Focus ST170 Buying Guide
- Thread starter russ9898
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Soldato
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- 17 Mar 2004
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- 8,259
russ9898 said:
I had one. They come with comfort and climate packs as an option. comfort has full Recaro seats, amp and bass. Climate, comes with climate control, heated front window and xenons.
Awesome car, but somewhat lacking in power 170BHP is pretty adequate a bit slow of the line as its quite heavy.
Only fault I had was the idle control valve which got replaced, apart from that good as gold. Kinda sucker for attracting dents, stones etc seem to love leaving a dent here and there, something all my other cars have been fine on for some reason.
Problems, a main one is that the early ones had a short accelerator cable, so vibration through the accelerator pedal was common, a fix cured this. The inlet manifold which changes over at 7.5 k (kinda like a weak vtec) tended to break as well, another thing which is common. Other thing was a vibration though the gear stick when accelerating hard in 1st and 2nd, mostly all suffer from this, nothing the dealers can fix for some reason.
As a whole a very nice car, look the part, handle very well on the twistys and will see around 320miles to a tank of fuel.
Like Morba mentioned FFOC is very good, but suckers make you pay now! But if you do buy one, a awesome site to subscribe too. Someone has a turboed ST running 300BHP and another which has been supercharged seeing close to that too
thepharcyde has covered everything you need to know, go for the latest version that you can as they tend to be slightly better screwed together.
The changeover is at 5.5k, your prolly thinking of the rev limiter.
Until you hit a corner, the Focus has far superior handling.
thepharcyde said:
The changeover is at 5.5k, your prolly thinking of the rev limiter.
Bes said:
Until you hit a corner, the Focus has far superior handling.
the focus handling regarded as being good then?
i was looking into a clio 172 which is regarded as having the best modern day hot hatch handling. However i already have a 1.2 clio....so concerned about not feeling the benefit of a new car. I also want a slightly larger car. With the focus being 6 speed should also be a little better cruising at speed? or is the extra gear there purely to improve acceleration?
i was looking into a clio 172 which is regarded as having the best modern day hot hatch handling. However i already have a 1.2 clio....so concerned about not feeling the benefit of a new car. I also want a slightly larger car. With the focus being 6 speed should also be a little better cruising at speed? or is the extra gear there purely to improve acceleration?
I had one for a while, whilst they werent worth the 17-18k list price at the time, it was actually a bloody good car, handling spot one, the ride was excellent too,my only gripe was the early learning centre dashboard.
Id have it over a leon (std cupra) or a rover tbh,leons have more power but the focus is better drivers car imo.
I have had a couple of ST's from the ford range, i currently have the new Focus ST, and in all honesty i preferred the ST170, my new one is a lard bucket
If was buying new now, it'd have to be a Golf GTI first,and a ST second, but second hand, you cant go wrong with the ST, but i really would consider the clio, its quite possibily one of the best hothatches ever, even better than the 205 GTI, the only problem with the Clio is that its a bit fragile.
Id have it over a leon (std cupra) or a rover tbh,leons have more power but the focus is better drivers car imo.
I have had a couple of ST's from the ford range, i currently have the new Focus ST, and in all honesty i preferred the ST170, my new one is a lard bucket
If was buying new now, it'd have to be a Golf GTI first,and a ST second, but second hand, you cant go wrong with the ST, but i really would consider the clio, its quite possibily one of the best hothatches ever, even better than the 205 GTI, the only problem with the Clio is that its a bit fragile.
wohoo said:I had one for a while, whilst they werent worth the 17-18k list price at the time, it was actually a bloody good car, handling spot one, the ride was excellent too,my only gripe was the early learning centre dashboard.
Id have it over a leon (std cupra) or a rover tbh,leons have more power but the focus is better drivers car imo.
I have had a couple of ST's from the ford range, i currently have the new Focus ST, and in all honesty i preferred the ST170, my new one is a lard bucket
If was buying new now, it'd have to be a Golf GTI first,and a ST second, but second hand, you cant go wrong with the ST, but i really would consider the clio, its quite possibily one of the best hothatches ever, even better than the 205 GTI, the only problem with the Clio is that its a bit fragile.
lol im used to how fragile the clio is now, with a little tlc they tend to stay decent. i took a 172 for a test drive last sunday, think if i get time over this weekend ill go take another 172 out and an st. Not in a rush to buy yet
russ9898 said:
Yep, its the rear suspension setup, makes it a rather nice handling car. 6th gear can be used from 40mph+, helps a lot with regards to fuel economy.
The 172 is probably the best hot hatch of recent years, however if you already have a clio then that may change your decision, especially if your looking for a bigger car.
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Soldato
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- 24 Dec 2004
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The ZS180 is a surprisingly good car, and at least equal to the Focus IMO
Even Evo likes it: http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/48799/mg_zs_180.html
My advice would be to forget the jokes/age and try it and try a Focus and see which you prefer
Even Evo likes it: http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/48799/mg_zs_180.html
My advice would be to forget the jokes/age and try it and try a Focus and see which you prefer