2013 Ford Focus ST Long Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2013 Ford Focus ST Long Term Road Test

We look at the Focus ST Hennessy Performance Engineering Tuning Package.

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fordson1

There are several outfits that have developed reflashes. The exhaust doesn't really add anything. The intake does. You can do those two items yourself for $800 and add the exhaust too if you feel like it. Unfortunately, Edmunds seems to have an issue with doing this to any of its long-term cars...getting them reflashed. Too bad.

wdrauch

x2 Fordson ..... I'd like to see Edmunds tune their ST and give us reports on what mods are worth it

quadricycle

If they were ever going to start modifying cars, its sure not going to be now that they merged with the consumer site. While I do also sometimes wish that they would do small, easy things to improve vehicle performance, I understand why they don't.

fordson1

If they were ever going to start modifying cars? Like the Wrangler? Like the FR-S? They pick their favorites and those they modify those. They decided long ago that the FR-S "should" be a higher-performance car than the Focus ST, because the Focus is not a "pure" RWD layout. Well, they found that the Scion is NOT faster, so they've put on $3,400 worth of wheels and tires, $1,800 worth of cat-back, and now they're going to put I estimate about $6,500 worth of turbo kit and tuning on the Scion so that it will be faster. So their $40k RWD car will be faster than their $29k FWD car. Because it has the better drivetrain layout, don't ya know.

quadricycle

I was thinking that the reason they wouldn't modify cars is that it will change the experience from what most, not all, owners will experience, but they did indeed modify some. So you're completely right about them throwing more resources towards some cars, but I think the reason they bought both the FR-S and BRZ, then proceeded to throw even more at the FR-S, has more to do with the associated hype and excitement from their release, not that it was actually better or faster than the Focus ST. Correct or not, they are just putting money towards what they think people want to read.

carchatter1

I think this is a pretty good bargain. $1500 for 20% boost in HP. Sounds impressive enough. It would be interesting for Edmunds to dyno it and then do the mods and recheck the dyno output to see if the tuners claims hold any truth.
As for the new site, anyone else think this is worse than before? It seems more scattered and difficult to navigate. I predict lots less traffic on the new and improved version of what used to be a fun site to frequent.

darthbimmer

It makes sense to me how Edmunds is choosing which long-term cars to mod. People who buy a FR-S/BRZ are not just looking for basic, economical transportation; they are enthusiast drivers. Sure, even among enthusiasts, only a fraction will ever modify their rides, but that segment of the audience likes to read about what they *could* do if they wanted. Why not the Focus ST, too? Well, 1) budgets. 2) The ST is already a step up from the base models, showing what the platform can do, while the FS-S/BRZ *is* the base model.

kburg

What's up with the big gap between the Ford logo and the hoodline?