I pulled the trigger and got myself a new car!
The Focus ST, so far I am nothing but impressed with it.
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Lucky. I love the ST, so much.
Have fun!
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How much headroom does that have? I sat in a regular sedan and my head brushed against the ceiling.
Headroom is ample. I a 5’11’’ man have at least 6 inches headroom in this ST.
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Yeah I’ve sat in this myself (just don’t quite have the inclination to buy one). Ford compacts now have heaps of head room. Leg room in the rear, in the Fiesta not so much. If you want best in class legroom, get a Focus (or a Civic, and avoid Mazda3, it’s like sitting in economy class).
Aldo fantastic buy Lordred, now is a great time to get a Focus ST, if Australian deals are anything to go by. Cheaper, better warranty, good safety package, more car for the money and definitely a fun drive. I don’t know why this isn’t my next car (I’m unfairly biased in favour of Japanese cars???)
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@strop I’ve limited myself by my rule of 2/3rds for a long time. Meaning, I have 3 rules to buy a car, and it must meet 2 out of 3.
1: RWD
2: Manual Trans
3: V8
Everything I have owned has met this. But RWD/MT just is becoming less and less common in the low 20k range now.
The Focus does not make me regret anything.
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You want to know something insane? I drive a 1994 Ford Taurus SHO, it sits lower than a Fiesta. But I can sit in my Taurus without my head touching the ceiling, I cannot do that in the Fiesta.
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Literally my only complaint for the Focus is that the tailpipes look wonky.
Mine too. They almost look like chev symbols and i hate those things. Does the american market have the xr5 focus?
ST is called XR5 in Audi land.
Sweet! Congratulations man - - best of luck with your new ride!
@BobLoblaw I used to have a 1994 Ford Taurus SHO - 5-spd - moonlight blue, love that car
They are awesome, I am loving mine, hard to tell the odometer has 202k on it.
How many % of highway and city?
that is pretty good economy , my chevy gets around 23mpg 50/50 of mix driving and that is pretty suck for the fact it has only a 1.6 liter engine
So, the first 1,000 Miles came and passed. The critical engine break in period has passed and I decided to open the car up a little on my favorite road, the N2 (Angeles Crest Highway) A 100 mile stretch of switch back turns, elevation change from 2,000ft to 8,000ft, the perfect road for this little hot hatch to let loose on.
For the first time now I had the luxury to switch this car from ‘Normal’ to ‘Track’ mode. You see the ST has three modes of opperation.
Normal: Throttle input is muted, the turbo comes on slowly, traction control, torque vectoring, and Electronic Stability Control do everything to keep the car as well behaved as they possibly can, and for daily driving the dampened throttle repose is great.
Sport: Traction control is disabled, throttle response is instant and the turbo responds instantly. ESC is still there to watch over you.
Track: Same as sport, but now you ESC is disabled, you and you alone are responsible to keeping the car pointed in the correct direction.
I would like to preface my driving experience. While I am no pro racer, I have had track experience behind the wheel of a B-Spec Miata, Subaru WRX, and SVT Contour (Mondeo ST200), and years of canyon carving with my '66 Sunbeam Alpine, Subaru WRX, and SV-650. While on public roads I do not go much over the speed limit, any monkey can use the throttle, my aim is to enjoy the corners giving up as little speed as possible.
With that out of the way, this ST has left me in a stupor. I am at a loss to properly convey the elation of rowing this vehicle through the gears, entering corners with out so much as a thought of applying any brake pressure. This rolling heresy turns-in with the same level of precision as a proper RWD, the oversteer it produces is gleeful and inviting, but never frightful. As throttle is applied mid corner, boost is instant and the torque delivery does not upset the steering, neutral and precise handling is maintained clean through to the exit of the turn. Never before have I had the pleasure of driving a vehicle that offers this level of compliance, and offer such a rewarding dare I say addicting feeling.
This vehicle entices you to push, further and further towards a seaming unending valley of traction. Rewarding every use of the accelerator with a bounty of torque. This vehicle is a goalpost, I did my research when I was considering a new car and everything I had read about this Focus ST showed it to be an excellent combination of everything I wanted in a new car. I’m going to borrow the words from Randy Pobst [quote]The steering response is like a race car, this is real similar to how I would setup a FWD race car.[/quote]
It has weakened my resolve, FWD can be more fun than RWD.
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3200 miles in, and I still love everything about the car.
I switched from the summer tires to All-Season tires for the cold weather we get in winter.
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7000 miles into ownership, and I still have a blast driving it every day. This was a fantastic decision!
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Very nice photos too, holy heck that night pic especially!
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