Focus ST Gets New Shoes; My Experience With All-Season Radials

From the factory the 2013 Focus ST is equipped with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric tires.  It's a great tire really, excellent grip on both dry and wet roads.  Tire Rack's test of Max performance Summer tires rated them #2, but as it says in the description of the tires, "the Eagle F1is not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow, or on ice." From my past experience with Summer Performance tires, I already know that these tires will be near useless when snow hits the ground. If you look at the picture of the F1 to the left, you can see why. 

Focus ST Update

Three+ months since I bought the ST and I still love driving it.  I was just busting some corners on the way home today and the car still brings a smile to my face.

Have I mentioned I love hatches...especially the category that's know as "hot hatches?"  These are the Swiss Army Knives of cars.  They may not do any one thing great, but they do everything well.  Just recently I went over to the local hardware store and brought back 20 pavers...with the Focus.  I should have taken a picture, but here's what the back looks like with the seats folded down.

Can you haul stuff in it like a truck or minivan?  Of course not, but I can haul more stuff than the average vehicle.  Awesome handling car (go read any Focus ST review out there), but you won't be outrunning a Lotus Elise on a road course.  It's quick (0-60 in just over 6 seconds), but you're not going to be winning any drag races against V-8 Mustangs.  Good gas mileage, but this isn't a hybrid. 

Swiss Army Knife.


Ford has something called "Intelligent Access" that is standard in most of their new vehicles.  What it means is that you can lock/unlock the doors without taking your keys out of your pocket.  See the little black pad on the door handle in the picture?  Touch the pad and the doors lock/unlock.

I thought it was silly and unnecessary when I first bought the car.  Now that I've had it for awhile I can't tell you how many times I've had my hands full and wanted to unlock or lock the car.  Didn't have to put stuff down, just had to touch the pad with the back of my hand or forearm.  I don't think it's silly anymore.

In case you're wondering, the key fob has to be close for it to work.  I stood about 4-5 feet away from the car and had someone try to open the door and couldn't.  I have to be standing right next to the car. 

Ford Focus ST, 1000 miles

One of my favorite car related websites to read was called Inside Line...well actually it still is one of my favorites, it's just that they're not Inside Line anymore.  Inside Line was a part of Edmunds.com, which now has absorbed Inside Line to become Edmunds' Long Term Road Tests.

What makes Inside...I mean Edmunds' Long Term Road Tests different from most car review sites is that they live with these cars.  It's not just a day of driving around town and maybe hitting a test facility to get some track numbers...they keep the cars for 20,000 miles.  They take road trips in them, go grocery shopping with them, take vacations, haul their family and friends around with them...they become the staffs daily drivers.  That in itself is different, because you get the opinions of a variety of drivers, not just one person.  Some are married, some women, some young, some are older, tall, short...in other words you'll get a wide range of opinions on a vehicle. If it's a sportier car, some of the staffers will take it to a track event...just like someone who buys one of those cars would.  The site is in blog format, with different staffers posting their thoughts on the time they spent with the cars...everything that they loved or that annoyed them. 

Part of why I own an ST is because Edmunds has a Focus ST in their fleet of Long Term Vehicles.  They've already put 10,000 miles on theirs...I just went over 1000.  I got mine as a low option car in part because of the issues (which were minor, but issues none the less) with the electronic add ones and some of the staffers comments on the Recaro bucket seats.  J.D. Powers vehicle dependability studies also said that although overall vehicle dependability has improved, the most reported problems are from added electronics. There was also almost a 5k difference in price between my car, an ST1 (only option a sunroof), and the fully optioned ST3 package.  I figure if I eventual want the bolstered racing seats I can pick up a set for less than that and I'm fine using my Tom-Tom for navigation.  It was just $100 dollars, has lifetime maps, and I put it in the car when I need it...which isn't that often.

The current fleet is very broad, ranging from a 1987 Buick Grand National to a 2013 Tesla Model S.  On the right of the page is also Past Long-Term Road Test vehicles.  It's entertaining reading and really informative. The vehicles are really scrutinized and put into just about every real life situation you would put the vehicle through over the course of ownership. 

So my thoughts on the Ford Focus ST so far...

No more Audi A3

I once rented a Nissan Versa Hatch.  It wasn't very responsive, didn't handle well, and isn't very pretty...but I had never owned a Hatch back before and what I liked immediately about the little Versa, was that, despite it's size, it was a very versatile vehicle.  I took 4 adults (myself and 3 others) out to dinner in it and we were comfortable.  Now all the people I know are fairly short...I'm sure 6+ footers would have had problems squeezing in, so if you're that size ignore the "comfortable" part.  A few days later, I folded down the back seats and packed the little hatch up with car parts...including an exhaust system for an SRT-4.  There would be no way I could have gotten all that into the car I was driving at the time (2000 Buick Regal GS) despite the fact that the Versa was almost twice as small.

That short stint with the Versa Hatch drew me towards owning a hatch when my GS was totaled.  In my younger days, I was all about, "yea, but how fast is it."  Now I'm a lot more "rounded" in my choice of vehicles (at least on my daily driver).  The GS was a very comfortable car, especially on long trips, and had reasonably quick acceleration thanks to a few common mods to the Supercharged 3800 (smaller SC pulley, 3" downpipe, reprogramed ECU).  Although still a "boat," it handled fairly well thanks to slightly wider tires, stiffer springs/struts, and larger sway bars.

When the GS was totaled by an accident, I stumbled upon an 2007 A3 Audi and test driving it, fell in love with the handling.  Although my GS would have beat it in a drag race, the nimbleness and responsiveness of the A3 was light years better than the handling of the GS.  Being a hatch, it was every bit as versatile as the Versa, but the driving experience was so much better.  The interior of the A3 was every bit as comfortable as the Buick.  It was a luxury small car....common in Europe, but rare here.

I loved driving the A3.  Volkswagen's DSG is a beautiful thing...the best compromise between a manual shifting control and not having to use a clutch in traffic.  We even took it on a 2000+mile trip into Canada and back...4 people and luggage.  Just under 30 miles/gallon average for the trip (including a 90+ mph stint following a caravan of hi-end SUVs that took up almost an entire tank.  One-by-one the SUVs had to leave the caravan for fuel). We all felt it was a pretty good trip car despite it's small size. 

So why the title of this article?

The Bench Seat

I recently read an article called "Benched, The End of an Era" about the bench seat going away as an option.  The author, Larry Jewett, said he was the owner of a 2003 Buick Century with a bench seat and that, with the arrival of the new 2014 Chevy Impala, the last automobile with the bench seat as an option is going away.

Really, there was a car offered with a bench seat in 2013?  You could actually buy a car in 2003 with a bench seat in it?  Wow, I thought the bench seat had died a long time ago.  The last vehicle I had with a bench seat was a 1989 Ford Ranger with the split-bench.  I can't remember another car  since the 1994-1996 Chevy Impala / Buick Roadmaster with a bench seat in it (Although a land yacht, I still think the 94-96 Impala SS is a cool car).

I have to admit that there's some nostalgia lost with the bench going away.  I remember going out on dates with my Mom's 1970 Maverick with the column shift and a bench seat. I also had a 1978 F150 that had a bench.  One of the many things that young adults will never experience with their cars and therefore never bond with their vehicles like my generation did. 

There's a sort of symbolism there...no more bench seat and the world gets that much farther apart.