RE: New Fiesta ST gets LSD

RE: New Fiesta ST gets LSD

Tuesday 13th March 2018

New Fiesta ST gets LSD

Quaife locking differential will now be offered as an ST option - hurry up with the drive already!



It's not an exaggeration to say that the three-cylinder Fiesta ST is one of the most eagerly anticipated performance cars of 2018, at any price. After years of quite ordinary supermini hot hatches, the last Fiesta ST finally delivered on the promise - and set the bar very high for this one.

Driven: read our first drive of the new Ford Fiesa ST

As we wait patiently to drive it, so news comes from Ford of a few tasty add-ons that will be offered to ST customers. Most exciting of which is a Quaife limited-slip differential, which will be optional on the upcoming three-cylinder car. Working in conjunction with the 'Torque Vectoring Control' brake nibbling technology, the diff will "optimise front-end traction for enhanced cornering ability", according to Ford.

In addition, the Quaife LSD is said to offer "optimal grip on dry surfaces and smoothness on wet surfaces." Certainly we know from the likes of Peugeot Sport's 208 GTI just what a positive effect a locking differential in a front-wheel drive car can have (with some suspension changes too, granted), so it will be interesting to see just what influence this Quaife hardware will have.


Ford has also announced Launch Control as an option for the Fiesta ST, allowing drivers to "achieve maximum satisfaction with consistently fast standing starts." Using steering wheel controls to initiate and a combination of the various chassis electronics to execute, the Launch Control should make it a tad easier to hit the claimed 6.5 seconds it takes to reach 62mph. Ford claims no measured advantage for the Launch Control, though, but it's there to try and match if you're feeling racy...

What will be standard on the ST (but has only now been confirmed by Ford) are "force vectoring springs"; said to be the first small hot hatch to benefit from the tech, the Fiesta uses "non-uniform, non-interchangeable, directionally wound springs to apply vectoring forces to the rear suspension." It should permit increased lateral stiffness, which promotes sharper turn in response without a ride quality or refinement penalty. It's also lighter (by 10kg) than a Watt's linkage, that's often used to achieve the same benefit in torsion beam cars.

As opposed to the previous generation ST, this one will be available from launch with both three and five doors. Seven colours will be offered - Frozen White, Magnetic, Moondust Silver, Performance Blue, Race Red, Shadow Black and Silver Fox - and the first drives are in a couple of months. Bring it on!

Author
Discussion

RumbleOfThunder

Original Poster:

3,546 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Hmm shaping up nicely. Gonna stick my neck out and say the LSD won't be worth the 1.5-2k premium. The current generation doesn't cry out for it for 99% of daily duties.

RumbleOfThunder

Original Poster:

3,546 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Oh and those pictures are vomit inducing quality PH.

culpz

4,881 posts

111 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Yeah, not sure i'd personally fork out for it but it's definitely good to have options like this with their performance range.

When is this new MK8 ST actually available for order?

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
RumbleOfThunder said:
Oh and those pictures are vomit inducing quality PH.
The top one is particularly awful.

Good looking car though, even through ludicrous compression.

Munter

31,319 posts

240 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
Good looking car though,
So long as you don't look at the back. Urgh. Who ordered the shrunken slightly more ugly galaxy rear end, come on, own up?

ECG1000

381 posts

141 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Not sure how I feel about different driver modes and suspension settings though... The simplicity of the current ST is part of its appeal.
Although if they make it "bang" less over poor surfaces, it could be a worthwhile trade off.

Cupramax

10,469 posts

251 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Munter said:
Krikkit said:
Good looking car though,
So long as you don't look at the back. Urgh. Who ordered the shrunken slightly more ugly galaxy rear end, come on, own up?
This ^^^ the whole rear end doesn’t go with the rest of the car, like they just thought sod it, stick an SUV rear on it.

Jim the Sunderer

3,238 posts

181 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Should be good if they make it a little better on the motorway.

I'm still bouncing 4 days after driving mine.

RumbleOfThunder

Original Poster:

3,546 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
RumbleOfThunder said:
Oh and those pictures are vomit inducing quality PH.
The top one is particularly awful.

Good looking car though, even through ludicrous compression.
Those are press release images offered for download at a lovely 4000 x 2667. Shame PH butchers them.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/feu/en.re...

rampageturke

2,622 posts

161 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
article said:
the Fiesta uses "non-uniform, non-interchangeable, directionally wound springs
this car is going over 20k, isnt it?

