Goodbye Dis'Astra, Hello Focus ST

[M26]

So after nearly two and a half years of my Astra Coupe, I've finally finished Uni and entered the big bad world so I thought I would treat myself.

2008 Ford Focus ST-3.

18" Alloys, Full Leather Recaros, Xenons, 2.5 Duratec ST engine with the 6 speed box.

Picked it up on Friday after work and I've got to say, the power delivery is just absolutely immense !

Coming from my Astra with 120bhp to this with 225bhp is just a massive jump and it puts a big grin on my face when that turbo kicks in.

Averaging 25.5mpg so its only about 3-5mpg worse off than my Astra although I have managed to burn through £80 of fuel in two days !!

I've yet to get some decent pictures as the weather is horrendous but these ones will do for now !

And a quick trip to see oor Danny

Plans for it are simple for now,

Slight window tints for the rear, wind deflectors and a decent detail session.

I'll be leaving any major mods for a while until I get used to the car and the extra power !

​Comments are welcome !

 

[Matt Cup]

Looks great, love facelift ST's.

 

[Stan.]

Looks great, really good condition.

I sold mine recently but the noise of the 5 pot was addictive

 

[Darius]

Very nice

 

[Rubicon_]

I seen this, was it in Leith you got it? Nice motor.

 

[M26]

I seen this, was it in Leith you got it? Nice motor.

It was mate. It was up in Fife before that too !

 

[SC03OTT]

Really like the colour of that. A few subtle mods are the way to go. None of this chaving it up crap like RS vents, spoilers horrific stick on number plates.

 

[.GAZ.]

Should've bought a Mk5 R32.

 

[Alan]

Nice that.. I liked the ST i had last year.. I'd have another but i'd want to pile serious coin into it to get the best out of it.

 

[George182]

Nice upgrade.

 

[coatesy1]

same year trim level and colour as mine, there nice cars but u wont believe how much remaps etc change them, when your interested ive got a mongoose cat back,pro intercooler and AS induction kit.
mine is running cp320 but aiming for rs turbo and 420bhp now

 

[Gaz85]

looks great. I have a prefacelift in pb! A remap makes them the car they should have been. the noise is very addictive.

 

[Gally]

Best spec. Really nice buy mate, even as standard they sit and gurgle away.

The fuel economy isn't great but how many people get to run around in a 2.5T hatchback?

 

[davo172]

Great cars and best colour choice but fuel consumption is a killer ! You will be lucky to see 20mpg most days

 

[M26]

looks great. I have a prefacelift in pb! A remap makes them the car they should have been. the noise is very addictive.

Just looked up your car and didn't realise it was yourself at the Extreme rolling road day back in April.

I was there with my mate with the white E36 BMW but my Astra was tucked away out of site haha !

The sheer amount of STs there that day got me on the lookout for one !

​Also, you are correct there Gally, not everyone can afford one at my age so I thought why not !

And yeh, my current commute is 4 miles each way so I'll be high teens in MPG more than likely !

 

[Brett]

Lovely cars the ST. Best spec too.

I'd love to know how many ST's were made. It's amazing how popular they are considering the running costs. One of the most popular hot hatches ever.

 

[M26]

Ford made around 60,000 ST's and around 26,000 of them came to the UK ! Massive numbers !

 

[Gally]

Superb attitude mate. STs ftw iirc.

Have fun in it!

 

[RDH]

Awesome. Love the facelifts. Cabin noise from that engine is unreal. My only gripe is that they are relatively quiet from the outside on the standard exhaust.

 

[JCC]

Lovely. If you like it now, wait till you map it and do other little bits, you'll love it then. You may have seen mine at the Be tappd day too, I've been to every RR day so far Lol.

Great cars and best colour choice but fuel consumption is a killer ! You will be lucky to see 20mpg most days

Nonsense, my commute is a killer for MPG and even I get 22 - 23mpg without even trying.

 

[M26]

I remember your white one aswell mate ! Looks brilliant.

I'll hopefully be going to the next one in a couple of weeks so I'll see you there if you are going !

