RE: Ford Fiesta ST: UK Drive

[unpc]

IME 3 cylinder engines usually sound way better than 4s anyway so this switch is probably a good thing. Shame the rear end on the Mk 8 is fugly.

[MFR_TT]

I'm not 100% sold on that rear styling.

But I do think this would be an incredible purchase and batters everything for all-round performance and economy in that price bracket.

I will be keeping my Type R for another year or two, and then I'm confident this will be my next purchase.

Be interested to see what the 17inch alloys look like too.

[Jon_S_Rally]

I don't really get the criticism over it's looks. The rear is maybe a little 'busy' and I don't think much of the twin tailpipes (same as on the last version) but I think it's a really smart looking car overall.

I drove a 1.0 ST-Line a couple of weeks ago and it was a fantastic car.The interior is streets ahead of the old Fiesta. I am very much looking forward to driving the new ST. I think it will be another winner for Ford.

[domtheone]

Will defo get a test drive in one of these if they turn up with decent lease deals.

The make or break will be the ride.

Hopefully it's not as bone jarring as last time (the reviews seem to indicate it's not quite as firm).

With the state of our roads, there's little point having a car with a rock hard ride unless you a: live in the country and are fortunate enough to have nice smooth roads, or b: spend half of your time on track.

[Gandahar]

unpc said:

IME 3 cylinder engines usually sound way better than 4s anyway so this switch is probably a good thing. Shame the rear end on the Mk 8 is fugly.

You cannot see that when driving and the interior is far better which you can see when driving. Who buys a car just to feel smug when giving it a look when queuing to pay for petrol?

The 3 pot engine will sound very fruity once they get modified no doubt . The 4 pot is where the current car falls down, sound wise.



PS Having said that the wheels are chuffing naff......

Edited by Gandahar on Friday 13th July 12:03

[Johnnytheboy]

Jon_S_Rally said:

I don't really get the criticism over it's looks.... The interior is streets ahead of the old Fiesta.

I agree with that - I really didn't like the last few years of Ford centre consoles.

[WCZ]

finally, this is the first time I've seen the stated weight
how does it compare to the mk7 (unsure as to what 'eu with driver' adds)

[anonymous-user]

I'd say they look better in the metal than they do in pictures. The interior is certainly light years ahead of the old car (based on the ST-Line spec, not the ST, but it should hold true because it looks basically the same)

Wonder how well it takes to a tune, I find the easy gains available from the 1.6 a very attractive part of the package of the previous model.

I'm just glad people are still making (relatively) lightweight hot hatches and are focusing on the driving experience. As long as it's not covered in pictures of Donald Trump's genitals I couldn't care less what it looks like TBH

[GroundEffect]

See one in person before you criticise the looks. Looks grown up but in a good way.

I want one, badly.

[HVAC MATT]

looks and engine aside, 18K for a 1200KG 200BHP car isn't to bad. when you think a 2006 focus ST was 17K, heavier, a little more power. would be good to see stats side by side.

Just to be clear I don't wont one.

[oobster]

GroundEffect said:

See one in person before you criticise the looks. Looks grown up but in a good way.

I want one, badly.

Do you not get a discount working for Ford?



There was a new MK8 Fiesta ST at a car event I attended last week in Edinburgh, I believe it was the same colour as the one in this article. Nice car, horrible colour. Looked like denim.

[LuS1fer]

I don't doubt this new car is better than the Mk 7 but I have to echo the crushing failure of the styling.

The old one always reminded me of a wasp and it had it's own identity.
This one looks like a C-Max. I noticed the Corsa VXR suffered a similar fate at it's rear end to make it plain and dull but Ford have excelled themselves in the banality stakes.

For that reason, I will keep my Mk 7 and when it comes time to trade it in, it won't be for this new ST because who wants to look at that. Far from making your heart race, it has a sedative effect.

Ford have never been VW - VW do neat and boxy to perfection, this should go back in the box.

[WhiteBaron]

Gandahar said:

PS Having said that the wheels are chuffing naff......

Edited by Gandahar on Friday 13th July 12:03

Agreed - has anyone found pictures of the 17's? hopefully they will be better

[Fire99]

I'm not the biggest Ford fan (for no particular reason) but I think the Mk.7 Fiesta was a great design and no doubt a very easy car to live with.
This one really has gone 'Mini C-Max' at the rear. A real shame after the styling success of the previous model.

[CrippsCorner]

Deep Thought said:

I like it.

Love that colour and wheel combo

That's funny. There's one of these parked opposite my work so I've been eyeing it up all week! For me, the worst things about it are the colour (same as this one) which is very dull, and the wheels look chavvy, previous ones much nicer.

Now I've only seen the rear as it's parked on a drive, although once it did drive past me. It sounded great to be fair, but that's the only positive I can say about it at the moment. I'm sure it's fun to drive though.

Genuinely prefer the looks of the ST-Line at this point, much nicer colours and the anthracite wheels are lovely!

[Chris Jay]

I think the wheels spoil the look of the car, slap on some better ones and it will look spot on.

[Onehp]

blade7 said:

Onehp said:

blade7 said:

I've asked the question before, how much boost does the 3 cylinder 1500cc engine have run to make similar output to the previous 4 cylinder 1600cc engine?

Guess? Probably 0,1 bar if at all, if the new engine can run earlier ignition or is more efficient in other ways.

Cylinder count doesn't really matter here, boost will multiply your displacement, 1,5 and 1,6 litre isn't a massive difference, 6% reduction in displacement.

So an increase in boost at peak power of roughly 0,1 bar will keep the same power, all else the same.

Not really interested in a guess TBH, though I'd predict it's more than 0.1 bar. All else isn't the same though, there's 12 valves V 16 valves also.

Flow through those larger 12V is probably the same as through the smaller 16V and fairly irrelevant to boost pressure. Also 0,5l displacement is still considered optimal in the automotive world.

Seems to me your sceptic prediction is a much wilder guess than my (semi-professional I might add) guess. But for the sake of argument, if boost pressure were 0,3bar higher, what will you do with that information??

[Limpet]

I can't think of anything else this side of £30k that interests me more than one of these at the moment. Cracking little car. Maybe not quite as good looking as the mk7, but that's more than offset in my opinion by the vastly improved interior. If the engine has anything like as much character, and sounds anything like as good as the 140 1.0 in my mate's ST Line, it will be a cracker.

[Jon_S_Rally]

The wheels are definitely the worst bit about it. Saw a white one in the metal a few months ago and it looked good. I always thought the MK7, although not a bad looker by any means, looked a little tall and narrow. This one looks a bit more squat and wide.

[wab172uk]

Richard-G said:

can you buy one of these though?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/major-securi...

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/937639/F...

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/ford-fiestas-risk-k...

i mean i could paste another 30 links, i follow a stolen car recovery group on facebook and it seems about 4 go missing per week, i know its only history repeating with the mk2 and mk3 (killing off the XR3i and RS turbo veriosn in the 90's) but ford should really be looking into how to stop this, they've had the issue for nearly 4 years now and if anything it seems to be getting worse.

Just avoid the ST-3 with keyless go.

It is a shame, as I'd love the leather on the ST-3 seats, and the bigger screen. But I'd rather buy an ST-2 and be able to keep it on my driveway.