Racing Red Focus ST (The RR ST)
Discussion
Meet my new Focus ST.
Specifically a race red focus ST 3 TDCI.
I'll admit that until a few weeks ago I didn't even realise these existed in diesel form.
I was asked about them by a friend, did some research, including a thread on here about them (thanks to everyone who input to that) and liked the responses so much I bought one myself.
My kids were out growing the rear seats on my Mini so I was in the market for a 5 door car.
I looked at a few and even had a deposit on 1 before an AA inspection highlighted some accident damage
Then.. I found a dealer with 4 cars around right age and price in stock .. however the dealer was over 2 hours drive away and I'd sold the mini... it was however only 1 hour from my parents. Mum and Dad were dispatched on Saturday to take an initial look as I was helping my friend move house, Mum is very ill and won't be with us much longer so it was great that she could be a part of this experience. Essentially Mum help chose this from a selection of 4.
There were 4 STs there: grey, white, black and red. I spoke to the dealer and said I'd buy based on condition but that red was my least favourite of the colours.
Parent check complete and I get the phone call "the red one is by far the best" oh... Red it is then.
Click mechanic inspection booked for same day, mechanic calls a few hours later and gives it the all clear, called the dealer, bank transfer done, car delivered later same day. All whilst helping a mate move house.
So here she is, a 2015 Focus ST in race red, full leather recaros, 1 owner from new who px'd it to the dealer I bought it from, full service history.
I've always had either company cars, new cars or cheap (£3k max) cars so spending over £10k was new territory for me. Spending £10k on something I hadn't even seen felt odd too.
I've been driving 25 years and this is my first ever ford
I'm planning to keep it for the long term so will be doing little bits as we go along, aim is to keep her standard but make her the best 2015 ST she can be.
Oh... And my friend tells me I've got myself a big red STD..
Initial impressions; is quicker than I expected, it handles great... Those recaros seats.... Lovely !
Specifically a race red focus ST 3 TDCI.
I'll admit that until a few weeks ago I didn't even realise these existed in diesel form.
I was asked about them by a friend, did some research, including a thread on here about them (thanks to everyone who input to that) and liked the responses so much I bought one myself.
My kids were out growing the rear seats on my Mini so I was in the market for a 5 door car.
I looked at a few and even had a deposit on 1 before an AA inspection highlighted some accident damage
Then.. I found a dealer with 4 cars around right age and price in stock .. however the dealer was over 2 hours drive away and I'd sold the mini... it was however only 1 hour from my parents. Mum and Dad were dispatched on Saturday to take an initial look as I was helping my friend move house, Mum is very ill and won't be with us much longer so it was great that she could be a part of this experience. Essentially Mum help chose this from a selection of 4.
There were 4 STs there: grey, white, black and red. I spoke to the dealer and said I'd buy based on condition but that red was my least favourite of the colours.
Parent check complete and I get the phone call "the red one is by far the best" oh... Red it is then.
Click mechanic inspection booked for same day, mechanic calls a few hours later and gives it the all clear, called the dealer, bank transfer done, car delivered later same day. All whilst helping a mate move house.
So here she is, a 2015 Focus ST in race red, full leather recaros, 1 owner from new who px'd it to the dealer I bought it from, full service history.
I've always had either company cars, new cars or cheap (£3k max) cars so spending over £10k was new territory for me. Spending £10k on something I hadn't even seen felt odd too.
I've been driving 25 years and this is my first ever ford
I'm planning to keep it for the long term so will be doing little bits as we go along, aim is to keep her standard but make her the best 2015 ST she can be.
Oh... And my friend tells me I've got myself a big red STD..
Initial impressions; is quicker than I expected, it handles great... Those recaros seats.... Lovely !
Edited by Roboticarm on Monday 7th October 19:46
Roboticarm said:
Meet my new Focus ST.
Specifically a race red focus ST 3 TDCI.
I'll admit that until a few weeks ago I didn't even realise these existed in diesel form.
I was asked about them by a friend, did some research, including a thread on here about them (thanks to everyone who input to that) and liked the responses so much I bought one myself.
My kids were out growing the rear seats on my Mini so I was in the market for a 5 door car.
I looked at a few and even had a deposit on 1 before an AA inspection highlighted some accident damage
Then.. I found a dealer with 4 cars around right age and price in stock .. however the dealer was over 2 hours drive away and I'd sold the mini... it was however only 1 hour from my parents. Mum and Dad were dispatched on Saturday to take an initial look as I was helping my friend move house, Mum is very ill and won't be with us much longer so it was great that she could be a part of this experience. Essentially Mum help chose this from a selection of 4.
