2002 Ford Focus ST170 from UK and Ireland - Comments

23rd Dec 2008, 07:31.

Thanks for taking the time to type that up, appreciated!

Ditto.

Why does everyone always compare the ST170 to cars that are quite obviously built for racing and to cater to the Chav/Boyracer mentality.

The Focus ST170 was designed to be a faster version of the already popular existing Focus, and was the first of a new generation of Focus, we now have the focus RS etc. If you want to compare with the Type R, use the RS instead.

To me this car was designed for comfort, road handling and to be more than capable of giving you enough power to be happy whilst also being practical enough to live with on a daily basis. Plus it is easy to add a couple of small mods to improve it, if that is your desire.

Now here's a word... PRACTICAL... that's the word Type R owners don't seem to like, hence the Boy racer tagline.

All in all give me the ST170 over the Impreza/TypeR any day, whenever you see those cars it usually involves baseball caps and spotty teenagers thinking they are it and wanting to race everyone else, looking down there noses at normal sensible people who are more than content with what they have, coz they have something fast and in your face. I don't quite fancy looking like one of them thanks.

The ST170 is a great car, whilst not being lightning quick and having its faults (like every car does) it's comfortable, more than quick enough and handles great. I would recommend one :) I have also owned other sports cars, Toyota Supra, BMW 535i, RS Mexixo Mk11 etc etc but I find that I am more than happy with the ST170.

I can't comment on the ST3, as I have not driven one yet, but being in a friends of mine, it's not as comfortable, and being the type that drives to a lot of Gigs etc round the country, I don't feel I could buy one just for the power alone.

If you want Evo pace, go and buy an Evo, if you want a good all round package and are prepared to comprise on the outright speed, buy this :)

Don't know where you are driving that teenagers can afford to buy Civic Type R's or Impreza's, let alone insure them, but round here I am much more likely to see the chav brigade in something with reasonable secondhand value and insurance... like the ST170.

Most Impreza owners seem to be middle aged (perhaps mid-life crisis) and the Civic attracts all sorts, I see quite a few are owned by 30 odd year old women round by me.

Also whilst the Impreza and Evo offer all out performance for a cost of frequent servicing and low mpg, the Civic is as cheap to run as the Focus ST170, offering 35mpg combined and average service intervals.

Come round Chester and the Cheshire area, you'll see loads of them :(

Yup, there are a lot of CTR's in Chester.

I have an ST170 estate...

I too bought it because it was PRACTICAL, and fairly quick on the side...

I did consider a 300bhp Volvo, but the running costs are horrific!!!

I love all the comments about comparing it to a Civic Type R... They don't have anywhere near the 1580 litres of boot space that I have ;)

Who ever passed the comment about it not having a VTEC type system, they are wrong, VTEC, Duratec, Zetec, VVTL are all the same thing, it just means variable valve timing, it's not like Ford could name their system VTEC is it? It's just a name... So yes, it does have a VVT head developed by Cosworth... It amazes me how people make blind comments...

In all, I love this car, it's a good 'Do all' car, and it does them all very well =)

Owned my ST170 for about 3 month. Management lights on already, Ford say new runner control unit and intake manifold £640, anyone had this problem?

The Focus ST170 is the slowest car in its group. It's in with the Ibiza Cupra Rs, 206 GTi 180, Corsa VXR, Civic Type R, and Clio 182. Even the Fiesta ST is quicker than the ST170, and that's compared with the C2 VTS, Punto HGT, and Corsa SRi Turbo in the group below.

The guy that said it's just a faster Focus and not a chav/racer like CTR etc is wrong. The Civic Type R, Clio, MG ZR, ST170 etc are all sporty versions of the normal hatch. And vtec in CTR is different to VVC in the ST170, as i-vtec has two cams like Toyota engines. Which give them high bhp, high lift cams that engage at 6000revs, unlike the Focus, the i-vtec has both systems. Valve duration and lift. Correct me if wrong, but they're not all the same.