2006 Ford Focus ST2 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Roadtested an ST today, great handling car, but so lacking in engine power, very mild turbo boost. I believe a company called Blue Fin have a remap to 265bhp. Or Revo will have a remap by now. It does need chipping.

285 BHP or thereabouts is achievable through a combination of bluefin and an uprated intercooler.

Lots of discussion on this at focusstoc.com.

Taking my st to pumabuild for a 295 bhp conversion including radtec intercooler, bluefin chip, replacement air filter and a cat back system...should run 1.2 bar and 295 lb ft torque... nice! ;-)

Only good if you don't want to keep the car for long as those kind of upgrades mean a sudden death for engines. They just don't like being played with. The ST engine is factory designed to put out 225 PS. A hike of 70 PS will almost certainly halve the engine life and put a hell of a strain on the drive train. Waste of time - you'll only wind up sitting in traffic with loads of power under the bonnet. Each to their own though - just don't expect to have a reliable car and also you'll lose your warranty and the insurance will go through the roof.

To the American guy... You can't get these in your country, you don't even have this generation focus out there yet. European car only at the moment.

290bhp is not an issue with the engine either, and provided it's looked after, will be fine as a daily driven car with that much power. 70ps is not hard to get out of turbo'd cars. In all honesty, it's a 2.5 turbo that only produces 200bhp. Yet a 2 litre N/A honda engine can deliver more that that. You see the point?

Basic science - the 2.5 litre 5 cylinder turbo volvo engine can produce more power and safely if tuned properly. It's all in the mapping though, you can't just go bolting bits onto, it has to be mapped properly. And looked after properly. And the drive train can be upgraded as well. Should handle the power though as standard as long as you're not launching it every time you drive it, and taking it to the redline constantly, but the same can be said with any car - treat it badly and it won't last long.

Don't forget, Volvo sell cars with an identical engine making 260 bhp as standard, and all versions of this engine have built up a formidable reputation for reliability. The Focus ST is very softly tuned.

The chip situation will be like it was back in the Cosworth days. Some will give 100,000 miles reliable service, and others will reduce the engine to scrap within 2,000 miles. Personally, I wouldn't risk it.

Besides which, it's hardly gutless as standard. Will see off a Golf GTI almost comically easily.

Has anyone had any problems with shakes and rattles? I have a 3dr ST2 with 2700 miles on the clock. So far both doors have developed trim rattles, the parcel shelf squeaks excessively, there is a whine coming from the rear left somewhere and the suspension groans and squeaks something awful on anything, but smooth roads. Its doing my head in! Am I just unlucky to have bought a “Friday afternoon” built example or is this more common? We’ve 2 Focus LX at work and they’re fine despite being treated badly.

Other than that the car’s a delight to drive and the performance is brilliant! The engine roar means the radio is hardly ever turned on!

About the 330bhp astra. It would only be good in a straight line. Cornering would be worse. But if you were a really good driver and new the car well. You could make good use of the power I think. The ST and Golf GTi would be a much lesser handful in my opinion.

Its all very well talking about chipping cars to make them 3 million hores power and invalidating any warranty. I have an ST2 and was driving down the motorway and a Vauxhall Calibra pulled past me like a bleedin F1 car no way was it standard by the looks of the exhaust and wheels it had been chav'ed up some what who knows what had been done under the bonnet. Do I want the Calibra? Do I buggery!! The bottom line is most people want a 'Hot Hatch' straight from the forecourt and don't want to bluefin it or start changing parts etc. With this in mind its hard to argue that the ST isn't the best NEW 'off the shelf' hot hatch you can buy. For those guys who argue you can buy a 6 year old M3 or the like for the same money, well I don't want a 6 year old car that potentially could cost a lot of money in repairs/servicing and to maintain. An engine may be good for 200k if treated well, but how do you know if it has with several owners?

Re: Vauxhall Calibra pulled past me like a bleedin F1 car.

Bet he was in 3rd gear and living on a prayer that the valves werent going to end up in his lap. I have an ST220 and even when I'm sauntering along about 50ish the boy racers scream past as fast as their little BHP's will take them so they can boast to their pals and their own egos that they blasted me off..

As a BMW 330i driver (E46) I have been horribly embarrassed by not just one, but two of these! They seem to have incredible mid range acceleration and have not only (1) been impossible to shake off from behind me, (2) overtaken me!, but also (3) just pulled away from me when I tried, desperately, red-faced, to keep up! And my BMW is low mileage, well serviced, and fast. I am starting to wonder what the extra expense bought me if it wasn’t performance. Better build quality and a lovely straight six engine sound can’t quite repair my badly bruised ego!

The fact that it's happened in more or less the same way from two ST's suggests it's not just some one-off tuned-up ST!

Anyone else had similar embarrasment?

WHAT?! you need to learn how to drive or fix what evers broken in your bmw! An st and a 330 are basically the same, one could not blow away the other. I drive a type r with pride and wouldn't tell anyone if I was burnt off-so would a real bmw driver admit to being beaten? being as there mostly mature business men who don't boy race anyway.

1st Aug 2006, 17:01

RE: "In all honesty, it's a 2.5 turbo that only produces 200bhp. Yet a 2 litre N/A honda engine can deliver more that that. You see the point?"

Stats are a bit wrong there... The ST has 222/225bhp and the Honda 197bhp (not more than 200, UK cars though ;) )

I do agree with you about the point though, I don't see it either.

The comparison with the Honda N/A engine is pointless.

The characteristics of the two engines couldn't be more different. The Honda engine makes a piffling 193 NM of torque at 6500 RPM. The Focus lump makes over a third more (320 NM) at just 1600 RPM.

In a drag race, with the Honda being driven like it was stolen, there wouldn't be a lot in it, but when you want to accelerate quickly right NOW, the Focus doesn't care what gear it's in, it just shoves you back in the seat.

I have as much respect for Honda's engineering prowess, and the genius of the VTEC system as the next man, but the fact is that the first 6,000 RPM of the engine's rev range is just for show. Many very ordinary cars are no slower under 6,000 RPM, which is where you spend the vast majority of your time on the road. By the time the Honda comes on cam, or its driver downshifts, the Focus will have a good 10-20 mph on it.

It was my comment on 1st June (330i). My mistake, I was on the wrong page, I was posting about encounters against Mondeo ST220! Sorry...