There were 4 STs there: grey, white, black and red. I spoke to the dealer and said I'd buy based on condition but that red was my least favourite of the colours.
Parent check complete and I get the phone call "the red one is by far the best" oh... Red it is then.
Click mechanic inspection booked for same day, mechanic calls a few hours later and gives it the all clear, called the dealer, bank transfer done, car delivered later same day. All whilst helping a mate move house.
So here she is, a 2015 Focus ST in race red, full leather recaros, 1 owner from new who px'd it to the dealer I bought it from, full service history.
I've always had either company cars, new cars or cheap (£3k max) cars so spending over £10k was new territory for me. Spending £10k on something I hadn't even seen felt odd too.
I've been driving 25 years and this is my first ever ford
I'm planning to keep it for the long term so will be doing little bits as we go along, aim is to keep her standard but make her the best 2015 ST she can be.
Oh... And my friend tells me I've got myself a big red STD..
Initial impressions; is quicker than I expected, it handles great... Those recaros seats.... Lovely !
I really like that; great buy!Specifically a race red focus ST 3 TDCI.
I'll admit that until a few weeks ago I didn't even realise these existed in diesel form.
I was asked about them by a friend, did some research, including a thread on here about them (thanks to everyone who input to that) and liked the responses so much I bought one myself.
My kids were out growing the rear seats on my Mini so I was in the market for a 5 door car.
I looked at a few and even had a deposit on 1 before an AA inspection highlighted some accident damage
Then.. I found a dealer with 4 cars around right age and price in stock .. however the dealer was over 2 hours drive away and I'd sold the mini... it was however only 1 hour from my parents. Mum and Dad were dispatched on Saturday to take an initial look as I was helping my friend move house, Mum is very ill and won't be with us much longer so it was great that she could be a part of this experience. Essentially Mum help chose this from a selection of 4.
There were 4 STs there: grey, white, black and red. I spoke to the dealer and said I'd buy based on condition but that red was my least favourite of the colours.
Parent check complete and I get the phone call "the red one is by far the best" oh... Red it is then.
Click mechanic inspection booked for same day, mechanic calls a few hours later and gives it the all clear, called the dealer, bank transfer done, car delivered later same day. All whilst helping a mate move house.
So here she is, a 2015 Focus ST in race red, full leather recaros, 1 owner from new who px'd it to the dealer I bought it from, full service history.
I've always had either company cars, new cars or cheap (£3k max) cars so spending over £10k was new territory for me. Spending £10k on something I hadn't even seen felt odd too.
I've been driving 25 years and this is my first ever ford
I'm planning to keep it for the long term so will be doing little bits as we go along, aim is to keep her standard but make her the best 2015 ST she can be.
Oh... And my friend tells me I've got myself a big red STD..
Initial impressions; is quicker than I expected, it handles great... Those recaros seats.... Lovely !
Edited by Roboticarm on Monday 7th October 19:46
I considered one of these (in petrol albeit) as my weekend car but like you; wasn't comfy spending £10k on a car that'll spend 75% of its life sat on the drive seeing as I work from home
Yours looks superb in red!
DaveH23 said:
Looks very nice indeed. I just can't get away with ford interiors.
Is in an actual ST or ST line if it's diesel?
This has the full leather recaro interior so does feel very special inside Is in an actual ST or ST line if it's diesel?
It's an actual ST, same spec as a petrol other than the engine. St suspension, st brakes etc
St line is a trim level on the newer models and I think the diesel is a 1.5 rather than a 2.0
Edited by Roboticarm on Tuesday 8th October 08:23
I had the fortune of being able to choose my colour when I ordered a brand new one in 2017. I went for Stealth Grey as it was a bit of a trend colour at the time (started by Audi with Nardo Grey) but I think it's been overdone now and I'd probably chose red or silver if I was buying today, but you don't see many in those colours.
Stealth Grey was also a non-cost option on the ST3 (and unavailable on ST1 and ST2), so a lot of ST3s ended up in Grey. It would have been hard for me to justify one of the metallic colours (around £500 from memory) or Tangerine Scream which was about £800!
As someone said upthread, the car hasn't really dated externally at all. What a great car for £10k. The interior is the weak point as on many Fords, but it's mainly the dash plastics that let it down. The seats in the ST3 are lovely.
Nice that your mum was able to be involved in the purchase too.
Stealth Grey was also a non-cost option on the ST3 (and unavailable on ST1 and ST2), so a lot of ST3s ended up in Grey. It would have been hard for me to justify one of the metallic colours (around £500 from memory) or Tangerine Scream which was about £800!
