Focus Fanatics Forum banner

Looking for a little advice. First time buyer looking at an ST

5K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  6769MOPARS 
#1 ·
Hey guys, Just found the boards here, and I've been reading a lot and learned a lot in the last few days. Was hoping I could get a little advice, because I'm about to pull the trigger, and don't want to get taken for a ride on my first new car purchase.

I've done some research, and I know what I want. The nearest dealer to me has an ST2 on the lot, with an MSRP price of 28,570. I've looked on Carsdirect.com, and it said the "target price" for the ST2 with the same options is 27,793.

I have excellent credit, and am able to get a loan through my credit union with no problems.

The car they have on the lot at the dealer near me has a moon roof, which I'm not super crazy about, so if the right price doesn't come along, I'd have no problem walking away. But knowing this, would it be feasible to have an ST ordered to the exact specs I want? I know most people put orders in months ago and are still waiting on them. Is this even a realistic option at this point in the game?

Unfortunately it's tough to get reliable pricing opinions online because the ST is so new to the market, and it seems like most of the people on here that are buying them are getting them with employee discounts that I am not eligible for.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm just looking for a bit of good info before I get fed to the sharks!

Thanks everyone!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
yes the dealership can order the car, they make not like it but they can. Also it's not too late in the game to order.

I'd approach is this way though. Walk in look at the ST etc and after awhile say I'll purchase at that price minus the sunroof. If you can't do that, then please order a new ST without a sunroof.

They can still order.
 
#3 ·
You can always order a car from a dealer. Advantages are getting exactly what you want; disadvantages are having to wait.

Also, Ford has allocations for popular models, to make sure one dealer doesn't grab them all, and get them to the places that actually sell. I doubt you'd run into this with a Focus, but it's possible. Maybe the ST, right now, since it's just starting to be produced.

Dealers usually prefer to sell stock they already have in inventory, if for no other reason than they've borrowed money to stock it and they're paying interest. So you might have to twist their arm to place the order.

The reason most people that ordered their Focus ST months ago are still waiting is that Ford is just now (Oct 1) beginning to produce the ST3 variant (the 202A options package). There's a backlog of preorders from before the car was in production at all that they have to work through.

Even under good conditions, 8 weeks is not an unreasonable time to expect to wait if you order a car.

It's good that you can walk away. The ability to just say no is your best negotiating tool with the dealer.

I'm not a moonroof fan either, and I've seen exactly zero of the initial round of ST2s come out without a moonroof. Guess that's just what Ford chose to build in the first wave.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the advice it actually helped me a lot. I was able to place an order on an ST 2.

They had 2 in stock, and tangerine scream one (which there was no way I was buying) and the performance blue one that I came for. Unfortunately the blue one came from the factory with a broken second gear so they were replacing the transmission and I wasn't able to yes drive that one. I test drove the tangerine one and fell in love. Definitely knew I wanted the car at tha point. When we got back to the office he tried to offer me $33k. Which I laughed at. Told him I didn't want to buy a broken car with options that I didn't want to pay for at an unreasonable price. Argued for half an hour and ordered a white St2 with no sunroof for the price I wanted!

In 6-8 weeks I'll be one happy camper!

Thanks again guys!
 
#9 ·
That's what I figured but I was almost hoping since sometimes you can get special options with Ford products I could get a two tone with red paint. The black is just too boring for me. Hopefully Ford will offer red on red like my SVT currently is. Until then, I think I'm going to hold off and see if that's a late 2013 or 2014 option
 
#11 ·
Every one of the initial ST2s I saw had the nav (along with the moonroof), though they're both optional, and unrelated as far as packages go. Moonroof is a standalone option; the nav is bundled with stereo/MFT upgrades.

Why do you say this is the last car in which you'll have nav?

I've tried driving using my smartphone as nav, and I'd much rather have a big screen mounted in the dash. Much as I like Google Maps, it's not a replacement. At the least, you need a spot to mount the smartphone / dedicated GPS on the dash where you can see it, it won't slide around. Hands-free operation is a bonus.

Also, I like a dedicated nav system for having a local copy of maps. Google eventually let you pre-download information about places you intended to go, but the smartphone is pretty crippled without an active, quality, data connection. That's not always available, and you don't want nav to depend on it. The flip side is having a decent -- and inexpensive -- way to update that local cache.

The SD card heads in the right idea. Now the car just needs to hop on the WiFi and download free updates while I'm asleep :)
 
#12 ·
I say this is the last car with Nav, because I found that it's cumbersome getting it to understand me and by the time it's figured out where I am going I can use my phone set it down and read well in advance where I am going. I also prefer to plan my routes ahead of time so I can focus on driving.

Would have preferred to have 360* sweeping gauges vs an 8inch LCD that eventually will fail. Lastly, it's been a little weird at times especially at startup. Sometimes the Microsoftisms come out in having to wait for it as it loads or if you do too many things at once it gets confused.

Nav is a nice feature but not a necessary feature.
 
#13 ·
I see what you mean. I'd certainly agree nav is nice, but not necessary. This will be my first car with one built in, though I've driven a number of rentals with add-on units.

I also like planning the trip in the advance, which is why the Google/Mapquest download to the car nav seems like an interesting feature. I'd always wind up with a page (or two, or several) of directions, which itself is a problem to refer to, especially at night.

I like having the distance to the next interesting event -- kick back for half an hour, or it that next turn coming up in three minutes? Navs I've had in rentals can be more or less good about this; sometimes they have too many trigger points for every road that merges with the freeway.

But I should stop hijacking the advice thread; we can take up nav debates in the tech forum.
 
#14 ·
I'm planning to buy a Focus ST as well.. I already decided to go for the ST3 option.. and im planning to give a down payment of 20%.. Also I know I have a good credit but I don't understand how dealers proceed to finance the 80% left. Do I have to talk to a bank? they do it automatically? What is the process? I don't want to go to the dealer and know nothing. Thanks
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top