the door sills get too [][][][][][]g dirty waaaay to quick ( white car = dirty door sills in one session of rain driving.

 

It isn't rwd.

 

What does rwd have to do with it?

 

With all the interior lights as well as the ambient lighting, Ford couldn't find time to put a light in the glovebox.

 

Turning radius and e-diff vs LSD.

 

Thats what I figured too. Surprised no one said about the fuel capacity. I really would have thought that ford would have offered a bbk & diff option aka track pac option by now.

 

Just under a month in mine: turning radius is like a wallowing bison, and going back to dual mass after type 1 exedy in my old ZX3 2.3L has been a bit underwhelming... but it sure is fancy other than that

 

I like the d/m for easier shifting & its easy on the trans too.

 

yikes i was tired last night. stage 1 that is... and yes it got a bit tiring in heavy stop & go, but i liked the instant grab & launch. still breaking in the ST... don't even have a nice picture of it yet... we'll see how i feel about it in a few more months. Definitely surprised about the gas mileage being so low. but i've got a lot of hills and stops, not as much highway in my commute. trying to find out if the ST Octane Academy is still a thing... maybe that will deepen my bond with the new baby....

 

https://stoctaneacademy.com/registration

Yes the Octane Academy is still a thing, and there are numerous slots available for this year's courses still.

It's a great event and it's worth whatever it costs to get there.

You don't use your car on their track though if that's something that worries you. You get to use and abuse their track ready cars instead.

 

The only things I don't like about my FoST are the fuel tank size, the shifter placement, and how numb it is to drive. Most won't complain about the last two, but I'm composing to the FiST...

As for the tank size, I go about two-gallons worth further in the FiST due to the mileage difference. This is something I think they have no choice but to address in the FoRS.

 

Where are they going to fit a physically larger tank now that there will be a drive shaft and rear drive unit on the car?

It sounds like they may have changed the rear floor pan slightly to eliminate the spare tire well for the rear differential, but although the european tank holds a greater volume than the U.S. tank it does not appear physically larger underneath the car.

It is possible that the U.S. required evaporative emissions equipment and some baffles are constricting the fuel capacity, but in that case how will the RS regain any fuel capacity while still needing to meet those requirements for our market?

If it does not gain any capacity though the range would be even worse than the ST easily.

I didn't like the clutch feel and shifter on the Fiesta as much as on the ST, especially compared to the ford racing short throw, but even stock I like the Focus' feel better, but that may be partially due to greater familiarity with it.

The range is a bit of an issue on longer trips as I could go easily over 300 miles and closer to 400 with the naturally aspirated Focus 2.0L GDI but even at the best of times struggle to get close to 400 miles of range out of the ST (which works out to around 32 mpg which is the highway rating for the Focus ST).

 

My concern is more of in-town driving as I don't really see the RS being a highway commuter for the majority. They may not change it and the 2.3 may yield better economy, but only time will tell. All I know is that if range isn't addressed and is worse than the ST it's definitely going to suck for many owners. It's been a pretty significant gripe about the FoST since its inception.

I think the FiST shifter would be a bit better if it was raised 1". Once you've driven both for a while the FoST feels more 'un-natural' imho. Obviously that's going to be different based on the individual, but I think if every ST owner owned both models that the majority would agree.

Clutch feel is indeed radically different as well. The FiST is almost non-existent which, due to the disparity of miles I've driven in the two, consequently leads to me stalling the FoST more than I would care to admit. All of the pedals are pretty numb in the FoST by comparison.

The FoST is a great car and I'm not putting it down by any means, I just kind of ruined my overall experience with it by buying the FiST. On paper I should like the FoST more because it does nearly everything better than the FiST, but I still reach for the FiST keys every time I 'want to drive' and grab the FoST keys when it 'needs to be driven'.

#personalopinion

 

I'm just over 2 months into ownership and here are my 2 major dislikes.

1- the so called "upgraded" stereo and that damn screen that goes along with it. What a total waste of space in the dash. [rant] [thumbd][thumbd]

2- Small gas tank! Why didn't we get the bigger Euro-tank? I'm getting roughly the same mpg as I did in the SVT but I can't go as far. [?|] I'm seriously considering installing an aux fuel cell in the spare tire well. All I want is another 3 or 4 gallons.

 

Thats what I thought also when I looked at the fuel capacity. Look at the scubbie's tank size= wow.

 

So this is what I've come up with on the Euro vs the US spec tanks.

This is our problem, the evap canister...

Here in the US the EPA has decided we need to filter more of those evil gas fumes from getting into the atmosphere so our canister is larger. For it to fit on top of the tank our tank need to be smaller. Since this damn thing is tied into the emission codes we can't do a canister delete like I've done on all my bikes. We are stuck with it. I'm sure the Euro tank also has an evap canister too but who knows if you could swap both into ours. Their emission coding is probably different too. At this point it looks like the only way to get more gas on board is with a aux fuel cell.

You can fit a lot of extra gas in the tire well depending on how you do it. My initial calculation shows that if you had a custom cell made to fit the well it would hold ~ 15g. With that you lose your spare. Now if you go with the mini-spare from a Volvo you can still get ~ 5.5g. Both of those are calculated from using a round cell which is going to cost a lot more than a rectangular one.

