How many Focus ST owners on here

Have been trying to stop myself buy a 3 door MK2 ST3 for some time now, it just seems to tick all the boxes for what I want. I'd be coming from my knackered old ST24, the Focus is more modern, it's quicker, it looks great, it's still practical and I'm pretty sure I'd struggle to find one with electronics and such as flakey as I'm used too...

I drove one last year and liked it bar some minor niggles - lighter steering and seat feels much higher than I'm used to buy I guess I'd get used to that. I've read through buyers guides for things to look at and would try and memorise as much as possible before going to look at one seriously.

Is there anything about these that's likely to annoy me over time? I don't care about the MPG, they seem to be reliable and are common enough to get parts.

A few quick questions:
Are the heated windscreens and other electronics likely to still be working / fixable without spending a lot - my ST24's is knackered for context, but I turn a blind eye to that with how little it's worth!
Folding rear seats - plenty of space to get a mountain bike in? (happy with having to remove wheels)
£6-6.5k a reasonable budget for a tidy one?
 
The screens were working on my 8 year old ST when I sold it, and haven't heard much about any of them failing on other cars. Pretty sure you can get a bike in the back of it, I got my mountain bike in the back of my mates polo no problem, ST with the seats down will be fine in comparison.
 
Considering a Focus ST now, wondering what kind of price I should be looking at to buy one. Most MK2 seem to go between £4500 to £5500, whereas the MK2.5's go for £6000 to £7000. Does that seem right ? Is the MK2.5 really worth the extra ? Most seem to also be around 100,000 mileage, still good for a car like this (if its been looked after) ?
 
Get one with less milage and increase both budgets by at least a grand for a good one (ref prices posted for pre face and facelifts).

My checklist posted above covers most things. Any issues with ABS or ESP I am sure will flash the engine light up and a message when you turn the car on.

If you get one, please do keep a grand in the bank at all times as they're prone for driveshafts (£300ish each for re-con Ford, don't buy copies), clutches if you map them hence worth changing the flywheel and clutch for the RS counterpart, £700), the worry about cracked liners which of course if you really want to gamble you can chuck £700 at the block mod which will also get your belts changed in with that price luckily...

But they can throw bills, Ford badge or not :)

Cambelt 100k or 10 years... sooner the better of course, would like do mine start of 2016 if I still have it.

I might be selling mine soon... once I finally get it back from respray number 3 tomorrow!
 
Stormster said:
Get one with less milage and increase both budgets by at least a grand for a good one (ref prices posted for pre face and facelifts).

My checklist posted above covers most things. Any issues with ABS or ESP I am sure will flash the engine light up and a message when you turn the car on.

If you get one, please do keep a grand in the bank at all times as they're prone for driveshafts (£300ish each for re-con Ford, don't buy copies), clutches if you map them hence worth changing the flywheel and clutch for the RS counterpart, £700), the worry about cracked liners which of course if you really want to gamble you can chuck £700 at the block mod which will also get your belts changed in with that price luckily...

But they can throw bills, Ford badge or not :)

Cambelt 100k or 10 years... sooner the better of course, would like do mine start of 2016 if I still have it.

I might be selling mine soon... once I finally get it back from respray number 3 tomorrow!
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Good info, cheers :) I've noticed your re-spray saga, is it still showing blisters after all those re-sprays !?
 
Tell you tomorrow! lol it's been a nightmare, dealing with liars and imbeciles but hopefully it will turn out good as I have been an **** about it the last couple of weeks and they're getting a bill for the inconvenience and costs I (may or may not) have had for taxi fares etc ;)*

*I have lent cars so it ain't cost me anything but he doesn't know that and has already offered some dosh on the table.

Primarily though I want it to look good and I hope it does then maybe, finally, I can gel with the car and perhaps start to love it. It's sound mechanically though :D I went to see it Saturday after more delays and to be fair the finish was loooads better than the last two attempts!
 
Stormster said:
Get one with less milage and increase both budgets by at least a grand for a good one (ref prices posted for pre face and facelifts).

My checklist posted above covers most things. Any issues with ABS or ESP I am sure will flash the engine light up and a message when you turn the car on.

If you get one, please do keep a grand in the bank at all times as they're prone for driveshafts (£300ish each for re-con Ford, don't buy copies), clutches if you map them hence worth changing the flywheel and clutch for the RS counterpart, £700), the worry about cracked liners which of course if you really want to gamble you can chuck £700 at the block mod which will also get your belts changed in with that price luckily...

But they can throw bills, Ford badge or not :)

Cambelt 100k or 10 years... sooner the better of course, would like do mine start of 2016 if I still have it.

