Mk8 ST-Line X to Mk8.5 ST-3

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Picked up my new car today and though it's all getting a bit academic in view of the end of the Fiesta, I'll try and post some impressions as I go along for anyone still waiting for theirs or considering a nearly new one.

Quite sorry to part with the ST-L X 140 - it's been a very good car over the last 5 years, never failed to start first touch of the button despite long periods of inactivity due to lockdowns, etc. Despite the threat of "ecoboom" hanging over it, no faults whatsoever but it did get annual oil/filter changes.

Surprised about the delivery time on the ST. Once I learned of the imminent end of the Fiesta, I decided to get an order in and see what happened. I placed the order 5 January 2023, on 20 February I was advised that it was built and awaiting despatch from Cologne, and it arrived at my dealer 17 March, unfortunately when I was just about to go away for a week, so pick up was arranged for today. I waited over 6 months for the ST-L so a pleasant surprise. 

My sales guy told me he has had 2 delivered that were ordered a few days after mine, yet they have some customers still waiting after 9 months or more, so no idea what's going on.

Turning to the ST, very happy with my colour choice (Magnetic) which I think suits the car very well.

First thing I noticed inside is that the new Ford Performance seats are MUCH more accommodating than the previous versions. I'd tried them previously in the Puma ST, so was hoping they really were the same seats, as I'd been told - they are.

I'm not 100% keen on the instruments particularly in Normal mode, but they turn black in Sport mode which looks much nicer. The Sync 3.4 seems a big improvement on the 3.0 in my ST-L, which constantly reminded me of Windows 3 from the early 90's.

Not managed much driving today as it's rained all day (though that's an improvement on when I picked up the ST-L in a snowstorm). Even from the brief drive home the car just felt so much "meatier" and the ride didn't seem too bad at all, in fact it seemed less "jiggly" than the ST-L, though obviously it is pretty firm, perhaps because the  damping is higher quality and better matched to the spring rates.

I'll report further when we've tackled some more challenging roads together!

 

 

[Arathorn]

Very nice, which dealership did you use? And..... Photos. The car not the dealership.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

3 minutes ago, Arathorn said:

Very nice, which dealership did you use? And..... Photos. The car not the dealership.

 

Yes, I meant to add I'll post a pic if it ever stops raining!

My usual dealership - Lawtons of Tadcaster who are still a family business and I've had very good service there for almost 20 years.

[Matthew McGuinness]

Nice to see someone else made the same change, the only difference is that i went to a mk8 st3 rather than a mk 8.5 st3

[Mavroz]

I went to a Puma ST as I couldn't abide a 5 door Fiesta ST, 3 door was the plan.... not to mention the extras being removed from the Fiesta. 

I was not sure then and even less so now whether the Fiesta ST had/has the folding mirrors, ST puddle lights ond Digital display. If not I am glad I made the move and don't regret it..

Heated seats/ wheel and ride height are now a factor also...

The Mrs has approx 6 weeks left before she moves to a Puma STLX.

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Occurred to me there's not much point me mucking about taking a pic of a perfectly standard car in the rain, disguising my plates and location for security, when Ford have 360 degree views on their site anyway:

https://www.ford.co.uk/shop/build-your-ford/ngc2/ice2/colour?catalogId=WAEGB-CE1-2022-FiestaCarGBR202325&code=ACMAA_VS-D9&series=ACMAA_VS-LC&bodystyle=BS-HCincluded&powertrain=DGADE_DR--C_EN-YZ_TR-E8included&paint=PN4DQ&trim=135HMincluded 

I may create something artistic when I'm out and about somewhere scenic and it doesn't rain!

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

20 hours ago, Mavroz said:

I was not sure then and even less so now whether the Fiesta ST had/has the folding mirrors, ST puddle lights ond Digital display. If not I am glad I made the move and don't regret it..

Mine certainly doesn't have the fold which I did find a handy feature on the ST-LX or puddle lights (which I don't miss). Digital instruments come packaged with Sync 3 which is now cheekily optional (Sync 2.5 standard) for about £600, which I went for.

On the other hand the Performance Pack is standard on the Fiesta but afaik  about £950 on the Puma which is a couple of thousand more anyway, but of course does have autofold, puddle lights and standard Sync 3/digital instruments, so as ever "The Ford giveth and the Ford taketh away".😃

Look forward to hearing how you get on with your Pumas!

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Well, did first decent length drive today - crucially the Mrs's first ride in the car - and amazing weather too!

About a 70 mile drive up Wensleydale to our static caravan which is quite a challenging road anyway, very poor surface in places which seem to get worse over winter, so we thought if the ST can manage that ok, it'll be fine.

We both agreed the ride seemed no worse than the ST-L, and the seats were great, very comfortable and providing lots of support in the right places for us. 

It was not a day for giving it the full beans with lots of tourist traffic about, but still a very enjoyable drive. The extra torque makes it quite a relaxing drive, the steering is excellent and even at (relatively) moderate** cornering speeds you can feel the diff doing it's bit. I'm liking the gearshift which is much shorter throw and far more positive feeling than the ST-L.

(** You seem to be able to nip along quite smartly without a lot of effort/fuss/noise so I probably drove up there quicker than usual but the Mrs didn't seem to notice!😃)

I've read several test reports which suggest the quicker steering ratio on the ST calls for "constant correction" on poor roads but didn't find that at all - just a heck of a lot less arm twirling on the twisty bits.

