Friday 29th May 2015

Shed Of The Week: Ford Focus ST170

Could the overlooked ST170 be a wise purchase for the canny Shedman?

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Any Ford with an 'ST' to its name is usually worth a look, or an extra star in a road test. But this hasn't always been the case.

Launched in 2002, the Focus ST170 was the first sporting Focus to be put together by Ford's Special Vehicle Engineering and Special Vehicle Team operations. It had many of the hallmarks of a joint venture. The engine, which came from Ford's Chihuahua plant in Mexico, featured Cosworth mods to the cylinder head, new intake and exhaust manifolds, high-comp pistons, variable valve timing, a sports cat and a big-bore stainless steel exhaust. This package lifted the Duratec 2.0-litre engine's hp power figure from 130 to 170. A Getrag six-speed box was hooked up to it and bigger brake discs were lobbed on behind spangly new alloys.

Focus still a smart design in 2015

It's hard to quibble with the recipe. The ingredients look right, but somebody must have set the timer wrong on the oven because what came out of the Ford kitchen was not a light, tastebud-tickling tarte tatin but a collapsed and slightly muddy-tasting souffle whose innards, once sampled, were perhaps best left on the plate.

Ford's superb Control Blade multi-link rear suspension means there is no such thing as a bad-handling Focus, but that wasn't enough on its own to compensate for the ST170's relatively stodgy performance. The fact Vauxhall's 145hp Astra racked up the same low eight-second 0-60 time as the ST highlighted another issue: excess lard. The 1,314kg Ford was around 100kg heavier than the Astra. It also had the dubious benefit of a gearbox that combined all the delicacy of a Mersey tugboat with the subtlety and finesse of a Northern nightclub MC.

This was the time before orange STs, remember

On the good side, the ST did have lots of equipment, nice half-leather seats and useful five-door practicality to go with its sporty image. If these attractions are more important to you than outright performance, what can go wrong? Well, any 13-year-old car, Focus or otherwise, is susceptible to rust, but you may also encounter a range of other difficulties in both the electrical and mechanical departments.

Clutches are known to fail, and water can make an unwelcome appearance in both headlamp units and pollen filters. Variable valve timing sounds great until the camshaft actuator bolt works loose in the timing belt cover, creating an oil leak. A rattle under the car at around 2,000rpm could signify that next door's moggy has taken up unauthorised residence by the exhaust, but it's more likely to be a broken manifold or cat heatshield bracket. A sticky throttle action might be grubby throttle bodies or simply a worn cable.

Sensors, as usual, are more trouble than they're worth. Ford added a couple of gizmos for the ST that probably seemed like good ideas at the time but that can go on to plague innocent Shedmen operating at the muckier end of the motoring spectrum in later years. An illuminated engine management light could be pointing to a failed lambda sensor or a stuck Inlet Manifold Runner Control, a cable-operated butterfly valve that was designed to boost bottom end torque. Either pay your Ford dealer a few hundred quid for a new one or put it down to a daft sensor and carry on regardless.

Free air freshener too? Bonus!

Then there's the coolant temperature sensor. If that goes squiffy, it'll trip the car into a failsafe cooling mode that will get you home by cutting the fuelling to alternate cylinders. If you don't know about it, you'll think you've got a horribly expensive misfire to somehow trace and fix.

We had an ST170 Shed back in 2012. That was a Stardust Silver '03 car with a new clutch, a small dent in the boot, and a £950 pricetag. This one's a slightly older one in Magnum Grey, with no apparent dents and a £900 sticker. We're a little lacking on detailed info this time around as the vendor has a pretty dour line in ad copy, but we won't hold that against him. Sometimes the ugliest oysters hold the best pearls. That's rubbish, obviously, but you get the drift.

Here's the ad.

Focus ST170
Year: 2002
Engine: 2.0/petrol
Manual gearbox: 6 speed
Colour: grey
MOT: till 09/30/2015
Extras: power steering wheel, ABS, electronic stability program (ESP), air conditioner - working, 17 inch alloy wheels with new tyres, FM/AM stereo, CD player, central door lock, alarm.

[p1stonhead]

Tried one of these for a while. Very thirsty and performance is very lacking compared to what I expected - although probably shouldnt have expected much for 170bhp!

[pSyCoSiS]

That seems to be a alot of car for the cash. Never realised these were so unloved and so cheap?

[Fetchez la vache]

pSyCoSiS said:

That seems to be a alot of car for the cash. Never realised these were so unloved and so cheap?

I can't say I've been looking for these, but I agree 100%.

[mauricegb]

These look good but used to have a terrible reputation for reliability on the Focus owners club forums, far worse than a normal Focus. 9 out of 10 seemed to be Friday afternoon cars with all manner of faults, there was a huge thread on it with a long list of registrations to avoid buying!

The cars were famed for a good portion only having 150bhp also.

[J4CKO]

They are unloved as they weren't really all that great, didnt have an RS badge and didnt look much different from any other Mk1 Focus, contrast with the actual RS which looked way better, went way better, had an RS badge and are now 12 grand and up, despite the odd flaw.

Its a Meh from me on this really.

