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!