How many Focus ST owners on here

I must say the new facelift ST is a very good looking car. Wasnt completely taken with the pre facelift but they have got the front spot on on the new one.
 
Buckster said:
prob different/less sensitive on the STs- but can the stability control do some strange things on the Focuses ?

I drove the Focus Ecoboost I picked up the other day - was going round a roundabout that is local to me applied a bit of gas on exit - and unlike my previous ancient car with no stability control (but had LSD) which worst case would give a bit of understeer - the new car seemed to suddenly do its own thing and instead of tightening up the line actually seemed to chuck me to the left. Maybe it thought I was in a skid ??? Possible the amount of grit from gritters etc had made the surface bad - not sure, or maybe as a Turbo'd engine the sudden torque unsettled the car. I was not going very fast at all (way under speed limit).
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Could it be that it understeered more than you'd expected? with an ST you would be able to do this pretty much at will in damp/wet conditions though usually I'd only try it on exiting a roundabout where there was more space. Quite often the ESP/traction control would catch this and cut the power but on occasion with ESP turned off it would be possible to get caught out quite easily and you'd be on the wrong side of the road before you knew it.

In comparison with LSD fitted it's the opposite and ESP kicks in too early as it still expects the car to understeer when in fact it'd dig in and pull itself round the corner instead.

Jono8 said:
I must say the new facelift ST is a very good looking car. Wasnt completely taken with the pre facelift but they have got the front spot on on the new one.
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The front end on facelifted mk3 is growing on me but soon come down to earth every time I count the number of doors it has.
 
Liquidfox said:
Dead easy, whip the wipers off, scuttle panel off. Take the negative off, then the positive. The cover in front of the battery pops out so you can slide the whole thing out, then reverse for the new one. Only issue is getting a socket deep enough to get the brace off the top of the battery. Took me about 15 minutes once I found a socket deep enough.

10mm is what you need :)
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Ta! Hadn't thought to take the scuttle off. Will do it tomorrow if its dry.
 
tl45 said:
Think you may even be able to do it without removing the scuttle panel?

I've had mine out but the scuttle panel was already off as I was hunting down an elusive creaking noise....
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You can, but it's much more difficult to remove the negative first that way. You can't actually get anything on it due to the clearance.
 
Guys, can you educate me on the STs. Just sold my 2007 Audi S3 and in need of a replacement. The Audi was the best car I've ever owned, but also the worst. It just lacked something... fun, soul, character? I don't know.

Without coming across as a troll, I've never really been a fan of Fords. However I'm considering trying a 2008 headlight facelift ST3. I've heard the ST2 aren't as well specced?

In a nutshell, sell me on the ST, what makes them so popular? Pros and cons? I've never heard one in the flesh, do they sound as nice as they say?

The only Ford I genuinely crave is the RS but sadly out of budget. I'm seeing quite a few RS replicas on the STs but don't know how I'd feel driving a fraud!

I have circa £10-11K. Is the orange colour frowned and sniggered upon? :D

Recent car history...

2005 Civic Type-r
2006 Golf R32
2005 Impreza STI
2008 Astra VXR Nurburgring
2006 Impreza STI
2007 Audi S3
 
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2.5 5-pot is a truly excellent engine. It does sound lovely and the only downside being poor fuel economy.

The ST-2 is a mid spec as it were. The ST-3 is the highest specced model. I find it comfortable well rounded hot hatch. If it is your bag it is an easily tuned car.
 
ok so i was on here showing my old ST170 and said i was after the new ST, well a 201-13 version. so just before xmas there i got one. an ST-3 fully loaded.

here are some pics from when it arrived and was ready for me to pick up.

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after i got it home and washed it. was a dirty drive home.

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The mk2/2.5 ST has a very good loyal following for several reasons.

Obviously you get the usual benefits of a hatchback over a dedicated sports etc, then it's got a pretty fine handling chassis straight out of the box.

Main pull for a lot of people though is the engine - the 2.5L turbo has a definite character all of it's own making lots of nice grumbly growly noises and delivering a really smooth flexible drive without having to flog the car through the gears. Loads of nice smooth torque in pretty much every gear :) And that's before getting carried away with remaps and such like if that's your thing.

Downsides - they're a bit thirsty, fuel computer says I usually get mid to high 20's for day to day bimbling about, and not the most nimble of cars for throwing through the twisties due to the big heavy lump up front!

Looking at your car history - I'd say an ST is a lot more civilised & refined than a Type-R, a lot more grown-up interior wise than a VXR and handling is a lot less of a handful. Not much experience of the others to comment fairly. You also get a lot of car for your money.

No issues with people having the orange versions, each to their own. Just bear in mind it's a bit more of a challenge for some paintshops to get as good match in the event of any repairs needed.

Think the main differences between ST2 and ST3 is the 3 gets leather seats and trim inside plus higher spec sound system. 2010.25MY onwards the ST3 came standard with more options - auto wipers/headlights, privacy glass and suchlike. Think Ford dropped the ST1 by then too. Don't follow used prices but would think you could find a decent late ST3 for your budget?

I'm on my second ST now and there's nothing out there at the moment which would tempt me to let this one go.
 
Thanks so much mate, just the response I was looking for. I'm going to see if I can take a test drive at a local garage.

Similar to you, I just can't seem to think of anything else, bar revisiting cars I've already owned which is just silly.. and something I do all too often.

No concerns on fuel, won't be any worse than the 400bhp Scoob I was running! I live close to work :)
 
Tute said:
Just hand me over the ten grand it would require to turn my ST into an RS and i'll happily do it. ;)
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Just working out how much I've spent on my ST ending up with something mid way to an RS but without the fat arches, revo knuckle, and seats from the Spanish inquisition :p

On the other hand if I'd spent all that extra cash buying an RS instead of the ST I'd have still ended up spending yet more cash on various mods. Never stops does it?
 
I'm coming up to 3 years on my 1.8 Titanium, which only gives me 30mpg and isn't all that exciting. i figured if I'm gonna have a thirsty car it might as well be more fun. I have some stupid questions though...

Is the space inside the ST pretty much the same? The thing i love about the focus is that it's a small car but with tonnes of space in the back, especially when those seats are down. Do the seats still lay flat?

What should i be looking at paying for a tidy, low mileage ST2? I know the new ST will be out soon so i might be waiting for that (June is when i'm looking to chop this one in). I'm guessing it's gonna be 22k ish for the new model but S/H they're going from 14k-22k right now.

I'm also kinda looking at the A3 Sportback, which is a bit more Vanilla but a lot more.. German.. if that makes sense. Just trying to feel about a bit.
 
having just clicked the link in the previous post and looked at some of the links please don't tell me there doing a Diesel ST :(:mad:
A hot hatch is what stands out from the usual TD crowd and now people wont even know what u have.
 
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