Ford Focus ST3
Discussion
I've had my new car for about a week now, so figured it's about time I started a thread on here about it!
Before I got the focus I had a 2006 Fabia vRS:
(Yes, I'm aware that the wheels are a bit marmite!)
but as I moved jobs & my commute pretty much halved, I thought I'd go for something a bit quicker!
I was quite specific about what I wanted (a performance blue ST3 with reasonable mileage) and there was only 1 or 2 listed on the PH classifieds within my budget - but they both were at opposite ends of the country.
By complete co-incidence I stumbled across a suitable sounding car at a local dealership, so thought it would be rude not to go and have a look! Long story short, I now own it
Enough waffle, time for some pics!
The night I collected it:
Waited for a bit of sunshine and got some semi-tarty pics:
Found this in the boot - Nice to see that the last owner looked after the car!
inside the envelope are receipts from 2010 to 2014, it must have been a receipt for every time the car has been filled!
I had these knocking about, so thought they'd suit the car:
(please ignore the budget tyre, they will be getting changed shortly!)
First plans are to put in a decent headunit & an amp/sub, and then eventually get round to some performance mods!
Before I got the focus I had a 2006 Fabia vRS:
(Yes, I'm aware that the wheels are a bit marmite!)
but as I moved jobs & my commute pretty much halved, I thought I'd go for something a bit quicker!
I was quite specific about what I wanted (a performance blue ST3 with reasonable mileage) and there was only 1 or 2 listed on the PH classifieds within my budget - but they both were at opposite ends of the country.
By complete co-incidence I stumbled across a suitable sounding car at a local dealership, so thought it would be rude not to go and have a look! Long story short, I now own it
Enough waffle, time for some pics!
The night I collected it:
Waited for a bit of sunshine and got some semi-tarty pics:
Found this in the boot - Nice to see that the last owner looked after the car!
inside the envelope are receipts from 2010 to 2014, it must have been a receipt for every time the car has been filled!
I had these knocking about, so thought they'd suit the car:
(please ignore the budget tyre, they will be getting changed shortly!)
First plans are to put in a decent headunit & an amp/sub, and then eventually get round to some performance mods!
Edited by brockovrs on Thursday 8th May 21:51
Mapping on that year, may show a chocolate clutch. When I had the Mountune fitted to mine, it had a new RS clutch the following week. Although that's not always set in stone. Mates '06 plate was running 300 bhp, 90 k miles and still the same clutch. Mountune is a great package, but is expensive. Other tuners out there, but you will pay more insurance as 'tuned'. Mountune St260 is listed on insurance database. Made little to no difference to my insurance costs. Good Year Assy tyres are what you need. Tried others, wasted money. Enjoy the car.
Captainawesome said:
Only ever had v-power but budget tyres??? Priorities previous sad owner…priorities!!
May not have been the previous owner who fitted the tyres? Might've been the dealer if it needed new when it was PX'd? I know dealers around my area will sling any old s
t onto a car if it needs new tyres!Captainawesome said:
Only ever had v-power but budget tyres??? Priorities previous sad owner…priorities!!
It was the dealer that stuck the budget tyres on the rear, as "the MOT showed them as an advisory, so we did you a favor and put new ones on"Had I have known they were going to do that, I'd have told them to leave it & I'll sort it myself!
Looks like you have got a good one :-) the modding bug is a very addictive one with these haha...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
For inspiration!
Carlos
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
For inspiration!
Carlos
Carlos24 said:
Looks like you have got a good one :-) the modding bug is a very addictive one with these haha...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
For inspiration!
Carlos
Haha, funnily enough I read your thread (along with pretty much every focus ST thread on here!) whilst I was waiting to pick mine up - looks bloody good!http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
For inspiration!
Carlos
Not sure I'll end up with as many mods as you though (although knowing what I'm like, i'll end up doing most of it anyway!)
Do you really find that the MPG hasn't decreased with the extra power? I'm getting about 22/23 at the moment, so if it stays like that with an extra 100bhp, I could definitely put up with it!
Nice looking ST OP! 
Was very torn between Performance Blue and Electric Orange when choosing mine, in the end settled for a Stealthy Panther Black ST3!