 

[JCC]

Nah I won't be at the next one, I stick to the Extreme ones as it gives me an idea as accurate as possible how much of an effect me doing stuff has had on power output etc. I know to take the actual figures with a pinch of salt mind.

One thing going to an RR day will do is make you want to spend money on it!

 

[M26]

So I've had the car a couple of weeks now and still absolutely love the power it puts out !

Fitted some wind deflectors and sorting out some window tints in the near future.

Apart from that, running it to and from work, I am seeing 22mpg so I'm about £70-80 a week in fuel but then it's not a car you buy if you are worried about fuel consumption !

​Still happy with my purchase !

 

[Stan.]

Driving just around town or are you nailing it everywhere to get 22mpg?

 

[M26]

I live 4 miles from work so its not really getting a decent run to get good mpg and the rest is just town driving really so it's understandable.

 

[Herr Flick]

Mines about the same. £67 of v power gave me 230 miles.

 

[Stan.]

Fair enough, my average in my old ST was at 30mpg but my work is around 16 miles each way with a mixture of A and B roads.

 

[.GAZ.]

Just not 'special' enough for the miles you do. IMO.

 

[M26]

Just not 'special' enough for the miles you do. IMO.

​That will be addressed ;-)

 

[.GAZ.]

​That will be addressed ;-)

You trading it in?

 

[LiamR172]

This colour looks brilliant with anthracite wheels.

Nice car!

 

[M26]

You trading it in?

​Still got the Astra. Might get a toy when I flog that !

 

[Leah]

My ST is Angel tuning remapped, aftermarket exhaust etc and im gettin 28-29mpg with mixed driving (not miss daisy as some will suggest) so they really aren't horrific in MPG in my experience, but as said you don't get an ST and not expect to visit the fuel pump (rest of my running costs have been fairly low also tbh, only thing its needed have been front brakes and a CV boot, had it since May '12)

Also agree with the anthracite wheels comment, mine has them

 

[M26]

A quick pic sitting in the works car park with a couple of colleagues cars.

Fitted my wind deflectors, ST grille badge and got SMD bulbs all round so far.

Been offered a Dreamscience tuning box for it so I'm weighing up my options on that.

Had it for a month now and covered about 1000 miles averaging 22mpg so not as bad as I expected it to be tbh !

Still love that noise !

 

[Rubicon_]

Ouch 22mpg is worse than I expected for those.

 

[Gaz85]

Just looked up your car and didn't realise it was yourself at the Extreme rolling road day back in April.

I was there with my mate with the white E36 BMW but my Astra was tucked away out of site haha !

The sheer amount of STs there that day got me on the lookout for one !

​Also, you are correct there Gally, not everyone can afford one at my age so I thought why not !

And yeh, my current commute is 4 miles each way so I'll be high teens in MPG more than likely !

just noticed I hadn't replied to this, yeah like joe I only use the extreme rr days but nothing has changed on mine since so ive not been along recently. Though I will be selling mine either to my friend as a whole or maybe splitting the parts and selling the car.

and mpg mines gets around 26-27 unless im ragging it about everywhere, can get 35 on a long drive which is good.

 

[Ian_182]

Lovely car...

 

[M26]

Car is booked into GI Motorsport this week for some work.

Front discs and pads with 5.1 fluid.
Front suspension powerflex poly bushes
Triple R Splitter.

Got my private plate sent off so waiting on my V5 coming back.

Next on the list is to get some decent rubber and get the wheels refurbed. I'm thinking either gloss black or anthracite.
Paintwork needs a little attention on the rear quarters where it meets the bumper too but I'm slowly getting there !

Going to look at eibach springs and spacers in the new year too !

Focus ST - Golf GTi - Mini JCW by M26DVD, on Flickr

 

[Jason_E]

The advantage of my Golf is I can easily top 30mpg, even when driving like a Ford owner

Looks lovely! Do like that shape of focus. So much better than your Astra ha! I know the feeling of jumping to a Turbo Petrol.

 

[JCC]

Is it mapped yet? If not, get it mapped!

I'd probably go anthracite or stay silver with the wheels, blacks a wee bit too dark against blue IMO!