MF Reader Review: Focus ST (UK)

now why aren’t they selling that focus over here. i’m not even talking about the ST it self, but that new three door body style looks great, much, much better than what we have here.

Personally I could care less if Ford brings a car like this here to the US or not. There’s no way I’d ever want another Ford. I’ve had a few over the last 15 years. Not one was reliable, the service from every Ford Dealership was incredibly unprofessional or satisfactory and the over feeling left was one that is so bad I’d buy a YUGO before a Ford in a heart beat.

My Mini eats Focus’ and poops Aspires.

Tim

Their reputation is completely different overseas.

Maybe they’ve always had better build versions & dealer service. ?

Good review. Jeremy Clarkson seem to really have a blast with the ST in a recent Top Gear review. I’m sure Ford did a great job with it and it would be at a decent price point (23-25) if it were here in the US.

When the focus debuted in late 1999, it was a huge leap for small inexpensive cars. Ford knocked all the competiton out of the water, and the focus really had good fun handling, something that wasn’t familiar in a $12000 car. The focus was my first car, and the MINI was the natural progression for me, taking the great handling and precise steering in the same direction (just 100x further).

Now the others have caught up and the focus is no longer anything special in the US. The euro focus has been out for a while and the only version we see of that here is the excellent mazda3. Focus fans have been burned by ford for years now by leaving the US with the outdated platform. Maybe they want to give the Crown Vic a run for its money!

After my 1986-7 Ford Aerostar I will probably never go back, but won’t say never. Once you have reached my age you find that never turns out to be a very short period of time.

When the focus debuted in late 1999, it was a huge leap for small inexpensive cars. Ford knocked all the competiton out of the water, and the focus really had good fun handling, something that wasn’t familiar in a $12000 car.

If by competition you mean the Chevy Cavilier and the Dodge Neon, then yes I’ll agree with you there. But you’re forgetting about a little car made by Honda called the Civic – a 300,000 mile lifetime car, pushing 40 mpg, that you could pitch around just about any corner at will. Though the Civic now has jumped up a notch in initial price and class, it’s proven itself over the years as a very quick and agile car – not to mention forget-about-it reliable. Aside from the original Mini, the Civic defined the small, quick econo-car and US automakers have been playing catch-up ever since it caught on in the 80′s. The Focus was simply Ford’s first instance of getting close. Sure it drives better than the Neon, but all of those cars are still fighting the battle for 3rd place in that category.

Interesting review, but the Focus isn’t anywhere on my car-buying radar, no matter how much bhp it has. Ford is decades behind in engineering and even further in refinement – especially compared to the MINI.

The C30′s got some fluid sexiness.

Better looking (in spyshots) than the A3 hatch… But that didn’t take much imagination.

Hmm… Mustang vs. MINI… now THERE’S a comparison I’ve been wanting to do… an excuse to go test drive a new Mustang GT… and an ’06 MCS…

But… I’m pretty sure there’s a guy over on NAM who has an MCS as well as a new Mustang GT.

Has the Mustang ever been sold in the UK?

The Mustang has never been sold in the UK. The only reason that I can think off for the lack of a UK Mustang is UK fuel prices. Ford may feel that the large engines placed in the Mustang line up would cost a fortune to run in the UK. Other possible reasons could be the suspension set-up or the fact that in the UK the coupe market is domainted by prestigous marks such as Audi and BMW. Overall it is really hard to tell why the Mustang is not sold in the UK. Fortunately US importers are bringing plenty to the UK but with the unfortunate disadvantage of being lefty’s – come on Ford do you homework!!!!!

