[Closed] Fiesta ST - should we?

Have had three ST Fiestas since 2007 currently driving an ST2

I would not buy one for a 10 mile commute it'd be like taking a rocket launcher to a knife fight. Like any hot hatch the ST can be used as a daily driver but it's not a flattering car to drive and if all you want to do is get to work and back it won't do you any favours.

The car doesn't really come to life until at least 50 mph when the firm suspension, sharp brakes and sparkling engine start to make sense.

The biggest problem with the ST is some of the people you have to share the road with. For some reason the mere presence of the ST irritates the **** out of them. They will tailgate you in 30 limits, undertake and cut back in, brake check, dawdle and generally do everything they can to provoke a reaction. It takes an iron will to not respond.

Choose carefully

The ST3 has cruise, climate, nav, keyless, leather heated recaros, auto lights and mirrors, heated front screen and dab as standard, the one we've seen also has Park pilot.

Noice.

Heh...I didn't realise my car had a chrome grill. Just checked and you're right. I need to start paying attention more.

I know you said not French, but my twingo 133 (not cup) is the most fun I've had in a car! No turbo, revs to 7000rpm, corners like a go Kart and will get you into RS trackdays. Takes a bike with just the front wheel off. Mine does about 70 miles a week. It's just about the cheapest entry into evo land, and the floorpan is the same as the older Clio.

Just ask Ross Kemp 😉

but it might take the shine of the current ST when the new one comes

I remain to be convinced by the 3-cylinder ST with ESE (that's Electronic Sound Enhancement to you)

The ST3 has cruise, climate, nav, keyless, leather heated recaros, auto lights and mirrors, heated front screen and dab as standard, the one we've seen also has Park pilot.

That's basically the exact spec of mine. It was a demonstrated so seemed to have every option ticked.

legend - Member

but it might take the shine of the current ST when the new one comes

I remain to be convinced by the 3-cylinder ST with ESE (that's Electronic Sound Enhancement to you)

Safe to assume it'll be a lighter engine so handling can be enhanced, plus we know it'll have more power so presumably a better power to weight ratio too. Fake noise is never good but there's no reason why 3 cylinders can't sound good, in theory at least.

"ESE"
I had to Google that, it sounded too naff to be true:

"ESE is an audio system feature that enhances certain engine tones typically induced under wide open throttle or heavy part-throttle conditions. The system uses a DACMC (contained within the ACM) and the audio system speakers."

The automotive equivalent of a clothes peg and playing cards in your spokes. Entirely in keeping with the image of the car though - "tacky innit".

Get with the programme grandad, manufacturers have been pumping fake noises into the cabin for years now. Seat were the first I can remember, BMW do it too iirc, Clio 200T you can pick which bloody car you want to sound like

jimjim, don't believe the new one is any lighter. Not sure it's any heavier mind you, so you'll get the power:weight but not necessarily the handling improvement

Edukator - Reformed Troll

"ESE"
I had to Google that, it sounded too naff to be true:

"ESE is an audio system feature that enhances certain engine tones typically induced under wide open throttle or heavy part-throttle conditions. The system uses a DACMC (contained within the ACM) and the audio system speakers."

The automotive equivalent of a clothes peg and playing cards in your spokes. Entirely in keeping with the image of the car though - "tacky innit".

Welcome to 2011.

Edukator - Reformed Troll

The automotive equivalent of a clothes peg and playing cards in your spokes. Entirely in keeping with the image of the car though - "tacky innit".

How about the BMW M5 with it's Active Sound Design or the Golf GTI/R with it's Soundakator?

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bmw-m5-generates-fake-engine-noise-using-stereo/

[i]What BMW has done is link the M5's car stereo system's digital signal processor (DSP) into the engine management system, which allows the audio system to simulate the sound of a twin-scroll, twin-turbocharged V-8 engine in sync with the actual 560-horsepower mill humming away in the engine bay.[/i]

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/what-the-vw-golf-r-gti-soundaktor-is-and-how-to-disable-it-104944.html

[i]Not only does the Golf R's system sharpen the throttle but it also activates the so-called Soundaktor.

It's sort of like a resonator box that sends engine noise into the cabin when activated. The first video is from a guy named Schwabo, who bought a 2016 Golf R and played with the Soundaktor. In comfort mode, it does nothing at all, but put the car into Race, and it's like the Star Ship Enterprise has arrived, even though the performance and acceleration are the same.[/i]

Tacky, innit??

I admire Educator's consistency.

