Aman

Conrats again! Beautiful colour, let's see some more pics!

charliemike

Thanks Aman. I will definitely shoot some this weekend.

RPhilMan1

She looks great.

pttl

What'd I miss? I can't see pics from work.

Congrats Man!

So what color is it?

charliemike

Performance Blue ST3 package and sunroof. My Ford Touch, Recaros, etc ... Listened to music on the way in to my customer and the quality of the source material really makes a difference!

007Acura

Congrats!! That is my favorite Ford color!

Costco

You know how much you and I differ in taste sometimes. But I would love an ST in the same color as well. Congrats!

charliemike

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. It was interesting being on that Ford dealer lot with a ton of Mustang GTs ... A part of me wanted to test drive one

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Nice pick up...ever since that other ST thread, I've been quite enthralled with this little focus. A serious powerhouse, who would have thought?!

I know what you mean about the color too...that's how I felt when I sold my Blaze Orange RSX...my fiancee said that after our first date, she was like "man, that guy must not have been hugged enough as a kid".

charliemike

I've never heard that said about a car color before ... But it would explain why I liked the Tangerine Scream in person

nokiaman

Looks beautiful Dave!

charliemike

Thanks Mark! Let me know when you're allowed back in the country and we'll meet up

pttl

Car looks great Man! Enjoy it!

MR1

Nice car but did I miss the transitional thread? Did you ditch the VW or BMW and when?

charliemike

I asked Yummy to combine my car buying threads. I traded the Jetta on Saturday for the Focus. Still have the BMW and will be keeping it for a while as my DD. I have almost 300 miles on the ST already ... I want to manage the miles as best I can for the time being.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

yeah, me too...flashy colors have always been my thing. She's a psychology major so she analyzes everything like that.

I'm looking forward to more impressions of the car.

charliemike

Drove the 328i today and and will again tomorrow into the city for work ... It's funny, now that I have a nicer car than the BMW to drive I'm far less bitter about owning the E36 ... LOL

charliemike

One more mod request ... Could I get this thread changed to Charliemike's E36 328i and 2013 Focus ST thread? Thanks Yummy for merging my threads as well.

charliemike

Got the clear bra and window tint done. Pictures today I hope.

Taking the car to the dealer tomorrow because it doesn't feel like 252hp. Almost like the car is in delivery/valet mode or something. I ws watching Fifth Gear review the ST and my car is most definitely not as wild or hooligan as they said. It feels like I really have to spank it to get any juice out of it. It drives fine but feels like it has 200hp (adequate) and not what I kept reading it has.

RPhilMan1

Well that's just odd. Is this the same ST you test drove?

How does the boost gauge act? I wonder if you may have a loose inlet hose or something.

And where the hell are the pictures?

SuperTrooper169

iTrader: (2)

Congrats on the ST!!! I've been traveling a lot lately so haven't been able to keep up with AZine. Great choice of package/color! All the best luck with it!

Hope the dealer helps figure out the power issue. As Phil said it might be a loose inlet hose as they've been prone to blow off during hard acceleration.

charliemike

Between work, school, and the weather I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet. In fact I gave it my first bath at about 7pm on Wednesday night and was drying it in the dark ...

I'm looking at adding these mods:

Upgraded Rear Motor Mount

Eibach Sport Springs with a .8" drop (my driveway won't allow anything lower):



Cobb AccessPort

Likely this MRT Axleback Exhaust:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1KAmnN1w-GM?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Fifteen52 Tarmac F40s if they aren't retardedly $$$:

RPhilMan1

Do you know which RMM you are leaning towards?

The Eibach Pro-Kit drops 1.0" in the front and 1.2" in the rear.

Hit up Chalon @ Perfect Circle Autosports for a quote on the F40s. They are going to be crazy expensive, most likely, as they are a three-piece (or can be made, not sure if only).

But Chalon is a good guy. That's who I ordered my TD wheels from.

charliemike

Ok I can deal with a 1" drop the extra 2/10ths of a inch won't make or break things.

Thanks for the contact at Perfect Circle. I didn't think the F40s were anything more than the Cast Tarmacs with the cutouts.

03tLsNBP

iTrader: (9)

I've seen those wheels on a lot of VW's but they look especially awesome on the ST

chill_dog

Nice mod list...it's going to look very good.

charliemike

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

The car is really impressive for $29k. I would like a couple of little features but otherwise I can't complain at all.

It generally has everything I could want in a daily driver. I have almost 600 miles on it in two weeks. And as a nice by product I actually enjoy the 328i more because it isn't the nicer of my two cars

ttribe

What's the word on the reduced power issue you were having?

Hapa DC5

How did I miss that you got an ST? Congrats man!

charliemike

It was me driving like a pussy.

The power curve on this car isn't what I am used to (my Speed3 was traded five years ago) and I finally gave it the beans a bit and realized it needs to be driven

charliemike

Even as I say that, there seems to be some pretty nasty turbo lag under 1500RPMs ... So if I'm trying to get out in front of someone, there's a moment where I'm like, "Err, Derpmobile, you gonna do something?" and then it goes like stink.

charliemike

Well, the Tarmac F40s are probably out. The wheels are about $330 each for just the plain front and cast (not 3pc) ... Fifteen52 wants $1100 a wheel for the F40 style.

Yeah, $770 to cut out a little bit of the face. I understand they are in business to make money but that's just, I dunno, insulting.

I wonder if I bought regular Tarmacs, could I find someone local to machine them.

charliemike

This was my 2007 Speed3 Gran Touring ... Speed CAI/CBE, Hotchkis sways ... Put 275hp/287tq out at the wheels in stock tune. Never did get a motor mount for it.

charliemike

Even though the Focus ST is six years newer, it is only about $3k more than the Speed3 was at the time and is a much nicer car. I did miss the Mazda though.

RPhilMan1

Downshift. If you are at the highest gears already, you should be spinning the tires and banging the motor mount. There is no such thing as turbo lag with the K03 turbo. Full amount of torque at 2,500 RPM... BOOST!

Even at 5th or 6th gear on the highway you can pass anybody like a beast. 23 PSI in fifth gear? Yeah, I'm gone.

charliemike

Downshifting definitely works ... But I still feel like below certain RPMs it's a bit laggy. I'm wondering if a tune fixes that.

charliemike

I got the oil catch can and have some spacers (20mm Front, 25mm Rear) due this week. Since the wheels I want are like $4400 I'm going to just try to work on the appearance for a while until something better than stock comes along.

I need to put in the order for the axle back ... $700 is just more than I want to spend on an exhaust.

charliemike

Did I even bother getting it tinted?

I went with 50% and I feel like I might as well have not done it at all. Plus the job wasn't done as well as I'd like. Oh well. If it bothers me enough this summer, I'll get 35% done. I was thinking the windows were already fairly dark from the factory. Not THAT dark, apparently.

And I'm a terrible photographer

Costco

I've seen that color in person and you do it no justice

How strict are your tint laws?? It's subtle enough to go under the radar but yeah, doesn't look like it's tinted really.

rossv1

If you hadn't said it was tinted, I wouldn't have known.


What are the tint laws like where you are? I'd go 35 or so if it's legal.