Upstaging Rivals

Author
Discussion

nmlowe

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

274 months

Tuesday 30th April 2002
quotequote all
Did anyone see the Focus ST170 Review on 5th gear?
Why does ford launch a car obviously aimed at the Civic Type-R buyer, but give it less power and charge more money for it?
I know the RS is due in a bit, but why couldn't they crank 200BHP out of the ST170? Put it on a level playing field from day one.
It's hardly going to sell well if it's slower and dearer than the Civic, and both cars are aimed at the same target market??.

CarZee

13,382 posts

274 months

Tuesday 30th April 2002
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It does seem like a dumb move - I don't think there's anything new under 18k I'd rather have than a CT-R..

I guess the sucoF will appeal to the Ford faithful and presumably it'll be rather cheaper to insure than the CT-R...

It's also more likely to make it onto the fleet lists I'd imagine.. ?

adeewuff

567 posts

277 months

Tuesday 30th April 2002
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The Focus ST170 is aimed at being rather more of a sporty cruiser than an all out hot hatch. This might appeal to fleet managers more and maybe an older customer compared to the CTR.

I'm sure it's a very good car and all, it's supposed to handle and grip better than the Civic, but IMHO it looks a tad dull. Time will tell and I'd be interested to go head to head with one on the track.

GregE240

10,857 posts

274 months

Tuesday 30th April 2002
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quote:

The Focus ST170 is aimed at being rather more of a sporty cruiser than an all out hot hatch. This might appeal to fleet managers more and maybe an older customer compared to the CTR.



Good point...I wonder what the difference will be in insurance groups ? I thought it was a bit bland too....looks like they tried to make a CTR beater, failed, then decided to dress it up as "...it's more of a cruiser". What utter cobblers.

gnomesmith

2,458 posts

283 months

Tuesday 30th April 2002
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Might pick up the McRae wannabees that the Civic would make no impression on. It will probably win sales through the halo effect created by the 220 bhp RS we are promised.

It really does need to be cheaper than the Civic though.

PS. As an old bugger who refuses to grow up it doesn't appeal to me, perhaps it will appeal to a younger driver.

>> Edited by gnomesmith on Tuesday 30th April 22:50

mattjbatch

1,502 posts

278 months

Wednesday 1st May 2002
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The focus has been out for years now and they are only just bringing out a sporty version. Dumbasses. They should have brought it out much sooner to whet our appetites for the RS. By the time they've done a Cossie I'll be old enough to insure one!

anonymous-user

61 months

Wednesday 1st May 2002
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didnt know about the focus rs but found this

www.fasterfords.co.uk/focusrs.htm

i rather like it.

Spiderman

60 posts

275 months

Wednesday 1st May 2002
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Typical bloody Ford.Would have been a winnner if they had got it out well before the CTR,about 2 years ago but as ever they are playing catch up.Remember the XR3.It took them years to come out with that after VW invented the Golf GTi.Then it only became the XR3i only after everyone else had upped the stakes with more powerful cars!History repeats itself again.We`ll probably have a revised CTR with 250bhp for less than 20k before we get the RS.Shame too because I ran a 2.o litre Ghia Focus for 2 years and you just knew that with some suspension mods and (a lot)more power it would be graet fun.

nmlowe

Original Poster:

1,666 posts

274 months

Wednesday 1st May 2002
quotequote all
It's actually possible to buy a turbo conversion for the 1.8i 16v version, which was available pretty much from when the focus was introduced. Just shows that there was demand for a hotter version from the start.