gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

I'm changing my company car (yes, yes oil burner I hear you all say) and am thinking of a Focus ST - ST1 or ST2 five door in black. Anyone driven one? The way my car scheme works is that a Focus ST is probably going to cost about £40 a month less to lease, i.e. fuel money! Any opinions????

Graham

NWMark

Its a cracaking car i had a long test drive at the weekend and had a chance to give it some stick down some tight, scabby surface, B roads and it really shocked my how good it was, very well controlled and no jarring from teh suspension. Pulls nicely through all gears although 1st and 2nd gear feel slightly strange as if its holding back (Focus RS-esq although i didnt think they had done this on the ST) as when you change to 3rd it seems to pull so much better right upto redline. It is an excellent engine, great low down torque (max torque reached at just 1600rpm) yet still pulls strongly all the way to the redline at 7k.

And it was just as good cruising on the dual carriage ways 70-80 in 6th, need to accelerate, no need to change gear just put your foot down and it pulls nicely.

But...fuel consumption is terrible, dealer said he'd be suprised if you ever got over 30mpg even at 70 on the M-way and to expect low 20's around town. A few owners have also confirmed the above from this site www.ffoc.co.uk

For the money its a cracking car and the recaro seats are very supportive and confortable, even better in leather on the ST3.

Mark

Moley

iTrader: (9)

How many posts untill VXRBOY appears?

Diablo

Watch for the tax though.

Can't see the ST being particularly clever in that regard.

brickboy

Where do they get the 5-pot motor from? Is it a Volvo job?

sgcooby

Yea. Its the same motor as in the S40.

porkerboy

Agree it is a great car. had a test drive about a month ago - great torque and sounds superb too, even crackles on trailing the throttle. Huge bang for bucks as well. Looks great in orange too, surprisingly.

JTaylor

I've test driven the ST as well for an hour or so and really enjoyed it. It's like a focused er, Focus. All the best bits of the standard car are amplified but it remains refined, it was over shadowed by the more uncomprimising RS and imo is underatted. I'd be chuffed to bits to have it as co. car.

ddb85

nooo, 5dr is criminal - has to be 3dr

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Autocar did a feature where they took the Focus ST, Cayman S and a new MX5 to the Alps, they said, and I quote, 'the ST had 95% of the Caymans's moves covered', now if that is true its very impressive.

forest172

I`ve had a ST1 5dr in Performance Blue with ESP on contract hire at an amazing price £199 a month for 2 years, as a company run about.

I took one for a test drive and was very impressed pretty quick too. Made me realise though how fast my EVO FQ320 is though, it would mince it. But the Focus seemed to be very easy to drive steady, and very well put together.

forest172

My mates bought a Red ST2 for March delivery from a ford dealer with the sat nav option for a cash price of £16200. RRP is £18495 what a bargin!!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Theres the clue 'EVO FQ320', another 100 bhp, should be a little quicker !

datsunman

forest172, do you mind me asking where you got that deal? Seems a very good price.

forest172

www.citycontracts.co.uk and ask for Adam and say Chris Holmes sent you. It was a deal that ran upto 31st Dec. but loads of people will still do it for £209 a month. Remember it`s plus vat 10,000 miles per year and 3 payments upfront followed by 23 payments of 199 plus vat.

Hope this helps.

datsunman

Ta muchly, weighing up the pros and cons of buying/contract at the moment so will keep this one in mind.

Frazer

If you lease a car through your work and they subsidise your lease and pay a lower rate for your petrol (say 20p a mile instead of 50 p a mile if you were using your own car) do you get stung for company car tax?

forest172

I own the company and have got the car for my mum who is the secretary. The benefit in kind of the car is just over £5000 so she pays tax at 22% on that. But we put fuel in it out of our own pockets and not through the company.


So in tax it costs £1200, but the costs of the car go through the company as an expense.

RobHardy

i think there very nice. good buy. would go for st2 myself.

mervil

iTrader: (5)

Being in the Forces we have the chance to buy new cars Tax free, my mate has just ordered a 3 door ST2 in Black for 11,995

Bargain

Frazer

Forest, do you know if I would have to pay tax in the situation I described?

forest172

the only way you wouldnt get stung for tax is to pay the lease payment yourself, with the company giving you cash towards your payments but you will have to pay tax on the cash contribution they give you. Then charge the company mileage.

A ST1 is a benefit in kind of £5200 per year on your wages. So this goes on top of your normal wages. If you earn say £35,000 per year then add £5200 on top that will take you into 40% bracket so the car will cost just over £2000 a year in tax. Then they also take petrol benefits into account as well. If the £5200 doesn't take you into the 40% tax bracket on top of your wages you'll pay 22% of £5200 which is about £1200 a year.

Diablo

If you get a discounted lease cost that you pay from net pay after tax the car is, effectively, your own and you pay no company car tax, irrespective of the petrol rate they pay for business miles.

You may have a benefit in kind charge on the subsidy, depending on the way the scheme works.

if the lease costs are deducted before tax, ie you get paid an allowance and then the lease cost is deducted to give you a taxable gross wage, then you would pay company car tax because you are not paying tax on the allowance.

Forest is almost correct with calculations, but if the benefit in kind value is £5,200 the, yout tax code will be changed by this amount, probably giving you a K code, so basically you get no untaxed income.

Very roughly, at 22% you'll pay £100 per month in tax and at 40% you'll pay £173 in tax.

Some companies will pay a higher mileage rate regardless of whether you receive a car or allowance, some will pay the lower rate even if you have just an allowance.

The mileage rates are basically a employers con, though. You will only pay tax on mileage allowance if you recieve more than 40p a mile from your employer for first 10,000 miles and more than 25 p a mile thereafter.

If you are paying your own fuel, there is no reason why even with a company car your employer doesn't pay 40 p a mile, other than the cost.

If you have a fuel card, then this will be a taxable benefit in relation to private mileage use.

HTH

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

I've got to have a 5 door - company policy, but in black they look good. (I've a 2 door Scoob, so my allocation of a coupe is already taken!)

My biggest worry is not the tax (got that covered ), but fuel consumption. My other alternative is to go for the new Golf GT TDI 140, nice drive and runs forever on a gallon of diesel - well 50 miles anyway! The ST........... well if it only does 25mpg then it's a no-brainer.

What should I expect from the ST?????

Graham

ScoobyTal

20MPG when pressing on
30MPG when not pressing on

It is a 2.5 turbo after all

Tal