Shopped the Big Three RS/STI/R. Took one home.

Been driving the old truck for a little while and its killing me. Love the thing but 10mpg and no ability to really park it was getting me down. ~300$ a month in gas as well. Miata got traded for another crashed miata, plus a lot of profit, so I can build a Exocet in the future. Thunderbird is off with a friend who will need it for half a year and the Viper debacle is still going on though getting resolved but it will not be back for months as far as I know.

So wanted a manual, 4wd, big stereo and ability to put 4 full sized adults in the car. Modification potential was a serious plus as was residual value. All out performance was not my goal but ability to really hustle the car on the street was.

Leaves really the big three, plus the charger Hellcat which I was fixated on until I got the quote from my insurance company. The quote for insurance was a car payment so that got killed real quick.

Focus RS

Dealership was a pain, no test drives and no real discounts to speak of. Borrowed a friends to test for a few miles that is how interested I was. Interior is terrible IMO, the stereo is OK, seats are uncomfortable and how the tar do people see out of the Focus. The rear visibility is a deal killer on its own. Also the ride quality is straight up horrible on the streets out here. Whomever tuned the suspension never once drove the car on a street, it is seriously track focused. I am done with Ford, its nice that they have all these performance models but if I cannot get a GT350R on a order the way I want, without a test drive and your not going to let me even test drive a RS screw off. You are not Ferrari and if you keep acting this way as you did with the GT you can suck it.

You can make huge power for cheap with the RS and I love that but not 100% certain it would hold together. Just my opinion.

Golf R

Best "car" of the bunch. Seats are fantastic, transmission is crisp, interior is best of the bunch, DSG is amazing for the price point if that is your bag. Biggest issue is they are simply not available in the manual locally and the pricing is terrible. I have never seen lease numbers so bad in my life. Not sure why should have been 459$ or so with minimal drive-offs but every single dealer that had a manual wanted 500+ with 4K out of pocket. Which was not going to happen when I could get a hellcat at 72K MSRP for less then that on lease. Total lease cost on a GTI was more then the STI I was quoted.

STI

Looked at this last as I was really on board with the R. Seats fit me fantastic, HK stereo is amazing, is car shaped and not a hatchback but it has a heck of a trunk. You can see out of it like an older 80's car. Its all glass. The limited is not terrible in pricing and you get tons of stuff with it. Smaller wing, big stereo, manual with short shift was crisp. Drives like it is on rails. 17 was the last year for the mechanical diff's and the EJ257 is a tuners dream with minimal out of pocket. FYI Residual values are amazing on STI. Dealer who I have bought a number of cars did a SOLID deal for me. Sub 400$ a month with 2K drive-offs on a Limited in WR blue. Money factor was really good and more importantly it really is a nice place to be in the non sport mode.

So I leased an STI for next to nothing. Ordering Cobb bigmouth, K&N filter plus an acessport with the stage 2 map's to be loaded after I break 1K miles this month. I did a quick paint correction and used some of the PHPS coating to keep it from getting swirled. Wheels go out for gold paint next week as well.

Just my thoughts.

Good colour choice.

I'm happy that you're happy but my brain halts at an STi that doesn't have something going on vertically in the back, either picnic bench wing or wagon-ness.

I have been studying '08-11 STis heavily. Heavily. They are dropping into "Knurled can actually swing this" territory. The main thing stopping me is the existence of the S60R, which is like 1/3rd the price and much more towing capacity and infinitely less likely to get stolen. And, I realize is heretical to say here, was available with a damned good automatic. Yes I know the 6sp had the coolest shifter ever. I'm approaching Old Fart territory, I want my 300hp AWD and Brembos to be an invisible appliance.

Nice car.

They're getting rid of the mechanical diffs? Blasphemy.

Knurled wrote: I'm happy that you're happy but my brain halts at an STi that doesn't have something going on vertically in the back, either picnic bench wing or wagon-ness.

Finding a WR blue with the big wing with leather was impossible. I looked everywhere and frankly when I did find one they were not budging on price. White and Black every single one had the big wing.

But after all that there are tons of people on NASIOC that trade trunk lids around all the time if I want it. Same with the gold wheels.

The E-diff technology isn't bad, but really messes with you as a driver. I can attest my 2017 xtrek has it. When I barrel into a corner on gravel and left foot brake it screws with my mind to hear the ABS module do its thing, even though I'm not standing on the brakes and actuating the abs sensor... it's weird. Just weird. And my wife will say "slow down! And why is the car making a farting noise?"

Nice, I hope you enjoy it. +1 on no wing, until I think of the viper and realize you are not one for "subdued".

My impression of a base focus is I would consider one as a cheap used DD, but not something I would spend Mustang GT money for a hot version.

Very cool even without the wing.

It's amazing how some salesmen at dealerships treat their top end models. I guess there's some people that will buy a Focus RS or GT350 sight unseen but I can't imagine there's that many. I wonder if it would have been different had you shown up in the Viper.

In reply to The0retical:

Ford told the dealerships not to allow anyone to drive the RS except the owners and the lot workers, the salesmen weren't allowed to.