I might be selling mine soon... once I finally get it back from respray number 3 tomorrow!
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Why u considering selling when u have hardly had time to drive it with all the re sprays lol. The one I'm meant to be looking at has had the driveshafts and oil diaphragm done apparently and has Fsh. Hopefully it feels quicker than my St220 I've just sold.
I thought the cracked liners were extremely rare and only on 300+Bhp modded cars?
 
^^ Cracked liners can happen on any engine no matter what its state of tune. There have even been reports of the RS engines suffering even with the modified heads that their blocks have.

It is still rare though, you will only hear the handful of cars that have failed. Not the gazillion other owners running around quite happily.

Mine is completely standard and apart from general ware and tear items, replacement uprated Hard Race wishbones and ball joints for example it has been a solid car. I bought it with the ABS/ESP issue (for a decent discount of course) got that fixed by Ford (who were amazingly the cheapest to do the work). Drive shafts do go, but with 49K on the clock mine are still chugging away nicely. Upping the power is where the problems come to be honest.

Currently in the body shop for a front end respray, rear arch rust sorted along with common boot paint issues (where the boot rubbers meet the body they rub the paint off). Should be back looking a bit more shiny. Always looking for my next daily so even though she has been a fantastic car I will probably move her on when I find a suitable replacement.
 
Dav4 said:
Is there any warning signs for the ABS module or can that just go at any time without warning?
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Mine had an engine warning light on, I have one of those OBD bluetooth diagnostic readers. So it pinpointed me to the error. There is no other way of knowing.

PinkFloyd said:
A few quick questions:
Are the heated windscreens and other electronics likely to still be working / fixable without spending a lot - my ST24's is knackered for context, but I turn a blind eye to that with how little it's worth!
Folding rear seats - plenty of space to get a mountain bike in? (happy with having to remove wheels)
£6-6.5k a reasonable budget for a tidy one?
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I've never heard of faulty electrics with the ST
I can fit my 57" road bike into the boot with the rear seats down quite easily. No need to take the front wheel off either. The boot is huge!

Personally I'd budget for £8k if I was you. I think mine is worth around that 2008 ST3 66k. It's one of the first of the facelift being 2008, with low mileage and ST3 spec. I'm not a fan of ST2 cloth seats!!

BoozerDawg said:
Considering a Focus ST now, wondering what kind of price I should be looking at to buy one. Most MK2 seem to go between £4500 to £5500, whereas the MK2.5's go for £6000 to £7000. Does that seem right ? Is the MK2.5 really worth the extra ? Most seem to also be around 100,000 mileage, still good for a car like this (if its been looked after) ?
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As said, increased your budget by £1k in both. When I was choosing the difference between pre-facelift and facelift was about £2-3k, and I thought the facelift justified the higher premium based on looks alone. Also the interior is updates slightly and again I think it looks better.

No need to be looking at 100k examples, like I said mine has 66k on, is 2008 and I'd be expecting £8.5k when I come to sell it in a few months.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'd been looking at the pre-facelift, think overall I prefer the more aggressive looks. Plus looking around on the ST forums it sounds that they're a bit lighter so quicker too? That's without even considering the price.

The one I'm currently eyeballing is ~82k miles and £6300. Whilst there seem to be cheaper options about this one has had a big service recently and seems best value unless I start looking at cars 100+ miles away.

Newbie question time, but what's the done thing buying private for this sort of price? Cash? I've only ever bought cheap cars from dealers/family.
 
ubern00b said:
Of course you aren't, you have a real one! :D

MK2 RS's are £22-25k at the moment. This is less than half that.
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:P

Glad mine was only £20k, if I was to sell right now I'd hopefully be able to recoup most if not all of it judging from the way the prices have been going.

Forgot I also bought a Collins Actuator as well, will be a while before I get stuff fitted to the car though.
 
Mucky_Pup said:
:P

Glad mine was only £20k, if I was to sell right now I'd hopefully be able to recoup most if not all of it judging from the way the prices have been going.

Forgot I also bought a Collins Actuator as well, will be a while before I get stuff fitted to the car though.
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I'd do it before the 17th of September though if you want a decent return :) Will be interesting to see how prices will hold after then.
 
would u guys buy an ST225 that had 1 advisory on its last MOT saying oil leak? Does it mean its a bad leak to show up as an advisory? the guy says the oil diaphragm was done.
 
Dav4 said:
would u guys buy an ST225 that had 1 advisory on its last MOT saying oil leak? Does it mean its a bad leak to show up as an advisory? the guy says the oil diaphragm was done.
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Doesn't mean its a bad leak. On my last MOT the tester commented on a seal on my gearbox weeping. My mechanic said it really isn't a problem and will be changed whenever it needs a clutch.

There are definitely not pools of oil under my car xD
 
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