On getting the gas from the cell to the main tank. My initial thought is to just run a line from the cell and tap into the main tank fill pipe. This way you avoid messing with the main tank. You just drive along until your low fuel light comes on, hit a switch to turn on the pump and refill as you go down the road. As long as you cell capacity is less than the main tank there is no danger of overfilling. Also if you figure out how long it takes to pump down the cell you can use a programmable relay to shut off the pump. This way you don't have to worry about remembering to turn off the pump. I used this method on my Can Am Spyder and it worked very nicely.

I will be looking into this more.

I now release this thread back to it's original topic...

 

You can fit a lot of extra gas in the tire well depending on how you do it. My initial calculation shows that if you had a custom cell made to fit the well it would hold ~ 15g. With that you lose your spare. Now if you go with the mini-spare from a Volvo you can still get ~ 5.5g. Both of those are calculated from using a round cell which is going to cost a lot more than a rectangular one.

I suspect few here are old enough to remember all the flack about the Pinto being a fire trap due to its fuel tank in the rear end blowing up in accidents.

What you are describing sounds to me like it would have the same problem.

 

Awesome input^^^^^ I'd like to see what the difference in the 2 different evap's are. I'd say its worth doing for 2-3 gallons more.

 

My car rattles like a mother[][][][]er in several places, especially on moderately rough roads. It drives me crazy! I'm hoping the dealership will fix it under warranty.

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

My '05 foci has a few trim panel rattles at different times, its coming from the pass side A pillar, door panel or the mirror cover on the door panel & sometimes the adjustable seat belt adjuster on the B pillar. Then other times it doesn't rattle at all. I need to get a rider or driver to figure it out.

 

what I now don't like is the gear ratios for 5th and 6th , they seem too low for "highway gears".... in 6th at 130km/h (70ish mph) the car is up at 3 grand, the reason I don't like this is b/c when driving in the city the car tells me to shift at around 1800-2000 when Im cruising slowly and after the shift the car is cruising at 1200 ish. why does it want you to cruise at such a low rpm yet the high gears make it impossible to keep the rpm down on the highway. i have an 89 mustang with lower gears in the rear diff and i would die for a 6th gear, and in the ST i would die for a 7th gear. RANT complete.

 

Just cause the shift light comes on you don't have to shift. What gears are in your 8.8 & what size tires are you running? I've had 3.08's in mine.

 

No heated windshield option. 2nd is HID option on ST2.

 

The HID option I understand but the heated windshield....not many cars have that as an option so I would think that's alot to ask of a fairly limited sports car, no?

 

I have seen it on OPEL imports of Cadillac and Buick.

 

So I just got my car back from the dealership after leaving it there for 3 days. I described the rattles very carefully, where they were located, and how to reproduce them. I got calls first saying they couldn't reproduce it. Then the service guy told me that because it's a sporty car that rattling noises are normal, essentially saying that they weren't going to fix it. As soon as I picked up the car, all 3 rattling noises were as present as ever. At least they didn't charge anything for not fixing my problems.

My plan right now is to drown out the rattling. I have wanted to put in a Green filter anyway to get some better engine sound. If that isn't enough I may get a catback as well. I figured that would be a fun way to solve the problem.

 

So I just got my car back from the dealership after leaving it there for 3 days. I described the rattles very carefully, where they were located, and how to reproduce them. I got calls first saying they couldn't reproduce it. Then the service guy told me that because it's a sporty car that rattling noises are normal, essentially saying that they weren't going to fix it. As soon as I picked up the car, all 3 rattling noises were as present as ever. At least they didn't charge anything for not fixing my problems.
>>>Did you have it written up to fix those or figure out where they are? If so & they just threw out a CNV= can not verify, ford doesn't like to see that, when you do a customer survey for that dealer.
My plan right now is to drown out the rattling. I have wanted to put in a Green filter anyway to get some better engine sound. If that isn't enough I may get a catback as well. I figured that would be a fun way to solve the problem.

Thats BS the writer is giving you. Go hit up another dealer.
Rattles= I have a couple, & their coming from the passenger side, so I need to have someone drive or ride to figure out where they are. Mine are either the A-pillar or B-pillar & not all the time.

 

^^^ now that's putting a positive spring on it! [thumb]

 

For those of us who are required to have them I really can't stand the stupid front license plate location.

WTF were they thinking? [?|]

 

http://www.focusst.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9555

 

[headbang]

.......................

 

My mustang has a 16 gallon tank. It should have been 20. 16 gallons for a V8 is just silly.

 

That goes back to the '79 models^^^^^^ IIRC it was 15=15.4 gals.

 

The fact that I have to buy winter tires to accommodate Ohio winter conditions. I knew this before purchasing but it kinda sucks.

 

As you know it is a performance car, so the summer tires are for max performance.

 

What kind of average range are you guys getting?

 

I get around 250 miles or so to a tank.

 

You guys need more than 1 Foci. Then you can have one for range and 1 for notsomuch range. [twothumbs]

 

you guys need more than 1 foci. Then you can have one for range and 1 for notsomuch range. [twothumbs]

lol^^^^^^^^^^^

 

My wife reports she is getting 26MPG in the ST. Mostly all hiway miles.

 

If I'm on the highway/interstate, my mileage is actually in the high-20's to mid-30's in the FoST. Both cars actually get about the same all-highway mileage, the FoST just takes a larger hit in trying to move off of the light.