As someone said upthread, the car hasn't really dated externally at all. What a great car for £10k. The interior is the weak point as on many Fords, but it's mainly the dash plastics that let it down. The seats in the ST3 are lovely.
Nice that your mum was able to be involved in the purchase too.
Absolute cracking looking buy that. Since reading your previous thread on this, I've been checking out Autotrader as I am getting a wee bit bored with my BMW 318d, F30. The main thing that hacks me off with the beemer is that out of the box, the suspension set up is rubbish, way too stiff. Remove the run flats and you ease through bumps, but the suspension control has gone. The Focus ST seems to be absolutely superb out of the box. Have you seen the you Tube video of the diesel ST by the guy from Paragon Cars? Well worth a view as he manages to get some amazing sideways angles on roundabouts with the TC turned off and says its a much more entertaining car than, say a Golf R. High praise indeed. Anyway I will follow your thread now, because these are calling to me! Tick all my boxes, being excellent for my once a month 520 mile round trip to the office, but also fun on the Dorset lanes near my house where my BMW goes to pieces! Nice one.
Thanks all, for anyone who's going to look for one of these here's a few things I noticed on my search;
There seems to be two types of owners those who treat it like a ST and cherish it and those who treat it like a focus. By this I mean some have been car wash cars with budget tyres etc, others have been loved as a piston head member would
Stones chip the rear of the quarter panel and remove some paint, this causes minor rust in the rear arches
Boot struts wear out, I assume standard struts struggle with extra wait of the rear spoiler
Paint on bonnet is thin, seem to suffer with stone chips
They seem to eat front tyres, evidenced by alot having tyre related advisories on MoT histories
The rubber seals inside the doors come unstuck, this seems to be a general focus issue
Also worlds most annoying fuel filler, even has instructions on inside of cap to show specific distance inside the filler to push the nozzle... First attempt resulted in fuel firing back at me
Most of all though, I noticed it looks like a hot hatch, feels like a hot hatch, has room for the family and returns 50mpg... It's ace !
There seems to be two types of owners those who treat it like a ST and cherish it and those who treat it like a focus. By this I mean some have been car wash cars with budget tyres etc, others have been loved as a piston head member would
Stones chip the rear of the quarter panel and remove some paint, this causes minor rust in the rear arches
Boot struts wear out, I assume standard struts struggle with extra wait of the rear spoiler
Paint on bonnet is thin, seem to suffer with stone chips
They seem to eat front tyres, evidenced by alot having tyre related advisories on MoT histories
The rubber seals inside the doors come unstuck, this seems to be a general focus issue
Also worlds most annoying fuel filler, even has instructions on inside of cap to show specific distance inside the filler to push the nozzle... First attempt resulted in fuel firing back at me
Most of all though, I noticed it looks like a hot hatch, feels like a hot hatch, has room for the family and returns 50mpg... It's ace !
Roboticarm said:
Thanks all, for anyone who's going to look for one of these here's a few things I noticed on my search;
There seems to be two types of owners those who treat it like a ST and cherish it and those who treat it like a focus. By this I mean some have been car wash cars with budget tyres etc, others have been loved as a piston head member would
Stones chip the rear of the quarter panel and remove some paint, this causes minor rust in the rear arches
Boot struts wear out, I assume standard struts struggle with extra wait of the rear spoiler
Paint on bonnet is thin, seem to suffer with stone chips
They seem to eat front tyres, evidenced by alot having tyre related advisories on MoT histories
The rubber seals inside the doors come unstuck, this seems to be a general focus issue
I love mine. I bought it as a cheaper replacement for the Golf R i had back in 2015 as things went sour with work. I cannot bring myself to replace it, it's been so damn reliable!There seems to be two types of owners those who treat it like a ST and cherish it and those who treat it like a focus. By this I mean some have been car wash cars with budget tyres etc, others have been loved as a piston head member would
Stones chip the rear of the quarter panel and remove some paint, this causes minor rust in the rear arches
Boot struts wear out, I assume standard struts struggle with extra wait of the rear spoiler
Paint on bonnet is thin, seem to suffer with stone chips
They seem to eat front tyres, evidenced by alot having tyre related advisories on MoT histories
The rubber seals inside the doors come unstuck, this seems to be a general focus issue
After 8 years of owning a manual petrol, and 250,000km, can confirm that everything above is correct
Boot struts replaced
Rubber seals on the doors come loose
Rear quarter window rubber perish...although not sure if that's the UAE weather? Looked into replacing but need to buy the whole glass assy.!
Tyres do seem to wear pretty well but most roads here are straight, im replacing them due to cracking rather than wear!
But maintenance wise...nothing really! Had a radiator cooling fan and control unit pack up and a termostat gasket replaced...!
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