Anyone here got a new shape Fiesta ST?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I agree with Chris on this Jim. Yours is better than your giving it credit for.

 

No it isn't, I saw it and worked on it before Jim owned it :lol:

 

Nah, it's fine really. One of the better ones I've driven.

[veearsix 10]

Hi Jim, I'm coming a bit late to this... My brother's partner has had three Fiestas. The first two were 'normal' ones (1.6 engine?), her third, which she's only had for a few months is an ST. On the first two she also ticked the 'sports suspension' option. I only drove the second one, though as a driving experience, I can't really remember anything about it. My single over-riding impression on all three concerns the ride: I thought the first was unacceptably bad, esp for a mainstream manufacturer in 2012. The second was a bit better even though, on paper, it had identical suspension. I thought the ST was even worse than the first - I reckon after a long day at work it would completly do your head in. If someone had told me it had been fitted with a set of cheapo coilovers, I'd have still thought the ride was terrible!

 

To qualify things a bit, my brother lives near Bath, which has always had appalling roads. I'd say if you don't live in the city and don't need to regularly commute into one, then it might be bearable. To provide some reference points, my bro has an Elise (3 or 4 years old) which he commutes in. Although the ride sounds bad, it rides like a limo in comparison to the ST. He also thinks the ST rides unacceptably badly. My references are my VR, which had a complete suspension overhaul in Jan - apart from the springs, anti-roll bar and back axle I changed everything else for as much genuine VW as possible, although the dampers are (OE spec) Bilstein B4. It's true that it's not the firmest, runs out of damping control at higher speeds and would no doubt struggle to keep up with an enthusiastically driven ST, but then I wouldn't need to be visiting the osteopath, either! If you're thinking I quite like a nice soft ride, my other car is a Mk2 Polo (G60) which has been pretty tightly tied down on Eibachs, custom spec Konis, etc. It has a very crashy ride, but, somehow seems more 'honest' than the above Fiestas, if that makes any sense.

 

How about an Up!? My bro has just ordered one - he test drove three different ones at different dealers just to try out the different wheel options. He's gone for 17s and even with their skinny 195/40s he reckoned the ride was ok. So if nothing else, the VW dealers sound a bit friendlier that the Ford ones!

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Our neighbour has just bought a 4 month old demonstration model 1.6 diesel zetec s. It has already had its engine changed due to an oil leak in its demonstration period which resulted in the engine being run complety dry. The dealership has been nothing but useless and when it broke down the other day they wanted nothing to do with it. There was a broken power control module of some sort which had a bent electrical pin and the cost to repair was over a grand which nobody wanted to accept as warranty to start with.

 

I had a 1.25 petrol to drive from the east Midlands to Fort William and I loved it, lack of power aside. I did 850 miles in 2 stints and arrived feeling refreshed, considering the type of car, I was impressed.

 

But the customer service, or in this case, the complete lack of it by Ford has put me off buying any car in the future from them. I know that no car is immune to its faults but when the customer service is so lacking, I wouldn't go near the brand as a whole.

 

My experience of VW hasn't always been perfect, but my recent experience has been very good. There does seem to be a real push for customer service within the last year or 2 which can only be a good thing.

[Jim 2]

The Up is an interesting little car, but the thing that drew me to the Fiesta and specifically the ST is that it's no slouch - 180BHP from the 1.6 turbo motor. I don't think they do an Up with anything like that kind of performance and if I'm to make do with a 'small car' it's got to at least be entertaining - I think the Up would get pretty tiresome pretty quickly because of the small engine :(

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Isn't there an up gt due out at some point soon?

[KipVR 1]

The Up is an interesting little car, but the thing that drew me to the Fiesta and specifically the ST is that it's no slouch - 180BHP from the 1.6 turbo motor. I don't think they do an Up with anything like that kind of performance and if I'm to make do with a 'small car' it's got to at least be entertaining - I think the Up would get pretty tiresome pretty quickly because of the small engine :(

 

Small engines in small cars are great! I bought an old Seat Arosa for £300 a few years back for commuting across the New Forest. It was the 1.0mpi version, it wasn't quick but it never felt that slow either. The thing is it was so simple and cheap to maintain and because it was so cheap I didn't care about it too much. My mate had an old 306 and we regularly bashed into each other messing about at work.. Drove it about for 3 years in the end, sold it when my commute changed, and made £500 in the sale! When you have less traction, the fun happens at lower speeds!

[BrettS 10]

I went to buy a fiesta st last year. Ended up having a test drive in a zetec s black edition. And tbh it didn't set the world on fire. Granted it wasn't the turbo found I the st but the 1.6 in the black edition felt very under powered. And the car just felt a bit to small for me. I reckon the st could be a real fun motor and they look fantastic in standard guise. There's also the 208 gti that shares the same engine as the fez. I ended up buying a leon fr+ 2.0 crd with dsg box. It's a run out of the mk2 leon and was fully loaded including the rare fr carbon leather interior. It's a great motor, and with a remap and dsg remap they are cupra quick with half the insurance and running costs with out loosing the spec

[Jim 2]

Small engines in small cars are great! I bought an old Seat Arosa for £300 a few years back for commuting across the New Forest. It was the 1.0mpi version, it wasn't quick but it never felt that slow either. The thing is it was so simple and cheap to maintain and because it was so cheap I didn't care about it too much. My mate had an old 306 and we regularly bashed into each other messing about at work.. Drove it about for 3 years in the end, sold it when my commute changed, and made £500 in the sale! When you have less traction, the fun happens at lower speeds!

 

I had a Fiat 500 with the 1.2 engine - it was just too slow. Drove me crazy in the end so sold it after less than a year.

[seanl82 23]

Is that the one that was on Watchdog last week Jim? It was truely impossible to hill start on a steep incline!

[Jim 2]

Not sure on that one mate.. don't watch a great deal of TV these days! But I wouldn't say the Fiat was THAT bad.. it was just extremely flat and when you're duking it out with modern turbo diesel's and so forth, they all get impatient and aggressive as they think you're dawdling when you're really not!

 

*edit*

 

Looks like you're right!

 

http://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/fiat-500-powerful-enough-hills-says-bbcs-watchdog-1107954951

 

As they say in the feature though they've done something and retuned the engine which has made it dangerous. Previously (mine was a 60 reg) there were no such problems.