I've been on here a while now and have seen a few people "slating " the st170 as a " rubbish" car, (putting it politely).

Why?

I own one and think there a alright car. Don't get me wrong if I could afford a cossie, mk1 rs ect I would buy one.

But the st170 so far been a good car, mine hit 130 easily enough ( private road of course) handles ok, although they do need some handling mods.

Other than just the general maintane seem all round good car..

What your views on the car?

 

I had one, was overall pretty disappointed. Slow in a straight line, VERY thirsty for what it is (my 300bhp ST is more economical!), fancy inlet is a fragile thing, they eat tyres, lambda sensors for some reason, they rattle, exhaust heat shields fall off, wheels corrode, centre caps fall off, clutches can be very expensive etc.

They could have been a brilliant little car if Ford spent more than £4.50 developing it!

 

power wise they are ok but not very fast. standard handling is excellant but track prepared they are flipping awesome but im biased lol

 

See mine but alright will admit it will need a clutch in the next 3 months I say. Mine wasn't well looked after l, I've brought it back to life. Lambs sensor seem ok. Heat Sheild the bolts are shagged but I'm powdercoating the manifold anyway. I guess you get some good one and bad one.

 

I do plan next year on having ago with a track day. I think it not to bad power wide. BUT where can you legally go over 70mph in this country?

 

As stated above, the st170 could have been soo much better. Ford realised how close it was in relation to focus rs performance and slowed it down with the dual mass fly and 6 speed.

All mk1's have the potential for immense handling. the 170 engine is strong, mainly due to the vct tbh. but it takes too long to rev up, due to the dual mass.

for me it was a let down performance wise, but nothing a few tweaks wont sort.

 

Agree totally. I guess performance wise yeah it slow but it not that slow. I've got a load of mods to come but having the spare money ;(

 

no its not slow, just not as good as it could / should have left the factory

what mods you got planned?

 

Springs and dampers polybush the whole thing, whiteline abr..

Then cams, retard the exhaust cam.

If I can afford it itbZ

 

good plan, we also do upgrades for the suspension set up, check the trade section, youl see adjustable rear arms and control arms

 

The daft long gearing kills them too.

 

drive 10 miles down the road and I will build you a 300hp motor lol.

 

I haven't had mine long but I love it.

Its comfy, handles well, doesn't break your back when going over bumps, interiors nice and keeps up with most things on the road.

Mines had a dual mass conversion and a lightened flywheel and it launches so well now, it wasn't cheap but well worth it. there's other things planned but don't want to give anything away yet.

The only thing that bugs me about mine is the flickering dash every now and then which is a common issue and a slight kangaroo at around 2100 revs but that's only when I put normal unleaded fuel in it but a remap will sort it properly I hope.

Edit - just realised I'm thread jacking, sorry

 

How much was the lightweight fly wheels dude?

 

ive got the same issues on mine. A remap will indeed solve the problem at around 2100rpm

 

It was 750 with a clutch and my dad fitted it Wednesday, already pleased with it. Cheers for that mike. Least I know now

 

Mine was a fucking pearler when i had it was awesome. Around lincs it was a quick car.

 

this car fell totally in wrong class as they never had the 170hp as claimed and the insurance and tax grouping is simply stupid, then couple that with the shocking fuel consumption which is on par with the st200 and a £700 clutch it could never live up to the billing, plus sides though are they do handle well and if you get the higher spec version out of the 2 they are fully loaded with everything you could want

 

Why does eveyone say it a £700 clutch? I guess you got to change the flywheel aswell?my local dealer can get
Me a full clutch kit for 220£ inc vat

 

My mate from work has one. He has had it over a year now. We went to pick it up from harrowgate. I drove it back half the way and I think it went really well. It just seemed to pull and pull.

His is the high spec one with the comfort pack and climate pack.His ST has about 110k on it now. I would defo have it off him.The only thing im not keen on is that its painted silver.

 

Mate had one for years and put some good miles on it. He had a fully loaded one, climate, 5 cd changer, sub, leather etc. It was a nice car, handled nicely but it was not quick. It went ok, certainly had a bit more to it than a normal 2 litre but just felt like it should deliver more.

 

I had one and don't agree with your post, no one on here slates them. They just recognise the problems with what should have been a good car.

I find the handling, braking and overall feel of the car particularly good.

DMF, Rattles, Poor fuel consumption and a general slow feeling let it down.

I always thought it wanted another 50 horses to make it a better car - I got a Focus RS and well well well I was right. Problem with the FRS is it has improved handling, braking and suspension so also need another 50 horse to make things more fun.