Had mine for just over half a year and I still love it! Changed a bit from standard running a new exhaust, Michelin Pilots and a few other little goodies but it's a good sorted car from the box already! Mine came with a remap too which was really nice
Any plans for yours OP?
Ps I'd change the tires... Had Autogrips on one of my old MGs... It was dreadful in anything but the dry... :/
Enjoy OP.. Especially the fantastic 5 cylinder noise!
Was very torn between Performance Blue and Electric Orange when choosing mine, in the end settled for a Stealthy Panther Black ST3!
Had mine for just over half a year and I still love it! Changed a bit from standard running a new exhaust, Michelin Pilots and a few other little goodies but it's a good sorted car from the box already! Mine came with a remap too which was really nice
Any plans for yours OP?
Ps I'd change the tires... Had Autogrips on one of my old MGs... It was dreadful in anything but the dry... :/
Enjoy OP.. Especially the fantastic 5 cylinder noise!
Hey sorry I didn't reply sooner I hadn't noticed the reply... I am averaging 22.4mpg at the minute so no difference at all from yours no! Having recently replaced the standard suspension for bilstein B12's I heartily reccomend that as a starting place if you don't do anything else... As I have said though the modding bug is strong with these haha... Mines like a completely different car now to standard!
My brother had a near identical car for a couple of years. I honestly rate it as one of the best allround cars I've ever driven/used.
We fitted the facelift head unit and Bluetooth/voice control modules, he had it remapped by Pumabuild (much cheaper than than the Mountune kit and much more aggressive) and did a few cosmetic mods.
I still miss that car and it wasn't even mine!
We fitted the facelift head unit and Bluetooth/voice control modules, he had it remapped by Pumabuild (much cheaper than than the Mountune kit and much more aggressive) and did a few cosmetic mods.
I still miss that car and it wasn't even mine!
I've had the car for a couple of months now, so thought I'd do a bit of an update!
First thing I did was take this out:
and replaced it with this:
I then replaced all 4 tyres as the front 2 were getting a bit worn & the rear 2 were a crappy budget make, it's now wearing vredestein ultrac sessanta's and they are pretty bloody good!!
The brake disks were quite worn & as I'm off to the nurburgring at the end of June, I thought that I'd be best of to change them now, so the disks & pads got changed all round (that was a loooong day!)
Whilst I was doing the brakes, I replaced the standard gearbox torque mount with an uprated one:
Annoyingly, I've also seen that the front wishbone rear bush on both sides of the car has gone - allowing a lot of movement. An uprated bush (from the same people that make the torque mount) was a decent price, but I'd need to pay someone to fit it as I don't have a press, so what do I do?
That's right, buy whole new bottom arms!
My man math justification being A) its got both bushes already installed, so it'll save me having to replace the front one when that goes and B) It's powdercoated, shiny and blue... I've just got to wait for the next dry weekend to fit them.
I also took it to the PHSS at merc world, but as it's pretty boring in comparison to most of the other stuff that was there, I don't think anyone noticed it!
First thing I did was take this out:
and replaced it with this:
I then replaced all 4 tyres as the front 2 were getting a bit worn & the rear 2 were a crappy budget make, it's now wearing vredestein ultrac sessanta's and they are pretty bloody good!!
The brake disks were quite worn & as I'm off to the nurburgring at the end of June, I thought that I'd be best of to change them now, so the disks & pads got changed all round (that was a loooong day!)
Whilst I was doing the brakes, I replaced the standard gearbox torque mount with an uprated one:
Annoyingly, I've also seen that the front wishbone rear bush on both sides of the car has gone - allowing a lot of movement. An uprated bush (from the same people that make the torque mount) was a decent price, but I'd need to pay someone to fit it as I don't have a press, so what do I do?
That's right, buy whole new bottom arms!
My man math justification being A) its got both bushes already installed, so it'll save me having to replace the front one when that goes and B) It's powdercoated, shiny and blue... I've just got to wait for the next dry weekend to fit them.
I also took it to the PHSS at merc world, but as it's pretty boring in comparison to most of the other stuff that was there, I don't think anyone noticed it!
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