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How good is the FiST???

Messages
256
Likes
357
Location
Atlanta
#21
Well gang, as some of you know my son bought a FiST a little over a week ago.
I have been able to drive it daily for the last week as he is back in NC and not picking it up until late next week. I decided to lightly mod it (with this forums awesome help) as a gift for him. It now has BOV, cobb drop in filter, cobb RMM and a dizzy tune.
Soooo, you want to adopt me?

But really though, your son is gonna love it!
 


gtx3076

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,167
Likes
1,346
Location
US
#24
Cheap, and fun. I was literally going between V8's and this car, but the amount of praise all the media as giving it, (and the price), I had to test drive one before anything else.

I saw a wide body Sky Turbo this morning that I've seen before on my commute. Maybe next time I'll chase him around a few turns.
 


Clint Beastwood

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,583
Likes
2,317
Location
Laguna beach
#25
Cheap, and fun. I was literally going between V8's and this car, but the amount of praise all the media as giving it, (and the price), I had to test drive one before anything else.

I saw a wide body Sky Turbo this morning that I've seen before on my commute. Maybe next time I'll chase him around a few turns.
Look up the mallet performance sky/solstice. So rad.
 


Messages
87
Likes
48
Location
Dripping Springs
#26
Adjunct experience, but can't say similar. I started with muscle cars and American Iron in High-school (mid-90s), then modded imports and Mazda rotaries, to an FBO E82 Bimmer that ran mid 11s. Finally to a very slow and ancient 4x4 that I still have, enjoy, and throw money at. I work from home, and have the family SUV and work hauler that I can daily, but wanted something fun that I could mod and would give me the driving feels. It hit me one day as I saw a modded FiST tooling down I-35 that perhaps I should look into that. I read all the journalist write-ups, watched Farah fiddle with his on The Smoking Tire, and decided yep, that's what is missing in my life.

A month later I purchased a '17 base languishing on a dealer lot for a song. Within a couple of months it was already FBO with suspension and cosmetic mods and I haven't looked back. So much joy driving this thing, boosting deep in 2nd gear to what only amounts to legal speeds down here in the twisty Hill-Country. It is so benign to outsiders, but folks in the know and those that have been in the passenger seat appreciate and chuckle at how much fun the damned thing is. I could rid myself of the 4x4 and the FiST to have a more sensible grown-up car, but I can't convince myself to do it - I'm having too much fun. Glad to see I'm not alone, but I'm not surprised. Motor On!
 


Messages
246
Likes
290
Location
San Antonio
#27
It's an awesome car, I think a lot has to do with power to weight. It handles so well and is so small in stature and easily tossable. It's like a mario kart. 20180314_222635.jpg
 


Messages
440
Likes
514
Location
Metro Detroit
#28
How good is the FIST, it will BLOW THE DOORS OFF a US spec. 1974 Porsche 911S. IMO the day will come when the FIST is every bit as collectable and valuable as that 1974 911S. BTW, a 911 SC or Turbo is more than a match for the FIST but what we have is a budget economy car that can out perform what was once considered one of the finest sports on the US market.
 


Dib

Member
Messages
172
Likes
123
Location
Tucson, AZ
#29
i've always felt it's much better to drive a "slow" car fast than a fast car fast. i really like that I can go all out in the Fist in normal traffic. of course, i still want a little more. Also, i love how small it is, i can much more easily get it through congested traffic. pretty much if a bicycle will fit, the fist will fit.
 


Messages
579
Likes
461
Location
San Jose
#30
It's so good that very few people bought them when the motoring media was singing it's praises from every website and magazine! And then Ford decided that it was so great they simply had to stop building them!
That’s advertising, mostly.

The edge ST has had more advertising and hype from Ford corporate than both the Focus ST and the Fiesta ST combined. Enthusiasts were the target for the small cars, enthusiasts watch reviews for cars or read publications like motortrend/ car and driver. We saw the praises being sung and we bought them. The problem is that, a lot of people don’t know what an ST is outside of the enthusiast circle. Ford is responsible for marketing the car, and they simply failed at that. Instead you have non-enthusiasts buying the regular focus/fiesta and they get the clusterfuck of an experience that was/is Ford powershift transmissions. Perceived quality of the cars goes down across the board and Ford continued to deny problems until they recently took responsibility, but the damage was done and it was catastrophic enough that even cars that don’t have trans issues (like the manual equipped ST models) have terrible resale value even though they are brilliant fucking cars. There is no way Ford’s engineering arm didn’t know there was something wrong with powershift back in 2014/2015, whoever made the decision to not correct it (or even just source a torque converter auto from elsewhere in the lineup) is the reason why they’re killing their small car segment and the ST brand with it in the US. Ford’s small cars were selling fine, they just didn’t learn the lesson the escort was supposed to teach them in the 90’s and they want to act like poor sales strangled their market share when it was blatant negligence.

