Discussion
Having had and expensive motorbike and and crap car for the last 2 years its time for a change. I have about 14k to spend on a new car and fancy either an ST or an RS Focus. The RS appeals because there are so few about and they look so good in the flesh. The only problem i have found is that most have had lots of owners and very few are well cared for. On the other hand i could go out and pick up a new shape ST for the same money which is going to be a lot newer and with lower miles. The only problem is they are very common. Performance is an issue for me, i will no doubt be doing a few track days in the car and numerous ring trips. Would appreciate any advice.
Cheers Jim
Cheers Jim
if ur one short of a set then get urself over to our place!! 
the crazy club!
on a serious note, the ST is not a patch on the RS. and the comment about lots of owners and not well looked after?? surely that is more suited to the ST?!!!! otherwise known as the ASBO
that can't be any of the cars owned by any of our blue army! if in doubt buy one of our cars in the for sale section. boun to pick up a nice one.
come over and say hello...
http://bbs.rsownersclub.co.uk/
the crazy club!
on a serious note, the ST is not a patch on the RS. and the comment about lots of owners and not well looked after?? surely that is more suited to the ST?!!!! otherwise known as the ASBO
that can't be any of the cars owned by any of our blue army! if in doubt buy one of our cars in the for sale section. boun to pick up a nice one.
come over and say hello...
http://bbs.rsownersclub.co.uk/
northernjim said:
i have to say buy an rs!!!!!
the owners club is full of very well looked after examples, so if they do sell them yoiu know its been looked after.
they r so much more fun too mate and far more suitable for ring trips, and so many tuning options if that what you want..
evnin jim!! the owners club is full of very well looked after examples, so if they do sell them yoiu know its been looked after.
they r so much more fun too mate and far more suitable for ring trips, and so many tuning options if that what you want..
(sebspring)
Edited by ooOoo on Friday 9th November 19:03
Edited by ooOoo on Friday 9th November 19:03
If you are considering an FRS well worth checking out the RS Owners Club website - full of useful info & prices will now begin to stabilise and not drop too much more whereas the ST will continue to devalue - i own a highly modified FRS & love the car and tbh have driven an ST3 not so long ago & found there was no excitement the car was far too refined - get an FRS and do a few simple mods & you will have a car capable of up to 280bhp which will still be driveable 
Plus quite a few of the lads on the RSOC have taken their cars to the ring, given it a good hard run and driven home with no real problems Get an FRS you know it makes sense 
Plus quite a few of the lads on the RSOC have taken their cars to the ring, given it a good hard run and driven home with no real problems Get an FRS you know it makes sense ooOoo said:
if ur one short of a set then get urself over to our place!!
the crazy club!
on a serious note, the ST is not a patch on the RS. and the comment about lots of owners and not well looked after?? surely that is more suited to the ST?!!!! otherwise known as the ASBO
that can't be any of the cars owned by any of our blue army! if in doubt buy one of our cars in the for sale section. boun to pick up a nice one.
come over and say hello...
http://bbs.rsownersclub.co.uk/
Strangely enough, most of the STs I've seen are impeccably looked after. I wish people would stop with the 'ASBO' bothe crazy club!
on a serious note, the ST is not a patch on the RS. and the comment about lots of owners and not well looked after?? surely that is more suited to the ST?!!!! otherwise known as the ASBO
that can't be any of the cars owned by any of our blue army! if in doubt buy one of our cars in the for sale section. boun to pick up a nice one.
come over and say hello...
http://bbs.rsownersclub.co.uk/
ocks, it's tired and lame. Clarkson just meant that the car has attitude, not that it's driven by pikey scum.The RS is better at what it does and the ST is better at what IT does. The RS is a constant battle and a far more involving drive. The ST delivers similar performance, but also does the relaxed motorway cruise very nicely too.
Oh, and no problems on the 'Ring either.
ETA: They're completely different cars. It depends what you're looking for from your car.
