I may be tempted :)

I thought it had been out for a while?

Maybe, but I just found out

Ah ok.

One thing I don't get, they fit a K&N filter (which I'm not 100% convinced on myself), but what happens come service?

Does a Ford dealership clean it and put it back?

That's a mystery yet to be told ! :)

I doubt it though

A bargain @ £1195 inc' V.A.T. + fitting for an extra 25 ponies ? ? ?

I imagine it'll be more than that, lol.

They have to take the front bumper off, probably even more difficult on the ST3 with headlamp washers...

That's the price on Mountunes' website

I mean fitting, going to add quite a bit.

Didn't see you mention fitting before... doh..

1 - 2 hours to fit - allegedly

I read that most cars are near 260 standard anyway...

I guess you do get more in gear power, probably wider rev range.

Another thing I don't get. A cast aluminium crossover, surely that will act like a heatsink and heat up the intake air?

I'm sure they will have thought about things, but I decided against it after looking in to it.

You loose the active grille shutter too. Not a big whoop for most, but my journeys to work are short, so I'd like it to warm up in the fastest possible time.

At £1200 + they can keep it !

I'll be Bluefinning for £365 / £399 & achieve an extra 47 ponies - not a measly 25

Bluefin exaggerate their increases though.

Look at the power curves, the standard map is probably putting out 260PS already, but they work out the "increases" from 250PS as that is the advertised figure.

Not to say it isn't better value for money though. Would be interested to see if Bluefin force the shutters to open all the time. You'll have to let us know if you get it.

Although I'm planning to keep mine stock anyway.

Once it's a year old next March i'll seriously look into it :)

I was offered the Mountune pack when I got mine in April.

Dealers told me £1200 all in.

TBH, the car is so good already I don't reckon the extra cost would be justified.

Not at £1200 it's not, but the Bluefin cost is reasonable imo

The warranty is worth something.

And you do get physical upgrades for the money, not just a piece of software.

I was quite happy with the standard performance on the test drive though.

Agreed - standard output is very good & of course warranty is important - although Superchips, with 38 odd years in the tuning industry have my complete trust & I just prefer personalised to standard :)

You're better off cleaning the filter yourself, doubt a dealer would clean it, mountune pro dealer might.

The intake pipe probably doesn't get that hot when the vehicle is moving (plastic and rubber would heat up too) the air would get hotter anyway when it's going through the turbo, and then the intercooler gets to do its job (which being bigger/better designed will cool the charged air even better).

Every time someone looks at mountune upgrades they always focus on the bhp and the cost.

The cost is higher as they have had to spend more so that Ford would ok the kit for warranty (which is peace of mind for the buyer) in the case of the MP275 its only 11-13ps behind the bluefin, torque is a lot lower but, because they have fitted an intercooler it keeps the max torque longer (400Nm from 2500-5000) the bluefin hits 500Nm then immediately it drops off. Most mountune maps are designed to hold as much torque as possible for as long as possible,

Mountune have been going 35 years, they know what they're doing with the ST engine as proved in the BTCC (would have been good to see what happened if they did a full season).

If I was getting any sort of performance upgrade it would be the MP275 kit. You can't not think about the cost, although I do appreciate where it goes.

I don't "PLAN" to fit it and am quite good at coming up with all the reasons I don't like the kit to convince me. But give it a few years and I'll probably be convincing myself it is a good idea, lol.

I prefer annually changed paper filters though personally over K&N and am one of the few who wouldn't want to loose the shutter grilles.

It is hard enough controlling my speed in my current 150PS Focus, so I probably won't want any more than the stock 250 the ST has got anyway, haha.