[Closed] Who was it that had that Focus ST estate on here a short while ago?

Do you have short back and sides + a tribal tattoo on your arm?

Why yes of course, why else would I be asking?

Its not mine, but it was a black petrol estate.

The car is great fun to drive. More enjoyable then the BMW and the merc.

Fuel economy is piss poor but feels great to drive.

Between posts I was looking at the performance and economy stats vs the ubiquitous 320d. Doesn't look good for the ford with the exception of lease price which if you look carefully is about £4 per month cheaper for the ST.

My mate had a Focus ST estate and a it was an absolute blast. Also being a modern Ford the build quality, connectivity and 'general car stuff' are all very good.
I'm sure you'll easy find one to test drive.
Great noise.

The only colour shirley...

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I've got one. got a couple of tattoos too (not tribal) and normal hair. ask away!

Oh, my physio and her mountain biking husband (Chris) have just bought a black Focus ST estate - I wonder if that's the car in question. I had a test drive of a petrol ST estate about 2 years ago and liked it; nice balance of ride & handling, good engine sound, nice & roomy to chuck bikes in the back with 2 up. The first demo we drove had an optional performance pack or something that gave it something like 300+ bhp and massive torque, which was OK until the road got slightly damp - then it didn't want to play. I had a second test of a 'normal' bhp ST and it far better - the other one felt like way too much power for front wheel drive to handle as a day to day drive.

If you're getting one from a dealer, get your timing right with their monthly/quarterly target and stick out for a good deal.
We ended up going for an Octavia VRS estate, because at the time, Skoda were doing VAT free + free spec upgrade deals on the outgoing Mk2 model, so it was at least 3k cheaper than the Ford. At first the Ford dealer couldn't get anywhere near the price of the Skoda, but after 2 weeks they contacted us and matched the price - but we'd ordered the VRS by then.

it's a hoot to drive. I thought about getting mine chipped but on balance 250bhp through the front wheels only is enough. real world combined mileage is 30-35; gets 39 on long motorway trips with sensible driving but I prefer to drive it on windy A roads. the boot is a really good shape and the flat sill is nice. the build quality is excellent and the engine makes a wicked noise. very pleased with it after 2 years even if it is viewed in some quarters as a bit chavtastic!

My brother picked up his ST2 diesel in dark blue last week.
Still at the running in phase but looks lovely. Not huge in side but he's a big chap at 6'6" and doesn't have the seat all the way back. Boot is obviously smaller than his Mondeo estate he traded but should fit a bike with the front wheel off.

Yeah, it'll take a decent sized FS bike in the back with front wheel off. The OH and I took our large FS 29ers to the dealer to try them in the back of the demo car (his face was a picture when we put the bikes in the car - at least we'd cleaned 'em! Hee hee)

Other half has one, they're nice inside and out, but a bit too 'soft' for my taste with super sensitive brakes/steering, a little too easy to drive if you understand my thinking?

Also, it torque steers like a b#tch if you give it anywhere near full beans on a country road, also hates camber on normal roads whilst accelearating and will try and put you in a hedgerow.

The above makes it sound like a terrible car, it's really not, I do like it, I just like to drive my cars hard and it's not very well suited to that in comparisson to a RWD/AWD car, which are my own day to day cars.

The OH loves it.

They're also pretty quiet in standard trim and with a 'normal' colour choice they don't look out of place in the office car park if you're concerned about it being a bit, erm, 'tribal tattoo' for you.

Also, for the performance, the fuel economy is very good, especially on motorway cruises. Seems well made too and the interior is standard new ford (which is pleasant).

Boot is a good size too.

We have the ST3, heated seats are amazing in winter!

HTH

It was probably me that you are thinking of. I had the ST3 petrol.

[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5510/14626994045_15e4ebfaf2_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5510/14626994045_15e4ebfaf2_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/ohxaJv ]Focus ST[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/29930426@N04/ ]i_ache[/url], on Flickr

It was a good fun and my first fast car. There is plenty of room inside and seemed to have a bigger usable boot than our old Cmax, it certainly had more room when we loaded it up for holiday. It easily carried 2 MTBs and even my 29er and both kids bikes inside while seating 3.

I used to get around 27mpg but I do have a bit of a heavy right foot when it comes to twisty bits and there are a lot of them on my commute. Driving steadily on the motorway I once got it upto 40mpg. The torque steer during heavy accelerating is quite violent especially when trying to overtake but under normal driving its fine. I think that 5th and 6th gears are way too short, you can shift into 5th at 30mph and 6th at 40mph and they will sit there comfortably but at 80mph the engine is up at over 3000 rpm. With 5th being as long as 6th is currently and 6th being a nice long motorway gear the car would get much better mpg and it certainly has enough power and torque for longer gears.

