RE: Shed Of The Week: Ford Focus ST170
Discussion
I think the Chic (grey), Ebony (black) and Silver were essentially the same cars except for the colour? Heated leather, heated screen, air con etc.Yes these were similar cars just the launch date was different and the market target there was an Elle for girls tied in with the Elle magazine....
Explained Ashley Andrew, Ford Focus brand manager, Ford Motor Company Limited: "Ford Focus is all about understated style and Ford Focus Elle adds to that a touch of exclusivity; it’s the perfect new season style statement for the discerning girl about town!"
there were black chic silver versions aswell - clever marketing and good specification inside for the money. 115mph and 0-60 in 11 seconds....
The xr3i was 0-60 in 9 seconds and a top speed of 120. Yes an older car but good indication of the basic bottom bar one focus being almost as fast as the xr3i escort halo model.
It was the first car I had with a heated windscreen and to this day I miss that screen it was probably one of the better inventions ford came up with.
Explained Ashley Andrew, Ford Focus brand manager, Ford Motor Company Limited: "Ford Focus is all about understated style and Ford Focus Elle adds to that a touch of exclusivity; it’s the perfect new season style statement for the discerning girl about town!"
there were black chic silver versions aswell - clever marketing and good specification inside for the money. 115mph and 0-60 in 11 seconds....
The xr3i was 0-60 in 9 seconds and a top speed of 120. Yes an older car but good indication of the basic bottom bar one focus being almost as fast as the xr3i escort halo model.
It was the first car I had with a heated windscreen and to this day I miss that screen it was probably one of the better inventions ford came up with.
t.
Bought one today the same as pic. Was imacualte and for under a grand bit of a spontaneous buy on way back from ma n pa's wife carried on in n our 15 plate sorento and i drove the st170 on the rest of our 40mile journey home. wasnt as nippy as id hoped doubt it would do the kia on the straight but handles well lol. the light came on after around 20miles. Sorry mate sold as seen. Not too worried no rust I'll stick it in the garage maybe itll be worth a bob or too one day. Could i get it turbo'd always wanted a hot hatch in my yoof but could afford the insurnce
Enough. Frankly I've had enough of these slag the ST170 off reviews. I've owned one for the last 6 years. It's been through the MOT every year without a referral. It will return 32mpg without having to be driven like every day is a Sunday afternoon. Performance wise it's an old car now however 18 months ago it was showing 169.1bhp on a dyno for what is a same as it left the factory car. In the real world the performance is enough to startle more than a few who assume it's a run of the mill Focus at the traffic light shootouts. If you are old like me even the insurance isn't that bad at @ £180 a year fully comp.
CarlJackson said:
Enough. Frankly I've had enough of these slag the ST170 off reviews. I've owned one for the last 6 years. It's been through the MOT every year without a referral. It will return 32mpg without having to be driven like every day is a Sunday afternoon. Performance wise it's an old car now however 18 months ago it was showing 169.1bhp on a dyno for what is a same as it left the factory car. In the real world the performance is enough to startle more than a few who assume it's a run of the mill Focus at the traffic light shootouts. If you are old like me even the insurance isn't that bad at @ £180 a year fully comp.
That's interesting, 169 BHP as standard? Certainly a good riposte to the internet legend that these only made 145 out of the factory! Perhaps another car like the Clio 197 that needs a few miles to loosen up I always felt they went pretty well for what they were, handles well, very cheap at the moment, whats not to like. In time, the Mk1 Focus will be worth a lot of money, old Fords always are eventually.Dion20vt said:
Both this and the mk6 Fiesta ST with the 150hp 2ltr lump are not worthy of the ST badge!
When I was looking a runabout for her indoors 6 or 7 years ago I asked someone that worked at Ford which one to buy, he said avoid the Focus. Apart from needing a 6sp gearbox there wasn't much wrong with the ST as a warm hatch.blade7 said:
Dion20vt said:
Both this and the mk6 Fiesta ST with the 150hp 2ltr lump are not worthy of the ST badge!
