Can a Focus ST Diesel bridge the gap between performance and economy? I take one for a spin to find out! Thanks to TC Harrison Ford Peterborough for lending me the vehicle, there website can be accessed here; www.tch.co.uk
Best review of the diesel st3 on RU-vid! It's nice to see someone giving the diesel version some love, it don't half get some stick on the st forums but I love mine.
I bought a 2016 Focus ST-3 diesel last month and I absolutely love it! Watched this review about 10 times before I decided to go ahead and get the diesel version, same spec as the car in the review but I have it in deep impact blue. Love it!
I had a mk 3.5 st3 petrol in tangerine scream before my rs. Your review has made me miss it. So comfortable and and very quick especially after the remap. It ate front tyres like you predicted. It had more kit than my rs, heated seats. Illuminated sill plates etc. I wish my rs rode as well as it did. It honestly felt nearly as quick, once the front wheels stopped spinning and dug in. Really miss the tangerine scream paint to. But I also love the nitrous blue. In my biased opinion they are the nicest to signature colours of any car brand. Was always a dream of mine to own an rs and now I have one. Excellent review by the way
Car Focused I have a st3 diesel fast enough for me great car plenty of pull and that torque something else all round top car great review honest as well
I have a 2015 ST diesel and I love it £20 a year road tax and cheap to insure . I only get an average of 40 mpg I always de activate the auto stop start as I feel it no good for the engine. My car came with the 19 inch wheels ,now changed to 18s due to tram tracking and the stupid difference in recommended tyre pressures for them. 11psi difference when loaded! To anyone on the fence between petrol or diesel st I'd say this, yes we lose out on performance on the 5% spirited law breaking foot to the floor driving but petrol lose out on the economy for the other 95% of the time.
Another great review. I had an ST3 mk3 when they first appeared on the scene in 2012. Although mine was a petrol, I would agree with your comments as the chassis and general setup was the same. The facelift version that you were driving is an improvement on the earlier cars and now looks pretty sharp even compared to newer models by other manufacturers.
just bought a 2016 Focus ST Diesel, which was an ex demo car for a ford dealership, in deep impact blue. The fuel economy, performance and sheer driving pleasure it delivers is just fantastic. Though for a daily driver the 18" wheels would probably be a much better option. this car have exceeded my expectations by far for it's price range, always puts a smile on my face when i get into it and drive it, and for me that is priceless.
I bought mine second hand, was used as a dealer demo car for 1 year, so hopefully the worst depreciation is over, though i would hardly regret buying it brand new either, knowing it will depreciate harshly :)
This was really good mate. I’ve got the petrol version and honestly fuel economy isn’t great, everything else is perfect and my Dad absolutely loves my car, although he’s after a diesel. I’ll have to show him this and maybe he will get one too!
Had mine 6 months, you pretty much hit the nail on the head with this review. I do 22k miles a year but wanted something I could enjoy driving and well-specced. It ticks all the boxes for me! Makes no sense whatsoever unless you're doing big miles though. I'm sure the petrol is a more fun drive overall. It's refreshing though that even after owning a mk2 ST and an RS, you still found enjoyment in driving the diesel ST. Cheers
I’m getting one this week! Lovely cars, sporty looks, sporty handling, looks fantastic and great fuel economy! We currently have a Kia Sorento as a daily driver and the fuel economy is shocking!
Good review again mate looking forward to the review of the petrol st you should do a comparison video of the fiesta and focus st to see what you think. My personal opinion is the focus slightly better as it's the better all round car more comfort and more modern where the fiesta is the sharper of the two keep up the good work
had a mk2 but hated the fuel consumption (otherwise great car). Driven a small 1.6 mk3 focus which was nippy (slow but i like the diesel torque). What doesnt get mentioned is the driveability, the low down torque is nice where you have to rev petrols a lot more. Tough choice, but I think i would test drive both :)
Got the same car 135 top speed had more than that out of mine certainly a pretty quick car for diesel that torque is superb can’t fault mine just a pity the new shape doesn’t come close for lucks all round great car
I have an st3 diesel estate and it’s great apart from hard to control. Feels like it crabs under accelerating. It’s going in for first service on Thursday and has been in to ford twice already and they can’t fault it but definitely does not feel right. Have done 12500 in 6 months
Great vid as always not a bad little motor m8 I like your comment might get my wife to get one !! I guess so you can use it from time to time to have a break from the rs hard ride lol
Im picking up a 16 plate diesel st on Thursday, I test drove it and wow, knew this was one, cant wait, 1 thing that does worry me is repair Bill's, like turbo going. I wont be remapping mine as it's more than adequate for overtaking idiots doing 40 in a 60!
Mike h you will love it I have a race red certainly doesn’t hang around if you put you foot down if you put cruise control on at 60 mph you will get 60 plus mpg superb car enjoy
Nice review, I've decided on buying a used one in Jan, purely based on the tax. It's such a bad system now, where there's zero incentive to buy new, when you can save £100 on tax buying one from before March 31st.