At least that's what my salesman said.

I agree on the ride aspect, but I like the interior and the seats. I didn't notice any rearward visibility issues, between the backup camera, the side mirrors being properly adjusted and being able to turn my head I don't have any problems putting it where I want.

But, if you don't like it, ya don't like it. That's why they make so many different cars :)

Stefan wrote: In reply to The0retical: Ford told the dealerships not to allow anyone to drive the RS except the owners and the lot workers, the salesmen weren't allowed to. At least that's what my salesman said. I agree on the ride aspect, but I like the interior and the seats. I didn't notice any rearward visibility issues, between the backup camera, the side mirrors being properly adjusted and being able to turn my head I don't have any problems putting it where I want. But, if you don't like it, ya don't like it. That's why they make so many different cars :)

Exactly my experience.

I actually like the way the STI looks without the big wing. It gives off less of a vape vibe.

Congrats! Sounds like you'll be happy with your purchase and fit/feel of every day in the car instead of compromising for a slightly better spec sheet number to talk about.

Enjoy!

I will say this again we really need multiquote. c'est la vie

The wingless look has grown on me as I have owned the car a few days. Now that I have been driving it I wish that they made a STI in old man spec. IE high end all season tires, slightly more sound deadening. The Limited is fantastic and I can add quieter tires and dynomat myself cheaply anyway. Since I am crazy I may do some ridiculous color on the wheels or find some old Turbo style wheels and fit them to the STI. Got to have a bit of bling.

Specifically this wheel in like gold leaf. It comes in the right backspacing and pattern and its like 400$ a wheel.

Focus RS.

Fitment is personal I agree and I am a weird shape ~34 waist and 48 inch sportcoat. I think it I had less mass in my back and chest I would fit better. I feel like my back was not touching the seat back. Suspension is terrible for the street, I stand by that. FYI I did roll up a while back in the Viper and they know me as I have taken the GT in for service. They did offer me a RS back when they just came out at ~10K over sticker at the time.

Ford is weird lately and its not just the one or two local dealers. If you are not going to restrict the new "GT" to people like me who applied then at least offer us a GT350R if we don't pass the final check at say MSRP on a custom order for getting that far. Same with the RS, if you are going to play Ferrari style games you need to have something to offer the clients who don't get cars from you. A base GT350 is not what a collector or higher end buyer wants. We want the R model or the GT. Ferrari has this figured out as the first Ferrari you buy is a used Ferrari then you work up to the new ones then you get offered the crazy stuff. It sucks to do tat but they are pretty upfront about it.

Did you look at Audi RS3's?

Great Choice!

Why the mods on a car that you don't own? Not worried about issues?

smokindav wrote: Did you look at Audi RS3's?

I did they are to tight in the seats and interior as well. I LOVE the a4 quattro but to get the digital dash you had to go all the way up to the top spec.

As for mod's, I leased the car as the money factor and discount was fantastic. I could easily buy the car at any point and frankly the STI is a little slow in my world. 50-60hp more would be great fun

OK a while in now figured I would update this.

1.) Screw you Subaru. I would like to be able to use S# power mode with a normal throttle calibration. not the S# calibration which is like 20% throttle at a whisper of the foot. It is hard to even get moving from a stop light with it in S# mode and "Intelligent" mode is perfect in terms of throttle calibration but no torque.

2.) Stereo kicks ass, so much so that the doors are now rattling, yeah your going back to the dealer for that. They better not tell me that is normal.

3.) Don't sell a car with 44psi in the tires, dealer issue.

4.) What the holy hell is up with your gas mileage, I get 24 which is OK on the freeway but I get 13 in the City. That is like Viper levels of bad.

5.) Knocks a bit on the stock tune with 91 gas. Yeah its a lease and yeah I am not sure what to do, that is the best gas we have out here.

6.) Why does it say that the trunk is open when the doors are open?

7.) Why can I not return to the stereo automatically after a call comes in.

8.) Why when the phone is plugged into the outlet for Pandora does it revert to using the phone speaker and not the car speaker when you accept the call.

9.) This thing is not as fast as people made it out to be, but the suspension calibration is fantastic on our back-roads. Amazing for the crappy roads out here.

10.)Quieter tires, I know they are out there offer them as a option on the limited cars.

11.)Brake dust, brake dust everywhere. So Glad I had the car ceramic coated.

12.) Why does the steering wheel twitch on startup, like jerks 2 inches to the right then settles out. Its hydro.

13.) Steering feel and shift location and feel are perfect.

14.) Take the guy who designed the syncros on 1st gear and shoot him in the kneecap for me. Like mid 80's econo car Ford bad.

15.) Pissed about the RA getting better pistons, though the front end and rear wing is horrible.

16.) Navigation is piss poor to get a address locked in. But not bad once it is setup. You are linked to my phone let me send a address from google.

In all not a bad little car, not sure I will keep it. The wife has been eyeing it

Congrats.

wearymicrobe wrote: 8.) Why when the phone is plugged into the outlet for Pandora does it revert to using the phone speaker and not the car speaker when you accept the call.

Are you accepting the call with the phone or the car?