Thinking of going from MY04 Sti to Focus ST - any reviews?
 

Hi, I had the original ST170 and went to my first Subaru, an MY04 Sti which is now 30 months old. Am thinking of going back to the new Focus ST and would welcome any comments / reviews.

Yes I know the beasts are different but I am struggling to see why the Subaru is worth the extra £8k or so.

Any opinions?

Edited - typos

Your MY04 Sti is only worth say 14k ??

So really its worth a few k less than the ST

You will be the best person to answer why it was worth the extra 8k, you paid it! What made you swop the ST for the Scoob

Thanks for the comments, am looking to change at for an 07 reg so if I get £10k plus I will be more than happy.

Don't get me wrong, have more than enjoyed the Subaru but if looking to change for newer model I don't think the cost of the MY06 on an 07 plate is justifiable - say £25K if your lucky enough to get a deal - compared to the list price of the Focus.

I am not looking for a lesson on residuals or new car losses - just any comments on the Focus ST drive, handling etc.

Cheers guys

One of our members (NW Mark) has just bought one - really really rates the handling although does not have the shove of his previous 270bhp S3

Very good handling - and with the simple purchase of a Bluefin, you have 265 ish bhp which can be swtiched on and off as you like and is thus undetectable...

I was in a similar position about 4mnths ago.. Focus ST or a 06 reg MY05 shape Impreza STi.

My decision obviously ended up being the Impreza since the only thing the ST acheived was to make me want an RS.

The ST is a soft hot hatch.. livable in everyday life but will never have the raw feedback the Impreza gives you.. neither does it handle as well but it is more civilised than an STi.

My opinion would be to wait a year and see what Ford do with an RS... facelift focus cant be that far off now and thats when i see the next RS coming out which will be an Impreza / Evo challenger imo.

ST is a great car, interior is quickly catching up with the VW / Audis although still some hard plastics around and obvious cost cutting measures.
Recaro seats are better than the ones i had in the S3.
Engine sound is great with virtually no lag unless you do something silly (like floor it in a high gear when at 30mph)

Handling and ride are superb, really comfortable on the motorway and when trundleing along, but still very composed and direct when pushing things on.

Oh and whatever mpg you got in the Sti id expect it to be not much better in the ST. First 1500 miles i was 17-19mpg, very little motorway driving, mainly short commutes.
Its started to loosen up a little now its at 1900 miles and on a 300 mile round trip last week i got about 24mpg mainly motorway.

I dont expect to ever break more than 26mpg on a run once properly run in although i may be suprised and am expecting 22mpg on my daily communte to work.

Mark

p.s. Bluefin....I couldnt possibly comment :thumb:

Has anyone taken a look at the Mazda 3 MPS - 248 bhp :D

Have you had it done then Mark??? go on you can say:)

surely some nice straight through exhausts are on the cards now

Thanks NWMark for the useful review. Am looking to get a test drive sorted and my dealer quotes 2 months notice to supply a new reg 07 plate. Will start discussing px for the Sti and see if I can be bothered to sell it private instead.

Will look around at the Bluefin stuff. Ran the gauntlet on the IM warranty with a different exhaust so who knows.

Cheers

I had a new ST 225 and dumped it after a couple of weeks

The MPG is terrible !!!!! never saw it above 19.3, didnt matter how you drove it.
Apart from the MPG the car was great for the price !

ST review in the new Evo. You can have it remapped to 303 BHP:eek:

Think it costs around £2800 for all the work but well worth it. Torque steer is meant to be quite good too as electronics deal with it.

A wish I think even most scooby fans harbor. But as always it seems with Ford top end product seems always to take a back seat to putting all its money into cars for grandma and grandpa- and only just a few dollars for hotting those up. Its ironic that if Ford had taken the reverse course
and developed 'only' top flight cars, they would still be amounst the most powerful makers on the map. Who knows maybe Renault can save them?

i test drove the ST, it wheelspins in 1 and 2 is damn fast

it feels faster than than the scoob.

But no fun in ST - the seat allows no movement and theres little feel for you driving the car

the subaru still lets u drive the car

ST has very nice burble

you might find this useful :thumb: https://www.scoobynet.com/scooby-going-and-t535542.html

I Test drove an ST and was totally underwhelmed by it. Had a nice-ish engine noise but just didnt seem special, too much like my mates diesel focus inside and not a fan of the outside either. Poor mpg reports also put me off and not sure of residuals either.

Ended up with a 1 year old 350Z, which is great to drive, looks the part, sounds fantastic and is returning mid-20s at the moment and 32mpg on a run last week. If you can live with two seats Id recommend it all the way :)

Yep am also underwhelmed. I have one for the weekend to test drive however its currently sat on the drive today as I took the scoobie insted

I drove one and loved it, couldn't get it to wheelspin whatever I tried, felt like a 4WD car launching off the line, especially compared to my 205 which wheelspins in 4th gear :D

They are great for the price.

By restricting the torque in the first 2 gears!! This illustrates the problem with FWD performance cars; you can give them as much power as you like, but they're not going to able to deploy it as well as a RWD or 4WD car.

Ns04

Ford = total bargain IMHO. Had a good thrash in an ST a couple of weeks ago: even 4 up down my fave bit of road it felt damn quick.

Most noticable thing was the torque: bucketfulls even in 5th and 6th. Loved the noise (like an old rally Quattro), on-the-limit handling (neutral, playful), the looks, the build, and the general refinement on offer when you don't want to play any more. And after owning an RX8 and an SL500, 24mpg sounds just fine to me. A great all rounder.

I want one.

I was looking for that Mikey, excellent review there :)