So quite a happy bunny so far. Only thing I'm not that keen on are the instruments which, though better in Sport mode, are not that clear and harder to read than the previous analogue type, and other makes certainly do it better imo. If Sync 3 and digital dash were separate options rather than being bundled together I'd probably give the digital instruments a miss. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Finally stopped raining long enough to get a (very poor) shot. Magnetic is very difficult to photograph it seems - it reflects very badly and seems to change shade depending on light. Looks great "in the flesh" though. Interesting comparison with the day my ST- L arrived 5 years back:

 

[mickywrx]

I really like the colour. 🙂 Anything that is sort of like Anthracite always looks better in the flesh, camera's never seem to do them justice.

[Nick Peacock]

Really like the colour. I went for mean green on my ST-2, which as much as I like it, does seem to be practically the default colour for the 8.5 ST. I still haven’t seen many, but practically every one I have seen has been green. FYI my greatest retrograde annoyance between the 8 and 8.5 was the deletion of the drop down sunglasses holder from the roof lining 😂

[Eric Bloodaxe]

26 minutes ago, Nick Peacock said:

 FYI my greatest retrograde annoyance between the 8 and 8.5 was the deletion of the drop down sunglasses holder from the roof lining 😂

Thanks for that. I hadn't noticed the sunglasses holder yet as I haven't needed them as it's been raining almost constantly since I picked the car up!😃 Looks like they'll have to go somewhere else, then!

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Meant to post a couple of pics of the instruments, which is pretty much the same set up found in Puma and Focus.

Blue background is Normal mode, Black is Sport, Eco not shown but is just a lighter blue shade. I prefer the "Performance Details" display which at least shows actual temps and pressures, to the "Performance Gauges". 

Still not that impressed, and looking on other forums no-one really seems to have a good word for the digital set-up. (Well, some do, but as this is a polite forum I won't repeat them here!)

 

[TomsFocus]

Never tried Sport mode in the Mk4 Focus...I wonder if that also goes black?  Was never a fan of the blue background myself.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

13 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Never tried Sport mode in the Mk4 Focus...

It probably does, (I'm sure someone will confirm shortly) but I must admit I've never tried anything other than Normal when test driving Pumas. 

It does irk that you can only get the black background by using Sport (and Track in the ST) - you may not want the heavier steering etc. 

The tacho is the thing that annoys me most though, you should be able to see the sweep of the needle with your peripheral vision, not have to divert attention to stare at the tiny thin line on the screen.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Driving the car yesterday, I found myself wondering what on earth is the point of the "dial" round the digital speed readout. The digital readout is clear enough, but why bother with the dial round it which has 0 and 160 and no calibration in between? May as well not be there at all.

On another note, my first tankfull measured brim to brim gave 39.08 mpg which I don't think was bad for a first tankfull while getting used to the car. The trip computer reading was 40.2 which I think is the closest I've ever seen a computer get to reality.

That first tank was E10 btw, but I refilled with E5 (Tesco Momentum 99) so I'll see how we do with that.

[mickywrx]

How big is the fuel tank on the newer models? 

IIRC mine only has a circa 40L tank.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, mickywrx said:

How big is the fuel tank on the newer models? 

According to the brochure, 42 litres.

[unofix]

The government has decided that action was needed to bring the range of EV's more inline with the petrol equivalent.

So in future the capacity of petrol tanks will be reduced until EV's have the same range 🤣

[Eric Bloodaxe]

On 4/26/2023 at 6:20 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

That first tank was E10 btw, but I refilled with E5 (Tesco Momentum 99) so I'll see how we do with that.

Update - so the Momentum gave 39.63mpg brim to brim under similar driving conditions and the computer showed 40.6, so still pretty accurate.

Might break the 40 barrier next time as the car loosens up!

[Eric Bloodaxe]

On 5/4/2023 at 11:42 AM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Might break the 40 barrier next time as the car loosens up!

As mentioned on another thread, it has - filled up again this morning - 40.8 measured brim to brim.

Another issue I've been fiddling with is the seat position. Though the seat itself is great, I've struggled to find the ideal position particularly relative to the gearlever. From comments on other forums I don't seem to be alone in this.

It does seem that the seat in the Mk 8.5 is set quite high, and I've found after an afternoon of trying various settings that I needed to drop it as far as possible (and adjust the steering column accordingly) to achieve a position that works best for me.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Another few updates. Not done much driving lately for various reasons so still on only 1300 miles, but at least things are loosening up nicely now.

Mpg has improved - been averaging mid 40s recently which I'm happy with. It does seem to nosedive quite markedly with a bit of traffic use though. I've used E5 (mostly Tesco Momentum 99) apart from my first top up when they were out of stock.

At last I seem to have cracked the seat position thing with a bit more fiddling - still find the seat itself very comfy. Comments on other forums have been similar - the seat itself seems to be generally regarded as more comfortable than the original Mk 8 ST seat, but it somehow seems almost too big for the car, so can be a bit tricky to get in and out of.

Suspension also seems to have bedded in a little. This morning we did the 70 mile run up the Dales to our caravan, which is as bad a road surface as it gets, and it was fine, though I wouldn't try to kid anyone it was anything but "firm", but it is well controlled.

 

 

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Although I know my car was assembled in Cologne, I was wondering where my engine had been made - the sticker was quite hard to find but it's tucked round the back of the block and I needed to stick a phone down there to see it. However, eventually I succeeded, and very poor shot below.

When I was a lad, I used to fancy an Escort Mexico. Do I now have a Fiesta Mexico?😀.

 

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I was wondering where my engine had been made

China, where else 🤣

[Eric Bloodaxe]

13 hours ago, unofix said:

China, where else 🤣

The sticker says "Chihuahua" not "Pekinese"😀