Just been to test drive a new Focus ST so thought it only fair to compare it against my current S3 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Drove an ST2 in orange, with cloth Recaro seats.
Engine is nice, pulls from really low down the rev range, no even lower down than the S3 like diesel low down, 1500 ish revs. Because of this you notice very little lag at all, lots less than the S3. downside to this you dont get a nice kick in the back, pulls more like a V6 engine, noticablely tails off from about 6000 rpm but even from 4500-5000 you can tell your on your way down the torque curve
Doesnt feel as fast as a standard S3, although it got to a similar speed as the S3 on a known piece of road. so probably very little in it. Chipped S3 and the ford would stand little chance. Will be interesting to see what tuning options appear for the Focus.
Good bits,
Gearchange - really nice, fast, short and direct
Seats - very similar to the S3 ones, seems to hold you in better although this could be down to newness or the cloth aswell.
Price - ST3 with metallic paint, and Dual Climate £16,750 (privilege), lot of car for the money
Handling - for a FWD with that power, i have no idea where the grip comes from but it has it in bucket loads, Got the TC on once and it was nice and progressive rather than a compelte cut in power resulting in kangaroo style progress, round the corners handles really well very little roll, no wallowing on fast long sweeping bends.
Brakes - Thought they were okay, nice feel, firm enough and stopped well would be interesting to see how they faired after a few hefty stops, as they dont look particularly exciting, standard ford looking caliper, sliding caliper i think, 2 piston tops, looked about 310-320mm in size
Cruiser - very nice and comfortable when you dont want to boot it, really smooth drive, lots of torque from low down, easy gearbox.
Dealer - Very helpful, quick no long sales pitch or talk, no hard sell, paperwork done and out for a drive, quick quote, few questions from me and ready to leave /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Bad Bits,
Clutch - oh my god the clutch is horrendous, no weight or feel behind it all all, feels like it has no spring on it, probably very traffic friendly but crap in any other situation
Boot - you think the S3 has no boot, lol take a look at the focus ST!! it has flat boot bottom (dont know why as there is a good 8 inches above the exhaust below the floor, left there for a 4WD version??) and plastic tray in it holding spare wheel. although spare wheel is getting the boot in favour of some puncture repair inflator gunk so youll get about 6 more inches in depth.
Steering wheel - nice textured leather, but way too soft hands sink into it the padding thats thick and soft.
Alloys - Venoms and Fords went together in the early nineties!! Need nicer wheels added to options list.
Paint Match - bumpers to bodywork paint match is awful, the orange one had it the worse out of the 3 focus's that where there, the silver one was still very noticable and the panther black was fine. Black and Grey are the only safe colours to go for if you want a good colour match. Orange, Blue and Silver the worse.
Stereo - didnt like the Gloss Black Sony headunit, didnt seem to fit in with the rest of the dash, although ive never been keen on Sony anyway!!
Road Noise - lots of road noise from the tyres, drowned out the exhaust at all but the highest of revs, it was a course expressway but still this is easily the noisiest car ive driven along there.
Got back in my S3 and really do prefer the S3, cant see me swapping it for the Focus!!
Although that price is very tempting for a stop gap until the new S3 is released.
Mark
Drove an ST2 in orange, with cloth Recaro seats.
Engine is nice, pulls from really low down the rev range, no even lower down than the S3 like diesel low down, 1500 ish revs. Because of this you notice very little lag at all, lots less than the S3. downside to this you dont get a nice kick in the back, pulls more like a V6 engine, noticablely tails off from about 6000 rpm but even from 4500-5000 you can tell your on your way down the torque curve
Doesnt feel as fast as a standard S3, although it got to a similar speed as the S3 on a known piece of road. so probably very little in it. Chipped S3 and the ford would stand little chance. Will be interesting to see what tuning options appear for the Focus.
Good bits,
Gearchange - really nice, fast, short and direct
Seats - very similar to the S3 ones, seems to hold you in better although this could be down to newness or the cloth aswell.
Price - ST3 with metallic paint, and Dual Climate £16,750 (privilege), lot of car for the money
Handling - for a FWD with that power, i have no idea where the grip comes from but it has it in bucket loads, Got the TC on once and it was nice and progressive rather than a compelte cut in power resulting in kangaroo style progress, round the corners handles really well very little roll, no wallowing on fast long sweeping bends.
Brakes - Thought they were okay, nice feel, firm enough and stopped well would be interesting to see how they faired after a few hefty stops, as they dont look particularly exciting, standard ford looking caliper, sliding caliper i think, 2 piston tops, looked about 310-320mm in size
Cruiser - very nice and comfortable when you dont want to boot it, really smooth drive, lots of torque from low down, easy gearbox.
Dealer - Very helpful, quick no long sales pitch or talk, no hard sell, paperwork done and out for a drive, quick quote, few questions from me and ready to leave /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Bad Bits,
Clutch - oh my god the clutch is horrendous, no weight or feel behind it all all, feels like it has no spring on it, probably very traffic friendly but crap in any other situation
Boot - you think the S3 has no boot, lol take a look at the focus ST!! it has flat boot bottom (dont know why as there is a good 8 inches above the exhaust below the floor, left there for a 4WD version??) and plastic tray in it holding spare wheel. although spare wheel is getting the boot in favour of some puncture repair inflator gunk so youll get about 6 more inches in depth.
Steering wheel - nice textured leather, but way too soft hands sink into it the padding thats thick and soft.
Alloys - Venoms and Fords went together in the early nineties!! Need nicer wheels added to options list.
Paint Match - bumpers to bodywork paint match is awful, the orange one had it the worse out of the 3 focus's that where there, the silver one was still very noticable and the panther black was fine. Black and Grey are the only safe colours to go for if you want a good colour match. Orange, Blue and Silver the worse.
Stereo - didnt like the Gloss Black Sony headunit, didnt seem to fit in with the rest of the dash, although ive never been keen on Sony anyway!!
Road Noise - lots of road noise from the tyres, drowned out the exhaust at all but the highest of revs, it was a course expressway but still this is easily the noisiest car ive driven along there.
Got back in my S3 and really do prefer the S3, cant see me swapping it for the Focus!!
Although that price is very tempting for a stop gap until the new S3 is released.
Mark