 

even though i really like the cars i have to agree with most of the negative comments above really.
i havent suffered much of the problems like some have but i know their faults. my blue one iv had from new and its cost me next to nothing in 8yrs of maintenance. 1 lambda and tyres. thats it.
the heat sheild rattles though, whats left of it. needs another lambda which is no rush.tyres have lasted 10 to 15k on front and 30k on rear so i would say somin wrong with yours ritchie. its only on 44k now so maybe down the road il suffer more problems but its never let me down yet.

i had more issues with my track one as it had 109k when i bought it but that was mainly fuel pump, bushes and track rod ends but other than that its a diamond and with it set up for the track its handling will shock almost everything on the track. but on the straights its not so shocking but still fast enough to have more fun than i would have ever imagined.

 

Mine been swell. The heat Sheild is shagged. Although I'm powdercoating the manifold and gonna some how not use the heat shield but do something else instead? ( if that makes sense?)

 

powder coat or ceramic coat?? i didnt think you could powdercoat manifold. wont it burn off?

 

only people in the know say £700+ as your meant to change the lot not do its half cocked

 

Yeah you can as the exhaust shouldn't exceed 240 degrees

 

While I agree with some of your points r.e. wear & tears - I still am happy with my ST170

2003 (52 reg) and just coming up to 145,000 miles.

 

If it were not for the terrible running costs of these cars and poor power they would have been a good car

 

Would a mtx75 and solid flywheel from a 2.0i focus work on the st170?

 

personally I think there shit

 

You're joking, right?

 

Glad you pointed this out. ( what a bellend) a n/a manifold get around 400 degrees.

 

I had one for 6 months before I got fed up with how underpowered it was, electrics were crap and would burn through wires randomly leaving me stranded on more than one occasion, fuel consumption was rubbish and insurance was high! On plus side it was a nice place to sit in and handled well but then all the focus range handles well as it has a good chassis, final straw was getting beaten by a diesel astra! Drove straight to ford and chopped in for a mk1 rs, best move ever, epic car out the box and highly tunable.

 

I had one for around 4 year, 2004 Imperial Blue with comfort pack [digi climate & xenons] . Enjoyed it. Never modified it , and never really looked after it towards the end as well as I should have to be fair

It ended up with the inlet runner control fault which made it intermitently flat , when it went , it went ok as long as you kept it from 5-7000rpm , and made a nice noise. The heat sheild cracked and started to rattle a few times , [just welded it] , slight coolant weep from the bottom of thermo housing , and all the wheels blistered and looked generally terrible quite quickly.

As previously stated , the long gearing , and heavy clutch/flywheel setup did them no favours. It was heavy on the juice , but that really doesnt bother me..... if a car needs juice , its gotta have it ....! so I just put it in when it needs it , however I did notice there wasnt much difference between the 170 & my 5 pot ST

I kinda miss it in some ways , it was very chuckable , even as standard , until I put 4 nexens on it a few months before I traded it in

All in all to awnser your question , its a yes from me. I like em.

 

I've wanted a 170 for ages , this puts me off some what ... Think ill stick to my normal 1.8 focus

 

Just like owt else .... buy the best you can ! , all motors have thier faults !

 

just bought a st170 English full spec and i like it, already it needs a clutch, heat shield is rattling and the inlet manifold are giving me problems, thermostat is leaking and got two bushes to do in the rear but its a ten year old car.
i love it, the noise the feel and chuck ability i think it could do with a few extra pony's. but for 2500euro for a 03 and all my mates have slower Hondas i am happy. you could pay a lot more for other cars the same year and they wont be near as quick...
better fuel economy then my 1.4 escort (now there's a disappointing car) so im on the up

anyone point me in the direction of improving it for track handling

 

That sounds like an idea!

 

I had a 03 st170 for about 2 years. Put a k&n induction kit on and a custom cat back and put 30mm lowering springs on. Also had to get a new set of wheels for it as the original ones were badly corroded and pitted.
The handling was awesome on it!! Probably one of the best handling cars I've had. I've got a fabia vrs now on coilovers with a RARB and I would still pit the focus against it around the bends.
The power of it was shocking though,couldn't be driven over 3000rpm due to the fuel consumption so was pretty much limited to 70. I wouldn't mind the fuel but it wasn't particularly fast, now a new shape st I could live with the poor fuel because you've got the power but this was ridiculous.
The tax was expensive for it also. The clutches are dear and I had problems with inlet manifold.
Would I buy another? No probably not due to tax and high fuel bills but do i like them? Yeah they're nice to drive if someone else is going to pay for the running of it. I think the trouble is I now have the fabia which I can tax for a year for less than I could tax the focus for 6 months. I can do 600 miles on £65 of diesel getting approx 55mpg so the st170 just seems obscene to run in comparison, I was getting 350 miles on £70 driving at 70mph whereas I can cruise at 80 easilly now. Not slating them I do genuinely like them just too costly for me for the performance.