New fourth-generation Ford Focus ST Line - May tempt me away from Audi
- Thread starter A4A4
- Start date
Not seen one in the ‘flesh’ yet. The design doesn’t look anything too exciting. The problem with the ST and RS Focus’s are they are driven by a certain type of people. More often than not, the chavy type. And the build quality of Fords is awful. That would be more than enough to stop me owning one.
I'd say Audi's, BMW's and allot of quality reasonably priced (relatively speaking) car manufacturers pick up negative stereotypes, I just buy a car I like and don't concern myself with what others think.
plasticpenguin
Registered User
Looks quite nice in the picture. As ScottishA4 says, haven't seen one up close and personal.
Fords, more than most cars, tend to be branded as 'boy racer' cars, but they drive well... and I don't believe the branding.
(Where did I put my XR3i key fob?)
Fords, more than most cars, tend to be branded as 'boy racer' cars, but they drive well... and I don't believe the branding.
(Where did I put my XR3i key fob?)
plasticpenguin
Registered User
I had a 2017 Focus ST (MK 3.5) that I picked up in Feb 2017 on a 66 plate brand new.
it was a nice car, well equipped and looked great IMO.
Unfortunately the build quality is worse than my 12 year old S3.
I had issues with the Sat Nav locking up and becoming unresponsive, and the built in Android Auto failed to work properly.
Despite Ford running diagnostic tests and finding a fault with the APIM (a known cause of the problems I had) they refused to replace it and claimed a software update would fix it. The update arrived at the end of Jan 2018 and was installed on my car 1 years and 2 days after it was collected. It fixed nothing, the system failed within 5 mins of leaving the dealers!
In the end the car was rejected as they refunded me most of what was paid for the lease over the year, and I bought the S3 instead.
They are known to have failing Bi Xenon headlight units (they go crossed eyed) which is expensive if not under warranty.
Some have reported lacquer peel.
Recaros can come unstitched (some have had this on delivery).
Overall, the car I had was OK and if it didn't have the faults they couldn't rectify I would have kept it, BUT the dealers have no interest in assisting you and Ford UK will pass you from pillar to post until you lose faith in the brand and start looking elsewhere.
it was a nice car, well equipped and looked great IMO.
Unfortunately the build quality is worse than my 12 year old S3.
I had issues with the Sat Nav locking up and becoming unresponsive, and the built in Android Auto failed to work properly.
Despite Ford running diagnostic tests and finding a fault with the APIM (a known cause of the problems I had) they refused to replace it and claimed a software update would fix it. The update arrived at the end of Jan 2018 and was installed on my car 1 years and 2 days after it was collected. It fixed nothing, the system failed within 5 mins of leaving the dealers!
In the end the car was rejected as they refunded me most of what was paid for the lease over the year, and I bought the S3 instead.
They are known to have failing Bi Xenon headlight units (they go crossed eyed) which is expensive if not under warranty.
Some have reported lacquer peel.
Recaros can come unstitched (some have had this on delivery).
Overall, the car I had was OK and if it didn't have the faults they couldn't rectify I would have kept it, BUT the dealers have no interest in assisting you and Ford UK will pass you from pillar to post until you lose faith in the brand and start looking elsewhere.
plasticpenguin
Registered User
That's a failing of most dealerships. Once they've grabbed your money they tend to be less than cooperative.
I know a couple of people (yup, it's true) that's had Focus STs (various ages) and they said build quality and reliability were fine. I believe you'll be hard pushed to find any car without its own distinct foibles - or perhaps you were unlucky.
It seems I was unlucky with the fault as very few people on the forum experienced it.
However, when a brand new car is diagnosed with a hardware failure the dealership and head office shouldn't delay a fix by claiming a software update will fix it. That part cost less than £300 to a customer, so it would have been a relatively cheap remedy for a dealer, but they weren't interested.
However, when a brand new car is diagnosed with a hardware failure the dealership and head office shouldn't delay a fix by claiming a software update will fix it. That part cost less than £300 to a customer, so it would have been a relatively cheap remedy for a dealer, but they weren't interested.
