RE: SOTW: Ford Focus ST170

RE: SOTW: Ford Focus ST170

Friday 23rd November 2012

SOTW: Ford Focus ST170

Harris chose the new ST over rivals, Shed does the same with his legendary respect for the wallet



Fun is notoriously hard to quantify, but denizens of Shedland may be sure that the up-to-£28k hot hatches tested by Chris Harris this week cannot possibly provide 28 times as much fun as the £1k options hiding shyly in the classifieds.

Five minutes was all it took to unearth nine-year-old Shed 'equivalents' of the Harris trio, starting with this Ford Focus ST170, this Renault Megane 2.0 VVTand this Vauxhall Astra SRi.

Decent performance is available in all three: 0-62mph in 8.2seconds for both the 2.2 Astra and the 2.0 Focus, and a whisker over 8 seconds in the (in this case slightly battle-scarred) 2.0 Megane.

In the moderns, Chris came down in favour of the Focus ST, and after setting the controls of our time machine back to 2003 we're going to make the same choice.

Brag about your Cosworth-developed engine
Brag about your Cosworth-developed engine
I'll never forget a big photoshoot we did in 1997 with a pre-launch Focus 1.6 at Renault's test facility just north of Paris. Driving it for the first time was a real Eureka moment. The dynamics (masterminded by Ford's chassis genius Richard Parry-Jones) were so far ahead of what had gone before, not just for the small family class but for one or even two classes above it. It really was that good – and it looked great too.

The dynamic and visual purity of that first Focus has since been eroded away by our caring insect overlords in Brussels and elsewhere. The ST170 is a refreshing reminder of the first and (many would say) best Focus.

The ST170 paint palette was sober, featuring colours like Deep Navy or Magnum Grey, but this 139,000 miler looks bright in Stardust Silver with the half leather interior, aircon and CD in a practical 5-door body that makes it a clever choice for the PHer-turned-family man.

There's a dent in the back of it which we can't see, but you wouldn't be able to see it when you were driving it either, and as far as true Shedmen are concerned, not seeing something is the same as not having it. As long as it's not taken a really hefty biff up the back end of course.

Rear dent out of sight, out of mind
Rear dent out of sight, out of mind
In simple performance terms, if we're being brutally honest, the ST170 flatters to deceive. With a new high-flow head, bigger valves, higher-comp forged pistons, lumpier cams, a bigger-bore exhaust system and a less restrictive cat, the Duratec 2.0-litre engine was Cosworth-developed to boost power from 130hp to 173hp.

Something went wrong somewhere. You'd have to be a sadist to find that new power peak because it didn't arrive until 7000rpm and the long-stroke engine really didn't like higher revs. You'd expect one upside of an undersquare design to be decent torque, but the motor's peak figure of 195Nm at 2500rpm was puzzlingly weedy.

The fact that the ST delivered more or less the same 8.2-second 0-62 time as the 145hp Astra does make you wonder if all of those 170-plus Ford nags turned up for their oats. Weight was a factor – this '03 5-door tips the scales at 1314kg, about 100kg more than the Vaux – and the trucklike Getrag 6-speed 'box didn't help. You wouldn't buy an ST to save money on fuel either.

You would buy it for smooth handling though, courtesy of the Control Blade multi-link rear suspension. With luck, you'd also be getting good used car value, but remember that Foci are not the world's best made cars. My local grease boy hates them with a passion. "Bloody rust buckets," he says whenever he sees one. Mind you, he says that about Kas as well. And Pumas.

What the interior should look like
What the interior should look like
ST170-specific stuff? Electrical and particularly sensor problems are common. This particular car has wibbly windows and a duff coolant temperature sensor, where the multi-function warning light will come on and initiate a failsafe cooling mode that's designed to get you home by cutting fuelling to alternate cylinders. The fix could be nothing more than a replacement sensor, however. It sits in the top of the thermostat housing and costs under a tenner from eBay.

A vibey or sticky throttle can be either a worn cable or dirty throttle bodies. One light you won't want to see is the engine management bulb: that could be a failed lambda sensor or a stuck-open (or closed) Inlet Manifold Runner Control. This cable-operated butterfly-valve gizmo was designed to boost torque at low revs but in reality it wasn't one of Henry's better moments.

Ford dealers may attempt to sell you a new IMRC at £300 or so. Quite often there's nowt actually wrong with it, it's just a wonky sensor again, but Ford component quality is not always NASA-standard.

Manifold or cat heatshield brackets will work loose or break, usually signified by a rattle under the car at around 2000rpm. Again, a Ford dealer may try and flog you a whole new exhaust, but as with the IMRC thing you can tap into much cheaper fixes/bodges online from Ford and ST170 help forums, of which there are a raft – which is either good or bad, depending on your outlook on life.

Here's the original Focus ad:

FORD FOCUS ST170 2003  (£950)
Ford Focus ST170 on 03 plate in silver with half blue leather, 5 door, MOT till march 13, superb runner, recent new clutch which cost £500, CD player power steering, alloys, A/C good overall condition.....small dent in boot, electric window switch intermittant, requires temp sensor easily fixed to make great car... this is the cheapest ST170 you will find...phone 07840782724

Author
Discussion

nick-elise

Original Poster:

114 posts

211 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Not owned an ST, despite the lack of performance I can imagine they are a good drive. I had a MK1 Focus 1.8 and really enjoyed it, just a shame it was rusting to bits!

