Uskomatonta mutta totta. Täällä hehkutetaan Fordia, ja vielä ilmeisesti etuvetoisia moista.
Mitkäs tuon performance / hintaspeksit on kun niin monella io-tekkiläisellä on touhutippa alushousuissa moisen pikkuauton takia.
(Älkää ymmärtäkö väärin; ainoa auto jonka koskaan olen uutena ostanut oli juuri pieni sporttinen Fordi - tosin kroonisesti alitehoinen sellainen)...
About 1200kg, 200hp/290nm, 1.5l 3cyl, LSD, drive modes that actually do something, active exhaust, nopein ohjaus mitä Ford on ikinä käyttänyt...
Alla pieni arvostelu minkä kirjoitin autosta:
It is now time for Ford to finally release the long awaited new 2018 Fiesta ST to the consumers. It has been long wait to get a full new model to come and replace the already quite old last generation Fiesta ST that was all known for being a real working class hero like all good fast Fords have been. Now lets see how well they have they succeeded on this totally new ST.
I got a great opportunity to test drive the new ST when Laakkonen Herttoniemi messaged me that they have a demo car and would I like to drive the car so of course I jumped to the chance to drive one this early as a consumer so special thanks to Laakkonen Herttoniemi. The car they have is a 5door Fiesta ST with Performance Pack in beautiful new Performance Blue color and a few extras but nothing over the top. There has been some confusion about the color of the car as the color name Performance blue has many shades. It used to be quite a dark blue metallic color that is now changed to a lighter shade of metallic blue but the name has been left the same to add to the confusion. The car itself is nothing too special to look and it does not make your heart race when you see one but it is a good basic hatchback and that is about it. One of the few stand out features on the outside are the optional full led headlights up front that make the car look more modern and add a fresh look to the car.
Now into the basic specs of the car. Car itself is like any other Fiesta so lets not go into detail about the facts that the car shares with its lesser siblings but concentrate on the ST´s special features. The new car and its engine has been changed to a 1.5litre 3-cylinder turbocharged engine both developed by Ford performance. The same guys that designed that very capable 4wd Focus RS. Engine is a really big talking point among Ford enthusiasts. Its now missing a cylinder and it has cylinder deactivation from 3-cylinders to 2-cylinders that makes it really “eco friendly” in an effort to safe fuel and cut down emissions. People are afraid that the engine is not going to be a fitting to an ST model of any kind. Engine produces 197hp@6000rpm and 290nm@1600-4000rpm torque pulling the ~1200kg front-wheel drive car from 0-100km/h in 6.7seconds and with the optional Performance Pack it drops to 6.5seconds and top speed is respectable 232km/h. It is certainly a 3-cylinder engine and by design it has the specific 3-cylinder sound to it and when the cylinder deactivation kicks in the sound bouncing of from the cars on your side makes it sound really funny not in a bad way as you can clearly tell it is running on two cylinders. One other thing about 3-cylinder engines is the heavy flywheel that causes revs to hang a bit. It is certainly the case in here but it is not so big problem as the engine revs freely and feels like a proper performance engine. Engine has a bit of turbo lag down low making it feel a bit like 80´s or 90´s turbo cars as when the turbo kicks in it really does kick in. It even has a nice little blow off noise when you lift your foot of the accelerator to let you know it is something special. On the upper rev range you do not notice the lag. Power wise it has nice torque down low but the lag makes it a bit harder to use fast and the engine does not die but it feels like it lets off just a tiny bit of at the top of the rev range but it really likes to rev and the noise just makes you want to hit that high rev range. Best noise in any stock Fiesta ST by far. I know it has some engine noise coming from the speakers but its really not a system that annoys me. It one of the better systems that does not sound unnatural or out of place. This car is also first car in Fords lineup since the original Focus RS early 2000´s that you can also order with a proper mechanical Quaife limited slip differential from the factory. One thing has not changed, how Ford sees hot hatches, 6-speed manual is your only transmission choice and no automatic in sight. Another big thing is the fact that you can order the car in 3door or 5door variants from the day one.
