RE: Ford Fiesta ST Performance Edition | Driven

[stickylabels]

Don't normally respond on these, just lurk etc but kinda have to this time. I bought an ST-2 in April this year. It is just coming on 5k miles and it is very good indeed. Over the last 4/5 years I have run Mini Cooper ( 3 pot) which was very dull, 2 Suzuki Swift Sports (really liked them) and an Audi A1 1.4 Tfsi thing which turned out to be almost as dull as the Cooper. The Cooper's gearing was far too long to be any fun and the engine albeit effective pretty drab too. The A1's gearing was much better but the 4 cylinder was pretty anodyne. The Swifts were great (and reliable) unlike the Germans which each had a few silly issues. I did around 20K in each of them. Putting aside the fact the ST has more power, it has more character than than even the Swifts, nicer gear change than any and is far better damped. Seats are great and it does the daily thing as you'd expect.

The engine will lug away or spin round to the fun side and it always has a nice 3-pot burble which I personally have soft spot for. It's not as good on fuel as the Germans but we are talking 2/3 mpg. Mine cost nearly £7K less than the orange one brand new with 5 doors (3 kids), the B&O stereo, folding mirrors, 18" wheels, cd player etc. You don't have to look very hard to see where Ford save money, but in my view most moderns are that way and the Mini with flaking paint in the door shuts and the A1 which seemed to develop a new rattle each week rather back that up.

I wouldn't pay £26k, but for what mine cost (similar to the Mini and 2K less than the A1) I am a happy bunny. Will it fall apart over the next 15K or so, I hope not as I think it's fab.

sticky.

[peterhemm]

I added a Quaife diff to my U.S.-spec 2016 FiST and the result is epic! Too bad Ford cut us Yanks off from the all the ST/RS fun.

[CABC]

stickylabels said:

Don't normally respond on these, just lurk etc but kinda have to this time. I bought an ST-2 in April this year. It is just coming on 5k miles and it is very good indeed. Over the last 4/5 years I have run Mini Cooper ( 3 pot) which was very dull, 2 Suzuki Swift Sports (really liked them) and an Audi A1 1.4 Tfsi thing which turned out to be almost as dull as the Cooper. The Cooper's gearing was far too long to be any fun and the engine albeit effective pretty drab too.

sticky.

3 pot Mini Cooper as been described as "all the Mini you really need", "characterful engine that revs all the way to the red line". i wonder whether your impression is driven by you wanting a very sporty car?
i ask as i'm looking at both a FiST and a Cooper, but for different purposes. FiST would be a runaround & track car, Mini would be daily fun car that's comfortable and could be pleasurable in the countryside too.
clearly i need to drive one!

[cerb4.5lee]

CABC said:

3 pot Mini Cooper as been described as "all the Mini you really need", "characterful engine that revs all the way to the red line".

I have the 4 cylinder 2 litre in a Cooper S and all the reviews I've read say that the 3 cylinder Cooper is the better car(I'd like a go in one to see).

I find my Mini great fun on a tight and twisty country road, it has a very compliant ride in that situation...although it can get scrappy if you push on too much, and I'm not really used to that happening in other cars that I've had(most have been Rwd in fairness though).

I'd love a go in a Fiesta ST though because you never read a poor review of them at all.

[IanJ9375]

Trophy Husband said:

Price inflation is no way in line with inflation. It is all about the tech. I paid £10,250 for my brand new Clio 172 cup in 2003, albeit through company car scheme so heavily discounted. List was £12995 IIRC.

In terms of pure inflation the equivalent car should be circa £16,000 (based upon list of £12k). Obviously £16k wouldn't go any way to putting you in a brand new hot hatch nowadays and even if it did it wouldn't be as good as the cup was as it was fantastic!

BoE inflation calculator takes a £13k RRP in 2003 and it would be £20190 in 2018 money

[anonymous-user]

I bet it costs a lot more to build a new tech laden Fiesta ST than a Clio 172 which is a very basic car.

[SidewaysSi]

I will get to thrash one soon. No doubt a fine car but if I were paying money for one, I wouldn't look past a s/h old shape Meg RS. Different proposition perhaps but no doubt the better car.

[d333my]

And people used to whinge about the price of the Audi S1 when it was reviewed. Now the S1 looks like it was a bargain for what you got, even at list price.

[WCZ]

cerb4.5lee said:

I have the 4 cylinder 2 litre in a Cooper S and all the reviews I've read say that the 3 cylinder Cooper is the better car(I'd like a go in one to see).

I find my Mini great fun on a tight and twisty country road, it has a very compliant ride in that situation...although it can get scrappy if you push on too much, and I'm not really used to that happening in other cars that I've had(most have been Rwd in fairness though).

I'd love a go in a Fiesta ST though because you never read a poor review of them at all.

fwiw I have an '18 cooper s and it's extremely boring tbh, doesn't feel that fast or particularly agile, gear change isn't great etc. it's a much more comfortable car than the older minis though but it's lost everything in the process. my mrs likes it though

also have an mp215 st and it's an absolute peach of a drivers car imo, love everything about it - just would pref a tad more power and noise.

Edited by WCZ on Friday 23 August 17:03

[cerb4.5lee]

WCZ said:

fwiw I have an '18 cooper s and it's extremely boring tbh, doesn't feel that fast or particularly agile, gear change isn't gear etc. it's a much more comfortable car than the older minis though but it's lost everything in the process. my mrs likes it though

also have an mp215 st and it's an absolute peach of a drivers car imo, love everything about it - just would pref a tad more power and noise.

I find my Cooper S fun mainly because I had a E90 330i auto before it which bored the backside off me. Agree regards the gearchange though and the gearchange is league's ahead in my 370Z.

