so coarse sounding just annoys me :(. I don't even mind it being so loud, if it sounded good, but it just sounds a bit rough from inside the cabin frankly...
 
The one I test driven, was fairly quiet unless floored.

Turned out the bodywork wasn't all that, and there was a bumper scuff I didn't notice unless it happened since yesterday or the rain and dreary day disguised it.

Oh and 4 worn tyres down to the legal limit.

Back to the drawing board again.
 
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