Getting into the car is a familiar yet new feeling. This is my first time driving a 5door Fiesta ST. It feels more cramped to get into the car but it also makes using the car much easier as you can actually get into the back seats and I am really happy that Ford decided to make both models available. Feeling the car out before starting reveals a much more grown up and more premium feeling car than its earlier model. I will start by saying that seats are hard and tight but don´t let that fool you. Even a not so thin and and a really tall not so thin person can fit in them comfortably. Biggest gripe is for people like me with longer legs as all your weight sits your bum and then it might pinch you like some other reviewers have suggested. All together me and my much bigger and taller friend and every other person who sat in the seats said that the seats feel better and are more comfortable and better supportive than the last generation Fiesta ST or facelifted Focus ST seats. Best part for me was the headrest that was not tilted as far forward as the last models headrest so you do not have a constant strain in your neck if you have to drive with your seat quite upright like I do. Materials feel good, stitching is good, alcantara or alcantara like material in the center of the seats feels nice and premium and the seats themself look and feel to be a big upgrade compared to the last ones. Lower back support is also much better because of the adjustable support. Steering wheels feels good and thick in hand, leather not as cheap feeling as last generation Fiesta ST but not as nice feeling as last gen facelifted Focus ST as the leather feels a bit dry in hand. One thing I noticed had changed from the last generation Fiesta ST, the armrest is actually usable this time. This time around it is high and not too far back so I can actually have my elbow resting on it. I do not like the new button layout in the steering wheel but I think you will get used to it fast as everything else is simple an logically placed and easy to use and find. On the other hand one thing I really like is how the cruise control in on the left side of the steering wheel unlike the older Fiesta that needed you to always lift your hand from gear lever or lap and set it and then put your hand back where it was. This time you just have one hand on the steering wheel and it is set. All in all everything feels more quality than last generation Fiesta and buttons and controls have nicer more premium feel to them. One special mention that is not an ST only feature is the automatic climate control. It now has three settings that let you set the maximum fan speed of the automatic climate control. You don´t get the full blown hurricane in your face if the car is hot if you don´t want to. You can just set it to blow low or medium and enjoy the car or set it to full blast to get rid of frost in the winter. Biggest let down in the interior must be the door cards that are hard plastic even when the top of the dash is made from some kind of softer plastic. This is not ST specific as even Fiesta Vignale, the luxury Fiesta has the same hard plastics. The car itself is roomy and unlike the last generation Fiesta the rear seats actually feel usable even for adults. And if you want even more roomy feeling order the car with Panoramic glass roof that actually for once is a proper glass roof with opening sunroof in the front and glass roof in the back. Boot is ok for the size and the only worthy thing to mention is the fact that the in some countries optional Bang&Olufsen sound systems subwoofer will take the space of the spare tire so if you will have your car with the sound system you do not have room for any kind of spare tire in the boot.
Starting up the car is familiar but still a bit different. FIrst thing you notice starting up is the weird sounding idle even if the car itself feels familiar. The 3-cylinder engine has its own rumble and in many cases it does sound a bit like a boxer engine. Now of to drive the car, first thing you notice is that everything happens fast. Steering and other control feel? - Steering is fast and fast reacting, actually everything is fast reacting in the Fiesta. Steering, clutch and brakes react the instant you touch them. Everything needs a delicate touch so you do not overdo everything. The car needs a complete recalibration of your driving style after driving normal cars for a while. Steering is just two turns from lock to lock but is doesnt feel frantic or oversensitive, you just need to get used to it and it starts to feel natural. We did not get to drive it through any fast flowing roads so we did not get to test out the steering feel properly but so far in low speed driving in the city and low speed driving on some tighter b-roads it feels good. Another good thing is the brakes, they really stop the car fast. You touch the pedal lightly and you suddenly find yourself hanging against the seatbelts and car coming to a halt much faster than you anticipated. It needs a bit of a recalibration of your feet but you will get used to it quite quickly like people did with the last generation Fiesta ST. Gearshift is slick and tight. Not as notchy as I prefer but that is just my personal opinion. Shift action is not too long and could actually be even shorter if I could have it my way. But it is still nice and sporty enough. Clutch grabs from a quite a low point but its progressive so it does not need much use to get to the same wavelength with the shifter or the clutch. The new ST also has first time ever different driving modes that change the steering feel, exhaust note and how the car responses when agitated. Because we had limited time with the car, we did not have a chance to check the different modes in a closed area so we had to limit our testing mostly to the exhaust side of things. Push the mode button to sport or track mode and you really hear how the noise changes to a louder growl. I was a bit sceptical on how a 3-cylinder engine will sound in a sportier car but after hearing the ST I actually really like the exhaust especially in sport mode. It is not overly loud but you certainly know and hear its there. I went inside to get some gear with the car sitting outside at idle in sport mode and you could hear the car clearly in the background even with some traffic around the house so its loud but not obnoxious. And when you rev it in neutral it backfires so hard the whole car shakes when it goes off. The car also backfires when driven hard but it is not overdone and tiring but rather subdued and it does not bang away all the time like some other sporty cars. It does it when you want to but if you want it quiet you can have your quiet time. We did get a few slides out of the car in sport mode on gravel just by turning into a corner with steady throttle applied and it feels like a any current model Fiesta so in short it is fun. The car does not hang the tail out in a wide arc like the last ST, but the car rather revolves around the driver making it quite nice but different feeling car to drive fast.