I would not buy one for a 10 mile commute it'd be like taking a rocket launcher to a knife fight. Like any hot hatch the ST can be used as a daily driver but it's not a flattering car to drive and if all you want to do is get to work and back it won't do you any favours.

I hear you. TBH in the summer it doesn't get used to commute, she uses either the bike, scooter or motorbike for that. We've also had a supercharged cooper S and an FR so well versed with the 'shit' ride quality and bellends trying to race. She's a good driver so doesn't rise to the bait, just looses them in the corners!

Edukator - Reformed Troll
"ESE"
I had to Google that, it sounded too naff to be true:

"ESE is an audio system feature that enhances certain engine tones typically induced under wide open throttle or heavy part-throttle conditions. The system uses a DACMC (contained within the ACM) and the audio system speakers."

The automotive equivalent of a clothes peg and playing cards in your spokes. Entirely in keeping with the image of the car though - "tacky innit".

As long as it's done well, who cares? If it's good enough for an M5, M135i, Golf R, or a Clio RS, ... why not the Fiesta?
Besides I'd rather have ESE than the contrived exhaust farting on over-run that a lot of cars have.

As for the Fiesta being tacky, well I don't think that's particularly true either. As hot hatches go it's fairly understated. Compare to the Honda Civic Type R for instance, or even pretty much any current Mercedes. And no, I don't and have never owned an ST.

edit: baws, stumpy01 beat me to it

So BMW M5, Fiesta ST, Golf GTI all have artificial engine sounds in the cabin (which I admit is better than subjecting the rest of the population to your naff engine sound). I can see a trend forming here, cars pretending to be something they are not for people pretending to be something when they are not.

Besides I'd rather have ESE than the contrived exhaust farting on over-run that a lot of cars have.

Yeah I really don't get how that's a thing at the moment. Fair enough when engines weren't that advanced and it was a genuine thing, but when someone's making it do it via a laptop? Used to use a Clio forum when I had mine, anyone with a "pops and bangs map" used to get ripped relentlessly, then the likes of Jaguar start doing it as standard....?

Edukator - Reformed Troll
So BMW M5, Fiesta ST, Golf GTI all have artificial engine sounds in the cabin (which I admit is better than subjecting the rest of the population to your naff engine sound). I can see a trend forming here, cars pretending to be something they are not for people pretending to be something when they are not.

Pray tell, how is an M5 or a GTI pretending to be something they are not?

Because it does sound like you're talking a load of old arse.

[img] [/img]

/me admits to being slightly addicted to the pops and bangs from the exhaust of her (modern) motorbike...

Rachel

I hear you. TBH in the summer it doesn't get used to commute, she uses either the bike, scooter or motorbike for that. We've also had a supercharged cooper S and an FR so well versed with the 'shit' ride quality and bellends trying to race.

@OP
Colleague has only had sunroof drainage problem, and the garage screwed up the front number plate mounting, which ended up with a bumper swap. Driving performance has been great and he may have reached 140 (in a safe and legal fashion, obvs). No regrets yet.

Pray tell, how is an M5 or a GTI pretending to be something they are not?

Well the first thing a sporting car needs is an operational handbrake on the rear wheels. The Golf GTi fails that first hurdle. How are you going to throw it into the last parking space in the pub car park without? It would be so embarrassing doing a multi-point turn in front of all your mates in the beer garden.

Edukator - Reformed Troll
Well the first thing a sporting car needs is an operational handbrake on the rear wheels. The Golf GTi fails that first hurdle. How are you going to throw it into the last parking space in the pub car park without? It would be so embarrassing doing a multi-point turn in front of all your mates in the beer garden.

[img] [/img]

Well the Golf GTI and M5 hark back to a period when that's the way they were marketed, as hooligans' car. Fun in a way that tody's morals say is totally anti-social. The modern versions have been sanitised. They are difficult if not impossible to drive in a sporting manner because they are heavy barges with dynamics engineered to be as safe as possible (within what's possible if you fit an unreasonably powerful engine). Removing a levered handbrake from hot hatches (VW aren't the only ones) is removing the possibility of people doing handbrake turns. I have nothing against this but the idea they are still sporting car is only in the marketing.

I used to do displays in whatever I was given. None of the cars of the day needed more preparation than 50psi in the tyres. Objectively an 87 Montego was more of a sports car than a current Golf GTi in terms of its immediate adaptability to motorsport.

I suggest you go back to 1987 then, Edukator 🙄

The modern versions have been sanitised. They are difficult if not impossible to drive in a sporting manner because they are heavy barges

1,364kg is hardly wild

and wtf does a handbrake have to do with sporting credentials?

