Focus ST

Sam

Sam

Sam

Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2003
Posts
14,488
Location
Surrey
These seem to be cheap as chips these days and i should be able to get a decent pre facelift ST3 (57)

Owners and people who have driven them, what do you think ? They sound great and with a decent exhaust system remap and new air box can push 300 BHP. I’m a big fan of fords and think that i will really enjoy one of these. The VX is up for sale at the moment, it’s a nice car but not having a practical car has been driving me nuts so i want something that’s a bit easier to live with. Suggestions are welcome, I’m tempted by an integra Type R but they seem allot of money :s

Help me make my mind up, the VX has been up for sale now for a week and ive had loads of intrest so hopefully it wont be too bad to sell .....

Sam
 
Very nice drive and a lot of creature comforts compared to the VX. Considering one of these for my next car ST3 in Orange :)
 
panthro said:
Not tempted by something else? i.e. For the money you could push to a hawkeye STI.
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Hmmm an STI is something i have been thinking about but the focus would have warranty and i loved the fact that when the clio broke renault would simply collect it fix it and drop it off again and i tend to drive my cars pretty hard resulting in lots of visits to the garage :p

CS||nuTs said:
Very nice drive and a lot of creature comforts compared to the VX. Considering one of these for my next car ST3 in Orange :)
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I would want one in Asbo Orange too, i would then spray the wheels gloss black :) White or Orange are the only 2 colours i will have

mr tommo said:
All your previous cars have been pretty rare/special. A Focus ST would just ruin that trend :p
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This is true, problem is to get something with decent performance etc something "special" is going to be too expensive

My budget is £12500 :)
 
Loads of nice examples with very low mileage on PH from 10k Up. Used to have one in Orange as a pool car when i worked for Jaguar.
Always took it home everytime i got a chance.
 
Sam said:
Hmmm an STI is something i have been thinking about but the focus would have warranty and i loved the fact that when the clio broke renault would simply collect it fix it and drop it off again and i tend to drive my cars pretty hard resulting in lots of visits to the garage :p


My budget is £12500 :)
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You'd be surprised at how tough the Impreza is! Certainly wouldnt be visiting the garage as frequently as a renault. You can get such good bargains on them at the moment, plus the fuel economy is very similar to the ST. Im more biased towards the Impreza, absolutely love them :)
 
Z4?

I can see how the ST appeals though. If I wasn't going to uni this year I would be buying one of the two.
 
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Somewhat OT, but out of interest I just quoted myself up on a 350Z. Bearing in mind my current car is an EP3 Type-R and my renewal quote with Direct Line came out at £426 inc. protected no claims.

The 350Z came out at £420/year!! O_o
 
I think you would get bored of the ST to quickly, there nice cars don't get me wrong, but your going from a balls out compromise car to one that, frankly, compromises quite a bit (hatchback, FWD etc etc)
 
DrDee said:
I think you would get bored of the ST to quickly, there nice cars don't get me wrong, but your going from a balls out compromise car to one that, frankly, compromises quite a bit (hatchback, FWD etc etc)
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I get the impression from Sam's other thread that being FWD is one of the plus points as he was having trouble keeping up with his mates in their cars due to VX being a bit twitchy (insert obligatory "should've went for the Elise comment here)
 
eidolon said:
I get the impression from Sam's other thread that being FWD is one of the plus points as he was having trouble keeping up with his mates in their cars due to VX being a bit twitchy (insert obligatory "should've went for the Elise comment here)
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Dont get me wrong it has not put me off buying another RWD car again. The problem with the VX is that it does not "DO" our roads that well so put aside the twitchy aspect hammering it down a country lane following your mate in his ST its bloody hard work to keep up. That is where a lot of my driving is done ....

The VX220 is great but needs to be tracked a lot IMO to use the cars true potential otherwise your driving around in a shoebox with crap heating and uncomfy seats for nothing.

The RWD aspect isnt a problem, i cant drive it as fast as i could drive my trophy but that is too be expected. I have only had around 2 months of dry weather and only one track day to play with it and to be honest half of that time its been off the bloody road broken. I just want something that i can jump into when ever i want (rain or shine) and drive the nuts off like all my previous cars ....

Sam :)
 
I'd be test driving all other similar cars before hand though to make sure I was making the right choice.

So that's the ST, Astra VXR, Mazda 3 MPS, Volvo S40 T5 etc....

£12500 is a lot to put down on something when there is something else you may prefer.
 
I may be biased here but spend £10000-£11000 on a VXR and then a spend £2000 on a remap, RARB and some springs and you'll have a car that will outrun pretty much all of its rivals on the straights and in the twisties.
 
From what you have said about your spending on your others cars, and the work which you have done on that VX, i really do not think you will find an M3's bill's come at all as a shock. People seriously seriously overplay running costs on this forum (i guess due to the typical demographic).

M3 is the best car for the budget, and will be no more expensive to maintain than what you are seasoned to.
 
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