2003 Ford Focus ST170 from UK and Ireland - Comments

I am a new owner of the ST170, in the past I have owned a Renault 5 turbo, Astra GTE, Fiesta XR2 and a Citroen Saxo VTR. The ST170 is a great car and the best handling car out of all the above. The ST170 is low on power in the early gears, but try taking it to 6000 revs were the car comes into its own. Quality machine for the bucks in my honest opinion.

I have recently purchased a ford focus st170 and thought it was the bees knees, till one day I tried to overtake a seat leon 20vt. I was left for dead to say the least. It was a friend of mine in an old 180bhp 2000 model. The only thing I don't like about the focus is the long gears, why has ford done this. Otherwise a pretty good sporty car.

I don't understand why the Focus ST170 isn't quicker than it is to be honest. It's closer to the RS in power output terms than it is to the standard 2.0 Zetec, yet is much closer to the Zetec in terms of performance. The RS is an absolute missile (figured as low as 5.7 seconds 0-60 and nearly 150 flat out) and has "just" 40 PS more.

That said, I had my local Ford dealer's demo ST170 for a day when my own Focus was in for service last year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once you accept it's a bit slower than its rivals, it's a blinding car. Cars like the Civic Type R and Seat Leon are massively quick, and grip well, but chassis wise are about as fun as the shopping cars they're based on. The Focus underpinnings are class leading to begin with so its no surprise the ST is such a laugh.

Just my fourpenneth.

Rs is 6.2 gps, better suspension and a turbo. perhaps.

Firstly I have been in this car and its pretty uninspiring. At the end of the day it is a Ford with an uprated engine of which the performance is poor. A lot of people are comparing this to VW's in my opinion there is no comparison to VW's when it comes to build quality and engine reliability other than Japanese makes such as Honda and Toyota. The Focus RS struggled to make any impact and this has done the same. It is the same old story with Ford owners, as long as its the fastest it is the better car, however it fails at all hurdles this time. Save £15,000 and put it towards an R32 or VR6.

Really? How come Ford cars are always ahead of VW in the reliability tables? I know of Golf GTI owners who wish they had the st170 build!!

Having never owned or driven a Focus ST170, I can't comment on that car, but I can't believe people still fall for the VW reliability / quality myth!! Just take a look through the last few years customer surveys such as JD Power and Top Gear for the truth. Also take a look at the VW reviews on this site.

I've just sold my Passat TDI PD 130 Sport. On first acquaintance it was a classy, good looking, beautifully finished bit of engineering. After three years and 51,000 miles it was on its second clutch (known fault according to dealer), had to have its interior completely stripped out on two occasions to find and repair two separate water leaks (both known faults according to dealer), had the turbo pipework "pop off" leaving the car with about 30 bhp (known fault according to dealer), had to have the alarm horn / control box unit replaced due to water ingress (known fault according to dealer), the central locking module replaced, and an electric window motor replaced.

Overpriced rubbish.

Just bought my ST and kicked the living daylights out of 3 'fast' VW's (GTi's). OK the car has been uprated, but not by much. VW's are over-priced, over-hyped, and over-rated.

Unfortunately you will never see a cossie variant, as they have gone bust, ha ha.

I would gladly swap my heap of junk 2003 Golf Gti 1.8t 180 for a focus ST170. The Golf has a wonderful interior and (and a nice image in my opinion) looks good, but the drive is awful. Devoid of any feel and a complete rattle box. the Golf has POOR quality in terms of fit and finish, but the materials you see are more attractive and more expensive looking - this does not mean it is better quality though!!

Really disappointed after my Focus 2.0 ESP it replaced - I no longer bother going on a drive down my favourite roads just for the hell of it. Wish I'd gone for the Focus ST170, can't wait untill March 2006 when I can replace... Golf Gti or Focus ST, it's a toughie.

Only has 134lb/ft of torque. that's crap. struggles up hills.

No it doesn't, it has 143 ft/lb of torque,nearly the same as a Civic Type R.

I bought a 1 year old ST170 in January this year and have now covered six thousand miles in it, very attractive car rare imperial Blue Xenon headlamps, but I am still disappointed in the performance. I just don’t understand why ford got it so wrong, the whole car just does not inspire me like my other car.

My Other car which I have owned from 1 year old and driven day in day out for the past 8 years is a immaculate unmodified 85,000 mile 1997 registered Escort RS2000, which has been rolling roaded at 155 Bhp so about 15 Bhp less than the Focus, but is so much quicker than the ST170. For example the RS takes 6 seconds in 5th gear from 30 Mph to 50 Mph this is a good 3 seconds slower in the ST170.

The RS will be a collectors car and the ST170 won't it's that simple and this is purely down to the fact that the ST170 is good just not brilliant and at the top of its class unlike the RS was and still is.

The ST170 will be gone in a couple of years and the RS will still be sat in the garage purely for the fact that it still puts a smile on my face and is a complete joy to drive unlike the focus, 10 year technology gap how did it go so wrong?

I don't know what car magazines you read in the 90's, but the Escort RS2000 was never top of its class.

It was astonishingly good considering how atrocious the base Escort was, and Ford all but gave the last models away (it was down to about UKP13,000 at the end) but for pure driving thrills, the Peugeot 306 S16 / GTI-6 was a far better car as was the Clio Williams and the Citroen ZX 16v.

The RS might become a classic purely for its RS badge, but in capability terms is barely above average. Nice engine though.

Have you owned or driven either of these cars? If so you will know where I am coming from, yes the RS2000 was based on a truly awful car, but the RS2000 especially the later cars are a lot better than you think, Yes I do own both cars the RS2000 and a now 18 month old ST170 and the RS is a lot more enjoyable to drive, the Engine is better, the gear box is better, the seats are better and it’s a faster car in all gears, to be honest it feels a lot more commutative through the steering.

Yes I admit that the RS has it’s short falls, but so do all mass produced cars including the Pug 306 Gti, Clio 16v, and the final sale price was £15,500 not £13,000 and as for finding homes for the RS I think you will find that all hot hatches in the 90’s struggled to find homes no matter who made them due to thieving toe rags and high insurance premiums. But seen as this review was about the ST170 all I am saying is that the ST170 is a big let down compared to what Ford can do and have shown if they want to and have shown this in the other car I own.