Focus ST 2.5 owner opinons?

n3crius

n3crius

n3crius

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just wondered if there are any owners on here that can offer some kind of generalised opinion on your focus. how good is it, do you love it, can you convince me to get one, etc.

i really like the look of these monsters just never really heard from an owner.
 
Hi there

In my view they seem a far more complete all round package compared to other cars. Excellent torque, lots of power and superb handling. Nice looking too, certainly a very usable car with great tuning potential. :)
 
Gibbo has such a high opinion of the car, he told us twice! (and added a bit extra the second time round!) :D

Looking at a Focus myself, though probably 2.0 Zetec. :)
 
n3crius said:
just wondered if there are any owners on here that can offer some kind of generalised opinion on your focus. how good is it, do you love it, can you convince me to get one, etc.

i really like the look of these monsters just never really heard from an owner.
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I have one, what can i say about the car, fantastic engine, loads of power,loads of torque and bloody lovely noise (not as nice as gibbo's 'stang tho :p ).

Its actually pretty refined (or tame) for a hot hatch, if you are looking for a track monster the CTR is better bet, you can certainly feel the big engine up front so you cant really drive it like hot hatches in the past, as it is a big heavy car, that said ride and handling are still superb and it will still match up well on the twisties with other motors.

Fit and finish is good, obviously not in the same league as a golf on the interior side of things, but dash is good quality, and theres plenty of soft touch material, the seats in the ST3 are lovely.

Its not the prettiest of cars out there but i dont think any of the hatches are pretty tbh.

Bad bits, well it drinks fuel, on the motorway if you stick religiously to 70mph, you will just scrape 32mpg, town driving gives you 22-25mpg, i generally get 28, it also eats tyres, my fronts will last 15k tops.The wheels also get kerbed too easily,but thats the price you pay for 18" rims.The other thing that annoys me is the armrest, its too hard (or im too soft :p ) and thge boot is way too small, i can just fit a set of golf clubs in (dunno why i bother i cant hit the ball for toffer :p )

Other than those things im happy as larry,i have covered 12k in 4 months and not had a single problem.

If im honest i dunno whether i would buy one with my own money tho, a golf is going to hold its value better and id be inclined to get one of those, apart from the golf, the ST has no competitors.Actually i would buy the ST again, just for the damn engine, it really is a peach of a motor.
 
I have an ST. As woohoo says, it's an excellent car as an all round package. The power, torque, noise, handling, steering feel and brakes are all superb. The interior quality is great, but could be better. The seats are wonderful. Servicing costs are minimal and insurance is reasonable too. I insured it easily at 22.

The downsides of the car for me are the economy (22mpg average over 7k miles), the rattles, the rate at which it eats tyres and the image - especially given that mine is Orange. :p

If the Focus was the same price as the Golf GTI, I'd probably buy the latter. As the ST-2 works out around 3k cheaper than the Golf for roughly the same spec, it's good value for money compared to the competition.

As for convincing you, there's no need. Book a test drive and see for yourself. :D
 
sloth said:
I have an ST. As woohoo says, it's an excellent car as an all round package. The power, torque, noise, handling, steering feel and brakes are all superb. The interior quality is great, but could be better. The seats are wonderful. Servicing costs are minimal and insurance is reasonable too. I insured it easily at 22.

The downsides of the car for me are the economy (22mpg average over 7k miles), the rattles, the rate at which it eats tyres and the image - especially given that mine is Orange. :p

If the Focus was the same price as the Golf GTI, I'd probably buy the latter. As the ST-2 works out around 3k cheaper than the Golf for roughly the same spec, it's good value for money compared to the competition.

As for convincing you, there's no need. Book a test drive and see for yourself. :D
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No rattles in mine btw.

Out of interest, how are you finding the ESp in this weather? mine is getting all nanny state on me as the tyres are down to 3-4mm, reaaaly annoying.
 
ESP is fine with mine if you behave yourself. Full throttle in 2nd going round roundabouts/right corners in the wet (it's fun though!) will always make it misbehave, but otherwise it's fine. I can happily get all of the power down in the wet while moving without wheel spinning.

I was experimenting the other day and the amount of grip the car has in the wet seems phenomenal! Apply it all at once coming out of tight bend and it'll do as you expect. Apply the power gradually, but quickly, and you can cover a lot of road very very quickly!

Perhaps in a few thousand miles time things might be different though. :p

What tyres does your ST have? Mine came with Goodyear Excellences.
 
