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"Ok, I get it now."

Messages
452
Likes
345
Location
Orange
#1
I got my first chance to wring out the ST on a twisty road over the weekend, and all I can say is that this car handles better than anything I've ever driven. Granted, the best handling cars I've driven have been autocross-prepped Mustangs, which might not be saying much.

My wife and I were going to visit family in Palm Springs on Saturday, then go see my mom in San Diego on Sunday for Mother's Day. I suggested we take the FIST, because it gets such good gas mileage. I had an ulterior motive, however. Getting ready to leave on Sunday morning, we had two options - make a giant "L" on two freeways to get out of Palm Springs back to Riverside, then down to San Diego. Or, take the hypotenuse, which is a luscious, twisty road south of Palm Desert called the "Palms to Pines" highway. Highway 74 switch-backs up over a mountain, and is one of my favorite places to drive a fast car. Watch the opening scene of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", with the main actors racing down a twisty mountain road, and you'll see where I'm talking about.

It was early enough in the morning that the rental car tourists weren't up yet, and the only thing in front of us, luckily, was an E36 M3. He was definitely not going to hold us up! The FIST handled like a slot car going around the corners. It was the most effortless cornering I've ever driven, and much less dramatic than my Mustangs. In my last Mustang, at speed around corners, my wife would have been clawing at the door handle. But, in the FIST, she sat quietly, and remarked about how smooth the car felt going around the corners.

When we got to the top of the hill and the road straightened out, she said "Ok, I get it now. I see why you wanted this car so much."
 


rexdriver85

Active member
Messages
595
Likes
137
Location
Allentown
#2
Great story sir. Love seeing these. Reaffirmation that the FiST is awesome! The best part: It's that good from the factory. Can't wait to start delving into suspension mods.
 


Messages
184
Likes
149
Location
Lansdale
#4
I've now got around 2k on mine, and even though I'm older now and probably loose my nerve quicker than I used to, the car is incessant fun, I've never got into a situation yet going round corners that wasn't immediately saveable. Even at street speeds you can play games like trail braking at the apex of a corner and flicking the back out - you can even do this by not trail braking and just by by getting off the gas at mid corner, brake, then burying the gas again.
 


Messages
66
Likes
11
Location
BR
#5
My wife isn't really a car person, so her reactions to the car range from indifferent to less than thrilled on how it drives (although she does like how loaded the car is with standard features). However, my 4 year old daughter did me proud on Sunday. We went to my parents' house for Mothers Day, so we all loaded up in the FiST and pull out of the neighborhood. Now, right after leaving my neighborhood, there's a decent curve (about 45-55 degrees) that I like to just pull the car through while accelerating from the neighborhood. I went in at about 40, came out at about 60. Both my wife and my stepson (who is 14, mind you) both grabbed what they could to hold on to and were generally mean mugging me. My 4 year old? "Whoah! Daddy that was really fun! Do it again!" I had a huge grin all the way to my parents' house.
 


Messages
29
Likes
2
Location
Clyde
#6
That's the great thing about the FiST, right off the showroom floor it's capable in the twisty stuff. The car is in it's element.
 


TheStig

Senior Member
Messages
860
Likes
117
Location
Phoenix
#7
Driving around town, cars that shouldnt be right on your door are from a stop light. Seems like everything is just a tick slower or significantly faster. Then you get on a twisty backroad somewhere and you understand why the car is built the way it is and why its not a straight-line speed monster.

Its truly at its best in corners, absolutely 110%.
 


Sourskittle

4000 Post Club
Messages
4,567
Likes
860
Location
Lakeland
#9
Focus ST is the smoothest, fastest, best handling stock fwd I've driven. And I bought a fist right after driving a fost, lmao. Fast isn't always fun, fun isn't always fast. Fiesta is more exciting, and it also has what I call "accessible speed". Drive a viper or vette like I drive my fist and you'd die in 3 minutes.
 


Messages
424
Likes
131
Location
Ridgecrest
#10
great post. This is precisely what I bought the Fiesta for. The type of roads the OP mentioned :)
 




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