Great review !!! Glad to finally see a good review of the diesel st, being a owner it gets annoying having such few videos!! Like you mentioned it's annoying how they run out of steam after 4K rpm, also mines a 16 plate and tax is £30 a year
andrew taylor look in to a Bluefin m8 I've got one for my diesel st3 and it pulls like a train, takes it to 221 hp and 490 Nm of torque and the best bit you can take the remap off yourself when putting the car in for a service.
Chris W I had to change insurer as the insurer I was with didn't offer cover for it being remapped and who I went to was £100 a year dearer, no biggie in my eyes for peace of mind.
good reveiw again gary, like this diesel ST looks good......IM INTERESTED....we have decided to sell our house and move... :( which will mean selling my Focus RS... which i have had for 5 months now , only just over 2k miles...got a couple months left with RS , going to ford fest santo pod with it....my RS and our Black and Red edtion fiesta will be sold to make way for 1 share car....this ST diesel looks a good choice.....will not like telling people you have a STD ...lol..
yes gutted a bit, but thats life, still have a couple of months to injoy the RS.....as they say: better to have had than not to have had at all...ST diesel sounds a good trade off.......unsure about diesel v petrol......... i like the videos best of you just driving and chilling in the RS and just talking about RS stuff.....basic but good.... have a great day catch u again simon
just to add about the ST diesel , whats your thoughts on the colour tangerine screem(yellow /orange) lol....basic reviews are best its from the heart.....i like it normal guy and a working mans outlook.......perfect comment c u
Another great video 👍🏼 Bit of a weirded question but can you recommend something to clean chrome exhaust tips. I remember from when you had your fiesta ST you kept them clean but can't remember what you used.
I've found that just using a sponge and car shampoo weekly to clean exhaust tips saves you going to town on having to use expensive products and compounds.
i come from the future the new ford focus st petrol- 280bhp focus st diesel- 190bhp note the petrol one is available with an all new 7 speed dct transmission also has 310lb ft !
They have a Chevy cruze diesel in USA . Wish we had this focus for sale here . The focus we do have is not near as good as the German made one you have .
Great review, really enjoyed it. Do you know someone who works at the dealer who is willing to give you interesting cars to play with for the day? My brother works at my local dealership ( of which I am a loyal customer ) and he has had the chance of the odd wee shot of a Mustang or Focus RS for an hour or so but I couldn't see them lending me one for the day. In all fairness I have never had the balls to ask and most of the videos I have made are pretty dire with a couple of exceptions. Keep up the good work.
Flash HD, Gordon Shedden fan? I wouldn't say I was bored of making the videos. The filming is the easy bit but the uploading and editing is really time consuming and I have a lot of other stuff going on in my life recently which has taken priority. I have made a few decent videos ( considering the basic equipment I am using ) and a few videos which I will admit even I think are a bit shite so I would prefer to wait and make fewer decent videos instead of lots of shit ones. The other annoying thing about putting yourself out there on RU-vid are the hatters, the people who obviously get a kick out of leaving nasty and sometimes hurtful comments on a video that you have spent hours and hours working on despite how shit it is. I know I should just ignore them but I find it difficult. I will probably make more in the future when I have more content of interest and the time to do it. I have a few ideas so watch this space.
Better space in the rear, those huge Recaro's are nice to sit in but really limit rear space. Getting late 50's on the motorway. TBH i would have taken either lol
I love mine, i do 25k + KM per Year and i wanted an economic and fun Car. Design is amazing and has allot potential, for example the Golf GTD is so boring .
Have you driven the MK3 ST petrol? I need to know what they are both like to drive and a comparison would be great! Great review man, keep them coming!
Car Focused aww man I've just been looking at mountune upgrades and I bet they are an epic addition! How could you possibly turn it down! I'll wait eagerly for the notification then man! Great work!
i have a 2016 st2 Diesel , and i can confirm as standard it does over 141mph (Track Day) but yeah there amazing i still feal they could of had more hp out the factory 0-60 could be a bit quicker
Car Focused even Yeah due to medical condition have to been an Auto looking at upgrading nexst from a 1.6 Fiesta I'm torn Between the diesel St or a seat leon fr 1.8 petrol think the St looks more special.
I have had my 2017 ST3 just over a year now. Great diesel. but un beknown to me it had been mapped already by previous owner and has 211bhp... fast. Love driving it, but this thing about £20 V.E.D is NOT true, I am paying now £145. Is that true with everyone else too?
I realise that nobody sane ever paid list price for a Ford, but ouch, that's a lot of money when you consider the Focus RS was £30k on launch, before Brexit exchange rate issues started. I suspect this car will depreciate like a stone too, so keep an eye out for ex-company and PCP hire/rental ones in 18 months or so. You can get (for example, other models are obviously out there ) a 2016 Audi S3 300ps quattro for £25k now, which leaves £3k for petrol, which at 30mpg would give you 45,000 miles of motoring before the diesel is more economical.
Birmingham racing i bought an st diesel a month ago and test drove gtd and leon fr tbh i prefer the st interior and drive but gtd looks soooo nice but as a driving experience and not just to look at i preferred the st 🖒🖒
