ford focus st 2.5 or seat leon cupra 240

[aaron-rs197]

considering getting a 5 door focus st 2nd gen around the 2008/2009 sort of age for my next car if i cant find a decent enough 5 door meg 225. anyone had any experience with these? are they reliable? any thing to look for when viewing... i may look into some mods which i dont normally do.. i like to enjoy my cars how they were designed to straight from the factory but i've heard these 5 cylinder turbo motors at full chat and they sound tasty with a nice exhaust, induction kit and bigger intercooler/turbo etc. pumaspeed seem to do some reasonable upgrade packages.

any comments welcome.

thanks.

 

[Jimmy]

I've not had any ownership experience of an ST, but I did have a good look at them before I bought the Clio.

From what I've read, the main two common faults/potential problems are cracked cylinder liners (this can affect low mileage, standard cars or ones that have been modded i.e. more boost) and also the oil filter housing can corrode. Also MPG is pretty terrible, but then it is a 2.5t....

But the general view was that they are cracking cars to own and drive, they sound awesome even when standard, and they have very good potential for tuning.

There's loads of good info on the Ford forums and Pistonheads etc.

 

[Paddy_R]

I owned on for 4 years, great cars and pretty trouble free.

The cylinder lining thing mentioned above only affects a small number of cars made in early 2007 I believe and has been overhyped like so many things. Oil filter housings can fail, mine did, but it's an easy fix costing around £150 in total. One thing to bear in mind is that if moding the car the standard clutch is only really good for around 250-260 bhp and will lstart to slip on boost, again a problem I had but I was running nearer 300 in the end. An uprated clutch (I went for a RS one is around £700 plus fitting). Fuel economy wise again people trot out the myth that it will only do 20mpg. In the 4 years I had mine it averaged 31mpg, I get 33 from the Clio for comparison.

Look out for rust on the rear arches, at the back where it meets the bumper. It's a known issue and is caused by the rear bumper rubbing the arch and damaging the paint.

 

[rs1903]

Brothers got a 2008 ST-3 in red.

It really is a cracking car,so nice to drive and the noise it makes is superb,even in standard form.

He's owned it for 18 months or so and not had any issues. as said above check the back arches, he looked at a few, maybe 6 or so, before he found one that either didn't have rusty arches,or had badly repaired arches. Think he gets roughly 30-31mpg on average.

 

[chris1888-197]

Hi mate i work for ford as a technician and the focus st are pretty good, one thing to watch for is abs/esp light faults as they can be pretty costly to fix. Sound great too.

 

[aaron-rs197]

also thinking of a 2007 seat leon cupra 240 (2.0 TFSI).. anyone know much about these?

 

[Chrisgti6]

I have the same engine as the Focus in my car. I'm currently at about 300bhp and 370lb-ft of torque and the std clutch is holding up fine. Yes, MPG is terrible around town (20-25mpg) but on a run I can get 40+ mpg. Also, It's cheap to get extra power out of these engines (compared to a 197/200 anyway)

RE reliability - keep on top of the servicing and it will go on forever. There are people on swedespeed with 250,000 miles + on their S40 T5's and have done very little other than general maintenance.

There are cars with 400+ bhp on original blocks without issue, the main causes of liner issues are poor mapping from what i've read.

I don't know much about the Leon's. They are very tunable, that's about all I know!

 

[Chrisgti6]

EDIT: if you fancy something with the same engine, but less chavtastic take a look at Volvo C30 T5's. Bascally a Focus ST but much less in your face!

 

[aaron-rs197]

EDIT: if you fancy something with the same engine, but less chavtastic take a look at Volvo C30 T5's. Bascally a Focus ST but much less in your face!

a c30 would be no good for me as i need a 4 door but the s40 is something to consider...

 

[gemma.l]

My fella just got the cupra tfsi 240, I have to say they are so much fun to drive I have been driving his for the last week instead of my clio. They stick to the road no problem even though they weigh loads. The leons are reliable even though it is no longer a bam engine it's just a cheaper vw audi. It's good on mpg to I have been getting about 30 even though I have a heavy foot.