TallTom

208 posts

158 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Hmmmmm No

StuttgartJem

81 posts

179 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
It started off so promising, sadly with a 'bump' we cant see, 139k on the clock and a couple of other issues I'd run a mile. The Focus was great but the ST was never really all that in my opinion.

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

229 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Forgotten bargains, these. I had an '04 3dr and it must have been one of the good ones, as i felt every one of the 170 horses when driving it. It was a very brisk machine and the handling was a revelation.

Clean, crisp steering and damping that modern hatches can only dream of. I really did love that car. It was an ex-Dunton managment car though, so unsurprising that it was a good one.

big_boz

1,684 posts

206 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
To counter the add i have just found 2 for sale that don't have and problems listed, and are cheaper.....

Also a couple of hundred quid extra bags you one from a dealer with low miles, so at least you have got some SOGA come back.

Did someone at PH forget to find a SOTW this week and throw this in at the last minute?

School report style "Must try Harder" I am afraid lads.

stuninho

18 posts

199 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Not the most exciting car, but great article.

matbat

772 posts

244 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
How much does it weigh!!

Been looking at Clio 172 Cup's so was interested in this SOTW but the specs do look a little underwhelming on paper.

I think I'll continue the search for a Clio...

carinaman

21,210 posts

171 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Shed usually has a link for the advert. A former colleague had one, he didn't think it was that quick.

c6pete

90 posts

176 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Had a 5 door ST170 as my first car (magnum grey - best colour for it IMHO). Wasn't the most powerful of engines, but still managed to pull pretty well (until the clutch went.....). Loved it though, cheap to run and the original styling of the focus is still great.

richb77

887 posts

160 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
It never ceases to amaze me that "an easy fix" isn't completed before trying to sell the car.

Honestly your target audience will only go up if you fix the temp sensor first!

£950, 139k, dent in the boot and not a flattering write up of the engine and gearbox.

I would be walking away from this is I could have been bothered to turn up.

I'd rather live with a tidier 2.0 Ghia I think.

detomaso

1,354 posts

247 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
big_boz said:
Did someone at PH forget to find a SOTW this week and throw this in at the last minute?
Harris pics Focus in this weeks Drive vid, SOTW pics Focus in this weeks feature - not rocket science to understand

eliotrw

302 posts

168 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
This is a car eclipsed in every possible departement by last weeks shed im afraid.

britsportscars

281 posts

177 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
The most amusing article on PH for a while! Lots better than that Scirocco vs TT thing!

I thought the ST170 was supposed to be one of the best of its kind back in the day? I'm going to have a look at the ads...

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

254 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
stuninho said:
Not the most exciting car, but great article.
Agreed. They are nice to drive though, much better than the Vauxhall offering.

405dogvan

5,326 posts

264 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
eliotrw said:
This is a car eclipsed in every possible departement by last weeks shed im afraid.
Why would anyone care about that?

Why do some people have to turn everything into a competition - compare everything with everything else?

Do we have a 21-st century medical name for this bullst - "Epeenitis" or "PostCountarhymia" or something like that?

As car enthusiasts the one thing that should be bloody obvious is that there's not a 'best' at anything - that everything is a highly personal choice.

If we go along the lines of Eliotrw here, once last weeks SOTW was sold we should have stopped caring about cars and got into the Brony scene - or something...!?

p.s. also - in before the first muppet brings up breaking it for more than it costs...

big_boz

1,684 posts

206 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
detomaso said:
big_boz said:
Did someone at PH forget to find a SOTW this week and throw this in at the last minute?
Harris pics Focus in this weeks Drive vid, SOTW pics Focus in this weeks feature - not rocket science to understand
Harris picks a Ferrari in this weeks Drive vid so SOTW automatically becomes what, a wheel nut off a 458?...or an Alfa GTV V6 that has some interest......

Its a broken Focus with big miles that isn't as good as others that are available for Shed money....not difficult to understand my comment.

In fact, Harris pics focus in this weeks drive vid..."st we haven't got a good shed this week....I Know!" is more like it!

I look forward to SOTW on a Friday morning, all I'm saying is that to me this is disappointing!

405dogvan

5,326 posts

264 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
and getting back to the car - the usual warnings have to be made about a car with dents and outstanding work, because it's almost certainly not as simple as the ad implies.

If it was 'just the switch' they'd have fixed it - because it would make selling it WAY easier.

I suspect you'll find there's a bit more amiss - but no harm in looking if you're local smile

BeirutTaxi

6,627 posts

213 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Advert said:
Requires temp sensor easily fixed to make great car
Then fix it?

The fact this 'easy fix' hasn't been corrected gives me no confidence.

RobCrezz

7,892 posts

207 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
Always liked the mk1 Focus. Great fun to drive.

richb77

887 posts

160 months

Friday 23rd November 2012
quotequote all
I think the MK1 focus was a much better looking car than its successors but what where ford thinking with that "dew drop" dash?

honestly it looks like a 90 years old saggy arse!