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I had the (dis)pleasure of driving a Focus SVT Euro edition (one of the yellow ones) yesterday. It had an intake, plugs/wires/high energy distributor, header and full exhaust. And it was a ****ing dog. Seriously. Below 5 grand it had no balls. Then you'd upshift and fall below the 2nd cam profile again.
Handled decently though, and the short shifter was nice. Unfortunate it was so slow. I really liked them until I drove it.
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[QUOTE=Quiggs;708672]I had the (dis)pleasure of driving a Focus SVT Euro edition (one of the yellow ones) yesterday. It had an intake, plugs/wires/high energy distributor, header and full exhaust. And it was a ****ing dog. Seriously. Below 5 grand it had no balls. Then you'd upshift and fall below the 2nd cam profile again.
Handled decently though, and the short shifter was nice. Unfortunate it was so slow. I really liked them until I drove it.[/QUOTE]
They're indeed slow.
As evo magazine puts it: the "engine lacks fizz" and the long gear ratios don't help.
But a few bolt-on engine mods can release some ponies (15/20) and make it far more enjoyable.
The handling on the other hand, is simply amazing! Up there with the best FWDs ever.
Here's a couple old pics of my brother's ST170.
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Yeah, it needs torque. It's geared like a turbo car, which almost makes me wonder if that was done with a wink and a grin for modders, almost begging them to turbo/supercharge it. Quiggs, what kind of intake did it have? Almost every aftermarket one saps low-end torque, and full exhausts will do that as well if the pipe diameter is too big. What kind of header did it have? It comes stock with a full header, most people don't bother with putting another one on because the gains are minimal at best, and torque-robbing at worst. Stick to a drop-in filter, a CFM cat, plugs and wires (stock coil is quite adequate and aftermarket units really don't show a difference) and a Diablosport tuner, and your torque is much better on the low end and especially the midrange. I'm sorry your experience wasn't all it could have been!
Now, I wouldn't exactly call it slow either. For a 4-banger, it's quick...just not fast.
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If its got VCT (sounds like it does) you should look into if it's possible to get the changeover point lowered.
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[QUOTE=jcp123;708711]Yeah, it needs torque. It's geared like a turbo car, which almost makes me wonder if that was done with a wink and a grin for modders, almost begging them to turbo/supercharge it. Quiggs, what kind of intake did it have? Almost every aftermarket one saps low-end torque, and full exhausts will do that as well if the pipe diameter is too big. What kind of header did it have? It comes stock with a full header, most people don't bother with putting another one on because the gains are minimal at best, and torque-robbing at worst. Stick to a drop-in filter, a CFM cat, plugs and wires (stock coil is quite adequate and aftermarket units really don't show a difference) and a Diablosport tuner, and your torque is much better on the low end and especially the midrange. I'm sorry your experience wasn't all it could have been!
Now, I wouldn't exactly call it slow either. For a 4-banger, it's quick...just not fast.[/QUOTE]
I don't know. It's a used car at the dealer and I had to deliver parts in it. Then one of the techs brought it in to do pre-sales prep. The header was a name brand part, but I don't recall the name right now. The intake was basically a metal elbow with a K&N on it, and the plugs and wires were some no-name brand.
In fairness, I think if the previous owner had spent his money more wisely, it probably would have been more fun to drive.
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Hmm, I'm a little baffled then. The K+N intake is one of the better ones, although I can see where the header and no-name plug wires might cut down on the fun. Who knows...
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[QUOTE=2ndclasscitizen;708743]If its got VCT (sounds like it does) you should look into if it's possible to get the changeover point lowered.[/QUOTE]
One thing is that the DSI, or Dual-Stage Intake clip can be broken. When this happens, it runs in either the long- or short-ram mode exclusively, I forget which. If it's running in the short-ram mode, then that could really cut down on the fun...
I don't think the VCT is adjustible, but you can run an adjustible cam gear on the non-VCT exhaust cam and gain some low-end with that...
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Ah, this pile of bolts.
I look back on this car and think of it as my favorite mistake.
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[quote=jcp123;1016439]Ah, this pile of bolts.
I look back on this car and think of it as my favorite mistake.[/quote]
So... do you still own it?
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[quote=NSXType-R;1016454]So... do you still own it?[/quote]
Nope, ended up being a problem child, I dropped that thing like it was a hot rock. Good thing too, as last time I looked around the scene, the depreciation was awful and all of the SVT-specific bumpers, etc. were out of production and hard to find. It would have been a bit like owning a DeLorean, only minus the sense of it being an event to take out and drive.