[Geoffcapes]

My old next door neighbour had one of these from new.

We both picked up new cars on the same day. His ST, my Alfa 147.

Immediately he was green with envy and wished he'd bought an Alfa.


However, he's probably glad he didn't buy the Alfa from new as he would have suffered the same catastrophic depreciation I did.
Still, my car looked better than his. And was more reliable as well!

[GregorFuk]

Pretty sure that despite what the rocker cover says these don't come with Duratec engines. I think they are the old Zetecs. Duratec cams are driven by a chain that runs on the right of the engine. This clearly has a belt to the left. The Duratec rocker cover was marketing at its best.

[klunkT5]

As stated, Exterior wise MK1 Foci still look sharp, Just could'nt live with the dash and steering wheel though

[anonymous-user]

The only car we have owned which I really disliked. Gutless, thirsty, wheezing Zetec, poor stereo and the gearbox was very notchy. All this added up to a car that wasn't much fun, nothing to recommend it, apart from the lights, they were ok. The DC2 that was ran alongside it was better in every way, even the often quoted handling didn't win me over. My advice pick a standard Focus, almost as quick, buttons to run. Sorry, not even at shed money.

[Stevenr]

Starting to become worth looking at maybe,I was one of the silly people that paid nearly 10k for one when it wasn't very old.

Lovely car to drive,nice place to sit in but just lacked that something,more power or less weight would have solved it I think.

Mine was traded in for a Clio 182,not as well built but a far far better drivers car I thought although it all depends on what you want from it I suppose.

[TrivsTom]

Just picked up an estate one of these yesterday funnily enough, to replace my MX5 mk1. I've driven a couple and have never understood PH's criticism at the gearbox, its a smooth shift!

[Quhet]

Smart looking cars, but hardly a shed gem

[FWDRacer]

Worst set of gear ratios attached to a production car in the last 15 years. 6-Sp porridge stirring gearbox is a horrendous contraption.

Ford Puma gearbox. So right. This. So wrong. How Ford, how?

PS Sit on it rather than in it, the seats are woeful too

Shed school report 4/10 - must concentrate more in class...

[turboteeth]

I don't really understand the dislike for these cars - provided you don't expect anything like a mini-RS and instead just think of it as a decent version of a standard MK1 Focus, these are superb cars. I have always loved the way they look, although yes the interior looks a bit late 90s rather than square edge modern.

We've had one in the family for 7 years - bought for £4k at 70k miles and now approaching 150k. Ours has cost a bit to maintain over the years with new clutch, numerous power steering racks, broken springs etc. but despite abusive treatment by the wife and kids, it has served us well and is one of those cars that always "feels" reliable.

Handling is superb and it is a great motorway mile muncher - seats are very comfy. Despite ours now having one Yokohama and one ditchfinder up front, plus a pair of dubious quality rears - it genuinely still handles really well.

A decent one has to be well worth a grand of anyone's money IMHO

[DBSnappa]

My girlfriend has one of these. I agree with most of the appraisal. The whole car feels pretty agricultural, the gearbox is unpleasant, it isn't fast, the ride is quite hard for the lack of performance and the mpg around town rarely gets above 20. It's astonishing to think Ford missed such an open goal when the base car is so accomplished.

It has been, EMU light constantly on notwithstanding, faultlessly reliable and sails through its MOT every year with no advisories. The EMU light is because of a failed emissions sensior ahead of the cat, which stays broken as my girlfriend takes speed bumps like they're launch pads and at £200 a pop it's not worth replacing.

[Drive Blind]

driving a new one of these was a big let down for me. I had driven normal 1.6's, 1.8's and diesels which I enjoyed so looked forward to a spin in the brother in laws ST.

It never felt anywhere near 170hp and the gearbox was hopeless - both the action and the ratios. iirc 70+ in 2nd and nearly 110 in 3rd. What was the point in that? Also his had a new clutch in the first year and several attempts at sorting a cat/exhaust rattle which always came back.

you think it was a car dreamed up by the marketing people? Stick an ST badge on it - check, 170 mentioned a lot - like the clio 172 - check and 6 speed gearbox - check. And just blindly hope it all worked?

As mentioned in the article the Astra SRi had 25 bhp less and the same performance. An EP3 CTR had 30bhp more and would annihilate the Focus on any performance test plus had a much nicer gearbox.

[Limpet]

This was a classic example of a hopeless drivetrain spoiling what was otherwise a cracking car.

A boggo 2.0 Zetec did almost everything this did with better reliability and lower running costs. And having driven both, no way was there anything like 42 bhp between them. The standard 5 speed box was also far nicer to use than the ST's six speeder.

As was said above, the base Focus gave a platform for a wonderful hot hatch. How did they miss this open goal?

Edited by Limpet on Friday 29th May 10:52

[s m]

Old front wheel drive GT 86

[Usget]

Shed said:

Chihuahua plant

[GTEYE]

In 10-15 years time, perhaps we will be remembering how cheap these once were, when they have become super rare and super expensive as with many old fast Fords...

Possibly, but also possibly not with this one. The Mk1 Focus RS on the other hand...