Ford Focus ST

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Hey guys I am soon to come into some money and looking to spend 6-8k on a car. I have now set my heart (after much internal debate) on a Focus ST-2/3, I have been looking at a few but am not able to buy for 4-6 weeks is there anything obvious I need to look out for and what price ranges should I expect.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.
 
For that price you'll be looking at pre-facelift versions.

Obvious difference between the ST2 & ST3 are, ST3 will have leather seats and a 6 CD Sony head unit, bear in mind if you get an ST3 you lose a rear seat so can only have 3 passengers in the car.

If you're looking at older cars, there's two types of headlights on them, one has a silver housing, one has a black housing, newer ones have the black housing, the clocks may also be a different colour on these cars.

Things to look out for;

- The oil filter diaphragm is a weakness on older cars, ideally you want one which either had the revised one to start with or one that's been repaired with a revised one. If it's blown on the car, and the car has been boosted too much, it will have sucked oil through the camshaft oil seals, so they're knackered and need replacing, (best done when you get a cambelt change) you can run the car fine for ages with them blown, you just lose a little bit oil, so check for oil leaks around the camshaft cover if they say the diaphragm housing has been replaced.

- Alternators are known to be weak, and will eventually go, mines hasn't went yet (56k).

- Front wishbone bushes are oil filled and degrade very quickly, mine were swapped for polybushes earlier this year, and there was no oil in them whatsoever. So check them or ask about them if you can.

- Drivers side CV boot is a common thing to go as well, fairly cheap to repair with just a new boot, if you know the right people.

- If you mod it, some specific older clutches can't handle teh power increase, and will start to slip, so an RS clutch is needed.

People will say older engines are weaker, which isn't proven IMO, there's plenty of older engines going strong, and mine was going fine over 310BHP for over a year and would have continued to do so IMO, had the water system not pressurised and dumped all the coolant, lol.

You should be fine if you're looking at well serviced tidy examples, just the points above may have never happened, so it's something you'll either have to look out and see if you can spot, or accept it and rectify it when they happen.

Check out the Focus ST thread on here, and join up on the STOC forum as well. The good thing about living up here aswell is, one of the members does pretty much everything you could ever need on the ST and decent prices, for fitting mods, or just fixing problems.
 
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Thanks mate, very informative, my only issue is i know the very very bare minimal about cars, love to drive but no idea what go's on and when i do purchase one i'll be sure to make myself a member to the owners club :-) i was once a member of the Peugeot GTi owners club was always fun
 
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Luckily as you're in the North East you've got the legend that is John-ST3 available to you. He's the guy most of us go to if we ever have a problem or if a mod needs fitting.

People say a remap completely transforms the car, I didn't think it would be that different not knowing any better as this was my first turbo'd car. My god, it's like driving a petrol turbo for the first time again :D

Here's my quick rough guide that I keep handy :)

A few things to get you started:
22-25MPG average
55L tank costing around £70 to fill with V-Power
240-280 miles typical range
30+ achievable on a long run (I did a 360 mile round trip to Liverpool and back to Newcastle and got 35MPG)
Tyres are £80 a corner for midrange, up to around £115 for premium

Common Faults:
Alternator - £200-£250 (although I keep seeing £400-£450 mentioned)
Oil Filter Diaphragm - £150-200 (Cheapest is currently £146) - Revised part fitted as standard to the Facelifts - 2008 onwards
Slipping Clutch (Occurs normally only after remapping) - £725-£850
Undertray being obliterated - £53.23

Modding:
Remaps: Stage 1: 250-270bhp (Can be done on a completely stock car)
Remaps: Stage 2+ Completely depends on the tuner. Collins Stage 2 for example requires full mods but is 320bhp, while Bluefin can be put on a stock car but will only run around 270bhp.
Intercoolers: £260-£500
Full Exhausts: £600-£1,000
Induction Kits: £250-£400
Eibach Springs: £200 fitted (Most say this is a necessity)
Bilstein b8: £550
RARB: £150-£200
 
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Thanks, think i'll enjoy the car as it comes for a while before I no doubt get bitten by the bug. The information however is priceless :D
 
8K might just get you in a facelift these days. Plenty of ST's about.

I had a pre-faclift. I really enjoyed it. They are thirsty though ( very tricky to get much above 30mpg, even on a long run), and a bit breathless in the high rev range. Lovely noise though and the low down, in gear torque is great.

I had my front seat support bar crack which needed replacing and i have since read that it can be a fairly commonish fault in these. Fortunately i got it down under warranty but it would have been a lot of labour if not ( have to take the seat apart basically, part is only £30)
 
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£8k will see you into a high mileage facelift ST, or a very tidy low mileage pre-facelift.

I would highly recommend the ST-3, simply for the leather recaros, as the cloth ones look cheap and have nasty colours on them IMO.

The modding bug hasn't hit me yet, my facelift ST3 came with eibachs (watch out for speed bumps and high kerbs) and a K&N filter. My next step is definitely a Collins stage 1 remap with a new intercooler.

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Love the colour of your ST Ross.

easily the best colour for the car imho.

makes it look much more understated than it is.

dont think i have ever seen an ST in that colour on the road before, is it a FL only colour?
 
rjkoneill said:
Love the colour of your ST Ross.

easily the best colour for the car imho.

makes it look much more understated than it is.

dont think i have ever seen an ST in that colour on the road before, is it a FL only colour?
Click to expand...

Thanks dude

I was aiming for the understated look :)

Nope it's available in pre-facelift too, not sure if the colour code is different, but they are both called "Sea Grey"
 
ah yeah, its an option on the fiesta zetec s too.

shame they never had it on the fiesta ST too. really nice colour in the metal on the Zetec S so i reckon it would look superb on a focus.

makes it a bit of a sleeper anyway, well, compared to the ASBO orange ones :p
 
That was the aim really, I wanted the power and looks, but without the "look at me" status of the white/orange.

I've always been a grey colour fan too. I love your EP3, and if I were to ever get one, it would be in that colour!!
 
Wow, that really is a beautiful car, I can only express jealousy haha, my only concern is that my lack of knowledge of cars may lead to buying something below par, plus I don't know any mates who are into cars!
 
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