Ford SVT Focus

[Holyterror]

Originally posted by kidrocket
The nissan spec V is a joke. It has been tested consistantly to put down anywhere from 130 something to 140 hp which is indicative of a car rated at 160-165. Nissan is gonna have to do better than that if they wanna step up to the plate.

Holyterror, defender of the Nissan faith, rushes to parry kidrocket's thrust, and...

Ouch. You're disappointed in the SE-R? You're not the only one. The Spec V and Focus SVT both lack a lot of straight line muscle. But then, who buys a FWD compact for drag racing? Oh yeah, Honda guys. But let's move back to a plane of reality where things make sense.

These cars are purpose-built. The SVT Focus screams "rally," while the Spec V says with a wry smile, "autocross, please." Even with the open differential (which some of us still care about), the Focus has got to be one of the best cars to thrash around a dirt road for under 20k. This thing is 6k less than the nearest WRX! What about the Sentra? Put a little money down, and what do you get? Take it to the skidpad, or any curvy stretch of tarmac, and expect to see the same numbers you got from your Integra Type R. And this thing has 4 doors.

I do think that it was a grave error on Nissan's part to put the QR25DE in the Spec V. It may have been a mistake to design the motor in the first place. Performance-minded people would skip over the 2.5 Altima anyway, so they could've continued using the KA24. The SE-R really deserves the VQ25DET that's going into the Stagea. The QR25DE abandons many of the principles that made Nissan motors great in the past. Make the crank turn counter-clockwise and it's a highly polished Honda motor. Even the most sleepy Nissan motors, in the past, could be transformed into some pretty mean chunks of metal just by adding a turbocharger (or a bigger turbocharger). I have long been an advocate of buying an F-Max turbo kit for a 240SX rather than trying to "go Silvia." But what if you take away the thick, sand cast block, you're looking at a very small plate of boost, with a side of detonation. Maybe someone should look into VTEC? :smoker2:

Psst. Hey Nissan. Can I get a little neo-VVL over here?

So the question is, will the QR25 stand up to moderate boost? If it will, then it's just the 240SX all over again. True, the number 6 cruising gear is sort of unbecoming of a car with such a low redline, but that's an issue for highway warriors, not auto-Xers or drag racers. And just keep thinking about those prices... yeah, they're nice.

I'm keeping my eye on the SRT4. I'm getting used to new cars being ugly.

Okay, I'm finished. Oh, this is a Focus thread? Ooops!

[kidrocket]

ouch.
hey youre right about new cars being ugly
new Civic Si anyone?

looks like a focus had sex with a minivan. no offense i like the focus' looks. But as for the nissans handling, The type R would outperform it on any road course. stock for stock anyway. But that is because it is basically a street legal race car. Honda even left out the sound insulation under the carpet to save an extra 20 pounds. makes for a very loud ride, but who cares about that in autoX? HOWEVER, any car with a little bit of cash, some new tires etc, can become a nice weekend warrior.

and as for the Focus, I only say that because upon the announcement of its arrival, all its worshippers were praising this little domestic compact that would compete with the likes of the Civic Si, Integra, Eclipse etc.
I dunno how many magazines ive read that introduce the focus by comparing it to the other compacts. But no way in hell would i put my civic against one in a rally race.

16.1 seems like a very small deficit, when you have a little cash to spend as well. a few mods will have itright in the fray with the best of them on the streets as well

[zane11]

I'm a big ser fan. It out performed all the cars so its my pic and for handleing i hear its hands down the best. I'd stick with that.

[flylwsi]

what are spec v skidpad and 60-0 times though?

the focus svt times are listed in a previous post at .91g and 170ft... how does that compare to the spec v, b/c i dont know...

and if you are going to autocross, dont you want an mp3, which has a higher slalom speed than a zo6, indicative of some great handling?

[LiquidSilverSpecV]

If you listen to the Ford enthusiasts and even some very biassed magazine writers the Ford Fucus SVT is the best handling car in the world!

These idiots are saying that this POS can out handle a Porche 911 and a Corvette Z06. Come on give me a fucking break!

Then there is all that wonderful Ford reliability! The Focus has 13 recalls to date. POS!

If anybody is thinking of this car, check out this URL.

http://www.autosafety.org/pressreleases/FordFocus.htm

Stay far, far, far from any vehicle brandishing a blue oval.

My 2 cents.

[kidrocket]

so when you get burned by an SVT focus, you can say "whew, im glad i didnt buy that car instead!"

[LiquidSilverSpecV]

The only people who will get burned by a Focus are those poor saps who get scammed into buying one by some very agressive marketing and some biased magazine articles.

I HAVE run an SVT Focus and smoked him.

[kidrocket]

Im sorry but no matter how you slice it, foci, civics and im sorry to inform you, your precious little spec V that ran like 16.2 but somehow has beaten all kinds of faster cars, are mediocre cars at best. 15 second quarter miles if we're lucky.

[pinyoot4you]

spec v runs about 15.3-15.5 in a 1/4 mile

[kidrocket]

maybe if you drop it off a cliff. but even if god behind the wheel could pull off 15.3, ITS STILL 15.3!!!!


NOT FAST AT ALL!!!

[LiquidSilverSpecV]

Im sorry but no matter how you slice it, foci, civics and im sorry to inform you, your precious little spec V that ran like 16.2 but somehow has beaten all kinds of faster cars, are mediocre cars at best. 15 second quarter miles if we're lucky

Not sure what your problem is but did you ever hear me say that the specV is a "fast car"? No. What I said is that the SVT is a piece of shit with typical Ford quality. I know all the cars you mentioned are not fast. Hell some of them ain't even quick.

Oh, and just FYI the SpecV will run 14.9 in the 1/4. Still not fast but you really should get your facts straight.

[pinyoot4you]

kidrocket
i never said the spec is fast, a 800hp supra TT is fast,
just correcting on your wrong information,
calm down dude, it seems like you just wanna start something

[kidrocket]

depends on the 800 hp supra. Most Supras that make gobs of hp have bigass single turbos and put out insane horsepower numbers but from a stop can get burned by a car with half the horsepower. I wouldnt try to run one of those on the highway though. Im not saying youre wrong though. 800hp in anything is pretty fast no matter how long it takes to access.
And im not trying to start anything but it seems that The nissan brigade is, by dissing on fords, and by coming into the HONDA/ACURA forum and posting about how miraculous their little spec v is clobbering GSRs and the like. It seems like to you people, no matter what, if it isnt a spec v, its crap. I beg to differ

[Si 2 Si]

We have our own review right here on AF

http://www.automotivearticles.com/ge...e&articleid=20

Fun car Thumbs up in my book

[pinyoot4you]

nah, it ain't nothing like that.... i'm a CAR enthusiast, not only a spec v enthusiast, i just love cars in general....it seemed to me that you were dissing focuses too, kidrocket...

besides that dude in the honda/acura forum that started the spec v vs. gsr thread owns an integra too, he's talkin from experience and he has ls vtec which is more powerful than gsr, i'm not sure if he's telling the truth or not, but you never know