RE: 2019 Ford Focus ST gets 280hp and eLSD

[Jon_S_Rally]

jason61c said:

30k today. 10k in a years time.

why would anyone pay 30k for a focus?

The thing is, that doesn't matter too much. Provided the monthly payment is right, that's all most people care about. Obviously depreciation influences said monthly payment, but plenty of cars with relatively high depreciation are available on competitive finance/PCP deals. I suspect these will sell in good numbers, just as previous versions have.

Fled said:

And still....the king of hatch value remains the M140i (@£27k)...ends production in June.

Perhaps not such good value when you've forked out to have an LSD fitted and all the suspension replaced so that it works properly

[Fled]

Jon_S_Rally said:

Perhaps not such good value when you've forked out to have an LSD fitted and all the suspension replaced so that it works properly

Not interested in skids or track days, just the odd spirited b-road blast and the occasional motorway pull, so passing on the LSD is easy. However, you are correct, must tick that "adaptive suspension" box, but only adds £8 a month on PCP...so not a deal breaker by any means.

[nickfrog]

jason61c said:

10k was tongue in cheek, however given the massive discounts that'll be around and 'history' of prices, they seem to depreciate massively.

The discounts seem to minimise actual depreciation, at least based on my M135i experience. I don't care if a car loses £10k off its price list in the first 12 months if I didn't have to pay for £7k of those in the first place.

[nickfrog]

Fled said:

Jon_S_Rally said:

Perhaps not such good value when you've forked out to have an LSD fitted and all the suspension replaced so that it works properly

Not interested in skids or track days, just the odd spirited b-road blast and the occasional motorway pull, so passing on the LSD is easy. However, you are correct, must tick that "adaptive suspension" box, but only adds £8 a month on PCP...so not a deal breaker by any means.

I have found traction out of the open diff was very decent, I got a 3.01 at Spa and the only issue was out of Bus Stop, short shifting to 3rd resolved that and it's not a race, is it.

[Onehp]

nickfrog said:

Fled said:

Jon_S_Rally said:

Perhaps not such good value when you've forked out to have an LSD fitted and all the suspension replaced so that it works properly

Not interested in skids or track days, just the odd spirited b-road blast and the occasional motorway pull, so passing on the LSD is easy. However, you are correct, must tick that "adaptive suspension" box, but only adds £8 a month on PCP...so not a deal breaker by any means.

I have found traction out of the open diff was very decent, I got a 3.01 at Spa and the only issue was out of Bus Stop, short shifting to 3rd resolved that and it's not a race, is it.

Doesn't it have brake activated electronic lsd? The old E81 123d/130i had it already...
That said, I do expect the Focus to steer and be damped on a different level then the M140i out of the box (and soon enough, a discount)...

[thebigmacmoomin]

donkmeister said:

All told, 30mpg is a pretty good average for the performance, but on a motorway run I genuinely expect this will achieve high-30s/low-40s. I'm sure my dad's old ST225 did low-30s on a long run, and a mate with a 2.0 ST250 used to average ~30mpg with short motorway journeys and local hoons.

I agree the the quoted figures are often unrealistic, and would add that it goes both ways... I've had people claim ridiculously low mpgs as a bragging point e.g. "Ooooh, my ST is a bit juicy, I only get 4 yards per gallon"... in every case it has been someone picking worst-case figures (usually hooning in first gear, from cold over a short distance) sometimes with margin for exaggeration on top. It's as disingenuous as me claiming my E-class does 38mpg just because I once achieved that out of curiosity, at 53mph, drafting a lorry, with everything turned off (which I did... but it's hardly typical).

My ST225 hits Ford's official MPG for around town, about 20/21. No idea what the combined figure is.

[Fastdruid]

thebigmacmoomin said:

donkmeister said:

All told, 30mpg is a pretty good average for the performance, but on a motorway run I genuinely expect this will achieve high-30s/low-40s. I'm sure my dad's old ST225 did low-30s on a long run, and a mate with a 2.0 ST250 used to average ~30mpg with short motorway journeys and local hoons.

I agree the the quoted figures are often unrealistic, and would add that it goes both ways... I've had people claim ridiculously low mpgs as a bragging point e.g. "Ooooh, my ST is a bit juicy, I only get 4 yards per gallon"... in every case it has been someone picking worst-case figures (usually hooning in first gear, from cold over a short distance) sometimes with margin for exaggeration on top. It's as disingenuous as me claiming my E-class does 38mpg just because I once achieved that out of curiosity, at 53mph, drafting a lorry, with everything turned off (which I did... but it's hardly typical).

