2016 Ford Fiesta ST2
Discussion
In my 11 years of driving, I’ve owned getting on for 60 personal cars, but only about 3 of them have been Ford’s. That has changed in the last week...
Looking at my history of cars, it’s pretty obvious I like hot hatches. Easy to park, relatively cheap to run, and provide you with most of the excitement of a sports car, but something you can put your family in as well. I’ve owned Jap, German, British, and even Italian hot hatches, but never a Fast Ford..
After my BMW 130i and R53 Mini Cooper S recently departed, (owing largely due to high tax and massive insurance increases due to a move to Manchester), I realised my trusty Audi A4 Avant wasn’t really needed either. My partner has the family car, and we rarely ventured out in mine anyway. This gave me an excuse to stick the Audi up for sale as well, and look for another hot hatch.
Armed with a £6500 budget, I needed something which met a few requirements;
•Sub 10 years old
•Reasonable on fuel *at least 35mpg average
•Not too uncompromising on comfort
•Cheap to insure
•Enough extras to make the daily drive bearable
•Decent reputation for reliability
•Low owner/ FSH/ HPI clear
I quickly realised that the 2 cars which seemed to fit the bill was the MK7 Ford Fiesta ST & MK4 RenaultSport Clio EDC. If I’m honest, I favoured the looks of the Clio and liked the idea of an auto hot hatch, it seemed the more mature choice for someone approaching 29. But, I never got round to trying one. I had a strict budget, Clio’s are quite hard to find at that money, they were all miles away, and I really didn’t want the MK3 as they feel too dated now.
I also really wanted a Liquid yellow Clio over the other colours, and it was at a massive premium which I felt brought it close to MK7 Golf GTI money (which I feel is a progressive step for when I’m ready to move on anyway). As you can probably tell, the Clio was out.
Looking at my history of cars, it’s pretty obvious I like hot hatches. Easy to park, relatively cheap to run, and provide you with most of the excitement of a sports car, but something you can put your family in as well. I’ve owned Jap, German, British, and even Italian hot hatches, but never a Fast Ford..
After my BMW 130i and R53 Mini Cooper S recently departed, (owing largely due to high tax and massive insurance increases due to a move to Manchester), I realised my trusty Audi A4 Avant wasn’t really needed either. My partner has the family car, and we rarely ventured out in mine anyway. This gave me an excuse to stick the Audi up for sale as well, and look for another hot hatch.
Armed with a £6500 budget, I needed something which met a few requirements;
•Sub 10 years old
•Reasonable on fuel *at least 35mpg average
•Not too uncompromising on comfort
•Cheap to insure
•Enough extras to make the daily drive bearable
•Decent reputation for reliability
•Low owner/ FSH/ HPI clear
I quickly realised that the 2 cars which seemed to fit the bill was the MK7 Ford Fiesta ST & MK4 RenaultSport Clio EDC. If I’m honest, I favoured the looks of the Clio and liked the idea of an auto hot hatch, it seemed the more mature choice for someone approaching 29. But, I never got round to trying one. I had a strict budget, Clio’s are quite hard to find at that money, they were all miles away, and I really didn’t want the MK3 as they feel too dated now.
I also really wanted a Liquid yellow Clio over the other colours, and it was at a massive premium which I felt brought it close to MK7 Golf GTI money (which I feel is a progressive step for when I’m ready to move on anyway). As you can probably tell, the Clio was out.
So I got to work looking for my new hot hatch. I quickly found 2 I liked. Both 2016 models- one with slightly more miles, well specced, completely standard and the same owner since 2016, and the other with a few tasteful mods, less miles but lower spec and a few more owners.
The latter had sold by the time I had messaged to arrange a viewing, so I contacted the other seller and after a brief exchange, went down to see it..
I broke my number 1 rule by buying the first one you see, as after an hour or so of looking over it, doing my checks and test driving it, I was driving it home. However, a week on and 500 fun miles later, my gamble seems to be paying off…
The latter had sold by the time I had messaged to arrange a viewing, so I contacted the other seller and after a brief exchange, went down to see it..
I broke my number 1 rule by buying the first one you see, as after an hour or so of looking over it, doing my checks and test driving it, I was driving it home. However, a week on and 500 fun miles later, my gamble seems to be paying off…
Here it is! A March 2016 registered Fiesta ST2. An ex Ford demonstrator, and the same owner from late 2016, an old boy who had taken it to Ford for every service. Exactly the type of owner you’d want for something like this.
