D Griff
Go Kart Champion
So I finally got to do this Saturday... and it was a pretty cool event, especially for free.
My main point of this thread: Focus ST >> GTI
The hypermiling challege was alright, I was able to get 84.7 MPG in the Fusion Hybrid, could only get about 60 in the C-Max. Somebody got like 108 and won some headhphones.
The Fusions are really nice cars. Great looks, nice interior, fairly quick in the straights and ok handling (much less boaty than the Camry they had there). I think the Camry was slightly faster in a straight line though. I was underwhelmed/didn't like the Escape, but it's a CUV, don't really care. The transmission on it was super laggy and didn't respond to the paddles fast at all. I thought the paddles in the Fusion were decent, but I kept forgetting to use them and it would shift automatically.
The ST portion was fun! I did two laps in the Focus, two in the Fiesta. I drove the Focus first. Those seats. Fantastic. They have great bolstering but are so soft, padded and comfy. They look great too. The steering wheel and shifter felt nice, the clutch was pretty soft like the GTIs. I really liked the car on the course though. Good power and much more "sporty" feeling than my car in the corners. The back end can come out much easier in the Focus than the GTI and it really felt like it gradually and smoothly lost traction in the way I wanted it to. I didn't feel too much understeer.
The Fiesta was decent. It felt a little slower power wise and the worst thing about it was the fuel cutoff... it's at a really low rpm and I hit it multiple times around the course. They told us no to shift out of second and it was just kind of a bummer. It also definitely feels like a much cheaper car than the Focus. Chasis tuning between the two felt pretty similar and I really liked it so much. I think if I were in the market for a new hot hatch today, it would be an Orange Focus ST with Recaros. Unfortunately, they didn't exist yet when I got my car and so I'll just try to forget about it and enjoy my GTI.
CSB.
My main point of this thread: Focus ST >> GTI
The hypermiling challege was alright, I was able to get 84.7 MPG in the Fusion Hybrid, could only get about 60 in the C-Max. Somebody got like 108 and won some headhphones.
The Fusions are really nice cars. Great looks, nice interior, fairly quick in the straights and ok handling (much less boaty than the Camry they had there). I think the Camry was slightly faster in a straight line though. I was underwhelmed/didn't like the Escape, but it's a CUV, don't really care. The transmission on it was super laggy and didn't respond to the paddles fast at all. I thought the paddles in the Fusion were decent, but I kept forgetting to use them and it would shift automatically.
The ST portion was fun! I did two laps in the Focus, two in the Fiesta. I drove the Focus first. Those seats. Fantastic. They have great bolstering but are so soft, padded and comfy. They look great too. The steering wheel and shifter felt nice, the clutch was pretty soft like the GTIs. I really liked the car on the course though. Good power and much more "sporty" feeling than my car in the corners. The back end can come out much easier in the Focus than the GTI and it really felt like it gradually and smoothly lost traction in the way I wanted it to. I didn't feel too much understeer.
The Fiesta was decent. It felt a little slower power wise and the worst thing about it was the fuel cutoff... it's at a really low rpm and I hit it multiple times around the course. They told us no to shift out of second and it was just kind of a bummer. It also definitely feels like a much cheaper car than the Focus. Chasis tuning between the two felt pretty similar and I really liked it so much. I think if I were in the market for a new hot hatch today, it would be an Orange Focus ST with Recaros. Unfortunately, they didn't exist yet when I got my car and so I'll just try to forget about it and enjoy my GTI.
CSB.
