5k - Warm Hatch/Coupe
- Thread starter DuFFeH
- Start date
Far too underpowered, and every time you see a 197 you will cry a little inside that you didn't buy one of those.
Soldato
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- 11 Dec 2005
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- 11,364
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£5K is perfect EP3 CTR money. It would be where my money would be going. Facelift car for sure though. Can't beat the sound of vtec and very spacious inside so practical too.
Is that a long winded way of saying 'My initial assertion was a bit [testicles]'?
Certainly not underpowered. Just not as powerful as the rest of the hot-hatch market.
It's underpowered for the engine. 148bhp out of a 2.0 unit, in a car that has been branded ST, just not enough IMHO.
Coming from a 1.4 civic it was a missile lol. I understand your point but the car itself isn't underpowered. Sure, Ford should have made it 185bhp to begin with but it is plenty powerful enough for the people it was aimed at.
Also a brilliant strong engine that has seen a easy reliable 350bhp out of it with ease.
Also a brilliant strong engine that has seen a easy reliable 350bhp out of it with ease.
How much did 'with ease' set the owners back? And 'strong engine' doesn't exactly equate to old school strong engines where you could bolt on a daft turbo to create crazy jap monsters with little extra work, I bet a load of work goes into getting 350bhp from the Fiesta ST.
I will happily stand corrected.
If you can get a decent service history 197 for £6k I would recommend it - only issue I have with the older ones is that at 70mph you are sitting at about 4000rpm. Great for getting extra speed out of the engine on a motorway without changing gear but having the revs sitting up there would get tiresome, I would also suspect it affects economy on long runs. With my car with the revised gear ratios I get about 33-35mpg sitting at 65mph on cruise on a long run, the old 6th gear ratio is probably worse.
Look out for a crunch when changing either up or down into 4th gear, it's indicative of the synchro going and can mean big bills - could be easily overlooked when test driving and suddenly you're spending the best part of 1k to rectify it. Ask the owner if they've ever had any issues with it and if they've had it repaired/replaced.
Also to save pearoast - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=21429224&postcount=7388
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I never said it was cheap. You only have to go over to STOC and FFST to see how many people have done this. People have took there cars into a garage at 147bhp and come out with 300+BHP in a day, spending about 3k on 2nd hand parts.
The engine is a strong engine.
Caporegime
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Skoda Octavia VRS. MK2 for 5k.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Nothing in this thread is 'special', you don't buy this sort of car for 'special'. They are hot hatches - a Focus ST is, whilst unsuitable for a £5k budget no less 'special' than any other hot hatch.
Very true. I could see that being quite fun though, I should know
Can I suggest an Astra VXR?
[TW]Fox;22187325 said:
Shouldn't a 'hot-hatch' be special, otherwise it's just a 'hatch'? The Mk1 and Mk2 Golf GTi were hot hatches and they were both pretty special (in their time). The pug 205 GTi was special too.
I agree, you don't buy a £5k car and expect to get a 'special' car, unless you're really lucky, but most of the modern breed of hot hatches are nothing like the 'special' vehicle you expect from such a vehicle... (at least at £5k)
Just got myself a 3 series, 318 2.0litre coupe. 54plater & 55k mileage. Lovely car, drives fantastically, goes very well and sounds awesome. Had a focus previously. Not going back to Ford. Had a fiesta before the focus and family have had different Fords over the years so started with them but no end of troubles with both of them.
There is so many 3 series about now days simply because they are an awesome car. The coupe looks sexy too!
There is so many 3 series about now days simply because they are an awesome car. The coupe looks sexy too!
So what about a Focus ST stops it being 'special' in a way those cars were? Sure it isn't the Nostalgia speaking? Styling and interior wise they were closer to the regular cars back then than a Focus ST is to a Focus Zetec today..
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