When I was looking a runabout for her indoors 6 or 7 years ago I asked someone that worked at Ford which one to buy, he said avoid the Focus. Apart from needing a 6sp gearbox there wasn't much wrong with the ST as a warm hatch.I also don't subscribe to all these theories that its dog slow. Perhaps in comparison to a Clio 182, but for a warm hatch it goes well enough with decent low down pull. Goes well enough to surprise many a modern 2 litre TDI which tries to bully it....
greenarrow said:
Nothing wrong with the Fiesta ST. My wife has gone one. Despite being 12 years old, it drives as tight as a nut, feels rock solid at over a ton on the motorway and feels absolutely planted on twisty wet roads, where our old 1.9 GTI felt edgy, the rides rather hard, but I think its a very sorted chassis.
My Mrs bought an 05 Fiesta ST and kept it for 5 years. Great runaround car but there's no denying they're under geared in top and heavy on juice. Gearboxes have been known to give problems too.couple of things. its not really cricket looking at this car through 2017 eyes in terms of performance.
its a shed of the early noughties. i think the official 0-60 time was about 7.9s which back then wasnt to be sniffed at. i think maybe what the car lacked in torque maybe or outright acceleration it made up for in the handling and braking depts.
on the interior of this particular car i like the dash and seats and would say its even a nicer place to sit than what you faced in the later Mk1 focus RS with the splashes of garish horrible blue on the seats dash and door cards and even inside the instrument binnacle. i had an RS and would have gladly ticked a "delete" options box to have a standard black or dark grey interior like this ST170. because of its exterior, chassis and engine i was happy to look past the interior.
and talking of the RS, folk need to remember in their scorn of the performance of ST170 that it only had 42 odd bhp less than its turbocharged big brother when it came out. Where exactly should Ford have aimed for then in terms of power? would an extra 10 or 20bhp have really moved its game on that much?
Granted it sounds like it suffered from being long geared so maybe Ford could have fitted something with closer ratios for quicker off the mark and in gear performance but the main point is that with the RS on the drawing board Ford couldnt really go much further with power output IMHO on the ST otherwise it would have diluted the arrival of the RS with its 212bhp. i think it followed after about 1 maybe 2 years from the ST.
i agree though with some other folks on the basiz Zetec 1.6 mk1 focus. id quite like one in the same dark grey with heated windscreen/mirrors and the 16" version of same 5 spoke style alloys found only on the Zetec 2.0 ESP. frankly its all the car you need on a budget.
its a shed of the early noughties. i think the official 0-60 time was about 7.9s which back then wasnt to be sniffed at. i think maybe what the car lacked in torque maybe or outright acceleration it made up for in the handling and braking depts.
on the interior of this particular car i like the dash and seats and would say its even a nicer place to sit than what you faced in the later Mk1 focus RS with the splashes of garish horrible blue on the seats dash and door cards and even inside the instrument binnacle. i had an RS and would have gladly ticked a "delete" options box to have a standard black or dark grey interior like this ST170. because of its exterior, chassis and engine i was happy to look past the interior.
and talking of the RS, folk need to remember in their scorn of the performance of ST170 that it only had 42 odd bhp less than its turbocharged big brother when it came out. Where exactly should Ford have aimed for then in terms of power? would an extra 10 or 20bhp have really moved its game on that much?
Granted it sounds like it suffered from being long geared so maybe Ford could have fitted something with closer ratios for quicker off the mark and in gear performance but the main point is that with the RS on the drawing board Ford couldnt really go much further with power output IMHO on the ST otherwise it would have diluted the arrival of the RS with its 212bhp. i think it followed after about 1 maybe 2 years from the ST.
i agree though with some other folks on the basiz Zetec 1.6 mk1 focus. id quite like one in the same dark grey with heated windscreen/mirrors and the 16" version of same 5 spoke style alloys found only on the Zetec 2.0 ESP. frankly its all the car you need on a budget.
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