Ask Bark: To Focus ST or Not (Plus An Update!)

Tommy writes:

I love reading your columns, and have a question that I think you’ll enjoy. I’ve been living in Washington, D.C. for seven years, about half of that time without a car. I’m planning on getting a raise soon, and with that, I’d like to buy a car. And not just any car, but an adult car that I can rely on to start when I need it, and not constantly have to wrench on the little things that break.

For so long now, I have wanted nothing more than a Focus ST. Everything I’ve read about them just screams to my inner child, and at 29, I think I can still listen to him because I’m not expecting a family any time soon.

However, when I think subjectively about my past preferences in cars, I realize that I’ve often found a whole lot of joy in big lazy road trip cars. For example, I inherited my late grandfather’s 1988 Crown Vic, drove it for 5 years, and absolutely loved every mile. I also just rented a 2016 Taurus Limited that was very comfortable for an eight-hour drive, and I loved the power.

I also owned a 1997 BMW 328is manual that was an absolute blast, and I loved the manual transmission, but at times found it a bit jarring and uncomfortable on city roads. The drive was worth it though, but it was a two door, and totally unusable for any more than one passenger.

So, if you were me, wanting a fairly responsible and reliable car in the $20,000-25,000 range, new or used, that can occasionally be used to comfortably drive four people some distance, do you have any interesting thoughts other than a FoST? Because man oh man, that FoST is calling my name, but I would probably do well to consider other options first.

Hey, Tommy, thanks for writing. I have a sneaking suspicion that you haven’t driven a Focus ST yet, because — I hate to break it to you — the Focus ST isn’t a comfortable car. Like, not at all. While it’s not as rough as its little brother, the Fiesta ST, it’s still a stiffly sprung car with uncomfortable seats. I’m 5’8 and 175 lbs, and I don’t fit into Focus ST Recaros. The Focus RS has the seats from the Boss 302 instead, because people pretty much hate riding in the FoST. Finally, if you thought your E36 was jarring, you’re going to find the Focus ST downright teeth-rattling.

You also mentioned liking the power of the Taurus (which is odd to me, because I feel like the Taurus is gutless), and while the FoST has decent power, it’s really a bit more of a momentum car. If you want grunt along with your comfort, I just don’t think the Focus is for you.

So what would be for you? Well, why not a Mustang? Oddly, the Mustang is a actually a little more comfortable to ride in than a Focus is, and the back seat really doesn’t have any less room. You can get a lot of pony for $25K, too — new V6s and EcoBoosts can be had all day long, and 2011-14 GTs can be had, too.

But the real answer is a Chrysler 300. No, you can’t have a stick, but in the DC area, that might be a positive. All the comfort you want, all the power, plenty of room for four adults, and the Pentastar engine is dead reliable. If you liked the Taurus, you’ll love the 300. It’s much, much better.

Here’s an update from Michael, who wrote to us about his Edge quandary. I think you’ll enjoy hearing from him!

Bark, thanks muchly for taking the time to answer my questions and make me a little smarter on modern engine tech. And thanks to all your readers who took the time to read my rambling analysis of the choices, make sense of it all, then provide honest feedback. Far from being an inane consideration, there’s nothing so expensive as buying the wrong vehicle for your wants/needs and trading earlier than you otherwise would.

The Sport is on order. As some noted, I definitely try to be the most practical person possible. So I definitely avoided the optional larger wheels, though most on the lot have them. Your readers really did come up with great suggestions. One of the first vehicles I considered was a Ridgeline or Colorado/Canyon. People seem to especially like the Ridgeline for its ability to do truck tasks without feeling “truck-like.” Those are always possibilities for the next purchase, should the Edge pass my wife to replace her ’07 Saturn Vue.

I expected the MKX as a recommendation and really like it. The only reason it became a second choice for us was between the two of us we wanted all the bells and whistles. The MKX is a great value as a base model, but becomes more expensive than the equivalent Edge when adding in all the options. At some point the budget kicked in to say we’ll be happy enough with the Ford.

In the end, the choice became easier once I realized that while the 2.0T is a fine base engine if we were looking at an SEL, we wanted enough options that the cost of stepping up the engine wasn’t much. I realized I drive the above-mentioned Vue (four-cylinder, front-wheel drive) with my foot to the floor all the time, so figured I’d be into the turbo all the time if I went that way, negating any fuel economy benefit. The 3.5-liter would’ve been more than adequate. At the end of the day, if this vehicle is a decade-long purchase like the last couple I’ve had, I’m not going to notice the cost difference in either purchase price or fuel over that time frame.

Thanks again to you and all the commenters!

Mike E

See? We really are changing lives here with Ask Bark, so keep sending those questions to me at barkm302@gmail.com and we’ll keep answering them, together.