You need volume models to keep performance models around, in Europe sticks are still the transmission of choice, and they still have both STs.

I used to be a ford guy, I had been planning on replacing my FiST with an ecoboost mustang. But first and foremost l, I support car companies that cater to the enthusiast, and Ford has no real interest in that market anymore. I’ll enjoy my FiST for several years still, and may not even get rid of it because it is a ‘lightning in a bottle’ moment, but when I need a new(er) car, I’m skipping the Ford dealership next go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Messages
111
Likes
92
Location
Dayton, OH, USA
#31
I used to be a ford guy, I had been planning on replacing my FiST with an ecoboost mustang. But first and foremost l, I support car companies that cater to the enthusiast, and Ford has no real interest in that market anymore. I’ll enjoy my FiST for several years still, and may not even get rid of it because it is a ‘lightning in a bottle’ moment, but when I need a new(er) car, I’m skipping the Ford dealership next go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I agree with the first part of your post completely but this last paragraph..... It's simply untrue.

First, you correctly pointed out earlier that ford is still making the FoST/FiST overseas; isn't that catering to enthusiast where there is a strong market for hot hatches?

Second, there are something like 5 different unique Mustang Variations out right now (Base Eco, Performance Eco, GT, Bullitt, GT500) not including convertible and/or performance pack options. Hell, just last week Ford had multiple enthusiast out to NorCal to review the new 2020 Ecoboost Performance Edition (RS motor in a Mustang). This included prominent Youtubers (not professional reviewers with a named platform) who are the very definition of enthusiast.

The truth is that hot hatches are a very small segment of the US market. I'm sure Ford ran the numbers and determined that the FiST/FoST/FoRS just weren't worth it economically. Yeah it sucks but it is what it is.
 


Last edited:

XR650R

2000 Post Club
Premium Account
Messages
2,600
Likes
3,005
Location
Eerie
#32
Only 18% of Americans even know how to drive a stick. That's not going to sell a lot of manual-only cars.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/10/11/report-only-18-percent-of-americans-can-drive-manual/

That's a good thing, to me. Unlike the situation in Europe, this car isn't well-known and harder to steal.
I imagine a serious car thief can drive a stick, but joy riders probably can't, and most don't know the ST is a performance car at all.
 


Messages
579
Likes
461
Location
San Jose
#33
I agree with the first part of your post completely but this last paragraph..... It's simply untrue.

First, you correctly pointed out earlier that ford is still making the FoST/FiST overseas; isn't that catering to enthusiast where there is a strong market for hot hatches?

Second, there are something like 5 different unique Mustang Variations out right now (Base Eco, Performance Eco, GT, Bullitt, GT500) not including convertible and/or performance pack options. Hell, just last week Ford had multiple enthusiast out to NorCal to review the new 2020 Ecoboost Performance Edition (RS motor in a Mustang). This included prominent Youtubers (not professional reviewers with a named platform) who are the very definition of enthusiast.

The truth is that hot hatches are a very small segment of the US market. I'm sure Ford ran the numbers and determined that the FiST/FoST/FoRS just weren't worth it economically. Yeah it sucks but it is what it is.
This is a weird way to look at it. You’re asking a market to exist for cars that have, historically, had spotty availability in the states. Halo cars, generally only exist when they have a solid following of regular cars. For the STs that would be the regular Focus and Fiesta respectively, but Ford has been killing its own market share for a while:

From 2013 to the demise of the gen3 focus, Ford sold around 800,000 foci. The biggest hit in sales was the YOY sales drop between the 2015 MY and the 2016 MY which is when people realized that Ford had not acknowledged the trans problems that were plaguing the car. Now I have no realistic way to know how many of those are ST models but Ford moved almost a half million Foci in 2013, the first 6 months of 2019, Ford has moved just over 12,000 of them. This isn’t a surprise, but Ford has seen pretty regular decline in sales and it isn’t linear with the disappearing small car market. Companies like Hyundai have seen a 50% growth in YOY sales with cars like the Veloster, something they attribute to the N model.

The Veloster, for all its quirks, is a well sorted car, the powertrains are solid, most everything works and it certainly hasn’t put owners in rental cars for extended periods of time, and yet with the introduction of a high performance halo model, they are seeing growth in a market that Ford wants to say isn’t worth it?

Also, FWIW there are 3 models of mustang, EB GT and Shelby. The only realistic difference is the engines available, otherwise your buying the same chassis/interior at respective price points. You can get an EB mustang with the same interior as a GT, it just depends how much you want to spend and which engine you want. EB premium and GT premium have the same options and interior, that makes them not unique with the exception of their engines. So saying there are 5 variations of the mustang, while accurate, is a bit gratuitous.
 


