Buying review Ford Focus II ST (2005–2011) Common Issues Engines Inspection

Hello and welcome at the buying review of the Ford Focus ST that was built between 2005 and 2011. We will inspect this car for its weaknesses so that when you decide to buy this car you have all the information you need.
This focus is the second generation focus ST that was still available with the Volvo 5 cylinder engine. This engines makes a lovely noise, is very potent and still quite reliable. Ford showed the world that it has the knowledge to create very capable hot hatches.

The focus ST also called the ST 225 has two variants, a three door and five door hatchback. There is no estate version available of this generation.
Ford wanted to let everybody know that this car is serious hardware, when the car was introduced it broke the record at the Nürburgring. This happened at the introduction and also when the facelift was introduced. Back then there were not many manufacturers that tested their preformance cars at the ring.

The great appeal of the ST is the fact you can use this car as a daily driver but you can also drive it fast on the circuit if you want. If you want to go more hardcore Ford also had an RS on sale, but this car is less of a compromise between comfort and sportiness.

The ST was however made by the same team as the RS, so both cars are quite serious machines. The ST came to the market in 2005, in 2008 there was the first facelift but the facelift was not any faster performance wise. All focus ST’s had a turbocharged 2.5 20 valve Volvo engine that was connected to a six speed manual transmission.

0 to 100 KM/H (or 0 to 60 miles) was done in 6,8 seconds. Topspeed was 241 KM/H. Ford’s inhouse tuner had a sports package available, with the package the power figures changed, 260 HP and 400 NM. Sprints from 0 to 60 sprints could now be done 1,5 second faster.

A quick look online shows me that there are about 25 cars available on a Dutch car trader website. The cheapest cars were 7500 euro and the most expensive 14.000 euro’s. The ratio between 3 or 5 door cars was about 50/50. Most cars are available in wit, grey or black. This being a special car it also have special colours available like orange, red and off course blue.

Strongpoints of the car

Great combination between use ability and sportiness
Great five cylinder soundtrack.
Great performance, especially with the mountune package

Attention points of the car

Driveline
The tension rollers of the timing belt of the five cylinder sometimes will break around 75.000 kilometres, so make sure they are recently replaced or negation to have them replaced while buying the car. If you decide to chance them then also make sure to chance the timing belt itself and the water pump, this is safe you a lot of labour costs in the future. If you have to do these repairs separate the mechanics need much more overall time resulting in higher costs.

Pre facelift cars can sometimes have troubles with torn cylinder walls. A signal of things failing can be found near the oil filler cap. You can find a mayonnaise kind of substance on the inside of the filler cap, cars can then also have misfires. If this happens, walk away or negotiate a new price including a engine swap. These problems occur mostly in the tuned various of the ST.

Next thing that can break is the oilfilterhouse, symptons of this can be heard in a strange whistling sound coming from the engine when idling.
Also check the turbo pressure meter; an original car, in other words a car that was not tuned, the pressure gage of the turbo will just exceed over half of the scale. After releasing the gas pedal it will go back to about half a bar of pressure. Does your car show different values, then you can almost be certain your ST is chipped.

Then if the car under load does not exceed over a quarter, then the coil of the turbo valve is broke. This part will cost about 100 euro and an average techie will be able to replace this part himself.
The clutch is also an attention point, especially from the pre-facelift cars. The clutch can slip when releasing it full torque potential to it. You could also choice to mount the clutch of the RS instead, these are more wear and tear proof. When doing so, do not forget the dual-mass flywheel and some other RS parts. This could be costly.

Also there was a recall at Ford because the drive shafts started ticking. If the drive shaft ticks this is a good indication that the recall has not been applied yet. Solving these problems can be solved for not too much money at a specialist or Ford dealer. If you ignore this problem then chances are you will have to replace the whole driveshaft and this will run you about 500 euro is costs.
Some owners complained the fuel sensor will break down on some cars.

Chassis

The carrying arms of the chassis are sensitive, check for thumping sounds at speed bumps.
The wishbones on the front are mounted with liquid-filled cans. These start to leak, causing the tires on the inside to wear harder and you have more trouble with torque-steer. The solution: If you swear by original parts you have to buy the wishbones including buses at Ford.

Interior

Some Focus IIs suffer from leakage in the trunk along the hinges of the tailgate. Check whether the upholstery is dry and if there is no water under the trunk floor.
The seats are great, but the rear attachment of the driver’s seat sometimes breaks off. Check weter the chair does not wobble.

Others

The reservoir of the wiper fluid sometimes leaks, but replacement means that the mudguard must be removed from the car. That is labor-intensive, so expensive.
If you fill up with petrol with a higher octane rating, you can have a lot of fun here. Journalists tested Octane 95 and 98 at the time, the difference was almost 20 hp.
And talking about refuelling: you will start to call the gasstation attendent by its first name soon, if you use the power frequently, then the five-cylinder is enjoys taking a sip.