I paid £6000 and drove away. It’s on higher than average miles at 109k, but the condition is generally excellent, and it’s clearly had good runs each year which can only be good news for the engine.
Being the ST2 it has the likes of factory privacy glass and keyless entry (more to that later), over the standard ST, but it has also been optioned with cruise control, and sat nav as well. It’s terribly out of date and the Sony stereo is beyond stupid, but they are only minor gripes.
I think you've got a good one! The ST2 has enough creature comforts in my opinion (slightly biased being the owner of a 2013 example for the last 5 years). At times I think about having cruise control retro fitted (all you need is the steering wheel trim and someone to activate it on the car) but apart from that I can give parking sensors and folding mirrors a miss.
As others have said I recommend a disklok minimum (small size fits) and this is the main downside to these cars. Apart from that they are just great fun, simple to work on for general repairs and inexpensive too
As others have said I recommend a disklok minimum (small size fits) and this is the main downside to these cars. Apart from that they are just great fun, simple to work on for general repairs and inexpensive too
Cheers guys! I was well aware of the security issues with these, and planned ahead.
A disklok went on straight away, and the car was booked in a few days after purchase for a Cat 2 immobilizer, boot alarm & tracker. For any ST owners in the north west looking to secure their car, give Shawn’s Auto Electrical & Security in Warrington a look, he did the full package for just £399, an absolute bargain! The issues with theft is so prolific now, a lot of insurers won’t even cover an ST for theft unless it has at least a Cat 2 immobilizer!
A disklok went on straight away, and the car was booked in a few days after purchase for a Cat 2 immobilizer, boot alarm & tracker. For any ST owners in the north west looking to secure their car, give Shawn’s Auto Electrical & Security in Warrington a look, he did the full package for just £399, an absolute bargain! The issues with theft is so prolific now, a lot of insurers won’t even cover an ST for theft unless it has at least a Cat 2 immobilizer!
Referring back to my initial criteria and needing something decent on fuel, I have to say I’m quite impressed with the ST’s fuel economy. I’m currently averaging 39 mpg, and I have by no means a light foot. It’s probably 60% motorway, 20% local & 20% rural, and the boosty nature of the engine does encourage you to have a bit of fun on the twisties! I do have some minor plans further down the line for the car, so would expect that to decrease a little, but overall for the performance on offer, I really can’t complain at all!
Over the weekend I took it for a blast to the Peak District in Derbyshire, via the A57 Snake Pass. This 13 mile road was always a favourite of mine from my biker days, and the last time I came down here was in my old NC MX5 last year.
It was definitely a bit different feeling the front end doing its thing on tight hairpins instead of the rear kicking out as per the MX5, but I have to say for a standard car the handling is really well sorted. The difference between the MX5’s 2.0 naturally aspirated engine and the ST’s torquey 1.6 turbo on the uphill sections and coming out of corners really is night and day. It’s an interesting comparison as well, given the ST’s MK6 predecessor essentially used the exact same engine as the Mazda…
I pulled over and got a few pictures at Chapel-en-le-Frith
It was definitely a bit different feeling the front end doing its thing on tight hairpins instead of the rear kicking out as per the MX5, but I have to say for a standard car the handling is really well sorted. The difference between the MX5’s 2.0 naturally aspirated engine and the ST’s torquey 1.6 turbo on the uphill sections and coming out of corners really is night and day. It’s an interesting comparison as well, given the ST’s MK6 predecessor essentially used the exact same engine as the Mazda…
I pulled over and got a few pictures at Chapel-en-le-Frith
Dan_Cart_94 said:
Over the weekend I took it for a blast to the Peak District in Derbyshire, via the A57 Snake Pass. This 13 mile road was always a favourite of mine from my biker days, and the last time I came down here was in my old NC MX5 last year.
