Shed Of The Week: Ford Focus ST170
Could the overlooked ST170 be a wise purchase for the canny Shedman?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The cars were famed for a good portion only having 150bhp also.
Its a Meh from me on this really.
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!
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.
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...
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
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.
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.
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?
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