Now lets talk about the Performance Pack. A feature that everybody is talking about. Basically it is a mechanical Quaife limited slip differential, darker diamond cut 18” wheels instead of 17” silver wheels with painted red brake calipers and a tiny blinking shift light that is actually completely useless to make it an option pack. It costs a bit but the short answer is, get it. Even if it might sting your wallet when buying it I am quite certain that you are happy when it comes to selling the car later as I am quite certain that cars without it are much harder to sell than the cars that do have it and best of all, you get to enjoy it the whole time you own the car. It just works like it should. Either when accelerating out from the corner or doing a full launch it does what it promises. Less grip you have more fun you will have. Drive the car into a tight 90degree bend in 1st gear and punch the accelerator and the differential and car just pull you into the inside of the corner rather than washing wide. This should have been a factory option for all the last generation ST models. The shift light is a complete joke, it is a tiny orange ST logo blinking in the gauge cluster when it is time to change gear but I actually completely missed it at first and had to especially look out for it to notice it. I do not understand why they even bother to add such a thing as Ford assume you can drive a car, rev match the gears as the car does not have rev matching and to be able to handle a slide as the car lets you have small slides even with electronic stability control fully on but they still assume you do not know when to change gear at the right time. The only time I saw the light was coming out of a slow corner at full throttle and being surprised how fast the car just pulled itself out without any drama.
Onto the suspension and chassis control that was last generation ST´s best and worst part, even after they changed the suspension to be softer in all Fiesta ST´s built at the same time as ST200 model was built. It was epic fun to drive, but it was as hard as a slidin down the rocky hillside on you ass. I had one with pre ST200 suspension and my passengers complained about back pains after sitting in the rear after driving over any bumps. This time Ford has done extra work to be able to have a fun car but still live with it. They have rear suspension that adapts to bumps better without losing body control and it does show. I felt that the suspension was in between last generation Fiesta ST pre ST200 suspension changes and third generation facelifted Focus ST. It is not as crashy as the last ST was, but it certainly is busier than a Focus ST over the same roads, potholes, bumps and speed humps. That might also have something to do about the fact that the car weighs less than the Focus. Rear suspension was still harsher than front but this time driving over the same speed bumps that I drove over with my old Fiesta ST the persons in the back did not complain like in my old ST. One of the worst things about the old Fiesta ST was its turning circle. It felt like driving a full size lorry inside a supermarket garage. This time Ford has managed to make it a lot better. At least thats how it felt. We did not do any specific testing on this but it certainly felt a lot nimbler in parking than my current daily driver 2017 Focus ST.
Continuing to the options list. In some countries you have a few options as a base model. One is the prices start model that has most of the options needed but it does not have the nicer half leather half alcantara or alcantara like cloth seats, led lights and couple of things you can´t even get with money to it. The other one is more of premium model that has almost everything as stock. Options you have to pay are things like the led headlights, panoramic roof, B&O sound system, Performance pack, heated steering wheel, heated windshield, door guards that pop out when you open the doors so you don´t ding your doors against other cars by accident and a few bits and pieces. I strongly suggest ticking most of the options if you just have the money. For example the panoramic roof is really good thing to have as the ST has black roof liner that makes the car much darker and makes it feel smaller and the sunroof brings in the much needed light into the inside of the car. B&O sound system is actually quite good even for my audiophile ears and easily worth the extra money. Door guards are a thing I feel should come as stock with every Ford because only the people who actually care about their car get the most benefit from them as other cars without them can still hit their doors against your car and damage it. Other must have options depends on where you live and what you do with your car. Up here in Finland heated steering wheel and heated windshield are so nice and once you have had a car with them you don´t want another car without them. All in all any way you spec the car it is probably going to cost you more than the last model ST but in the end it is also a much more premium and better equipped product so I feel the grown cost is justified.
Overall after driving it around on mixed surfaces and roads for a while I feel It feels faster than last generation Mountune MP215 Fiesta ST, everything happens really instantly, everything is also really tight. Limited slip differential does really make a huge difference. Overall it is a more premium and better built car but its still feels like a Fiesta ST should and its hard to miss it being an ST model. It is also more grown up inside without losing its special ST feel and its better built than the old model. Everything you touch except the door cards which are nicer than the last model but not as nice they should be, are more solid and pleasant feeling and the only rattle I heard was from the drive side door card but I did not remember to check if it had anything in the door pocket rattling around. In the end it is still a car that makes you smile, a car that whispers into your ear “Drive me faster, thrash me more!” and wants you to be a total douche and you have to really hard try to behave nicely but on top of the old models good parts its much nicer place to be and easier to live with. In the end I actually ended up ordering one with almost all the options to replace my current 2017 Ford Focus ST 5door.
Sama juttu Ferrarinkin uusien mallien kanssa, joita olen muutamia päässyt jopa ajamaankin, kiitos Luxury Car Collectionin asiakaspäivät. F12 TdF on uusista Fefeistä about anoa joka säväyttää.
) $50-60k. Ja tuo on minusta sopiva hinta noille, ei yhtään enempää. C5 onkin sitten sellainen kasa muovien räminää ettei mitään, siis yhtään mitään rajaa 
