- Well hey there guys,
look at what we got, we got ourselves a new T-shirt
for our Konig wheel giveaway, do you see it,
look at this great shot,
but look at me okay, this is more important,
we partnered with Konig wheels
to give away a free set of wheels,
all you have to do is pickup T-shirt
and then we'll also be making a donation
to the ASPCA, the description link is below,
click the link, you can take a look at the shirt,
it's pretty cool, it's also got a back,
it says drift mode on it
which is not a Ford Focus ST,
but anyway, the actual giveaway ends in the month of July,
if you're still watching this, I'm sorry,
we'll probably have another one going on,
but anyway, let's get into the video.
When it comes to the game of hot hatches,
there's only a few that are at the top
in the current day and age,
one in particular comes from the good old US boys,
that want to come in and bring a fun, trendy, affordable car
that could replace the Ford Escort's,
incredible pedigree,
what started off as a soft fuel efficient happy face,
telletuby turned into an angry angsty,
blow off valve pavid car with LEDs,
and a raked body style, and angry everything,
it's a very aggressive car,
I mean from the factory, it's pretty aggressive,
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
Alex.FI on the gram
and on this episode of So You Want,
we're talking about the Ford Focus ST.
(upbeat music)
(engine growling)
(upbeat music)
Look at it, it's an ST,
you can tell 'cause it says it on the front,
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like coil overs or airlift,
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we've over 15,000 aftermarket cars in our gallery,
and darn near perfect fitment specs,
so you can find your next setup
without having to be that one guy
that ends with two inches of poke on a ten wide
with 225 tires,
save yourself the pain, fitmentindustries.com.
The Ford Focus originally arrived in 1998
and had a weird job of trying to replace the Ford Escort,
that was no tall feat, as the Ford Escort
was one of Ford's most successful models,
beating out the Pinto in the 80s
and was actually the second best selling car
for quite some time,
so how were they gonna do it,
how were they gonna take the champion,
how were they gonna grab the old trophy
out of that little Escort's tiny little grubby hands?
Well they were gonna make them,
they were gonna make them the sugar cookie of the car world.
You see nobody doesn't like sugar cookies,
it's like always a safe bet,
how can you get a sugar cookie wrong,
it's sugar and a cookie,
like there's very little risk
to having a sugar cookie,
it's not like that crap,
where you got the chocolate chip cookies
and the chocolate chip cookies and it turns out
nobody, no aunt Diana didn't bring two plates
of chocolate chip cookies,
she ended up bringing a plate of raisin,
raisin cookies, that's disgusting,
nobody even eats those,
sugar cookies on the other hand are a safe bet,
if you guys ever want to bring a dish to past,
anything especially as we are going into July,
maybe you've got some weddings that you're going to,
forget the cards at home,
bring the sugar cookies,
the Ford Focus was gonna be that sugar cookie for Ford,
it was designed to appeal to every one, every one,
it could be a three door hatch, a four door sedan,
a five door hatch, it could be a wagon,
it could be fun or it could be flashy,
it could be young and hip
or it could be for the older generation
trying to just have good gas mileage,
Ford gave it as many options as you could possibly get
with your Ford Focus
like it had electronic stability control,
it had aluminum wheels if you wanted some sporty wheels,
because apparently that's a thing for normal consumers,
power moon roof, remote entry, personal safety system,
all of it, they had all of it,
anything you could imagine that Ford had in its lineup
at one point,
it had for the Ford Focus,
so you could have it as any possible way
that you want it to.