Edited by Funk on Friday 9th November 21:05
Funk said:
ooOoo said:
if ur one short of a set then get urself over to our place!!
the crazy club!
on a serious note, the ST is not a patch on the RS. and the comment about lots of owners and not well looked after?? surely that is more suited to the ST?!!!! otherwise known as the ASBO
that can't be any of the cars owned by any of our blue army! if in doubt buy one of our cars in the for sale section. boun to pick up a nice one.
come over and say hello...
http://bbs.rsownersclub.co.uk/
Strangely enough, most of the STs I've seen are impeccably looked after. I wish people would stop with the 'ASBO' bothe crazy club!
on a serious note, the ST is not a patch on the RS. and the comment about lots of owners and not well looked after?? surely that is more suited to the ST?!!!! otherwise known as the ASBO
that can't be any of the cars owned by any of our blue army! if in doubt buy one of our cars in the for sale section. boun to pick up a nice one.
come over and say hello...
http://bbs.rsownersclub.co.uk/
ocks, it's tired and lame. Clarkson just meant that the car has attitude, not that it's driven by pikey scum.The RS is better at what it does and the ST is better at what IT does. The RS is a constant battle and a far more involving drive. The ST delivers similar performance, but also does the relaxed motorway cruise very nicely too.
Oh, and no problems on the 'Ring either.
ETA: They're completely different cars. It depends what you're looking for from your car.
Edited by Funk on Friday 9th November 21:05
Ah! The infamous 'Ring' question 10 secs faster i hear you cry!
Well in one performance mag (Ford biased) the 2 cars were taken round the ring and the test driver commented that the ST couldn't match the time set by the FRS (Both being in standard trim)
Agree with your points on these 2 cars being different.
1 being a shark, t'other being a dolphin each to his/her own.
Funk said:
I merely stated that the ST handles with aplomb on the 'Ring..
As most cars these days seem to have the 'Ring' seal of approval...and pull the other one with the ring comment! I knew where you were going with that statement.That aside Funk..What are your feelings on the stories of a Mk 2 FRS? I firmly believe that Ford will endeavour to bring one out.
Apex clipper said:
Funk said:
I merely stated that the ST handles with aplomb on the 'Ring..
As most cars these days seem to have the 'Ring' seal of approval...and pull the other one with the ring comment! I knew where you were going with that statement.That aside Funk..What are your feelings on the stories of a Mk 2 FRS? I firmly believe that Ford will endeavour to bring one out.
I think there's definitely room for it in the marketplace, slotting in under the Evo X and Scoob, especially with the success the WRC guys have had. I for one hope that they build one. Minimum 300bhp and 4wd, please.
I came very close to buying an RS. In the end, I couldn't find one that hadn't been modified or abused in some manner. Unmodified examples (two or three years olf) were going for almost their new price.
Horses for courses though really. It depends on what you want out of a car. The RS is, I think, a more intense experience than the ST, but the ST provides more comfortable, refined motoring.
Horses for courses though really. It depends on what you want out of a car. The RS is, I think, a more intense experience than the ST, but the ST provides more comfortable, refined motoring.
Well the RS boys have had there say...
Have a look here for ST info: http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/
Try both and see what you think for yourself, personally i would chose my 314BHP ST over a FRS but im sure others on here would go the other way its all down to personal choice
Have a look here for ST info: http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/
Try both and see what you think for yourself, personally i would chose my 314BHP ST over a FRS but im sure others on here would go the other way its all down to personal choice
To be honst it doesnt really matter how many owners it has had - provided it has a full service history. The RS values wil always be much better than the ST due to the ltd numbers made.
In fact its probably one of the lowest "total car ownership Costs" around.
£1k max depn a year... bargin.
In fact its probably one of the lowest "total car ownership Costs" around.
£1k max depn a year... bargin.
After owning both of these cars (Rs and ST) and having a good chance to test both cars down country lanes, A roads, B roads and motorways i would say go for the ST every time.
WHY?
It is built to a much better quality and fitment than a Focus RS.
The car is much more user friendly when you dont want to drive like a lunatic.
motorway cruising is 10 times better,
St is more comfortable.
you can use the ST as a daily drivers car and then change your mood to a bit of a hooligan approach when you wish to do so.
