Thinking of buying an ST-3

Imy

Imy

Imy

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Warwickshire, UK
I noticed a lot of ST's on Auto Trader have had 2 owners, even the low mileage ones. Is this something to be concerned about?

I'll be looking at the ST-3 face lift model (2008 onwards). Are there any options I should keep an eye out for that's worth having?

Also any common issues I should be aware of or look out for?
 
I'm looking at buying an ST at the moment. I'd expect the low mileage/owners issue due to people not researching properly and being caught out by the running costs of them, with fuel prices as they are at the moment, 20MPG might cause a few owners to sell up.

Common issues seems to be the alternator (3Years/35K), Power Steering hose, oil filter diaphragm.
 
I'm the second onwer of mine, things that I would think have made people sell up would likely be running costs I'm down in the low 20MPG at the minute.

Common faults Oil Diaphragm housing goes, I think this was rectified for the facelift version. CV boot has went on my drivers side, and quite a few other cars. Alternators are weak like a lot of the Focus range, might be alright with a facelift version, but don't quote me.

Mines up to 300BHP at the minute, standard the cars are good but even with just a remap they're far superior.

Not many options for it really I don't think, just climate control, and sat nav, possibly sun roof (quite rare).

In saying that, I love the car and love driving it.
 
Those issues don't sound too expensive to fix or am I wrong? Although the alternator only last 35k miles is a bit poor.

With regards to the fuel consumption, what MPG can I expect with "normal" driving in the following scenarios?
  1. My current journey to work: 5 miles of fast A-road followed by 8 miles of stop-start.
  2. Motorway only @ 70mph
  3. Motorway only @ 80mph
  4. Motorway only @ 90mph
 
Fairly high of numbers of owners for the age of car seems to be fairly normal for these, think people buy them and then discover how thirsty they are!

Being powerful, turbocharged and FWD they munch tyres, for me I'd want a car with relatively few owners and premium tyres all round, that would give me some assurance its been looked after and not been run on a shoestring or buy someone who would cut corners. Alas like most fast Fords these have significant chav appeal and there are plenty of cars around now at the lower end of the market which will not have been well looked after and will have led a hard life.

As for options, if I was buying one I'd want privacy glass and also climate control (fairly rare on these, and it was an extra cost option on even the ST-3 model up until late 2009 I believe when it became standard on the ST-3).

Mountune power upgrade is factory approved and desirable, gives you a claimed 260bhp but you will often find cars that are nearer 280 with this package. The mountune upgraded cars can often be insured without additional cost depending on insurer, as it was an 'optional extra' from the manufacturer (it could be fitted at time of purchase by the dealer prior to delivery, or as an aftermarket retro-fit).
 
My cars on 48K at the minute, I'm expecting the alternator to go at some point though.

Oil filter diaphragm cost me £150 from volvo for the part, and a morning to replace it, but like I said should be ok on the later facelift cars.

For your journey I'd say mid 20's. Motorways, I get about 35 at a constant 70mph, after that it drops a bit.

As above cost me £500 for 4 Conti SC3 tyres for mine.

I'd only get Mountune if you're bothered about warranty personally, after that I don't particular rate them, theres better stuff that's cheaper, especially if you buy 2nd hand from the owners club. If you know someone with a garage or are competant a lot of the stuff is easy to do yourself.
 
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How many miles before the fronts need replacing?

The motorway figure don't seem too bad, I get around 34mpg in my MK1 Focus 2.0l.

Mid 20's for the mixed driving would be acceptable. Low 20's would annoy me if it was constantly that.
 
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Imy said:
How many miles before the fronts need replacing?

The motorway figure don't seem too bad, I get around 34mpg in my MK1 Focus 2.0l.

Mid 20's for the mixed driving would be acceptable. Low 20's would annoy me if it was constantly that.
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Depends on how heavy your right foot is, mine is at just over 300bhp and will happily spin the fronts up on a dry road AT 50-60MPH even with ESP on.
 
Falkens on the front which are not the greatest i must admit but, going through a set every 3 months i got fed up paying out for the Goodyear's. The Jamsport setup is a lot of fun though RS injectors/plugs/decat/Mongoose exhaust/DS cas and remapped.
 
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CS||nuTs said:
My commute is 2000 miles a month, other than getting a "Back to the Future"......
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It's still low, I used to get a good 10,000 miles out of the fronts of my Cupra R with 265BHP through the fronts.

Sounds like you are being far too aggressive either on the throttle or in the corners.
 
paradigm said:
It's still low, I used to get a good 10,000 miles out of the fronts of my Cupra R with 265BHP through the fronts.

Sounds like you are being far too aggressive either on the throttle or in the corners.
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Quite possibly, lots of roundabouts in MK though :D
 
Imy said:
Those issues don't sound too expensive to fix or am I wrong? Although the alternator only last 35k miles is a bit poor.

With regards to the fuel consumption, what MPG can I expect with "normal" driving in the following scenarios?
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From the research I did when looking at these a few months back...

My current journey to work: 5 miles of fast A-road followed by 8 miles of stop-start.
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High 20s on the A road, then high teens for the stop-start.

Motorway only @ 70mph
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Might well see 30MPG here if you drive considerately (don't use brake too often).

Motorway only @ 80mph
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Mid-high 20s.

Motorway only @ 90mph
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Low-mid 20s.
 
Ouch, thanks for all the replies. Looks like my average fuel consumption will be around 23mpg.

I do around 8k miles a year currently so would it be reasonable to expect the fronts to last a year on a stock ST-3?
 
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Would £120/corner get you premium tyres on an ST? I pay around £80/corner atm for Bridgestones.
 
Like I was saying, I got my Conti Sport Contact 3's at Christmas for £125 fitted a corner, they're about £140 fitted on blackcircles at the minute, same for Eagle F1 A2's. You can get both of those, but only delivered from Camskill for £117 each currently.
 
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