The interior is nice enough but I had a few issues. Ford Sync is utter shite, I have no idea why but it kept needing to be reset every month or so as it wouldn't recognise the ipod or phone. The system in our cmax was fine and never missed a beat, all I can work out that the sync gives you is a txt to 999 if you crash. The front seats were too tight for me, I had to take everything out of my pockets when I drove or it would dig in. Maybe if you were skinny and had no leg muscle it would be comfortable, they were however very supportive. As was the Recaro rear bench. There were various rattles especially over poor surfaces, I don't think this can be blamed entirely on the low profile tyres and firm suspension and its more the fault of the Ford build quality. Finally I think the black car with black leather and a black headliner was too dark, it felt like you were getting into a cave, it would have been nice if there was a colour option for the leather.

I have now moved it on after owning it for only 10 months. The main reason for this is that the fuel tank is only slightly bigger than your average thermos flask. I was only getting 300 miles out of a tank, and when you do 20k that does get somewhat boring. I also have a pretty dodgy left ankle so wanted something automatic.

Funnily enough I ended up with a 320d sport.

Just like this but I don't seem to be able to upload a picture of mine.
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Firstly I hate diesels and I didn't set about to buy a diesel I just wanted a RWD automatic estate that wasn't slow. I liked the 3 series and it is a bit bigger than the focus, although the boot is slightly narrower due to the wheel arches. It is still easy enough to get all of our junk for holiday or two bikes in. Its more pleasant on the motorway and can go upto twice as far on a tank of fuel.

It is still a pretty good steer on a good country lane but the rack is nowhere near as fast as the focus was so you have to turn the wheel a bit more. Oversteer can be fun on a damp road especially if you have it in Sport+ mode where it turns down the traction control and quickens the throttle response. Obviously it isnt as fast at the focus was with it having just 184bhp to the focus' 250bhp but it is a bit lighter (around 100kg I think) and obviously RWD and auto so it is only 1.2 seconds slower to 60. Being RWD it gets the power down much better than the focus did, in the wet it won't spin up unley you bury the throttle where in the focus it was hard to get it to not spin up. I think in normal uk weather the BMW is probably faster to 60 because it doesn't spin away all of its power.

The interior is loads better than the focus, there is more room because the car is wider and everything is a much higher quality. My leather is red, which I love, and they are very comfortable while also being pretty supportive. The front seats have adjustable side supports so you can have it set to be comfortable or with the touch of a button have the tighten right up to hold you in position. The seats in the BMW go much lower than the focus seats which is handy for me being 6ft as I actually get some head room. It is all put together so much better and the car still feels pretty tight.

The downside to the BMW is cost. I got £16k for the focus as a px it had done 25k miles. The BMW cost £18k and had done 60k miles. As I said above tho the interior still feels good, there are no rattles and bar a couple of small scratches it looks almost new.

Overall I miss the petrol engine and the power it gave me plus the speed of the steering rack in the focus but I would rather have the BMW. I think my next car will be another 3 series but I will have to decide between a 4 pot petrol or the 6 cylinder diesel. The diesel will be faster.

Oh FWIW I thought before I got the focus that 250bhp would be too much for a FWD car. I still think that now. I cant imagine how those 300bhp+ vehicles can drive down a bumpy road.

I nearly bought a Volvo V50 R (2.5T) (basically a Focus )but the tourque steer was unbearable.

Ended up with a 325i Touring which is leagues ahead in terms of comfort and composure under acceleration.

RWD is way ahead for anything over 200bhp IMHO.

I_Ache - Member
Oh FWIW I thought before I got the focus that 250bhp would be too much for a FWD car. I still think that now. I cant imagine how those 300bhp+ vehicles can drive down a bumpy road.

Not driven it but going on reviews this is drastically improved in the '15 facelifted one. Something to do with the calibration of the torque vectoring or whatever.

I didn't really like the torque vectoring. I think it added to the out of control torque steer thing. I would correct the torque steer and the torque vectoring would kick in and pull the car the other way so I would have to pull it back and the torque vectoring would pull it the way I had corrected it to and so on. If the new torque vectoring is faster than my old one it may work but it seemed to be too slow for me.

I had a 13 plate ST3. I now have a 15 plate facelift ST3. The difference in driving dynamics is night and day. Booting the old one was always rather too exciting. Especially when overtaking and crossing the crown of the road. The new one has no torque steer and doesn't follow cambers. It just hooks up and goes. Mpg has gone from 28 in old one to 34 in this one.

get a 3.2 quattro and a bike rack..

I run 300 bhp in my old 5cyl focus and torque steer is an issue in the wet (4th gear can cause traction light to flicker on high boost), but having the suspension set up seems to dial out any issues in the dry. I am running the same Good Year tyres as the later car, none of the torque vectoring baloney. Suspect that with smaller turbos , get up to boost quicker than the old fashioned big turbos, like mine and also depends on the boost map as well. With mine, I have a boost limitation on the first 3 gears, not sure what was put on the newer cars ?
Seems plenty of deals on the newer cars, thought about it, but sticking with the Volvo lump for now.