Actually, I think I will buy a focus when I come back to the states. I've come to love my '97 318i here in Germany. Got it for $1,750 bucks, and have only spent about $130 in maintenance on it. There are 20 of 'em in every junkyard, and I think the closest thing to it in America would be a Focus, or a Camry. Focus would be my preference, I think.
Spot on, Nik. I'm kinda disappointed in the selection back in the states. There's not really a great lightweight, 4-door, RWD platform. In the end though, I'm really just looking for a beater that is reliable, fuel efficient, and one that I can find a lot of parts in a bone-yard for years to come.
It's different in Germany, though I have the E36. They're a dime a dozen here, and so are all of the junkyard parts.
No! It's obvious
Odd. The little bitty motor in my '97 seems easy to work on. The 6cyl M3 looks like a completely different story, though. Everything else on the car looks pretty straightforward, too. I wonder if something changed.
Kickass car! Unfortunately, it's not 10+ years old. I'm also not sure if the body and parts share enough with a normal focus to be common. I would love that car, but I don't think it quite fits the bill. It's also nearly equivalent in my mind to a car that I obsessed over for a while, but ultimately decided to stick with the economical 318. Here's the non-US version of the E36 M3. It makes 77hp more than the US joke of an M3. This car is probably not losing any value anymore. I might still pick one up some day if I find a good deal. It won't get the mileage or have the ease of maintenance that my 4cyl 3 series, though.
Euro M3 (3.2)
PRODUCTION: 62,062 (1995-99)
ENGINE: DOHC 24-valve I-6
CODE NAME: S50B32
DISPLACEMENT: 3201 cc
POWER: 317 hp @ 7400 rpm
TORQUE: 258 lb-ft @ 3250 rpm
REDLINE: 7600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual
0-62 MPH: 5.5 sec
TOP SPEED: 155 mph
Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1101_the_bmw_m3s_we_never_got/viewall.html#ixzz2ccSDGFdm
It does turns and carries groceries better than a Fox. Otherwise it’s still a low-14 second car in a straight line, which is about the same boat a stock Fox is in. And seriously, who actually owns a stock Fox?
I, for one, despise the ST. It represents a huge performance engineering effort on an otherwise non-performance oriented chassis, is full of widgets and gizmos that serve no purpose other than sucking in ignorant buyers, and it lacks one huge, glaring detail that other cars in the same market have- AWD. If Ford would just give it AWD, I would be cool with it, and ignore the fact that some part of the MSRP is paying for an elaborate and completely useless engine-noise amplifying tube in the dashboard.
Eh, the fact that Toyota went to such great lengths to get a RWD coupe in the Scion lineup tells me that these manufacturers have realized they’re giving up market share by only offering FWD. There are still people out there who care to have fun while driving a car, and those people want to buy RWD stuff.
You’re talking about the same guys who manage 12s from stock engine Foxes. These guys get paid to thrash on cars and write about it, and some of them are pretty good behind the wheel. The average owner in the average ST is not going to cut times like that. It’s a moot point though, because it’s like arguing over who is the skinniest of the fat kids- neither car in stock form is really that fast to begin with. Both are slower than any modern sports car worth owning.
At least the Fox chassis was designed from the start to carry a V8 and spin the correct tires. It was also never an entry level econo-car. The Focus ST is just like the Neon SRT-4 (another car I thoroughly hate), only Ford is doing it for different reasons.
I don’t know what that word with the Q in it is, but I totally agree with this statement… Ford makes money on it, good for them. I just don’t like it, haha.
Pricing for the Subaru WRX starts at under 26K. Turbo’d boxer engine PLUS full-time, symmetrical AWD>>>>>>>>> Focus ST. That’s just me, though.