The first generation itself won over sixty different awards,
car of year, best family car, automobile of the year,
best small car
and like 56 other awards,
it was a pretty darn good car,
and from the first generation to the second,
you'd see the Ford Focus just getting some little updates
here or there,
because guess what, it's a sugar cookie,
you don't need to change the game,
you just need to add maybe a little bit more sugar,
a little bit few more nick nacks you could say,
they car made a stop in video games like Midnight Club,
the Sims, Need for Speed Underground
and even Grand Tourismo
because it was seen as a hot hatch
to a certain type of market,
and Ford was able to put this bad boy
just about anywhere and everywhere,
but they were laying down the frame work for the car,
that would come up with like the swoopy,
red badge in the front,
it would get rally sport,
it would get all over racing,
this was like setting up to have another tier of vehicles
finally come to the United States
because you have to remember
the Ford Focus was taken on events
like class T, SCCA, was taken on WRC,
it was even taking on the race of Morocco,
it was taken on everything,
so like I said,
it's the sugar cookie,
just like every other car in the world,
Ford was releasing fun variants of this car
in other areas,
leading up to the ST,
they didn't bring it to the stage because why
give us anything that's fun, why would they do that,
overseas Ford would be releasing cars
like the Focus RS in 2002,
the ST in 2005, the RS500
which looked like every Ford Focus you made in a video game,
if you were 20 plus years old,
and we were just kind of left high and dry
with the normal Focus until,
until finally,
launched for the 2012/2013 model year,
Ford finally came back and gave the land of the free,
home of the brave, something for us to sing that song to,
the Ford Focus ST,
now even though it didn't come with as may options
to pimp out right out of the gate,
it was at least a start,
it wasn't until 2013 that Ford really began
to deliver more options and features to the ST
that grabbed the attention
of 18 year old enthusiast everywhere,
the ST had it all,
dual exhaust of the back,
it had the rear spoiler,
it had the widened fenders, came pre smashed,
a big old beefy honey cone grill,
angsty headlights, and if you got the right package,
a pretty decent interior,
it was a pretty decent launch,
two for the tribute, 252 geeses, two liter turbo,
high pressure direct injection,
variable hand timing and I feel at least they made feel
like it looked.
When it hit the market, it hit it hard,
it (slaps hands together) cool kids say it,
can you guess it, multiple choice question,
just kidding, it's slapped,
here's a hot hatch, just enough horse power
that can make front wheel drive fun, yet responsible,
a car that was angry,
but could still carry your friends in the back
to the nearest Taco Bell for a five buck box,
it was solid,
even though the initial years for a Ford Focus ST
had some various issues,
with the hood rusting,
had some vibration noises going on with it,
sometimes the door seals didn't have the right,
that would rust, the trunk would rust,
there would be some ceiling issues,
it still held up for the most part,
pretty okay for enthusiast like you
and enthusiast like me, the Ford Focus ST hit the market
just damn near perfect,
it came with Recaro seats if you'd got the right package,
you had manual gearbox, gauges,
you had a lot of aggressive styling,
so now, you might be wondering,
why was it so popular,
you know, I mean you had the Volkswagen,
why don't get the Volkswagen,
why don't you just get the Subru, there's a Subru,
let me explain, let me explain this to you, okay,
coming closer, right on this perspirating face
because this garage has absolutely no air conditioning,
remember sleeping in your finance classes in College,
I bet you don't because I probably was doing it too,
that's why the Focus ST slapped
when it hit the market,
Ford's incentive financing program put the ST
and other models in the perfect range
for nearly anyone,
they had the zero percent, they had the rebates,
and they had all the dab rebate deals
without any of the fuss,
meaning that you can get into a Ford Focus,
or even the ST trim package,
for relatively very little cost,
and something that VW and other competitors weren't doing
at the time with their same competitor models,
they've got these cars in almost everyone's hands,
the more you know.
Over the years, the Focus continued to get improved styling
for the car,
we saw 2015 styling update with a little crazier design
for the enthusiast, more noise insulation
because apparently that was a problem,
and suspension retuning, and some of the goodies
to add just a little bit more sugar, to the sugar cookie,
the Ford Focus ST came in three trim levels,
you had that ST one,
you just, if you were looking for that ST
without any of the goodies,
just never let anybody ride in your car
and get the ST one,
the ST two was like that middle ground
like it had the Recaro mixy boy seats
where some of it was leather and some of it wasn't,
then you had the ST three,
which was like the banging one,
that one had the full Recaro leather seats,
it had the nice interior, it had the radio
that was very nice,
and everything was just very well done,
the ST two was like halfway
then the ST one was like,
if you want the ST with nothing on the inside good sir,
it's yours,
if you're looking to pick up which one you wanted,
it really came down to
how much are willing to save some cash,
because the ST one was actually and is very easy
to jump into,
while the ST two and the ST three have a tendency
to hold their value just a wee bit more,
because they have a couple more goodies
on the inside,
but let me be clear, it is still a Ford,
so the ST one package is going to have a Ford interior
at an entry level price point,
so if you're looking to have something that looks good
and feels good on the inside,
you're probably gonna wanna save a couple more pennies.
