Ford 'overclocks' New Focus St: More Top-end Power, Better Fuel Efficiency

#1 PCWorld

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 10:41 AM

Post your comments for Ford 'Overclocks' New Focus ST: More Top-End Power, Better Fuel Efficiency here

#2 mustangraptor03

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 11:25 AM

"...programmed the car's computer to let the engine go past 3000 RPM to 4500 RPM..." That has to be a typo unless the engine is a diesel

#3 Evildave

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 11:49 AM

Ford Focus ST: Tiny car, lousy fuel economy (21/31).

Priced as high as a Prius that's actually larger, and has downright adequate performance. Pass everyone on the grapevine uphills and still average nearly 50MPG for the trip.

Move the rear spoiler on this car to the bottom of the rear window, and it's practically indistinguishable, visually, from a Prius.

Pay too much for an 'economy' sized car with mini van fuel economy, but the 'brain' will let you redline the engine, so you can blow it inside of six years.

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#4 Samr614

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 11:59 AM

You obviously aren't car guys... I'm pretty sure that engine in stock form could rev past 3000 rpm... more like 6.5-7k. I also kind of doubt that the expert engineers at Ford had to look at gaming computers to realize that an engine needs a cooling system. Just saying.

#5 drstove2

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 12:58 PM

Since this article is primarily about Ford boosting the power on its Focus ST, it sure would have been nice if the changes had been quantified beyond RPM. How much horsepower does overclocking add? About about some 0-60 times?

#6 preferreduser

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 12:59 PM

Samr614, on 24 May 2012 - 11:59 AM, said:

+1 for sure I was thinking exactly the same thing definitely not car geeks .

#7 Evildave

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 01:37 PM

Well, that's Ford, though.

Slap a a fancy radio with voice recognition in the dash, massively overcharge for it, and market the hell out of cars barely any better than the ones they made in the 1990s.

They like to make several versions of one car model. Tell you the fuel economy of the hybrid, and the price of the base model, and present premium features, like 'park assist' as if it's in all the cars at the base trim level, too.

You see it in their ads and commercials all the time. Not that Ford is unique in this practice.

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#8 DTNick

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 01:45 PM

mustangraptor03, on 24 May 2012 - 11:25 AM, said:

"...programmed the car's computer to let the engine go past 3000 RPM to 4500 RPM..." That has to be a typo unless the engine is a diesel

We're double-checking this. Thanks for the heads-up.

--Nick

#9 42n81

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Posted 24 May 2012 - 03:20 PM

WOOOOHOOOO!

15 seconds of boost. Long enough to get into trouble. Unfortunately, not long enough to outrun it.

#10 MeDotOrg

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Posted 16 June 2012 - 06:08 AM

"Unfortunately, the problem with owning a traditional sports car in 2012 is that they're huge, and their gas mileage isn't up to modern standards."

Hello? Miata? Scion FRS? Welcome to Planet Earth, Guys.