I've owned cars that handle much better than the meg - not tried an .R but I can't believe it's any more than a bit better than a cup chassis'd car. Depends what you class as better handling though - to some it's grip and poise, to others it loose and playful.
We seem to have went from it being more fun to it handling better for no reason. Again outright handling and grip does not make a fun car.
Why would outright handling and grip not make a fun car? Genuinely interested to know. I know fun is subjective, but I would say that outright handling and grip are essential to making a car fun. Maybe it's just me.
Ive only just noticed this thread. I can see the argument that the Fiesta is more fun and i believe it tbh, but only on the road. Purely because I still feel my old 197 Cup was much more fun on the road my Megane. Now this isn't a slight on the Megane's ability, far from it. Its the Meganes ability that hampers it on the road for fun factor imo. The fun bar is just far to high, the cornering speeds you achieve, the fact you can easily change out of 4th gear between corners on most backroads is just ridiculous. Where as my old 197 Cup and no doubt the ST too has a lower threshold which makes the fun factor far more accessible and at arguably more sensible speeds.
Different strokes. I'm talking about road use here. On the road the limit for the Megane is far to high to get near. Cars become fun on their limit so just like Mark my old Fiesta was much more fun on the road than the Megane even has and will be. Some of the most fun I have had on the road has been in lower power or grip stuff, ie 106, MX5s. The sort of stuff that you can get to the limit at low reasonable speeds. Not taking anything away from the Megane but on the road there are cars that are much more fun. IMO. As you say subjective. For me fun is a car moving about on the limit of grip but I can appreciate that some people wouldn't like that and find grip more fun as its safer and easier. I actually changed tyres on my Megane to something that has less outright grip than previous tyres purely for that reason. Breakaway happens at lower speeds now and makes it much more fun to get it moving about, Yes I've lost its outright A-B pace but I have far much more fun now
Imo im really not a fan of ford,the st version never looks special and again imo is what i call a chavvy car you see no end of young lads driving them. Pimped up and wanting to race I am suprised with the amount of fiesta st loving going on here though, why arent we all driving them, our meganes are boring.
I do quite like the little fiesta, id like to see a fiesta ST keep up with an R26.R on road or track, not a hope in hell I'm afraid, well that's my opinion anyway
I'd much rather be sat in an R seat than the seat of a fiesta , but that's not what this is about, if you like it and are happy with the deal then why not, best of luck mate, cracking little car
Ffs Daz, ok the fiesta would have an R26.R licked in every way, road , track, all ways round the R wouldn't stand a chance against a fiesta ST , the next time I see one on a track day I'll remind myself to keep away from him and not try to get passed it, lmao
I'd definitely have the old Clio 200 over the Fiesta ST. Maybe I am just biased towards RenaultSport, but when weighing up my options when buying a new car, it came down to 250 vs Focus ST (latest mk) vs Leon Cupra.. no brainer. As has been said previously, if everyone thinks the Fiesta is better than our cars, then hop on over to stoc
Woooooohhh guys calm down!! My situation is I bought the meg just over a year ago as my daily driver with the intention of lightly modding it and doing a few track days. As it happens I haven't tracket it yet and cant see myself doing it this year as it stands. I wouldn't say a R26 has too much power for the road but I very rarely get the chance to use anywhere near its full potential other than the occasional WOT in 3rd, or a bit of fun on a quiet roundabout and the occasional b-road blast. I've spent a fair bit on maintenance to get the megam into shape but the way I'm looking at it currently is its only going to cost more further down the line. Yes I may miss the outright power and diff in the meg but the fiesta can do all those things well enough to keep me happy as a daily driver whilst giving me 2 years of hassle free and fun motoring. I'm paying a slight premium but I'm getting lots of creature comforts as well as a cable daiky driver. This decision isn't set in stone yet as I'm waiting for sky insurance to get back in touch to see if they have a problem with me changing to a lease car, some people have had trouble with insurance companies refusing to cover a car which is owned and kept by a lease company.
^^^^ Agreed! They look more appealing every day... I'd like to try a Montune'd ST. Power to weight compared to an R26.R is almost identical. In fact it's not much less than my remapped Trophy - if it's as good down a b road as everyone says it is I'd consider squinting when I get in it to avoid that dash!
excuse the auto correct on the long post .... makes me sound like a mong! Yeah the sterio part of the dash is very confusing!!! I'll connect my phone via Bluetooth and try to forget about the rest of the buttons lol Everyone raves about the mountune package ... I won't get it done personally as it'll cost £6-700 for 15bhp and I won't be owning the car but I'll consider a removable bluefin map. It depends if ford can trace its been mapped if in for warranty work.
Mountune will keep your warranty, Im pretty sure you can spec it on to your order as well but i would be very wary in doing anything to a lease in the first place
No it goes from 200-215, quite clever marketing, because it has overboost which takes it to 200 for 15 seconds iirc and then mountune add 15bhp!
As per the above post it basically has 200bhp and 215lb of torque which is available at full throttle for 15 seconds which as you can imagine on the road the chances are you'll never have full throttle for that long. Apparently its due to eu regs saying they have to quote the permanent figure whereas in the states its sold as 200bhp. Confusing as some car magazine reviews dont mention the overboost and just say its 180.
So can you lift the throttle at the end of the 15 seconds then re-apply to get 200hp again? I know it's not likely in the real world as you say.
With regards to the "argument" some are having..."move to STOC" or buy an ST. I think the lads on here who have driven / been in one are just saying that in the way it drives, the power it gives (for a 1.6) and the handling it is better than the Meganes! Certainly better than my old 182 trophy and without a doubt better than my 250 in almost every way for me. I'm not a biased person who if I own a megane it's faster than a focus RS, yet go and buy an RS and that's now faster. I just speak the truth. I will never sell my megane I intend to keep it till it's 100k+ but just add to my garage very soon with something a bit more of a weekend toy. The the megane is superb! It's 9/10 for me. The power is perfect, the looks are stunning, it sounds...okay...and I would imagine that on track the ST would be destroyed due to being able to take bends at much greater speed and maintain the speed mid bend. However on the road or on a nice B-road there is no way you would shake an ST no way. You can really really just go with 100% commitment in it as it's so small and nimble. The megane is a lot heavier and has a greater footprint. You would need to be a pro driver to drive the meg at 100% on the road for me. The 182 trophy I had was something I literally was foot to floor on every B road as you wasn't carrying as much speed or weight. I don't think this would happen in the megane. Thats my my final post now haha. Good luck in whatever you buy.....but buy a fiesta ST
Interesting article on piston heads about the current deals on the ST .. http://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonheads/delivery-miles-ford-fiesta-st/31585
I would imagine a Twingo RS and Swift Sport are closely matched in terms of price.. I know which one I'd have!
And the swift comes fully loaded. I looked at them about 3 years ago when they first came out ... not bad value.