Good to hear you are enjoying the ST and I've always been a big fan of them.

[ka90]

What's the ride quality like on the ST mk8 vs 7.5?

I had a ST3 Mk7.5 and the ride was horiffic on my countryroad commute.
As you would expect, it was riddled with potholes and other hashed road repairs.
Whilst the car was absolutley perfect for about 20% of the time, the raiming 80% left me with a headache.
When it worked, it was sublime. Great handling, lovely noice and just the right amount of power to have fun.
When it didnt, I was left wincing, having to slow down and generally feeling ratled by the time I got to work.
I've had sport cars before, inc. the Polo GTI 1.8 mk5, but none have been as punishing as the ST.
I'd love one if the suspension was as compliant as the Polo.

[neil1jnr]

RacerMike said:

blade7 said:

RacerMike said:

And as for the ST200....the end of line special was .2s slower to 60 than the new car.

The old car was a great car. No ones disputing that. No one will think any less of you for owning one.

0.2s, damn. Technically I don't one, it belongs to her indoors. I reckon it's a womans or young mans car anyway, I sometimes wear a baseball cap back to front when I drive it, to compensate for being an old git .

I think for many it’s a second car isn’t it? I considered an ST as a daily, but went for a 1.0 instead as I didn’t actually want something that was going to end up being chosen over the weekend car.

But the ST Line is a lot of fun....and has a really good interior. Put it this way....I wouldn’t have even entertained getting a Fiesta if it still had a Mk7 interior. It was genuinely horrendous. And driving any distance in the older Fiesta was pretty terrible too.

There’s no way I’d chose a Mk7 over a Mk8....especially not an ST. Why would you get a slower, less refined and less capable car with a souless engine over the new one?!

Interesting view point, I can't think of anyone that would buy a Fiesta ST as a second car, not special enough IMO, but great as a daily, albeit stiff suspension (MK7).

I had a MK7 ST years ago (MP215, then further tuned to 240bhp), and then I had a leased 140bhp ecoboost a for a couple years, given the choice, I'd take the ST everytime and I would guess the differences between the MK8 ST-Line and ST are significantly different too?

Inetriorwasn't exciting and MK8 ooks much better, but personally the interior of a car has no bearing on me.

I haven't driven a MK8 ST to compare but it would have to be very good for me to have one over a MK7, although all reviews appear to be very very good. I'd have to disagree on the comment that the 4cyl was souless, preferred it to the 3 cyl ecoboost.

The orange for the MK8 looks horrible, pity they don't offfer the pearlescent orange I had on my MK7!

[Rawwr]

ka90 said:

What's the ride quality like on the ST mk8 vs 7.5?

Significantly better. Nowhere near as jarring as the mk7 and quite tolerable.

[df76]

Rawwr said:

ka90 said:

What's the ride quality like on the ST mk8 vs 7.5?

Significantly better. Nowhere near as jarring as the mk7 and quite tolerable.

This is the only reason I didn't buy one of the earlier STs. Had three separate test drives over a couple of years but couldn't bear the ride quality, and that was coming from a Panda 100HP.

Interesting that the new one is so much better, a major positive.

[Mr Whippy]

df76 said:

Rawwr said:

ka90 said:

What's the ride quality like on the ST mk8 vs 7.5?

Significantly better. Nowhere near as jarring as the mk7 and quite tolerable.

This is the only reason I didn't buy one of the earlier STs. Had three separate test drives over a couple of years but couldn't bear the ride quality, and that was coming from a Panda 100HP.

Interesting that the new one is so much better, a major positive.

Well it’s a sports hatch.

You don’t want it to be comfy and isolate the road info.

The mk7.5 we had was like a sports car, but in a hatch.

Of all the cars I’ve had, it’s the one I regret moving on.

It genuinely was the best “hot hatch” I’ve owned.
And for the new price you could get them (£17k st3 with options), they were absolute bargains imo.

And it was all down to that noise, the steering weight/feel, impeccable mapping for throttle and torque response, and finally, the ride and suspension which gave you all the info you could want.

If the mk8 is better in every way I’ll be surprised.

I’ll have to try get a test drive and see.

Is it s better drivers car, a better hot hatch, or just a better ‘car’?

[Mr Whippy]

Hmmm I checked out a non-red PP st3 on carwow and it’s ~ £21,500.

The car would have to do everything as good as the old one as a hot hatch, plus address some of the foibles, to justify the price.

I’m mixed on the looks. It’s ok. Just the rear lights make it look like an MVP Smax or something.

[blade7]

Mr Whippy said:

Hmmm I checked out a non-red PP st3 on carwow and it’s ~ £21,500.

The car would have to do everything as good as the old one as a hot hatch, plus address some of the foibles, to justify the price.

The old ST3 was around £16k from a broker.

[Mr Whippy]

Yeah we paid £17,250 from Ford in Jan16 on a facelift ST3 in blue with all options except rear parking sensors and a 5yr warranty.

These cars are definitely a step up in price.


Then again I’ve seen early used ones at 1yr/10k miles for £17,000... that’s a bigger 1st year loss than we lost in 2 years on ours at trade in.


So these might be better had as Ford Approved Used?
Nice and easy to buy too... pretty much ST3 and PP and you’re happy... no endless option lists even on top models like BMW etc.

[blade7]

I bought an ST2 from DTD near the end of 2014, it was less than a year old one from Ford dealers.

[WJNB]

nickfrog said:

s m said:

The one that made me double-take was the £45k 320d auto - a few options admittedly but you see loads floating about on the roads

Leased privately or issued to sales reps. or even sales managers no doubt.