I had a test drive in one of these, and I have to say the model I drove was lovely. I drove the Top Spec one there are three levels to chose from and this one had the leather seats etc etc. I knew the Salesman from school so he let me appply the relevant amount of right foot where the roads permitted and I was truly happy with the performance.

It drove really well and the dealer offered me a fair enough part ex. The only thing that put me off was the waiting list and the limited amount of colours they could not gurantee what and when would be avaialble. Also the Stereo Unit was being recalled and again could not gurantee what I was getting or what the replacement would be. If they could have given me a bit better sales service I would have gone for it, but in the end the countles phone calls and what seemed to a complete shot i the dark I decided to stay with what I have got.
 
I've had similar experiences with Conti Sport Contact 2's on my Mondeo ST - once they got below 4mm they were awful - the noise increased, they tramlined quite badly and had the ESP light going like a disco. Just replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport 2's and the car feels much better now. This has happened twice - I changed the fronts at 13k with about 3mm left and moved the rears to the front. It will be interesting to see if the Michelins go the same way.
 
Fatboy said:
I had a test drive in one of these, and I have to say the model I drove was lovely. I drove the Top Spec one there are three levels to chose from and this one had the leather seats etc etc. I knew the Salesman from school so he let me appply the relevant amount of right foot where the roads permitted and I was truly happy with the performance.

It drove really well and the dealer offered me a fair enough part ex. The only thing that put me off was the waiting list and the limited amount of colours they could not gurantee what and when would be avaialble. Also the Stereo Unit was being recalled and again could not gurantee what I was getting or what the replacement would be. If they could have given me a bit better sales service I would have gone for it, but in the end the countles phone calls and what seemed to a complete shot i the dark I decided to stay with what I have got.
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Whats wrong with the radio? havent heard (pardon the pun) anything about
that over on STOC.

The waiting lists are still ridiculous for a mass produced car, how could ford get their forcasts so wrong on this, its common sense, cheap fast car = sales by the bucket loads :confused:
 
wohoo said:
Whats wrong with the radio? havent heard (pardon the pun) anything about
that over on STOC.

The waiting lists are still ridiculous for a mass produced car, how could ford get their forcasts so wrong on this, its common sense, cheap fast car = sales by the bucket loads :confused:
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It was the second thing my m8 told me, The stereo in this car is in the Spec but not the one you will be getting as there is a fault.

The list thing I could not believe, the wait was about 6 months for the car but certain colours were not available and it went on a week to week basis. They could gurnatee a car within 6 months but not what colour it would be.

At the time there were next to no second hand options and it was all a bit vague. They really did expect me to hit and hope. At that sort of price and for a brand new car you want to know what you are getting and when.

I could not fault the car though honestly it drove very very well, and considering the office that I work in and the cars I have been in trust me this is a very re-warding driving experience. It fits into so many gaps in the market it is not true. It can be a day to day vehicle and even people who comute, it can be a family car and the best bit on a sunday you can drive you like you stole it.

If it was not for the dealer being so unsure and unable to give me anything other than vague shots in the dark I would definately be driving one today.

Also on the modding front there is a company called Wolf or something like that offer very good tuning options.
 
Your mates telling you porkies, the std fit in the st3 is the sony 6cd unit and thats still being supplied, the ST2 has the same unit but it has mp3 instead 6 cd built in.

Yeah wolf are offering some fantastic mods, but it aint cheap :(
 
wohoo said:
Your mates telling you porkies, the std fit in the st3 is the sony 6cd unit and thats still being supplied, the ST2 has the same unit but it has mp3 instead 6 cd built in.

Yeah wolf are offering some fantastic mods, but it aint cheap :(
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Indeed, absolutely spot on.

Any questions, feel free to ask, had mine just over 11 months, so have a really good opinion of them.

Excellent car, test drive one and it will do all *** speaking for it's self
 
Stonedofmoo said:
Lower spec than a T5. smaller turbo etc so not the same power potential out of the box.
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Are you sure, most T5s are only 225bhp using a 16g turbo. If it had a 14g that would be the same turbo used on the T4s. I know T5s can be chipped to 280bhp what can the ST acheive?

EDIT: Saying that the 225 T5s are 2.3 and 2.5s are 250bhp i guess.
 
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It's a shame that rather than going with the Volvo unit they didnt look at developing a forced induction version of their own 2.5 engine, as that would have given Mondeo owners something to set their sights on!

Maybe they looked at it and it wasn't possible, who knows.
 
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