My ST225 hits Ford's official MPG for around town, about 20/21. No idea what the combined figure is.

I can fairly easily beat the "urban" claimed in my Mondeo 2.5T (ie same engine as the ST225), mostly I think because my "urban" is pretty free flowing with few stops. I however have never beaten the claimed extra-urban. I got close driving like a nun at about 55mph and barely touching the throttle but a single WOT acceleration will kill the average for the entire journey and it's not worth it to save about 3mpg as I can easily get between 34-38 on a run without really trying (sticking to 70 but otherwise driving normally). My long term average btw is 25mpg.

[framerateuk]

30mpg looks about normal to me.

I used to get no more than about 30mpg average with my MK6 Fiesta ST (the 150bhp one). Which dropped to about 27mpg when I had the Mountune 185 upgrade fitted.

My old Megane 250 averaged about 27, same for my Clio 220 and my new Megane 280.

Both Meganes faired better on the motorway than the Clio, but I've seen nothing above 36mpg, and as pointed out above, a single WOT moment can ruin the whole thing so I'm not all that bothered about it.

I think they're the wrong type of car to worry about MPG in.

[LuS1fer]

framerateuk said:

30mpg looks about normal to me.

I used to get no more than about 30mpg average with my MK6 Fiesta ST (the 150bhp one). Which dropped to about 27mpg when I had the Mountune 185 upgrade fitted.

My ST150 showed around 38 on the dash and so did my ST180. My Mountune ST215 does about 37 (all on the dash readout) so, given the consistency of my driving, they appear comparable.
I confess I don't screw any of my cars though as it is so rarely necessary.

[AussieFozzy]

It sure looks expensive but i would love for someone more clever than me to work out what it means in reality.
Are cars actually getting more expensive or is this something caused by the way people lease/finance vehicles?

[Trailhead]

£31k for a Focus? No thanks.

[Rawwr]

Trailhead said:

£31k for a Focus? No thanks.

What's the right price for a Focus?

[Shiv_P]

Fled said:

And still....the king of hatch value remains the M140i (@£27k)...ends production in June.

27k list? Are you mad? If you're including discounts then include ST discounts when it is released as well. You don't even get cruise control & lumbar support as standard on M140i.

Edited by Shiv_P on Thursday 9th May 08:14

[Jon_S_Rally]

Trailhead said:

£31k for a Focus? No thanks.

No one is going to pay £31k though, are they?

[anonymous-user]

nickfrog said:

I have found traction out of the open diff was very decent, I got a 3.01 at Spa and the only issue was out of Bus Stop, short shifting to 3rd resolved that and it's not a race, is it.

Is that a good time?

I really don't know, but I know an F1 car does a 1:40, and the Citroen C1 with 68bhp we're taking over later in the year should do a 3:40

[Rawwr]

BathyThermo said:

Is that a good time?

I really don't know, but I know an F1 car does a 1:40, and the Citroen C1 with 68bhp we're taking over later in the year should do a 3:40

And from this information we can safely conclude that, in performance terms, a 140i is somewhere between an F1 car and a Citroen C1.

[anonymous-user]

Rawwr said:

And from this information we can safely conclude that, in performance terms, a 140i is somewhere between an F1 car and a Citroen C1.

Apparently his time is 4 seconds slower than Rob Huff can throw a FK2 Civic Type R around there, so yeah, seems like a decent time.

[nickfrog]

BathyThermo said:

nickfrog said:

I have found traction out of the open diff was very decent, I got a 3.01 at Spa and the only issue was out of Bus Stop, short shifting to 3rd resolved that and it's not a race, is it.

Is that a good time?

I really don't know, but I know an F1 car does a 1:40, and the Citroen C1 with 68bhp we're taking over later in the year should do a 3:40

I was not expecting it and assumed it would be around 3:05, which is what the Megane does. The M135i basically gained a lot of time on the Kemel straight and at the bottom of the track despite being slightly slower at the apex in other places.

[anonymous-user]

nickfrog said:

I was not expecting it and assumed it would be around 3:05, which is what the Megane does. The M135i basically gained a lot of time on the Kemel straight and at the bottom of the track despite being slightly slower at the apex in other places.

Nice. Pretty mega experience I bet, I'm really looking forward to going round there, absolutely iconic circuit!

[nickfrog]

BathyThermo said:

Nice. Pretty mega experience I bet, I'm really looking forward to going round there, absolutely iconic circuit!

Spa is very special indeed, the run offs are wide enough to let you push with confidence, unlike the other legendary circuit nearby that we also include in our twice yearly track pilgrimage. We even managed to drive both on the same day once!