If by competition you mean the Chevy Cavilier and the Dodge Neon, then yes I’ll agree with you there. But you’re forgetting about a little car made by Honda called the Civic – a 300,000 mile lifetime car, pushing 40 mpg, that you could pitch around just about any corner at will. Though the Civic now has jumped up a notch in initial price and class, it’s proven itself over the years as a very quick and agile car – not to mention forget-about-it reliable. Aside from the original Mini, the Civic defined the small, quick econo-car and US automakers have been playing catch-up ever since it caught on in the 80’s. The Focus was simply Ford’s first instance of getting close. Sure it drives better than the Neon, but all of those cars are still fighting the battle for 3rd place in that category

I’m going to assume you’ve never driven a C170 Focus. Flashback to 1999. Take a stock Civic EX coupe, and a stock Focus ZX3. Driving them back to back, the Focus was much more nimble and agile than the Civic. Where was the Civic when the Focus was winning tons of awards that year? Motor Trend 10Best? European Car of the Year? North American Car of the Year?

Yes, the Civic is more reliable. But in terms of the chassis’ handling characteristics, the Focus can easily take it in the twisties.

This does look like a rip of the Volvo C30 with all the mojo sucked out of it. I won’t look at owning a ford again, let alone a Volvo knock off.

PS……I am American as well and don’t bother with US cars. I am disturbed by the Americanization of foreign brands. Ford making a crappy product then buying a good foreign company and turning their product crappy to make theirs look better isn’t my idea of good business.

While I don’t doubt that several people have had issues with individual US-built Fords, it’s problematic building a case on anecdote. I don’t believe the statistics (Power, CR, etc) support the thesis that in aggregate new Fords are particularly unreliable – performance is more mid-pack. Ford has come a long way since the dark days of the late ’70s and early ’80s when all of Detroit produced some amazing crap bombs. We in the Mini fold should be careful not to throw too many rocks at Ford as the aggregate statistics suggest that Mini quality in the first couple of build years was terrible and while it has been trending better, it’s still a far cry from Toyota league. Would you expect a new Mini to arrive with fewer defects and to develop fewer issues in the first five years of ownership than (for sake of argument) an 06 Mustang? I for one wouldn’t, though I can’t back that up with statistics. Yet. Part of the issue is that the Mini is trying to do so much more – it’s loaded with whizzy electronics that can (and do) go wrong. Mini seats and some interior bits are also pretty fragile, and there are a host of well-known Mini problem areas (steering racks, convertible tops, CVTs, dash rattles, to name but four) that still seem much more likely to cause trouble than the more conventional – but generally bulletproof – equivalent parts in a Mustang. In short, while I think it’s fair to rip Ford for building too many dull cars, I’m not convinced they do a poor job of screwing them together. Ford’s internal numbers show excellent progress on quality that is not reflected in public opinion – partly a hangover of mistakes of decades ago, but partly because the public seems more willing to overlook defects by the likes of BMW even when they are more numerous and more serious. The quality numbers for Jaguar vs BMW have been stunningly in Jaguar’s favor for a few years, for example, but try convincing John Q Public of that …

Reply to LTZMTOR

I think you are perhaps being a little touchy – in numerous UK car magazines they have suggested that Ford canned the idea of a UK Mustang for fuel reasons. Furthermore I should note that I love the Mustang and I was not proclaiming anything. I also think you need to start thinking a little as whilst you correctly name numerous cars with poor fuel economy (incidently none of which are UK you twit)what I am actually referring to is the sky high price of fuel in the UK – and not the fact that the Mustang drinks the juice!

Finally I made no comment on the ownership of car companies – but as you brought it up the majority of UK car companies are not owned by US companies so perhaps you should check your facts first. Go to Autoexpress.co.uk and find the related article from their news section.

Go back to Jamaica!

Sorry Gabe I did go over the line.

This “gentleman” berates people, articles, countries, etceteras and most of his arguments are lame, mean spirited or negative.

So Buddy…. have at it as I won’t allow myself to drawn to your level again.

BTW….I went to AutoExpress and found NADA, maybe you can post the the article you mentioned on British car companies and their British ownership?

Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin….Ford

Vauxhall……GM

Rolls, Riley, Austin, MINI…………………….BMW

Is the Thames still around? I guess I missed the rest of them.

