RE: Ford Fiesta ST: Driven

[chrisw666]

Technomatt said:

True, but this is now an end to the traditional Renaultsport fare.

It's a 12 year tradition, hardly a lifetime.

[Technomatt]

chrisw666 said:

Technomatt said:

True, but this is now an end to the traditional Renaultsport fare.

It's a 12 year tradition, hardly a lifetime.

Depends how far you want to go back. Alpine etc

[Bezza1969]

greggy50 said:

This car is going down a treat on cliosport...

The clio 200T did a 1.33.6 yet when they put the old 200 round the west circuit it did it in 1.31.9 also Nissan Juke = 1287 kg and RS 200T = 1294 kg verified what the actual fk!

Hmm, I saw this and thought "different driver, different day". .That Clio Cup time you quote was a time by Roger Green in 2010. The best time for a Clio Cup by EVO was a 1:31.2 by Dickie Meaden in 2011, but on that same day, a Mini Cooper JCW Coupe S did a 1:30.7, yet in this new test, the JCW Cooper S hatch did a 1:33.3 and the Clio a 1:33.6, driver, Henry Catchpole, so all the cars appear to have been slower this time around. What is not disputable is that over at auto express the Clio did 69.7 secs lap at Anglesea, the Clio 197 and both cups both did a 68.4 in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

People in this category of car definitely do use their cars on the track, so it does look like an own goal from Renault if their new turbo car is slower than the old model...

Sorry for all the lap time statto stuff, I really need to get out more!!

[LuS1fer]

chrisw666 said:

It's a 12 year tradition, hardly a lifetime.

Dates back to 60s Gordinis, surely, and at the very least the R5 GT Turbo?

[MarkRSi]

Technomatt said:

chrisw666 said:

Technomatt said:

True, but this is now an end to the traditional Renaultsport fare.

It's a 12 year tradition, hardly a lifetime.

Depends how far you want to go back. Alpine etc

I'd wait until they release a 'Cup' version on the new Clio 200 before calling time. The Megane 225 and Clio 197 got a lukewarm reception until they were refined.

Of course, at the moment, the Fiesta seems to be the weapon of choice.

[Technomatt]

MarkRSi said:

Technomatt said:

chrisw666 said:

Technomatt said:

True, but this is now an end to the traditional Renaultsport fare.

It's a 12 year tradition, hardly a lifetime.

Depends how far you want to go back. Alpine etc

I'd wait until they release a 'Cup' version on the new Clio 200 before calling time. The Megane 225 and Clio 197 got a lukewarm reception until they were refined.

Of course, at the moment, the Fiesta seems to be the weapon of choice.

There already is a Cup version of the Clio 200 Turbo and it was on test with EVO.

Hence the surprising bum track performance.

[chrisw666]

LuS1fer said:

Dates back to 60s Gordinis, surely, and at the very least the R5 GT Turbo?

I was thinking more Renault Sport as a brand rather than hot Renaults.

[greggy50]

Technomatt said:

There already is a Cup version of the Clio 200 Turbo and it was on test with EVO.

Hence the surprising bum track performance.

Also got to think despite the gearbox being st it would increase on track performance so the chassis itself must be pretty bad compared to the fiestas...

Not in the market for a hot hatch but I think the fiesta st with a mountune kit certainly would be top choice currently for sub £20k without question.

[TameRacingDriver]

Personally, its nice to see someone else take the hot hatch crown. Plus, I'd imagine a Ford is a lot less likely to bum your wallet once the warranty is up, especially with all that high tech crap on the current model, that thing is going to be an utter, utter liability at 10 years old IMO.

[porscheegt3]

Yep, seems so, congrats to them, nice little car that is fun to drive. And Recaros are included in the price..

[Technomatt]

chrisw666 said:

LuS1fer said:

Dates back to 60s Gordinis, surely, and at the very least the R5 GT Turbo?

I was thinking more Renault Sport as a brand rather than hot Renaults.

Yeah, Renault have always been a bit random with it's product naming, unlike Ford that uses RS, Cosworth and ST.

[fathomfive]

TameRacingDriver said:

Personally, its nice to see someone else take the hot hatch crown. Plus, I'd imagine a Ford is a lot less likely to bum your wallet once the warranty is up, especially with all that high tech crap on the current model, that thing is going to be an utter, utter liability at 10 years old IMO.

Plus, it's good thing to have a fair bit of choice in this particular segment again.

Competition is no bad thing.

[TameRacingDriver]

fathomfive said:

Plus, it's good thing to have a fair bit of choice in this particular segment again.

Competition is no bad thing.

Agreed mate. To me, the only reason Renault Sport have, in recent times, not had much competition, says more to me about the past quality of the competition than how good their particular cars were.

TLDR: the oppositions cars used to be rubbish, now they are stepping up their game!

[greggy50]

fathomfive said:

Plus, it's good thing to have a fair bit of choice in this particular segment again.

Competition is no bad thing.

Agree with the reliability thing

My 172 was uber reliable and maintain that they are made okay depsite your experience TRD

However even I can admit this with a new engine and a new to renault double clutch gearbox etc is going to be a fking nightmare once the warranty is up.

Ford has a tried and tested engine on the otherhand and we have had various fiestas in our house hold and never had an issue with any of them. I think due to this it will also hold it's value better than the renault as people will be able to trust one more in 3/4 years time on the used market.

[TameRacingDriver]

greggy50 said:

Agree with the reliability thing

My 172 was uber reliable and maintain that they are made okay depsite your experience TRD

However even I can admit this with a new engine and a new to renault double clutch gearbox etc is going to be a fking nightmare once the warranty is up.

Ford has a tried and tested engine on the otherhand and we have had various fiestas in our house hold and never had an issue with any of them. I think due to this it will also hold it's value better than the renault as people will be able to trust one more in 3/4 years time on the used market.

I think we'll always agree to disagree on the reliability of past models, as I also had a 182 that lived as much in the dealer having things fixed as it did on my own drive - I became very well acquainted to their Clio 3 DCI at the time!

But we obviously both agree that there is a huge potential for "bork" in this new one.

I can't see the Fiesta suffering anything like the same issues, and the fact it drives better is just the icing on the cake, really.

Shame about the new Clio though as I've seen a few (non-RS) models in the flesh lately and they do look better in the metal than in pictures.

[Technomatt]

Another great win for the Fiesta ST and a big kicking for the Clio RS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...

[macky17]

I'm considering selling my mk2 Focus RS for one of these. I'm getting tired of the crashy ride in the RS (which is my daily) and knowing I could sell it and have a brand new ST with some extra 000s in the bank is calling me. Question though: is the ST less crashy/hard than the RS? If not, I'm wasting my time and may just bite the bullet for some KW variant 3s instead.

[AdamC1983]

The ride is firm but not crashy id say, had mine a couple of months now and it seems to have softened up a bit already.

[greggy50]

macky17 said:

I'm considering selling my mk2 Focus RS for one of these. I'm getting tired of the crashy ride in the RS (which is my daily) and knowing I could sell it and have a brand new ST with some extra 000s in the bank is calling me. Question though: is the ST less crashy/hard than the RS? If not, I'm wasting my time and may just bite the bullet for some KW variant 3s instead.

Having a focus RS I am sure any decent ford dealer would allow you a 24 hour test drive on a ST so you can try it yourself?

[Zad]

Alternatively, consider some higher profile wheels+tyres for the RS?