But we're not here to talk history,
we're here to talk about you wanting one,
so you want a Ford Focus ST,
well buckle up there bud and let's dive into it.
The Focus ST is platform that was initially taken up
by enthusiast and just ran with,
every state had some sort of ST club
and immediately the cobb access port angels cry
as two became to get released for this specific platform.
You'd begin to see these things get used
for pretty much everything, and everywhere,
you had the daily driving,
you had the autocross, you had the car shows,
you had the stance boys,
everything in between, however,
do I feel bad for if you bought one these
when they were first launched
because if you're watching this now
and you're looking to buy one,
you're are in a hot, you are in a good,
you're in a good old spot there bud,
because if you're outside of that,
if you bought it when it first released,
I feel bad for Dakota,
because they moment released,
the prices really just diminished extremely fast,
overproduction and of course the release of the RS
actually crippled resale value
and the ST platform is still feeling it
year over year.
If you're looking to jump into one,
be mindful that these may not really be worth
a whole heck of a lot coming in a few years,
because they were still a mass produced
entry level performance sport compact
hot hatched car.
Also, because of Ford deciding to be different,
and having a five by 108 bolt pad,
it means that you are limited in wheel choices,
compared to the plenty of other platforms,
that carry that five by 114 point three,
even though a lot of wheel manufacturers
have a tendency to prefer the German enthusiast,
the five by 108 doesn't really leave you with a whole lot,
it keeps you in the NK 1552 market,
unless you want to pay the big dollars
and get yourself some multi piece wheels.
You'll see STs on everything from Otsus to Needos,
depending on the person,
you'll need to get over the fact
that it is front wheel drive,
which means that you'll be battle cork steer,
slappy steering and some other negativos
when you begin modifying the car
passed it stock platform.
The 250ish bench mark for the horsepower
when it came out of the gate was right about
where a lot of people felt comfortable
with the car,
and of course nobody likes
keeping anything stock around here,
so you have to pay attention to the fact
that as you add more power, it is going to the front wheels,
not the back one,
and you have to understand that everyone assumes
that your just about to terrorize the neighborhood
when they see you because your focus has a red badge on it,
apparently that's just a thing
that seems to happen,
now their loud match this,
there kind of like I guess our T4s,
the seats can get uncomfortable
if you're you know, if you're aventi versus a sample size,
if you're a little bit bigger guy,
because the seats just don't give,
especially if you get the Recaro seats,
the car is kind of like a computer,
it requires updates which if you don't do,
you can send your infotainment system into a frenzy
and it will just refuse to work,
there's an electrical gremlin
that will cause the car to stall,
and sometimes just misbehave entirely,
something that was an extremely common occurrence
in the 2014 STs as well as other years,
but these are almost all things that come
from an entry level, hot hatch performance guy.
Am I telling everyone to get over it?
No.
The Focus ST is truly a dynamic
and extremely well received car,
get over the depreciation and the fact that
there's a few recalls out there,
and you'll find yourself that you have a fun daily
that is close to its competitors,
they are modifiable, they look good, they perform
and guess what, it's a Ford, so it's gonna be
like a okay car,
you don't have to worry about things getting super crazy
on them because it's still a Ford.
However a lot of people that end up buying Focuses
then they go drive a Fiesta ST
and then they just go back and they buy a Fiesta
because the Focus was apparently
not as fun as the Fiesta,
Fiesta guys are a whole different breed though,
so what do you think about the ST,
why don't you drop a comment 1 to 10
telling us what you think
and also don't forget to drop a comment
on what you'll like us to cover next,
if you're looking for wheels tires and suspension,
you know you gotta go to FitmentIndustries.com
right, you know that,
because we only say it 9,000 times,
and if you prefer to get your name in
for winning a free set of wheels,
because you have an addiction to a shirt collection,
check out the link below and pick up
on the Konig T-shirts,
every purchase also helps us to make a donation
to the ASPCA, arms of angel,
I'm not singing it this time,
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
we hope you guys enjoyed this video,
we will see you later, peace.
(upbeat music)