Funny Ford Focus Commercial Tire Change
Did you know you can find a real performance bargain at your local used Ford Focus dealer? The Ford Focus came to the US in 2000 to replace the Ford Escort as the brand's smallest, cheapest car. The Escort had been introduced in 1981 as a "world car," with the idea of offering a single vehicle that could appeal to the American and European markets. In reality, the North American (or NA) Escort had precious little in common with its European cousin. While the former failed to gain much fame, the latter became a massive cult hit on the rally circuit and remains as such to this day. With NA Escort sales lagging as the new millennium dawned, Ford needed a new compact car for the North American market, and that's where the Focus came in.
Like the Escort, the Focus was first introduced in Europe (having come out a few years prior in 1998). Unlike its predecessor, the Focus managed to become a hit on both sides of the pond – particularly its high-performance variants. The first of these was introduced in 2002 and featured a high revving 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine. The SVT, as it would be known in America for its first outing, would become the ST trim from the third generation onward. The ST has been the darling of the American domestic market tuner scene as a way to get one's feet wet in the pool of small-displacement, high-horsepower, sharp-handling compacts. For those of you looking for a performance bargain, you might well try and find a used ST as a way to get a little more excitement out of your daily commute without breaking the bank.
The First Generation Focus SVT:
The ST170 was the first warmed-up (if not exactly hot) hatchback version of the Focus. While its sibling overseas was powered by a turbocharged 220 horsepower four-cylinder, the US got the version below it and made due. The American Focus SVT made 170 horsepower without a turbo and came equipped with a six-speed manual rather than the five-speed of the regular model. Overall, it was far from a bad car.
Car and Driver praised the compact hatchback's stout handling, claiming that "Its reflexes are distinctly sharper, its steering is precise, and it stops with authority. But perhaps its most remarkable dynamic trait is how well it blends its enhanced athleticism with civilized ride quality." Every aspect of the SVT Focus had been upgraded, from the suspension and the brakes to the tires and even the compression ratio of the engine itself. The Special Vehicle Team at Ford might not have had access to the European RS trim, but they turned the NA Focus into a real road fighter nonetheless, and it remains popular to this day, even fifteen years after it went out of production.
Second and Third Generations:
The second generation of the Focus in the American market, which lasted from 2008-2011, was a bit of an odd duck. The styling and mechanical components were a huge departure from the European market variant. The second-gen was not offered as a hatchback, only as a two-door or four-door sedan. (The second-generation NA Focus was the last two-door sedan ever built by Ford and remains quite rare.) It should also be noted that the second-generation Focus was not offered with any high-performance trim.
Fortunately, Ford reversed course in 2012, when the third-generation American Focus would once again share a design with the rest of the world. The model would again be offered as a hatchback as well as the standard sedan and would see the return of a high-performance trim, this time known across the board as the ST.
When Car and Driver set a 2012 Focus ST against a VW GTI of the same year, they commented, "It's quick, amusing, inexpensive, and capable of doing just about everything well, and that includes toting the average college kid's possessions to school." The praise was well deserved because the third generation Focus ST came with a six-speed manual and a turbocharged 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder, along with upgraded suspension. The car had been gone over by Ford's Special Vehicle Team, and their work showed.
The Focus line would receive a facelift in 2014, making the pre-facelift model somewhat of a rarity, having only lasted for two years. The updated ST would get a worked-over example of Ford's new 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder, the very same found in the Mustang of that generation. With well-bolstered Recaro bucket seats, revised bodywork, and flashy new paint options, it wasn't hard at all to tell a base model from an ST. And with 252 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque, the difference was even more noticeable behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, in 2016, the ST was about to be overshadowed in a huge way by two letters looming in the minds of American automotive journalists and enthusiasts alike… The RS. They had been teased with it for decades, and the ST had always played second fiddle to it. The RS was the Focus the American market never got… Until it did. The ST would quickly fall into the middle of the lineup as the RS swelled to be the only Focus most people wanted… if they wanted one at all.
Therein lay the problem, as just two years later the Focus, and all other passenger cars would be cut from Ford's lineup, never to be seen again in America. While the ST and RS offered enjoyable and practical cars for the enthusiast, the average American driver was buying SUVs, not compact hatchbacks. The Focus lives on in Europe and elsewhere around the world, but the ST would remain an all too short look at what an affordable performance hatchback from Ford might look like for us in the US.
The Legacy of the ST
The Focus ST remains a popular car in the used market for what it can offer drivers. It has all the space and practicality one would expect of a hatchback, with the fun and handling of a sports car. While the RS is the fastest, most sought-after model for most, it is quite expensive. More of the ST over its longer period on the market, and it is much easier to find as a result. While first-generation examples are getting quite thin on the ground thanks to their age, third-generation models can be found at used Ford dealers without much difficulty.
They offer a great ride and superb power dynamics while giving up little in terms of price. These are not your average economy cars – the Ford Focus ST is a stealth sports car. Unless someone knows all the engineering that went into making this little gem of a machine, it will appear to be yet another late-model compact car, blending in with everything else in the parking lot. However, when you find a desolate stretch of highway or a backroad that the rest of the world seems to have forgotten about for a few minutes, you'll know what you have. When your left foot slips off the clutch, and your right foot is buried into the accelerator, you'll know exactly the type of car you bought and what makes it so great.
Source: https://www.depaulaford.com/blog/why-the-ford-focus-st-was-a-world-beater/
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