I'd love to see how that could have gone with evenly matched tires.

at the beginning, the guy in the fiesta doesn't seem too excited.

I was getting quotes for a Fiesta ST until I drove the FR-S.

Sat in a fiesta st at the auto show yesterday. I was surprised I really liked it. The recaro seats are amazing. I think the one on display stickered at $26k!

The Fiesta ST is an amazing little car for a ridiculous price.

The base car (before TTL) is $21,400. The Recaro seats are a $1,999 option, though...

SO TIRED of comparisons with the awful stock tires. I feel these reviews would have gone so much better in the way of the twins if they came stock with a semi-sticky tire.

It was a fair comparison because it was stock to stock of two cars close to the same class and price. A bit of a BRZ advantage because it is a little more expensive. What I would really like to see is the same comparison but have teams modify each car up to a total spend amount (e.g., $40k in base price for the car plus retail price of mods). I think you could then really see what the platform is capable of versus other cars.

The overwhelming majority of reviewers love the Fiesta ST. I drove both the Fiesta ST and the Focus ST back to back and the Fiesta ST is much lighter and more 'flickable.' The reviewers always comment on the fun to drive factor exactly like they do with the FRS/BRZ twins. I see the Fiesta ST on cars.com right around 20 thou for a base car. That's a $5000 dollar difference with a new FR-S. Could be the deciding point for a lot of folks who are poor like me :)

I have a Fiesta ST with the mountune kit. It's certainly fun and does feel faster than my BRZ but the BRZ is the more fun toy.

http://oi57.tinypic.com/aw5fn4.jpg

Ignore the bike..

We've made it through one whole page of a comparison between the twins and a FWD hatchback and not one person has come on to tell us all how this is a ridiculous comparison because they're not both RWD coupes... this forum is obviously losing its identity.

^I agree it was a stupid comparison. Just because they are the same price doesnt mean they should be compared. We who purchased the twins purchased them because they are the best choice for a RWD Japanese sports car for the price. If your on the fence about FWD or RWD, or USDM or JDM, you must really not know what you want. I think the only NEW car the FRS should be compared to is the MX-5.

People who buy cars just because they are USDM or JDM REALLY don't know what they want.

You two are hilarious in your elitism with RWD.

When it comes to shopping, the general public cares about the bottom line and if both cars cost nearly the same, they will get lumped together. In the end, both cars are about giddy fun factor and not RWD vs FWD.

No one I know who has driven the ST versions of the Focus or the Fiesta have said they hated it. It's a very fun car.

As for reliability? Only time will tell...

I sat in both this and the Focus ST at the car show and felt like the Fiesta ST seats were way too tight for me whereas the Focus ST had just enough more room. And even though the seat was tight, I still felt like I was perched sitting high no matter how I adjusted it. And as much as I preferred the Focus ST seats, the FR-S seats are better than both. I feel like I wear the seat without feeling like a fat person in spandex.