RE: 280hp Ford Focus ST Wagon revealed

[Court_S]

I quite like the, it certainly prefer it to the hatchback version. Not cheap, but neither are any of the similar cars.

[David87]

Lovely. The regular Mk4 Focus drives fantastically well, so the ST is undoubtedly going to be excellent.

[CedricN]

I'm with the tow bar guys here, not many interesting cars can tow nowdays. This has potential for a great all rounder!

[C.MW]

Ford got the looks quite right inside and out. I think it's even better-sorted than the current RS. A fast Ford always drives well so no concern there. Only if they could be half as reliable as their Korean or Japanese rivals..

[DaveH23]

DBRacingGod said:

280bhp is a low state of tune for that engine. Doesn't the Mustang return about 315? I think PH reviewed a Revo map of around 350. Does the ST have a smaller turbo or just a stingy map?

My 12 year old Mazda which uses Ford's 3.2 produces pretty much the same numbers.

[scz4]

Does look really nice....

How well do these fancy diff's work nowadays? I drove my first FWD car in 6 or 7 years years the other day and it was awful in the wet, forgot how violent the steering wheels shudders. Would the electronic LSD eliminate this?

[DamianQS]

This looks very interesting to me .But sadly I think the wife has bought in to the SUV market .Rather a slow XC60 than a quick estate. How did I let this happen?
Her Argument is that the dog can not sit up in the estate. Has anyone ever studied whether SUV boots have more height than estates?

[Fastdruid]

DamianQS said:

Her Argument is that the dog can not sit up in the estate. Has anyone ever studied whether SUV boots have more height than estates?

How big is your fking dog?

Is this it?



Because any normal dog won't have an issue in a Focus estate!

https://social.ford.co.uk/the-dog-that-helped-desi...

[Arsecati]

Fastdruid said:

+1

My *main* use is the tow bar bike rack


but also the bike trailer.


(the 6MPS also can't tow btw)

I've been struggling with what to replace the Mondeo 2.5T Estate with for some time now, the previous Focus 2.0T both couldn't tow and the 2.0T wasn't a patch on the older 5-cylinder Focus ST/Mondeo 2.5T. The new Mondeo is auto only and not meant to be as good to drive.

Ok, so the Focus will be a smaller boot but tbh now the kids are a bit bigger the amount of room and stuff they need has gone down and can always buy a top box if it's a problem for the rare occasion if we go camping or similar (maybe a year at most!)

Little SV650? Absolute cracking track bike - embarrass many a litre bike with that thing!

[chip*]

CedricN said:

I'm with the tow bar guys here, not many interesting cars can tow nowdays. This has potential for a great all rounder!

Yep, I like the new Focus ST as the lack of tow bar capability (due to central exhaust) in the previous generation put us off the purchase. Eventually went with the bigger size Mondeo 2.0 Ecoboost estate, so Ford still received our pennies. Good to have another option for the next car change.

[Arsecati]

Can someone please tell me why all these modern cars can't tow? Is it because there is literally nowhere behind/under the car to attach a towbar (even third party), or are you guys needing to pull tanks? This is a serious question, as I've had tow-bars on all my estate cars for decades, and never had an issue pulling anything. Now of course I could go research each individual model myself to try find out, but to be honest, it's Friday, and I couldn't be @rsed!

[Arsecati]

chip* said:

Yep, I like the new Focus ST as the lack of tow bar capability (due to central exhaust) in the previous generation put us off the purchase. Eventually went with the bigger size Mondeo 2.0 Ecoboost estate, so Ford still received our pennies. Good to have another option for the next car change.

Haha!! You have literally just answered my question as I was writing it!!!

[Fastdruid]

Arsecati said:

Fastdruid said:

but also the bike trailer.

Little SV650? Absolute cracking track bike - embarrass many a litre bike with that thing!

Well, it's actually 700cc and quicker than some litre bikes in a straight line!

Of course no comparison to a girl on a 250... https://youtu.be/nb1C6Bt0YDg?list=LLX2hers_3UAiY4I...

[Fastdruid]

Arsecati said:

Can someone please tell me why all these modern cars can't tow? Is it because there is literally nowhere behind/under the car to attach a towbar (even third party), or are you guys needing to pull tanks? This is a serious question, as I've had tow-bars on all my estate cars for decades, and never had an issue pulling anything. Now of course I could go research each individual model myself to try find out, but to be honest, it's Friday, and I couldn't be @rsed!

The previous Focus ST the issue was the exhaust but on many cars its because the manufacturer hasn't bothered to type approve it for towing. No type-approval, you can't legally tow.

So even on cars where the cooking model can tow sometimes the hot version can't. Now I'm sure in *some* cases this is because it's unsuitable but in others it's because the expected numbers to be sold are so low as to not be worth the expense of type approval for it.

Annoyingly in some cases you *can* tow with the identical same car in say the US or Aus but again, no type approval here, no towing even if the car is fine to tow and the tow bar from the cooking model fits.

[Arsecati]

Fastdruid said:

The previous Focus ST the issue was the exhaust but on many cars its because the manufacturer hasn't bothered to type approve it for towing. No type-approval, you can't legally tow.

So even on cars where the cooking model can tow sometimes the hot version can't. Now I'm sure in *some* cases this is because it's unsuitable but in others it's because the expected numbers to be sold are so low as to not be worth the expense of type approval for it.

