Hi Everyone,

Ive currently got a Series 2 RS Turbo although its a great car to own (when working)it has just been a money pit over the last few years. its actually on ebay at the moment if you want to take a look: Item no - 170104551652

Im pretty close to deciding that my next car is going to be Fiesta ST - my harts set on a white one with side stripes as they look sexy as hell. I was considering getting a focus ST but just cant afford it at the moment.

I guess im after some further encourgement just to make my mind up completly, whats it like owning an ST? - I know there fast ive been beaten more than once in the RS over the past year! and they obviously look good id just like to get you opinions aswell!

Cheers.

Hi Steve

The RS looks good, shame its ended up being such a money pit

As for the Fiesta ST have you had a test drive yet? if not, I'd definately recommend trying it before you make your mind up. I've had my ST now for about 6 weeks or so. Overall i'm really pleased with it, and glad I went for it.

Plus points, not bad MPG, good performance, good handling, good looks, well equipped, nice gear box, good driving position (good seats), reasonable insurance.

Things I don't really like about it - at 5-6k revs it doesnt pull as well as my ST170 did (different gearing i know) but it also sounds like the engine is struggling a bit. A decent induction kit seems to have solved that, and I'm having a flexi pipe fitted as well which will apparently make a nice difference to the torque at higher revs (pretty cheap upgrades to the car for around £200). Also the car took a little getting used to throwing it into corners. While it handles very well, and the driving position is good (view etc), it does "feel" that its sitting quite high and that you could topple over... but once you get used to the fact it WILL grip its fine.

I looked at the Focus ST as well, and for £200 a month more + higher insurance it just wasn't worth it. The other car I really liked the look of was the Focus RS mkI but at the end of the day its a 3+ year old performance car, and could go the way of your Escort (money pit...).

The Fiesta imo is a cheap, well performing little hot hatch that does everything I need it to do.... and driving it is fun. Mines on a 3 year deal, and I think for the first time in a long line of car ownership I will probably keep it for at least that hehe.

Colour wise, go with what you like, have a look through the various forums theres a lot for you there to compare - my car was dealer stock, so I didnt have a build wait, + I got a big discount on the car, so I only had the choice of black or silver. I think all of the colours look good in their own right, but i'm probably with you on the frozen white - if I'd had the choice it would have been frozen white, full stripes - with black ST being my 2nd choice colour - but I like it a lot.

Good luck with it all, let us know how you get on

Thanks for that CRON, exactly the sort of info im looking for, ye its a shame about the RS but as you say old performance cars are generally all the same as far as expendature is concerned. - i will miss the noise turbo's make though..!!

the focus would have cost me around 400 a month on the deal I was looking at, just not worth it as I work in the city so dont drive to much anyhow. ill probably look at getting a loan of around 10 k and buying a good second hand very low millage ST over the next month or 2 ill keep you posted.

Steve.

tbh mate, with some haggling for 10k you won't be far off a brand new one... I'm the same tbh, I use my fiesta to go to work and back (25 mile round trip) and I just couldn't justify the £200 more the focus would have been - great car, but my wife and I have a people carrier which we use for shopping/motorway/visiting family etc... so the Fiesta made so much more sense.

Don't worry too much about the noise... I think the Fiesta sounds lovely with an induction kit - or maybe if you can get something for around £9k you could think about a full exhaust system...

Go here:

http://performancestars.co.uk/store/product_info.php/cPath/171_54_60_88/products_id/212

and look at the video clips - sounds so good hehe.

welcome to the site Steve! sad u had to sell ur RS! hope an ST soon!

From experience with my wife having a new 1.8 Zetec Climate Focus and me having a new Fiesta ST, I would go for a 2.0 Zetec Focus mate.
The focus is a far superior car than the Fiesta, her 1.8 is almost as quick, cheaper to insure and far outhandles the ST even though it's on 16" alloys.

A good rumour has it that there is a ZETEC-S version of the Focus coming out soon which has the ST front and back bumpers, spoiler and skirts but 17" alloys and a single exhaust but with a much cheaper price tag than the ST.
I think it's having 2.0 Petrol and Diesel.

I'd wait a bit and see if I were you, I wish I had

welcome steve to the site pal,owning an st is great awsome infact even though i prefer driving the wifes at the moment.

thanks everyone - all good information!

what kind of BHP could you realistically get out of the ST with a few mods - exhaust, chip, filter that kind of stuff.

and has anyone on here done that sort of thing yet? my is about 140bhp give or take a few..

Steve

Quite a few people have had 170/180+ out of theirs by doing the various things you've suggested.

Read a few times that a flexi pipe (£70+) and an induction kit (£100) will give you around 165bhp ish.. but it all depends on the car. A lot of the tuners say that the face lift STs seem to give greater bhp than the pre-face lifts.. but i don't know if thats true or not.

Like Dave says.. its down to what you wanna pay.... theres a couple of people on the other Fiesta ST forums pushing 200+bhp, but they've spent upwards of £4k I believe (a lot more in some cases).

At the end of the day though, its a FWD car and putting down that sort of power can be tricky

think its easy to get around 170 BHP with induction kit and exhaust system! with fast road cam and remap probably can gain some extra BHP!!

Yeah, they did a rolling road test on the standard facelift fiesta (and others with mods) in the fast ford mag. The standard facelift car had a readout of 158bhp which isn't bad. maybe the rumour is true.