Jeff Stryker

My friend has just bought one of these and took me out in it.
I was very dissapointed by the performance. It had the usual kick turbo cars have where they feel faster than they really are, but i wasn't impressed.
What are other peoples thoughts on these cars because i thought they would be quicker, plus his has been mildly tuned and he's been told its close to 300 bhp.

BOB.T

Turn the traction off, makes a world of difference

I think the power is deceiving, it just pulls all the time, there's no rush like in a Scoob. I think because of this it feels relatively sedate as a passenger but as you drive it you notice the speed build at quite a rate

I'm very happy with mine put it that way!

Dream Weaver

I test drove one and it felt nice and quick to me, no worse than any Scoob I've driven before.

I still fancy one, but can't quite get the FWD worry out of my head, I'm sick of torque steering everywhere in the wet in the Pug

skinters

Funnliy enough - I had a good long drive in my mate's one recently.

The power delivery is very good - comes in very early and pulls like an NA and IS fast. It's just smooth and engine note is nice too. There's only a tail off in boost above about 5k which is good for a stock car. The fact that the powerband is wide misleads you to think its slower than it is.
What was odd is that even though it has 220bhp it had more torque steer than my 340bhp Saab 9k (which admittedly has very little indeed).

Ride and handling with the steering set to most sensitive was great. I thought it was a great car overall tbh! Not a hardcore car but very composed when pushed.

BOB.T

Chuff knows what you guys are doing on test drives but after nearly 4k in mine I haven't suffered the dreaded torquesteer once!

skinters

oh - I am being picky. It just has a little twitch left / right under full throttle - very easy to control with about zero impact on driving especially on the stock power output. There is no 'dreaded' about it.

Dream Weaver

I didn't get TS in the Focus, but I get huge amounts of it in the 205 having 200bhp and no LSD, so want to avoid TS in the future - if I bought an ST I wouldn't be able to leave it unmodded and 280/300bhp through FWD worries me.

skinters

if you stop the torque from surging too high in the midrange then I dont expect it will be too troublesome. Just get a nice smooth map done. An LSD will help to get the power down although it can mean it needs a bit more manhandling on the way. (all part of the fun!)

Steve vRS

If you are modding, buy one of these:-

Ford Focus ST225 M66 Quaife ATB differential - Quaife Engineering

as well as the Bluefin!

Steve

skinters

a fine item! I have one of these in the 9k. Amaingly tough. It will still be quite happy whilst the rest of the gearbox crumples around it. I reckon you could run 700+bhp through it without it even noticing.
This wont banish torque steer as such, it just changes the way it behaves (in a good way). In normal driving you wont notice it's there but through the bends under power, it's a hoot.