It was definitely a bit different feeling the front end doing its thing on tight hairpins instead of the rear kicking out as per the MX5, but I have to say for a standard car the handling is really well sorted. The difference between the MX5’s 2.0 naturally aspirated engine and the ST’s torquey 1.6 turbo on the uphill sections and coming out of corners really is night and day. It’s an interesting comparison as well, given the ST’s MK6 predecessor essentially used the exact same engine as the Mazda…
Similar experience for me, in my case coming from an NC BBR Super 200 to a JCW Mini. Very different handling but the torque makes it a very different driving experience, certainly feels like it accelerates with a lot more urgency, and obviously FWD handling is very different, but still very fun nonetheless. Hairpins will always be more fun in a RWD but they're not exactly commonplace at least on my routes.It was definitely a bit different feeling the front end doing its thing on tight hairpins instead of the rear kicking out as per the MX5, but I have to say for a standard car the handling is really well sorted. The difference between the MX5’s 2.0 naturally aspirated engine and the ST’s torquey 1.6 turbo on the uphill sections and coming out of corners really is night and day. It’s an interesting comparison as well, given the ST’s MK6 predecessor essentially used the exact same engine as the Mazda…
Love my modified one, will get something else next year but will keep it as I think I would really regret selling it.
Good move on getting the security covered, nothing is infallible but the Viper seems to be the gold standard, you can disable the boot lock so access cant be gained that way and also disable the OBD port.
Best mod for the least money is a short shift, £30 off eBay, fantastic.
Good move on getting the security covered, nothing is infallible but the Viper seems to be the gold standard, you can disable the boot lock so access cant be gained that way and also disable the OBD port.
Best mod for the least money is a short shift, £30 off eBay, fantastic.
Haven’t updated this in a while, life got in the way as it does.
Following the first (and arguably most important) mod which entailed keeping it on my drive, I moved onto the exciting bits.
ITG intake and Crossover was sourced. The crossover was fairly local in Preston, but the intake was right up in the lakes. From my EP3/ MX5 days, traveling best part of 100 miles to buy a cheaper part (then once fuel was factored in barely cheaper than buying new) was something I was used to, it’s all part of the fun for me. Me and the missus both had a free day so we made a day out of it. Some great views and roads along the way
Following the first (and arguably most important) mod which entailed keeping it on my drive, I moved onto the exciting bits.
ITG intake and Crossover was sourced. The crossover was fairly local in Preston, but the intake was right up in the lakes. From my EP3/ MX5 days, traveling best part of 100 miles to buy a cheaper part (then once fuel was factored in barely cheaper than buying new) was something I was used to, it’s all part of the fun for me. Me and the missus both had a free day so we made a day out of it. Some great views and roads along the way
To say the ITG made a difference was an understatement! Considerably more intake noise now, sounds great under load (for a turbo 4 pot anyway) with a lovely “whoosh” when you let off the throttle. Perhaps a little ASBO for some, but on longer runs it’s not too intrusive. Completely drowns out the sound symposer too which is a plus from me. Only downsides is decreased economy as it encourages you to plant your foot that bit more 😂
Shortly afterwards I found this Milltek catback (same person who was selling the crossover!) for £250. Annoyingly it was missing a clamp, and one of the hangers was broken but that was quickly TIG welded back on. Hard to tell in the second photo but it is significantly more noticeable than stock. Nice diameter and it sticks out further. A part of me wishes it was resonated though as it loves to drone on longer journeys
Around this time (late November) I decided to take advantage of the Black Friday deals and found a local place (GM Tyres & Autocare) who was a dealer for Laird Performance software. He had also built an ST swapped transit courier (fiesta underpinnings) and seemed to be something of a specialist for the platform.
As I couldn’t really justify the extra costs for stage 2, I opted for a stage 1 road tune with the supporting hardware and an engine health check. Based on typical results the car should be making in the realms of 230bhp now.
It really was a transformation! The standard car wasn’t slow, but it definitely felt like it had more to offer. This feels pretty much how it should’ve come from the factory. Nice smooth power delivery but a really healthy shove, not too much for the standard chassis to cope with and no noticeable effects on fuel consumption during normal driving which is always a plus 👍
The engine health check came back well too, nice compression readings across the board, which was reassuring given it was a higher mileage example.
As I couldn’t really justify the extra costs for stage 2, I opted for a stage 1 road tune with the supporting hardware and an engine health check. Based on typical results the car should be making in the realms of 230bhp now.
It really was a transformation! The standard car wasn’t slow, but it definitely felt like it had more to offer. This feels pretty much how it should’ve come from the factory. Nice smooth power delivery but a really healthy shove, not too much for the standard chassis to cope with and no noticeable effects on fuel consumption during normal driving which is always a plus 👍
The engine health check came back well too, nice compression readings across the board, which was reassuring given it was a higher mileage example.
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