Plus, my comments earlier were only to say…seems the mileage for the Mustang “Compared” to other “like” cars ain’t so bad and to say… Seems US manufacturers are supplying cars to your market.

Glad you like the ‘Stang, I think it could have been way better.

Wow that’s an impressive tirade! You should be proud……but………….

I love British cars, I have owned 5, 1 Swedish and 7 German.

I wasn’t bad mouthing British people as I have quite a few British friends.

I never said anything about BMW being British nor about any US company owning BMW.

My posting of British car company ownership was in response to this…”Go to Autoexpress.co.uk and find the related article from their news section” by another poster. I could never find the article and was hoping he would post a link to the article showing which British car companies were actually, as he claimed, owned by you folk. Please correct my list if I was wrong.

If you had actually read any of my posts you would have seen that I wasn’t slamming anybody just trying to get some facts straight.

I haven’t owned a US car since college, 1969.

If I offended any British people by any of my postings….Sorry… it was not meant that way.

I didn’t call anybody “Twit” or imply they were “Ignorant”, as was 1st said to and about me. So wow not sure where you got all that……LOL Man.

The focus article was a good read sorry I got so side tracked.

I told Gabe I wouldn’t post, as I wrote article, and it would seem a bit partisan. However, ‘john’ please lighten up, I can’t really see any offence in the post on either fuel consumption (that’s completely relevant, it’s a motor website) or pointing out that we (being a Brit myself) couldn’t keep hold of a single motor company. How that is portrayed and presented does not escape the facts. That’s the author of the posts right. “xenophobiac and extremist nationalist” ?? You might want to try “ILoveTalkingAboutPolotics.Com

Peace.

Jon Roberts

LTZMTOR

Okay – we have taken this too far and I am sorry for the harsh remarks, however, you did provoke me by taking everything that I said out of context. Whilst I may have overstepped the line all I am saying is that in future if someone makes a genuine car related comment do not take it so badly and go off on a rant that will set others off. If you look back you say that you are not being offensive when clearly you are.

Lets forgive and forget and keep it to the cars from now on (I include myself in this regard).

Thanks M

Okay you win!

I have been following your debate on Focus ST. Now between my wife and i, we own both a Mini Cooper S and the latest ST2 thats with ESP. Now it terms of value for money the Mini is no where close to being that, for a little 1600cc and its impracticality, I bought it cause it was one of my fist cars i owned back in the day. As far as a hot hatch goes after many comarions its not even close to the latest Focus ST in both refinment and perfomance. It is much better put together than the Mini and out performs the Mini in many departments let alone outright performance. The Focus ST is a true all round performaer something the mini will never be. But dont get me wrong I love our mini but its not what you would call bang for buck vs the allrounded Focus ST as everyday car for any situation. As far as reliabilty I have had the previous ST too and really had no worries with reliability besides my tires. Yes Ford has made a few dodgy vehicles but with this latest reange of Focus, its really done a good job. Oh by the way the lastest Focus ST was rated best perfomance hot hatch in its class including the Mini JCW which ended up 5th. Like I said the Mini is great and I am planning to buy the turbo version when it lands here in March 2007….but I will def buy an RS should one be made

So, here’s an idea. Maybe car manufacturers are in the business of making money, not sense. Sell the Mustang in the UK, what happens to its image in the US? Try selling an All-American car that is also produced for a country we won freedom from. Talk about destroying a product’s image. Do not assume these kinds of actions are dictated by overly simple reasoning, i.e. fuel usage. Dodge Neon not a comparison? Check out their history in SCCA racing. It sure is easy to make the Focus ST look good when you compare it to base models of the competition. Just my 2 cents.

I have never read so many dumb ass replies in all my life……nobody knows what they are talking about lol

that looks like the volvo c30………

That was a crap review, yes it sounds quiet inside but ford made this car for use with everyday users too.