hi all i have recently sold my 325i saloon e46 and i am looking to buy a st170 focus in imperial blue or grey.... must be under 90k miles and over 2002 year..i have 3k to spend is that realistic?

how come the prices vary sooooo much on these cars has the value gone up or down much in the past 6months? cheers

i have had several fords and bmws in the past and i have a good idea what to look for on these...
is it common for the sumps to rot?
are the gearboxes generally reliable and strong?
what do you guys use for diagnostic code reading on your focus's's's's's?

cheers

 

For 3K you should get a low milage immaculate 53 plate ST170, value has dropped massively on these, they are worth very little now due to the running costs, high tax, insurance, MPG in the low 20's and not great performance. There are allot of dreamers out there, mostly commercial garages.
A 90K 2002 ST170 could be picked up for Ł1500 easily.
Gearbox is a Getrag 6 Speed, absolutely bomb proof should give you no problems, the weak points are the Dual Mass Fly wheel, make sure this has been changed on a high milage car otherwise a new clutch and fly will set you back Ł600+, fuel pumps, coil packs, rotten sumps, lambda sensors, IMRC,and general abuse by boy racers, the standard wheels corrode badly too.
If there was on thing i would look for is hold out for an ST170 with Xenon headlights, they are worth the wait.
I used a Bluefin handset to read codes on mine

 

excellent thanks for the reply.... i have sold my 325 so im looking for an st as we speak... i have tried one at a indipendant dealer... it had dire black painted alloys and a huge spoiler ... but drove fantastically...
it sounded like it had an induction filter... but it looked standard under the bonnet... was this possibly that a resonator removed??? would it give that rorty sound as loud as a k&n cone filter?

i want to buy one bog standard and dont intend to mess with it at all... apart from maybe get that lovely induction sound coming into the cabin like on the one i tried

is there a way to stop the sump rotting....obviously the rot outside-in???
would sanding it andy spray with heaty proof paint slow down the rot?

 

If you pull the resonator off the standard box it sounds almost identical to an induction kit, stick a K&N panel filter in the standard box with the resonator removed and it will more than likely make more power than an induction kit any way.
Any kind of added protection to the sump will help but once the tin worm starts you have to get every last bit otherwise it will keep returning, its the mega hot cat that does it to the sumps. If you find rust treat it with rust killer before painting it.

 

thanks for replies people!!! check out my new post in same forum dept.... regarding st170 dipstick.... oil level is reading too high even tho only put 4.3ish litres of oil in including changing filter ????????