The "adaptability to motorsport" comment is a cracker though 🙂 More complex thing is more difficult to **** about with shocker

I'm quite happy in 2017, making cars boring is good, horrors such as the Fiesta ST are still legal and I have no idea why. A GPS device to limit cars to the speed limit is the first step to reducing demand for cars that are more anti-social, more polluting and more dangerous than they need to be. We (especailly cyclists) are victims of a motor industry lobby that sells anti-social dreams to a population in search of adventure and strong sensations when they have fat bellies and lack the talent or bravery to do anything more than sit behind the wheel of a bloated air-bagged "sports car'.

Edit: the orignal Golf was 750-850kg IIRC

Time for a swim so that's a serious post to ponder.

horrors such as the Fiesta ST are still legal and I have no idea why

haha is this the Daily Mail? 😆

Edit: the orignal Golf was 750-850kg IIRC

in 1975, who would've thought that'd change?

Skinny people drive as well you know! You're fattist...

Oooo look, a pointless argument. Pisses off somewhere else less dull

Oooo look, a pointless argument. Pisses off somewhere else less dull

To be fair, it does answer an important question; what is the sound of one man trolling.

Remove Edukator's posts, and it's a fairly well rounded thread.

It also answers the question: 'What did Jamie buy?'. No Civic for you then my Son. 🙂

#Fiesta4Lyfe

Obvious troll is obvious

Fiesta's are great cars.

If your wife wants something with a bit of poke then go for it.

Haterz gonna hate and all that, but seriously its just a fun little car, its not a weapon of automotive destruction

I work at a car factory, our company car scheme is wth Ford so a lot of my work colleagues drive Fiesta St or Focus St. I havnt really heard a bad word said about the Fiesta St, relatively quiet, nippy, looks ok, and fairly economical for an ST. It is ridiculous at knocking off time though, its just like a big Ford race.

shadowrider

It is ridiculous at knocking off time though, its just like a big Ford race.

A child's face.

[img] [/img]

Currently have an EP3 Type R (poor chav car) or car I bought and loved. Wife is using that for work and I picked up a short term car for commuting, Diesel Civic FK2 (I think, the first of the futuristic body types). It's great for now, but dull and washy to drive, so thinking an ST Fiesta next too.

I'd not worry about what people think about it, people seem to hate me as much in the slow old diesel Civic as they did in the type R. This is refering to the horrendous crime of doing 40 in the 40 zone on the A14 at the moment, I pulled into the right hand lane to prevent a TNT lorry from going through me the other day (width restriction in the right lane), then the people in the van behind him, a couple of feet from the back of it looked over and shook their heads as they also undertook me.

I have a new Focus ST-3 petrol estate. Saw one at the local Ford garage last year and thought it looked great. Had a test drive and it was way better to drive than I expected.

I am quite boring and have just turned 50 but I thought why not?

I was looking for a bike on Ebay and saw one in Bournemouth (90 miles away) and thought that would be a nice drive down. Collecting it tonight!

This is all looking more promising! It's 80/20 for the ST at the moment.

I think the price is about right, as the salesman had a face on him like I'd tried to violate his dog by the time the negotiations had concluded.

He has another coming in tomorrow with slightly less miles which I'll take a look at too.

Two of my mates have them - one for about 18 months and the other for about 6 months. Only complaint was from the "big lad" who said the recaros were cutting into him something rotten and that he looks like a gorilla driving it..

I've been passenger in them a few times and think they're cracking little cars - a little harsh but if your Mrs has been cutting about in a Cooper S she'll be fine!

Is the Fiesta ST manual only or can you can an automatic?

Rachel

Is the Fiesta ST manual only or can you can an automatic?

I think the price is about right

He has another coming in tomorrow with slightly less miles which I'll take a look at too

If buying one will wind up certain members I'm all in, can we start a crowd funding campaign for the OP?

I'm willing to throw in a bit extra for a noisy stainless exhaust too. Maybe we can all get one?

Haha. More the merrier. #STforblazin

STW Fiestas roll out coming to an Asda carpark near you.

6-speed manual only

Having a DSG in my old Fabia VRS opened my eyes to this - amazing thing.

Yeah, they weren't aiming for the flappy-paddle/auto crowd with the outgoing ST

buy whatever car you want.

anybody who judges someone on their car choice has just been influenced by advertising.

Titanium X has all the toys.

We've just been looking at Fiesta STs after someone wrote off my Skoda Fabia VRS. I'd wanted a Fiesta when I bought that but they weren't any about at the time that I could afford.

