Hi all,

My Mrs' cmax is soon to be pronounced dead and looking for a cheap run about for her. Was thinking i could kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get something that might be fun to drive too.

Been looking at ST170's on ebay and they seem really reasonably priced now.

Can anyone tell me what they're like to run? Any major issues or things to look out for??

Many thanks in advance.

Ben....

 

theres good and bad in all cars but the 170 if well maintained can be a good car, dont just buy on price check history and look for main things like a good clutch as a new one will cost you Ł800 ish, rust and engine management lights and most of all drive it, spec varies as there are 3 specs, base = black headlights & half leather seats, then you have the climate pack which is xenon headlights and climate control then the climate & comfort pack edition which is the daddy, full leather recaros with xenons and sub woofer and if you hit one with all that plus options of sunroof and rear parking sensors then you have peaked into top spec

 

Thanks for the info!!

 

I love mine. They are a good car. Dont let people put you off them go and drive one and see what you think.

They handle well and go well in my opinion.

 

Cheers..... quite like the idea of one.... she can use it daily and something i won't mind driving every now and then....

 

they are good driving cars and reliable too with correct maintainance

 

I see a lot of these for sale for hardly any money or for breaking/parts
They seem a good car, I test drove one but went for the fiesta instead

 

I still like them but we sold ours last year. We had it from 2.5 years old, it was looked after, not exactly money no object but tried to keep on top of stuff. We got rid as the stuff it needed at 10 years old to keep it long term and be happy for the Mrs to use daily was too much against the value. It needed a new rack, cam belt, IMRC sorting plus other small stuff. We'd just spent over a grand a year before and weren't prepared to keep dropping money on it.

Real world living with one, when you've just got to drive it normally and can't exploit its strong points:
Very juicy, sub 25mpg with traffic.
Like all performance cars needs at least a pair of tyres every year.
Chokes up with repeated short journeys
Have you seen how hard it is to get the oil filter - especially on a driveway?!?

It never let us down and was a great car, just needed a spanking round the local bypass now and again.

 

Ive had mine nearly a year. I paid 600 quid for it off a lad i work with.

I had to put a rack on it cause he caught a kurb when he had it. Ive also put a pair of tyres on it,rear coil springs cause they had snapped and a cam cover gasket oh and a lambda sensor.

 

apart from wear n tear items, not needed to touch mine in around 18 months

 

I will have owned my ST170 for 4 years come late this October, and over those years I've had a fair few things changed, but nothing I would consider to shocking, and most of which was changed out of my choice due to me being like that

It's actually the longest ownership of a car I have undertaken, so something can't be to bad, although part of that reason is because I can't afford an "Evo 6 Tommi Makinen" or a "964 Porsche" yet

I find the Focus a really well handling chassis and a real joy to drive, yes the claimed 170bhp maybe a little optimistic and foot down motoring see's a healthy return of around 16-22mph, but I didn't buy the car with fuel concerns in mind.

I feel the car would benefit from a genuine 170-220bhpm bigger brakes etc, but these are all things you can tailor the car to if you wish