{"id":5142,"date":"2013-05-29T21:25:52","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T03:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5142"},"modified":"2013-05-30T19:26:01","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T01:26:01","slug":"worth-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=5142","title":{"rendered":"Worth Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"



Shopping for a small car recently, I had the surprising pleasure to drive Ford’s new “hot hatch”, the 2013 Focus ST<\/a>. Astonishing, swift, fun, explosive, svelte and a tremendous value – my thoughts while driving the 6-speed manual ST. Ford has certainly come a long way from generic, boring cars.

My pre-purchase checklist:
Pro ST: <\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. Value: roughly $23K for the base model\n
  2. Subtle: the black ST is quite elegant and understated – the opposite of some of the brighter options.\n
  3. Loads of torque\n
  4. Impressive hatch storage space (I would trade this for more headroom)\n
  5. Base model is available without the microsoft bits known as “MyFord Touch<\/a>“\n
  6. Five door hatchback is a great, flexible car.\n
  7. Fuel economy: 23\/32; 26 combined mpg. Impressive.\n
  8. Assembled in Michigan<\/a>.\n
  9. Middleton Ford’s<\/a> (Keith Norris) customer service was quite good. They kept in touch regularly via email, answering questions and offering several different configuration options. Madison’s long time Ford dealer – Kayser<\/a> – was fine in person but non-existent on subsequent inquiries.<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Con ST: <\/p>\n

    \n
      \n
    1. Heated seats can only be had on the most expensive model, known as the ST3. One must accept the microsoft\/MyFord Touch bits along with leather Recaro seats and other goodies. I prefer simplicity all around.\n
    2. Interior room: at about 6’2″, I was somewhat cramped in the ST’s front seats. The back seats were serviceable, but not terribly comfortable. Headroom is limited.\n
    3. 6 speed manual only, no DCT<\/a> (DSG<\/a>). I have long enjoyed three pedal cars, but after driving the latest GTI DSG<\/a>, I am a convert\u2026.<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      Several ST reviews:
      Georg Kacher<\/a>
      Top Gear<\/a>
      Wired<\/a>
      Focus ST Forum<\/a>
      duckduckgo.com search<\/a>
      UK’s       CAR magazine<\/a>
      Twitter Search<\/a> #FocusST<\/a>
      TX Garage<\/a>
      Peter DeLorenzo<\/a>

      Ford<\/a> is to be commended for creating, shipping and supporting the Focus ST. I would have owned one but for the tight interior and lack of a DCT<\/a> transmission option. Heated seats at an affordable price would be a plus in the base model as well.

      Marketing Notes:<\/p>\n

      \n
        \n
      1. App Store: GTI 35 Edition iOS Game<\/a> I did not find a Focus ST app.\n
      2. Brand www sites: Focus ST<\/a> GTI<\/a>\n
      3. Cars.com inventory (5.30.2013): Focus ST (2189)<\/a> GTI (4004)<\/a><\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

        Next, why I chose a GTI<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Shopping for a small car recently, I had the surprising pleasure to drive Ford’s new “hot hatch”, the 2013 Focus ST. Astonishing, swift, fun, explosive, svelte and a tremendous value – my thoughts while driving the 6-speed manual ST. Ford has certainly come a long way from generic, boring cars.My pre-purchase checklist:Pro ST: Value: roughly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5142"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5142"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5163,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5142\/revisions\/5163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}