Messages
579
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461
Location
San Jose
#34
Only 18% of Americans even know how to drive a stick. That's not going to sell a lot of manual-only cars.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/10/11/report-only-18-percent-of-americans-can-drive-manual/

That's a good thing, to me. Unlike the situation in Europe, this car isn't well-known and harder to steal.
I imagine a serious car thief can drive a stick, but joy riders probably can't, and most don't know the ST is a performance car at all.
Even we’ll versed enthusiasts aren’t sure what my car is. I have an unrequited love for Mazda’s wankle rotary engines, and had gone to an RX-7 meet just to breath in some oil and take a look at some cars I admire but would never justify purchasing. Had at least a dozen people come over and ask if my orange bean was just some rims and a body kit from the factory. One of the NA Miata guys that was there lost it when I told him it was a turbocharged 1.6L all he could say is “he wants to turbo his 1.6”. I was kind of surprised that the variety of car owners there (had people from various scenes including rally, open wheel racing, even some Porsche guys) and almost no one knew that my car was worth a look, except for one of the Porsche guys who said he had a FiST when they first came out.

Anyways, long post, but my car appears to have lost a bit of notoriety in spite of its paint job.


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Messages
2,088
Likes
967
Location
Minnesota
#35
How good is the FiST? Look at what Matt Farah did to his RS with Mountune and then swapping out the suspension to make the ride better. Unfortunately 25k is only going to get you so much. It’s a platform. If I was buying now I’d get a straight FiST for cheap money and build it.
 


Messages
493
Likes
637
Location
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
#36
The biggest compliment I can give my FiST is that it drives with the all the fun and attitude of my Mk2 VW's but is a new(ish) car. It has none of the compromises of an 80's car and still feels like a lightweight mostly analogue car, with just a little too big of a motor. It has elite, world class level chassis and handling dynamics. I have had to spend a fortune on good starting point cars to get the handling fun and quality even close to this thing stock. First car I have ever had where I am very cautious about tinkering with the chassis, this thing just feels that good right out of the box. If this car came with an LSD I have no doubt it would be on the list with the Type R's and Meganes etc of GOAT FWD cars. Bought mine in May and could not be happier, I knew it would be good but it has really blown me away.
 


Messages
2,088
Likes
967
Location
Minnesota
#37
If you have some coin to spare upgrade the suspension and turbo. The conversation changes after that.
 


Messages
356
Likes
229
Location
Grass Lake
#38
That’s advertising, mostly.

The edge ST has had more advertising and hype from Ford corporate than both the Focus ST and the Fiesta ST combined. Enthusiasts were the target for the small cars, enthusiasts watch reviews for cars or read publications like motortrend/ car and driver. We saw the praises being sung and we bought them. The problem is that, a lot of people don’t know what an ST is outside of the enthusiast circle. Ford is responsible for marketing the car, and they simply failed at that. Instead you have non-enthusiasts buying the regular focus/fiesta and they get the clusterfuck of an experience that was/is Ford powershift transmissions. Perceived quality of the cars goes down across the board and Ford continued to deny problems until they recently took responsibility, but the damage was done and it was catastrophic enough that even cars that don’t have trans issues (like the manual equipped ST models) have terrible resale value even though they are brilliant fucking cars. There is no way Ford’s engineering arm didn’t know there was something wrong with powershift back in 2014/2015, whoever made the decision to not correct it (or even just source a torque converter auto from elsewhere in the lineup) is the reason why they’re killing their small car segment and the ST brand with it in the US. Ford’s small cars were selling fine, they just didn’t learn the lesson the escort was supposed to teach them in the 90’s and they want to act like poor sales strangled their market share when it was blatant negligence.

You need volume models to keep performance models around, in Europe sticks are still the transmission of choice, and they still have both STs.

I used to be a ford guy, I had been planning on replacing my FiST with an ecoboost mustang. But first and foremost l, I support car companies that cater to the enthusiast, and Ford has no real interest in that market anymore. I’ll enjoy my FiST for several years still, and may not even get rid of it because it is a ‘lightning in a bottle’ moment, but when I need a new(er) car, I’m skipping the Ford dealership next go.


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Yup! I was just referring to the North American market, they haven't given up on it, just on stuff that costs less than 35 grand. I have been a multiple Mustang owner, but I think my future choices will be more eclectic and analog! New cars have become so expensive and complex that component cars and scratch built cars from prints are looking very reasonable now. While I find my FiST to be a very enjoyable car, it is not a trackable ride without many expensive changes.
 


Last edited:

Dpro

6000 Post Club
Messages
6,130
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5,749
Location
Los Feliz (In the City of Angels)
#40
Yup! I was just referring to the North American market, they haven't given up on it, just on stuff that costs less than 35 grand. I have been a multiple Mustang owner, but I think my future choices will be more eclectic and analog! New cars have become so expensive and complex that component cars and scratch built cars from prints are looking very reasonable now. While I find my FiST to be a very enjoyable car, it is not a trackable ride without many expensive changes.
The last part of your statement is completely untrue. You can turn the FiST into an awesome track monster for 5-8K a lot of guys have done it. I
 


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