[Steffo]

Originally Posted by zetec

The point I was making was that everything from ST170 to Fiesta ST and Focus ST has been a well made car. All of them with brilliant chassis and all of them very well built.

Despite not having a Turbo, the Fiesta ST is a little ball tearer on anything but the Western Suburbs traffic Light Drag on a Friday night and you should know the benefits of a real car that turns corners since you own one of the best in the world.

Hard to argue against the Focus ST at all really as it's a fine automobile. Sure any car could take more power, but most would lose their balance too.

Leaving the ST170 to last, it too is an absolutely brilliant car on real roads. Granted it was criticised for not having enough power but much of that was not due to the weakness of the engine rather the brilliance of the chassis that begged for MORE power. It won't smoke an XR6 in a straight line. That was the RS' job and it was never brought out here back then due to import tariffs being much higher I'd imagine. It would be more cost effective to bring out an RS model form Europe now with lower tariffs and a more competitive market than develop a model locally. The reason th RS was so dear was due to the Brembo, Sparco, Oz Racing and all manner of automotive porn brands fitted to it. Focus ST is a lot more cost effective thanks to mostly non-branded parts apart from the Recaro seats. The ST170 was an excellent vehicle and will do more than keep up with many more powerful cars thanks to its unbelievable grip and handling.

Why spend money trying to add kilowatts to already well rounded and highly-effective packages when you're suddenly going to go against the multi million dollar budgets of Europe. It'd be like asking Renault to mod local RSport Clios for more power if they were built here, when they already come almost perfect. It just doesn't make business sense when you consider that making a local version would probably involve crash testing etc, all of which is costly and has already been done by the Europeans.

I've spent quality time in Focus XR5 (ST), Fiesta XR4 (ST) and Focus ST170 vehicles and all three are stunning drives, all three leave you smiling just like a Clio would. European carws are about balance, control and finesse, not bulk kilowatts for boasting power!

And TITO, Focus RS production stopped in November 2003. No current RS model exists on sale nor has for almost 4 and a half years. There's known to be only one old model in Australia, that's in Perth, imported by an ex-pat Englishman. It has a S55 badge on the boot, indicating it's boosted to 255hp (which I think is rice to be honest on a car as cool as the RS).

The reason I criticise the ST170 and current XR4 is because they're amongst the slowest car in their class. Yes, they both hand great, but both are severily lacking in the power department where everyone else isn't.

IMO the ST170 and XR4 are missing something. Yes, they're great chassis and great handlers - but without adequate power. The ST170 was slower down a straight line drag race then a GTI IV Golf and TS Astra SRi Turbo. Or around dead even with an AU Taxi. I was going to buy one... but... ehh. I wish they sold the RS here...

Much the same deal with the XR4. It seems to be having trouble staying infront of a Citroen C2 VTS in a drag, let alone proper hot hatches. Having owned a Zetec Fiesta, I feel the XR4 is not an adequate improvement over it to warrant upgrade.

Those Fords don't come here perfect, that's the thing. The new Focus XR5 does, I wouldn't touch that. However the point wouldn't be FPV modding a Focus ST, it would be making their own version. Stuff what Team RS has done, it would be Team FPV's car. And seeing how they can make the F6 Typhoon that can run with the likes of the V10 M5, and the same lot of people with a different name to the company made the T3 TE50 which was faster around corners then the old E39 M5, I'd love to see what they could do with a Focus. Plus it would nothing but help local industry, more locally made cars, more local work.