The 5 cyclinder volvo engine is far more reliable and sounds just like an 80's Quattro 5pot engine.
ST produces more torque than the Focus RS and it produces the torque as soon as you press the pedal, not wait for the car to build up to nearly 3500rpms.
It was developed by TEAMRS headed by Jost Capito and after speaking to him about the Focus Rs and ST, he prefers the all round ability of the ST.
It maybe a mass produced car and you will see a few about but then so is a m3, m5, porsche 911 yet you dont see people saying they are common.
Also with mass produced cars you will get much better standards and research as the intial teething problems that all new models get will be ironed out during its production run, this will not happen with limited cars as they are all produced within a small time frame.
best bet is to test drive both cars and then decide. if you can try a test drive in rush hour then you will find how both cars perform under stressfull conditions.
As for the handling abilites the St is not as good as the Focus Rs due to the Focus RS been designed to tarmac spec settings and using Variable diff setup,
However you will not exploit the true potential for both of these cars.
a good example would be like: Focus RS is like a porsche gt3 rs and an ST is like a porsche 911 carrera 4 s, one is designed for pure track action and the other for road use.
best of luck in deciding
WHY?
It is built to a much better quality and fitment than a Focus RS.
The car is much more user friendly when you dont want to drive like a lunatic.
motorway cruising is 10 times better,
St is more comfortable.
you can use the ST as a daily drivers car and then change your mood to a bit of a hooligan approach when you wish to do so.
The 5 cyclinder volvo engine is far more reliable and sounds just like an 80's Quattro 5pot engine.
ST produces more torque than the Focus RS and it produces the torque as soon as you press the pedal, not wait for the car to build up to nearly 3500rpms.
It was developed by TEAMRS headed by Jost Capito and after speaking to him about the Focus Rs and ST, he prefers the all round ability of the ST.
It maybe a mass produced car and you will see a few about but then so is a m3, m5, porsche 911 yet you dont see people saying they are common.
Also with mass produced cars you will get much better standards and research as the intial teething problems that all new models get will be ironed out during its production run, this will not happen with limited cars as they are all produced within a small time frame.
best bet is to test drive both cars and then decide. if you can try a test drive in rush hour then you will find how both cars perform under stressfull conditions.
As for the handling abilites the St is not as good as the Focus Rs due to the Focus RS been designed to tarmac spec settings and using Variable diff setup,
However you will not exploit the true potential for both of these cars.
a good example would be like: Focus RS is like a porsche gt3 rs and an ST is like a porsche 911 carrera 4 s, one is designed for pure track action and the other for road use.
best of luck in deciding
Some well-balanced reasoning. The ST is not actually all THAT common either - there's only been about 14,000 made in the last 2 years.
Used prices are probably going to stabilise a little now that you can't order a new one (unless it's an ST500 with those awful seats). They'll predictably dip again next year when the 'new' ST hits the showrooms sometime after March next year. The 'new' one isn't really 'new', it's just a facelift. All the gubbins underneath is the same. A lot of us on focusstoc.com actually prefer the looks of the current model more, but perhaps seeing the new one in the metal will change that.
The RS is great, but it's not as good a car overall as the ST.
Used prices are probably going to stabilise a little now that you can't order a new one (unless it's an ST500 with those awful seats). They'll predictably dip again next year when the 'new' ST hits the showrooms sometime after March next year. The 'new' one isn't really 'new', it's just a facelift. All the gubbins underneath is the same. A lot of us on focusstoc.com actually prefer the looks of the current model more, but perhaps seeing the new one in the metal will change that.
The RS is great, but it's not as good a car overall as the ST.
thekirbyfake said:
Neil.D said:
The ST is more of a hot rep mobile without any of the cred. You will yern for the RS is you ever got one
Yep. I'm always yearning, me. In fact, I'm sat here yearning as I type.Yearn, yearn, yearn. It's all I ever do.
Clearly if you are buying it from a lowest total car ownership cost then the RS is the clear winner if thats of no concern & you prefer better build quality get the ST. The old Focus really did have a terrible cheap dash which dated badly. Again IMHO, the new one is far nicer.
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