Annoyingly in some cases you *can* tow with the identical same car in say the US or Aus but again, no type approval here, no towing even if the car is fine to tow and the tow bar from the cooking model fits.

Ahh, makes sense. Don't want to annoy your head about it, but for curiosity sake, how do third party manufacturers get around this? Surely there would be reasonably economical options for the vast majority of cars out there (bar the exhaust thing), should someone REALLY like the rest of the car?

As for the bike, I'm a track instructor/ex-racer here in Ireland, and apart from my road legal toys, I have 2 racebikes - a GSXR1000 K6 and a Triumph 675, so well know the ability of a smaller engined bike to quite easily embarrass a bigger one (while being a helluva lot more fun too!). If you are ever in Ireland, come do a track day in Mondello: if you look up the Mondello Track Days page on FB, you'll see I'm the idiot in the sunglasses standing at the tailend of the Benelli! Haha!

[Fastdruid]

Arsecati said:

Fastdruid said:

The previous Focus ST the issue was the exhaust but on many cars its because the manufacturer hasn't bothered to type approve it for towing. No type-approval, you can't legally tow.

So even on cars where the cooking model can tow sometimes the hot version can't. Now I'm sure in *some* cases this is because it's unsuitable but in others it's because the expected numbers to be sold are so low as to not be worth the expense of type approval for it.

Annoyingly in some cases you *can* tow with the identical same car in say the US or Aus but again, no type approval here, no towing even if the car is fine to tow and the tow bar from the cooking model fits.

Ahh, makes sense. Don't want to annoy your head about it, but for curiosity sake, how do third party manufacturers get around this? Surely there would be reasonably economical options for the vast majority of cars out there (bar the exhaust thing), should someone REALLY like the rest of the car?

The type approval is on the car not the tow-bar. Third party manufacturers can only sell them for a model that has type approval (even if they would physically fit the hot models).

Arsecati said:

As for the bike, I'm a track instructor/ex-racer here in Ireland, and apart from my road legal toys, I have 2 racebikes - a GSXR1000 K6 and a Triumph 675, so well know the ability of a smaller engined bike to quite easily embarrass a bigger one (while being a helluva lot more fun too!). If you are ever in Ireland, come do a track day in Mondello: if you look up the Mondello Track Days page on FB, you'll see I'm the idiot in the sunglasses standing at the tailend of the Benelli! Haha!

You'd probably like the bike on the other side of the trailer as well then.




We really should go do Ireland some time, although still a couple of UK mainland tracks we haven't done yet.

Edited by Fastdruid on Friday 17th May 11:16

[AC43]

DamianQS said:

Has anyone ever studied whether SUV boots have more height than estates?

Yes but by less than you might think as think. Although the roof is higher than it is in a normal estate some of that is lost because the boot floor is also higher than in a conventional car.

Just get a fast estate. IMHO a better compromise between space and dynamic ability.

At the end of the day physics is physics and if you're adding height and probably weight you'll pay for it in one way or other.

[CacheMonet]

Very excited to see how this will be received. I'd love to get behind the wheel of one.

Really good looking apart from the 2 panes of glass on the rear doors, seems like it would have been a lot nicer as a single window

[Fastdruid]

CacheMonet said:

Really good looking apart from the 2 panes of glass on the rear doors, seems like it would have been a lot nicer as a single window

The trouble is the shape of the rear door. If you look at the hatch it has an odd shape where the window "bulges" out to the back of the car and as there would be nowhere for the glass on to roll down if it was one window it's split.


While the doors are different between the hatch and the estate (the estate arguably has a nicer looking design) it looks like they kept that main glass section and hence the two panes.

It's a bit hard to tell if it would have worked as one but I suspect it wouldn't, if you look at the Mondeo vs the Focus for example and there isn't much vertical depth below the window if it was full size. Actually looking again and the Mondeo window is in line with the bottom rear corner of the door. As is (very nearly) the Focus! The Mondeo only opens part way as well (about 2/3rds open IIRC).

Focus


Mondeo

[Arsecati]

Fastdruid said:

You'd probably like the bike on the other side of the trailer as well then.




We really should go do Ireland some time, although still a couple of UK mainland tracks we haven't done yet.

Edited by Fastdruid on Friday 17th May 11:16

Now THAT is a track tool! I had a little CBR400 when I first started racing years ago (and an old Kawasaki ZX6R at the same time in the pre-97 class), but it was the RVF's that ruled the roost. Even though I had a 1098 road bike at the time, it was that little 400 that taught me how to actually ride on track. Even now I tell students that a 400 (or more often nowadays, an SV), are ideal track bikes to get properly sorted on: they'll learn more, have more fun, and on a technical track (like Mondello) will keep any litre bike honest. I will sometimes just ride my Pani to the track if it's just a training day (less opportunities for hoonery, so I couldn't be bothered loading up the trailer), and the Gixxer was my primary track/race bike up until last year. But the Superbike class (and litre bikes) really is just ego. I tested a few Supersport bikes last year, as I was sick of Superbikes, and when the Triumph came up.... fell in love with the track all over again. My Gixxer is now up for sale (just getting all the fairings repaired and painted!), but pretty safe to say I'll never bother with a litre bike on track again - the 675 is just WAY too much fun: and that includes the bloody Ducati!