Edited by rampageturke on Tuesday 13th March 11:22

Daggerpie

1,434 posts

200 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Cupramax said:
This ^^^ the whole rear end doesn’t go with the rest of the car, like they just thought sod it, stick an SUV rear on it.
Yep..totally agree, we're in the market for a small £20k(ish) hot hatch for the wife, but this rear end screams C-max of what ever they are. Even quad (or dual) exhausts either side might have helped a bit.

I'm sure they will be absolutely brilliant to drive but that back end........naaahhhh

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
I'm warming to the looks. When the first photos of the new Fiesta appeared I was a mildly horrified but I've now seen the Mk7 and Mk8 side-by-side and I think I prefer the Mk8. It's quite strange that in isolation the Mk8 looks a bit jelly and the Mk7 looks quite tight but next to each other it's the other way around.

Or maybe I'm an idiot. Who knows.

culpz

4,881 posts

111 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
ECG1000 said:
I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Not sure how I feel about different driver modes and suspension settings though... The simplicity of the current ST is part of its appeal.
Although if they make it "bang" less over poor surfaces, it could be a worthwhile trade off.
Yupp, that's my main issue with it. The MK7 Fiesta ST reminded me of a modern day Clio 182; fun, frugal, quick and basic. This new one appears to fall into the trap of modern cars, with these silly driving modes that end up being just a bit of a gimmick, more than anything else.

It should still be a great hot-hatch and i do find it more appealing than the next segment up with well-north of 300 bhp. I think this size/weight of car with around 200 bhp is a good balance.

CooperS

4,500 posts

218 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
rampageturke said:
article said:
the Fiesta uses "non-uniform, non-interchangeable, directionally wound springs
this car is going over 20k, isnt it?

Edited by rampageturke on Tuesday 13th March 11:22
Name a similar spec'd hot hatch which isn't? I've just bought with the wife a new Abarth 595 Comp and that is horrendously priced imo..... But she is over the moon with it so all is good in my home.

Mafffew

2,149 posts

110 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
rampageturke said:
article said:
the Fiesta uses "non-uniform, non-interchangeable, directionally wound springs
this car is going over 20k, isnt it?

Edited by rampageturke on Tuesday 13th March 11:22
The previous RRP of the ST-3 was over 20k. Doesn't mean they will sell for that...

mooseracer

1,843 posts

169 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
culpz said:
Yupp, that's my main issue with it. The MK7 Fiesta ST reminded me of a modern day Clio 182; fun, frugal, quick and basic. This new one appears to fall into the trap of modern cars, with these silly driving modes that end up being just a bit of a gimmick, more than anything else.

It should still be a great hot-hatch and i do find it more appealing than the next segment up with well-north of 300 bhp. I think this size/weight of car with around 200 bhp is a good balance.
I agree with you. And look what happened to the Clio when they fell into that trap...

culpz

4,881 posts

111 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
mooseracer said:
I agree with you. And look what happened to the Clio when they fell into that trap...
The issue with the turbocharged Clio was that they didn't leave any room for forgiveness. Going from their usual fizzling and bespoke N/A recipe to a very normal looking, 5-door only, DCT-only iteration in one swoop was always going to cause a fair bit of controversy.

This new Fiesta does keep things still fairly similar while still making it different enough for it to be a named a whole new model. They don't want to fall into that trap themselves, so they leave enough room for it to be still desirable.

J4CKO

41,287 posts

199 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
When is it available ?

I reckon it is going to be pretty good, the old one is, bit more power, tweak here and there, a lighter engine and sounds like some work has gone into the chassis, and lets be honest, there isnt anything wrong with the old one in that respect, apart form being a bit jiggly at low speed, but its a hot hatch, that is like saying that Fanta is a bit too fizzy and orangey I suppose.

wab172uk

2,005 posts

226 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
Yes, very nice (Apart from the rear) but when the hell will ford make a Fiesta RS?

Lower, wider, 300'ish BHP.

Turbobanana

6,160 posts

200 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
RumbleOfThunder said:
Oh and those pictures are vomit inducing quality PH.
Looks alright for a "news"-type article to me. What are you planning to do with it - blow it up as a poster for your bedroom wall?