Anyone own a Fiesta ST-3?
- Thread starter andyoz
- Start date
MUTTY1
Waste of bandwidth
maybe. I well remember being amazed at how well a very heavy, but short wheel base Moto Guzzi Le Mans did the road between St Ives and St Just I made my own on a light and nimble Single Ducati. Not much in it and both hugely enjoyable. So take nothing for granted
Rana
pfm Member
I was the chief engineer for that engine as RenaultSport contracted my previous employer (Ricardo Consulting Engineers) to develop it....took out 4 years of my life and turned my hair grey, but working with the petrolheads at RS was great - my main contact in RS then went on to develop their F1 engines. I still kind of work with them (in a background sort of way) as I help advise the team that develop their F1 fuel.
Cav
pfm Member
Why would anyone, in today's driving environment, want another "mad hot hatch" and then want it more mad?Looking for a mad hot hatch to pair with the other brute.
I'm yet to read anything bad about the Fiesta ST-3.
Must get a drive in one...preferably a Mountune one and maybe with a tricky diff too
I hope I never meet someone like that on a public road.
As would more or less any car as the 'Bentley' probably would stand by the roadside broken down.
Did I say that out of 26 cars I've had, Fords (4 of them), has been the best European ones.
To be honest, there is a 'food chain'; owners of Golf Rs, Audi RS3s and other more premium metal are a magnet for dickheads in pimped Fiesta STs.
Dowser
Learning to bodge again..
Not if designed properly, and the power output is kept stock. Subaru 5mt gearboxes rarely fail on stock cars, but raise them much more than 300ps and they are the weak link. Strangely, not on standing starts - 1st gear OK, but I stripped 2nd & 3rd gears four times under heavy acceleration and cornering load before finally fitting a later/heavier but stronger 6mt.
My current Evo X comes with launch control - floor throttle with clutch depressed and car still and it’ll only rev to mid 4K rpm - drop clutch, hold on, try to keep up with gear changes
Of limited use in the real world except for scaring passengers, but the whole drivetrain of an Evo is in a different world to a Subaru.Good to hear, clearly the manufacturers have done their homework in recent years. I do know that some of the mega -power modern cars have torque limiting technology in lower gears for this very reason.Not if designed properly, and the power output is kept stock. Subaru 5mt gearboxes rarely fail on stock cars, but raise them much more than 300ps and they are the weak link. Strangely, not on standing starts - 1st gear OK, but I stripped 2nd & 3rd gears four times under heavy acceleration and cornering load before finally fitting a later/heavier but stronger 6mt.
My current Evo X comes with launch control - floor throttle with clutch depressed and car still and it’ll only rev to mid 4K rpm - drop clutch, hold on, try to keep up with gear changes
andyoz
pfm Member
That's excellent. From what I understand the engines are strong ..the gearboxes aren't.
Brown Bottle
UTB
Indeed, the ST-3 can be driven quite sedately, it’s as mad as your right foot wants it to be.
Cheers BB
Cheers BB
JezmondTutu
pfm Member
I’m just not convinced they are as enjoyable as the Press suggest. It’s possible I’ve been spoilt by too many analogue cars though.
You aren't going to get the Elise or Caterham experience with these, not even the previous generation Renaultsport feel - cars these days are a computer game. They will be fun though.
Rana
pfm Member
Didn't know that. We had issues with carry-over DMFs failing on the prototype cars but I think that got sorted by Renault as that was their responsibility. Transmissions were a Nissan unit with specially selected ratios to hit target 0-100km time. Can tell you a neat story about that one day involving Carlos Tavares (now Stellantis CEO) who was the Project Director but that's straying off topic.
JezmondTutu
pfm Member
I get that, but even my old five series BMW has better steering. The electric rack on my ST wasn’t great.
Ah yes, what you want is the Caterham with the rack from a Triumph Spitfire and no assistance. You knew where that was pointing.
ff1d1l
pfm Member
Nope. He has a valid point.