2002 Ford Focus ST170 from UK and Ireland - Comments

I bought my ST170 new in 2004 and I am still pleased with it appart from one problem that's been ongoing for around 2 years. It seems to loose power at times and when driving seems to hesitate which is very anoying. It has been to the Garage at least 4 times with this fault and nobody seems to be able to sort it out because it does not show up on the computer. Has anyone had this problem with theirs and can advise me. If you put your foot down it drives OK, but as soon as you stop and pull away the hesitation is back.

My engine management light has illuminated around 4 times now and all seems to be to do with sensor in exhaust. Anyone else had this problem.

I have had a 54 ST170 for 2 weeks, it has developed the no power/stalling at 4000rpm that others have reported. My mate works for Ford parts dept. so took the car in for me and found the fuel pump, inlet control module, coil pack and leads and the lambda sensor all needed replacing!!!

Needless to say, get a warranty on these cars; great fun car, but built by morons!

Also knocking/grinding from the front end at low speeds was noticed so was checked out and broken springs and a drive-shaft centre bearing also needed replacing!!

After driving VW's for years at 40,000 miles a year (never a single breakdown) I'm shocked at how much goes wrong with Fords, hopefully this will be the end of it!

I have a ford st170 and I must say it is superb and fast becouse there aint no straight roads were I am so I've beat a few good cars not by much, but its done it for me all done by puma speed in wakefield

no faults fast and I love it its mine.

My Ford Ranger Wildtrak has 156 break.

Oh and my Jeep has 420 break (SRT8)

Come on guys. Get enthusiastic about a proper car for goodness sake.

And both would be embarrassingly awful here on British roads.

Keep up with a Civic type r? LOL! Dream on whoever thinks that! Get a Clio 172, cheaper with the same thrills and probably quicker too than a st170! Or even a 206 gti 180 would be a good bet! Oh and they both look better, Lmao!

I've had my ST170 for a year now. Don't be stupid if you got one; pick a road to your advantage. Downhill curvy roads! If you know your car well, switch off the anti-skid and you can take on most warm and hot hatches and some performance cars.

I have no problems keeping up with mate's DC2 Type R even in the uphill stretches. The car has almost no understeer with some oversteer when pushed past its limits. Chassis is balanced enough to accept careful mid-curve steering, throttle, and/or accelerator changes. Less top end BHP, but more torque. Bounces less than Type R around bends (the softer suspension is actually an advantage in tracking around a badly surfaced bend), easier to control brakes, but less punch out of corners due to the lack of LSD and no 'lift' in VVT system. Trick is to brake later, enter corner faster, then lose that advantage just to do it all again the next corner. The ST170 might be easier to live with, but will definitely be not as fast at the track as the DC2 Type R.

The ST170 has loads of character and is too easy to fall in love with. 6th gear doing 60 km/h, floor it, and it actually has enough torque to gain speed without pinging and jerking itself to spasms. I see about 600kms between almost empty to totally full refills if I drive it normally (no faster than other traffic). Drive it harder and you'll lose about 50 to 100 km per tank.

It has superb lane change stability. Do a wrist flick and jump at the smallest gaps in traffic. This is really bad for sparking off road rage with other aggressive drivers doing this, but great for gaining 5-10 minutes in a 30 minute drive. The car cruises at 200 km/h without drama and handles wide sweeping bends at 180 km/h (maybe because my ST170 was built in Germany).

Drop the rear seats and the 300+ liters boot turns into a huge flat space. Sit and cruise in 3rd gear without touching the accelerator or clutch; great for bumper to bumper traffic! Cruise in quiet comfort on the highway listening to the excellent 6 CD system. I can go on...

'I have no problems keeping up with mate's DC2 Type R'

Hahaha, not a chance!

I have bought an ST170 03 plate, the car does look a bit understated but nice enough. It has the full leather package, heated seats and all parking sensors, built in bass speaker; the stereo sounds amazing.

When I bought it, and took it out and gave it a bit of a thrashing, it started losing power after 4000 revs, and stalling a bit when pulling away; new fuel pump and injector sorted this.

Then I had to get a wheel bearing for a continual whining noise coming from the passenger side (which is still not cured) mechanic said it is just road noise from cheap tyres.

And to top it all of now I can't get the car into 5th or 6th gear; apparently some gear linkage has broken and is getting fixed this week.

I have had this car for under a month, just as well it is all covered by its warranty from the garage. But all this aside, when it is going it is nice to drive and is quite fast.

By the the way the mechanics that have been in my ST170 said that it sounds really throaty compared to other ones they have driven, in a good way though. What could be causing that?

Ah! Boy racers and there toys? well I'm a pensioner (not saying how old lol) but used to race with Barry Lee back in the 60s..1960s lol!.. Bought a st170 estate new in 04 which has now covered 34.000 without any problems except for a dam annoying rattle from the cat (perhaps I've got the only good one? ha!) Think most off you are missing the point of buying a sports tuned saloon if your expecting dragster performance with if your lucky? only 165bhp on tap! Fords concept was to make a vehicle to match there excellent FWD chassis that could be driven sportily from A to B without any drama or much skill needed. My only mods are lowered 25mm on ebach springs (std shocks)..F&R 20 groved discs & mintex xtream.. scorpion exhaust..piper x with cold air feed.. US ford racing 17" 5 spokes shod with faken 452's (out standing in the wet) and a bluefin set on stage 3 (worth its cost if only to stop the dam rev limiter bashing you head against the windscreen)..If I had a spare +4 gran to waste think I would go the supercharging 260bhp route.

2005 ST170. Bluefin tune 3 with decat exhaust and std induction. The car can match and overpower a Gti5 4dr in any gear. Had a few oil and water leaks. Most you can fix yourself. 90000km on clock.

I have a BMW 318ti at the moment. I'm thinking of buying an e36 M3, but have been looking into ST170's as well. I know there is a big difference between these in performance. But what I really want to know is how much quicker will a ST170 be than my 318ti - (0-60 8.6 & 130mph from UKCAR). I'm not too fussed about how fast it accelerates, more interested in the general feel of the car and the engine flexibility.

If you own one or have driven one, then please let me know!

I have had an 03 ST 170 5dr for nearly 3 years, and overall it's a brill hot hatch. I have to admit it's the most likely Focus mk1 to suffer problems as it was a bit rushed into production. Having said that, most are fixed under warranty and none are massively expensive when compare to one fault on the average VAG car ie Mk1 TT had a well known speedo fault, which many a trendsetter was bent over and raped for £1100-1200, yet people pee and moan about a couple of hundred to repair a Focus ST170.

It's one of the most reliable cars I have owned, only suffering a failed clutch at 45k, which I have put done to the previous owner.

Ford just made it more refined than the Seat Leon or the CTR. It was available in 5dr (That's what I got) even an estate.

Its engine isn't the most fuel efficient or powerful off the block, but it's beautiful through the bends and the standard brakes are very good.

It came with a lot more options than most of the competitors, and it launches a lot better than the CTR, and the engine has a broader power band.

Overall it's a very good car for the money, and not expensive to run at all.

You can tweak it; I have one of two mods, but the standard car is very capable.

Why compare it to the CTR? The ST170 is never gonna come off well is it? Testimony to the civic I suppose that pretty much any fast car review on here seems to compare itself to the civic.