"New XR3"

Back end looks way overstyled to me. Plus, its blighted by the fact the new Focus is so dog ugly anyway.

Probly goes alright though - for a Ford.

So what we have here is a Volvo T5 engine in a medium sized hatch that possibly weighs a lot less.

Coupled with the reputably good handling of the Focus, it should be quite a good car (once you get over the Mk2 Astra GTE looks - all it needs is those plastic vents on the rear quaterlights)

Saw one of the new "Faupax" on the motorway today. Just a normal cooking one. Looks like someone shoved an arline up the arse end of a Corsa, stood back and said "Niiiiiiiiiiice, how much can we sell it for?"

And chip it to 260bhp obviously.

Minimum! How tuneable are engines from stock these days? The best recent one I've heard of is the one in the MINI Cooper S.

What about ones like the old Cossie YBs and the Turbo'd Lampredis like in my Lancia? Capable of 300bhp+ without breaking a sweat, on standard internals

Volvo's are always chippable to good amounts on stock internals aren't they, and one assumes its the same 5cyl engine that makes 270bhp in some Volvo's. May need a bigger turbo for those sorts of power though i suppose.

Couldn't agree more about the appearance of the thing - I can't stand the look of the new Focus. But it was a bloody good idea to put a 5-pot Volvo turbo'd engine in it though - does make it a cut above, just a little bit.

Peter

Agreed, the new Focus is an ugly, ugly car. But I don't know why! It just seems to have several qualities which blend into overall uglyness...

Aye - don't think it's *the* T5 engine though. T5s are around 230-240-ish bhp, and this is only 217bhp. Volvo did other 5-pot turbo engines, like the

Now, a T5 in a Focus (which presumably is pretty much identical in size to the other Turbo I5s), chipped, would be an awesome car. Even if it would be pig ugly.

Peter

Peter

Paging Nom..........

Draw us a little diagram that points out exactly why the new Focus is ugly, a bit like the one you did for the CLK:

Peter

Except its not because its not a 2.4 in the Focus. Although i notice it doesn't actually say anywhere in that report that its a 2.0 now i read it.

Saw it at Goodwood (possibly the same one, as it was the awful color). Looked pretty good in the flesh

F*ck that, I'll just get myself a scrapped 5cyl Coupe Turbo and a Bravo HGT.

Reckon that's do-able for well under £5k. Which'll be £15k less than the Focus.

I had a feeling you might say something along those lines. :-)

My point was, relative to a lot of the modern blandness Ford chuck out these days, it's not a bad effort by any stretch.

Peter

kinda got used to the new fiesta and some guy up in the accounts office has an ST fiesta, kinda like it's white paint and stripe at the bottom with ST on it as well as over bollocks like sport and ford ect. not quite as fast as my MR2 turbo but the bastard always seems to have birds from accounts in it at lunch! mind you it is basildon where i work so an ST ford is probably a posh car :)

still i got the nice looking bird from marketing who tags along with me at lunch time. she wasn't bothered by cars but she loves the turbo kick from my MR2. she screamed the first time she went in it going to the pub on a friday as she wasn't expecting the turbo kick :) hehe

What do you mean "not quite as fast"... Surely a Merde Turbo whould annhililate a Fiesta ST into the ground ?

looks crap.. the previous Focus had nicer styling.. same situation with the new Golf over the previous one.. both previous designs had been fairly inspirational but they've run dry this time round.

well i was trying to be kind, all i could see was a white spec so 'not quite as fast' was me not bragging to much about wasting a ST fiesta