Does anyone know exactly what happens when you change the drive modes? From my understanding sport and race make the exhaust louder, sharpens the throttle response and makes the steering heavier. Am I right in thinking that the only difference between sport and track mode is that the esc goes into reduced mode and the TCS is turned off in track mode? I also don't think that the suspension changes at all between the modes?

Suspension is passive adaptive. It has twin valves in the front which react depending of the frequency of the input. They are not controlled electronically and don't change with the modes.

Otherwise everything you've said is correct from my understanding. The only other thing is that sport and track mode disable the auto stop start (and cylinder deactivation afaik).

Rather than start yet another thread, just giving this one a nudge.

Does anyone have a definite view on whether the steering does weight up in Sport, and if so to what degree?

Sounds daft, but after having the car 18 months I'm still not 100% sure. Some days I seem to notice a difference, others I don't and put it down to my biorhythms😀, so I reckon the difference must be fairly slight. Or do individual cars differ? I've had the same doubts in other cars with different modes, and seen others posting similarly in other forums.

The main reason I use Sport is the throttle response, which is definitely noticeably sharper, but the steering weight..........?

 

 

The forum police will be along soon...tut tut restarting a 5 year old thread 🤣

Can't say I have really noticed a change in steering weight but definitely agree on the throttle response, so much more better. But saying that I'm tending to drive in the Normal mode at the moment which does feel a little sluggish pulling away from a standing start.

34 minutes ago, martinf64 said:

The forum police will be along soon...tut tut restarting a 5 year old thread 🤣

Lol 5 years is nothing compared to some of the resurrections we've seen!

Ford's modes do seem a bit limited compared to some rivals imo. If you want sharper response, you have to have pops and bags and heavier (or not?😀) steering as well. The Hyundai i20N (now also axed) has configurable N settings letting you pick n'mix your favourite settings. Most VW Group cars let you do the same.

 

 

 

4 hours ago, martinf64 said:

The forum police will be along soon...tut tut restarting a 5 year old thread

I bet he couldn't get an Ecoboom restarted after 5 years 🤣🤣

When I had mine, yes the steering was much heavier, but that was once the steering column TSB was done, with it all being replaced. Then it was dependant on the battery being well charged, it was noticeable when it was low voltage on a multimeter, how much the speed sensitive steering was affected. 

 

By my trained hands of course! 

48 minutes ago, Buxty said:

Then it was dependant on the battery being well charged, it was noticeable when it was low voltage on a multimeter, how much the speed sensitive steering was affected. 

That's an interesting one, that darned battery voltage again! Which way did your trained hands find it, Sam, ie did low battery voltage=lighter or heavier steering?

17 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

That's an interesting one, that darned battery voltage again! Which way did your trained hands find it, Sam, ie did low battery voltage=lighter or heavier steering?

Yeah low voltage was much lighter, I could feel it mainly when slowing down to manoeuvring speed...when you'd start to turn on a lower voltage the wheel would almost struggle to adjust its sensitivity. When fully charged it would be a dream and instantly require less movement to get the wheels where you wanted to go.

24 minutes ago, Buxty said:

low voltage was much lighter

Been up to our caravan for a few days (70 twisty miles up the Dales). As an experiment, I drove up in Sport. This morning I drove back in Normal. I really couldn't tell much difference, if at all. If anything, this morning it seemed heavier! Biorhythms? Battery voltage? Who knows! 

(Just put the meter on the battery after leaving the car for a couple of hours and it was 12.4v or 80% SOC as usual.)

 

I experimented with this on the way to work yesterday - switching between sport and normal on the same stretch of road. The steering is definitely heavier in sport, but its quite subtle.

I just spotted this (while looking for something else entirely!) In a Ford media blurb from the ST's release:

New Drive Modes
Selectable Drive Modes add even more versatility for the next generation Fiesta ST, enabling drivers to optimise the driving experience to suit scenarios from school run to the race track:

• In Normal mode, engine mapping, traction control, electronic stability control (ESC), ESE, exhaust sound and electronic power assisted steering (EPAS) are configured to deliver natural responsiveness and a connected feel
• In Sport mode, engine mapping and throttle pedal response are sharpened, and EPAS settings adjusted to deliver more feedback and finer control for fast road driving. The active noise control valve opens and ESE is adjusted to intensify the sporty exhaust note and engine noise within the cabin
• In Track mode, all vehicle dynamics features are tuned for the fastest possible lap times, traction control is disabled and ESC interventions are set to wide-slip mode for hard circuit driving