We drove a few Fiestas and its biggest rival, the Peugeot 208 GTi. The motoring press seemed to rate these two as the best small hot hatches available at the moment, with the Fiesta edging it in the driving stakes. I'd agree with that, the Fiesta was slightly better to drive. However, the interior of the Fiesta is really pretty awful. It's very date with buttons everywhere, and feels very cramped and confined. The 208 won for us because it was much, much nicer inside, cheaper for a used model of equivalent age, had more equipment and was 98% as good to drive. It's also got a bigger boot with a wider opening so you can get a bike in easier.

I'd say that in both I miss the low end supercharger boost from the VRS much more than the auto gear box.

[img] ?ig_cache_key=MTU1ODczMjgzMjcxMTc3MzE2NQ%3D%3D.2[/img]

Nah, just observing what the people around me drive. (Edit replying to Funkydunk)

What does your doctor drive, your hairdresser, the local estate agent (not the courtesy Smart or Clio, the one hidden round the back), your kids' teachers, the priest, the local wide boys, the ageing wide boys, the MTBers (type "Skoda Octavia" in the search up top), the skiers, the journalist at the local rag... .

Blazin-saddles - Member
Wifey

Jamie - Member
STW Fiestas roll out coming to an Asda carpark near you.

Park and Ride round here.

I drove past one in an ST just as the police moved picture a scene from fast and furious in sliw mo.

Felt a right tool sitting next to that lot as they revved at the traffic lights. Couldn't even snk into my seat in shame for looking more like one of them.

Blazin-saddles - Member
Wifey

I actually don't know where the 'Y' came from.

munrobiker
Peugeot 208 GTi

I actually don't know where the 'Y' came from.

The 70s? You patriarchal pig!

🙂

Pretty sure that crash vid on page 1 is on the way to Conisbrough not far from me. No real reason to lose it on that road!

I'd say get the ST, I'm considering getting a Focus ST3 myself.

So interesting messages on this thread. Who knew that a little Fiesta ST could be the source of such hate?

OP - Sounds like a fun car to someone who has already had hot hatches. I'd go for it.

The "personality trait" car stereotyping from the previous poster is particularly sad.

Well the rest of the world stereotypes car drivers and finds it amusing. Only on STW would it be described as sad. [url= http://www.zeroto60times.com/2015/02/10-cars-with-accurate-stereotypes/ ]US car stereotypes ( and the Harley too)[/url]

This is a very apt thread for me.
My wife (46) currently owns a Civic type r and is looking at buying a Fiesta ST.
She went out in one and really likes it but we can't help thinking it's a bit on the small side.
She's probably still going to get one though as she doesn't want to spend another three odd grand getting a Focus ST.
I really want her to get the Focus but it's her money not mine, so I'll just have to nod and keep my mouth shut.
The Fiesta's do still look nice though.

dukator - Reformed Troll
I'm quite happy in 2017, making cars boring is good, horrors such as the Fiesta ST are still legal and I have no idea why. A GPS device to limit cars to the speed limit is the first step to reducing demand for cars that are more anti-social, more polluting and more dangerous than they need to be. We (especailly cyclists) are victims of a motor industry lobby that sells anti-social dreams to a population in search of adventure and strong sensations when they have fat bellies and lack the talent or bravery to do anything more than sit behind the wheel of a bloated air-bagged "sports car'.

Nah, just observing what the people around me drive. (Edit replying to Funkydunk)

What does your doctor drive, your hairdresser, the local estate agent (not the courtesy Smart or Clio, the one hidden round the back), your kids' teachers, the priest, the local wide boys, the ageing wide boys, the MTBers (type "Skoda Octavia" in the search up top), the skiers, the journalist at the local rag... .

Well put Count Zero!

Unfortunate turn of events on here... I'm keen of the ST, will put a bit of sparkle in your life but we are confirmed petrol heads. Appreciate a serious bias here as there are so many petrol, oil, avgas burning engines in our household.. but we can only use one at a time... though I try to use as many different ones I can in a day.
Ps love bicycles as well, definitely greatest invention so far.

do I give a shit what Edukator thinks of it...

That's a long a voluble post for someone who doesn't give a... .

This thread has reignited my desire to remap my 120d Msport again 😀

do I give a shit what Edukator thinks of it...

I'd consider it a selling point if it were to wind him up further 😉

This thread has reignited my desire to remap my 120d Msport again

Must remember to refit my decat when I get chance.

Kryton57 - Member

This thread has reignited my desire to remap my 120d Msport again

This thread has reignited my desire to travel to France and shit on Edukator's gas guzzling Dacia. 😀