Liking, but not loving my car. What single mod "made" the car for you?

[felopr]

More supportive seats did it for me. I had the base seats like you and swapped in some from a BRZ. They're a perfect hybrid of comfort and support.

That not a simple mod, that is more like a proyect lol

 

[Olephart]

I don't get the original premise of this thread. I get all the replies from folks that have said what mods did it for them in terms of making the FiST more appealing, but what I don't get is that it is "sterile" in the first place. It may be clunky, rattly, bouncy, skittish, twitchy, cheap and plasticy, but "sterile" would be the furthest adjective in my mind to describe it. Mine has no mods at all, and I enjoy it immensely and think it has plenty of character. Sterile is an Audi.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I don't get the original premise of this thread. I get all the replies from folks that have said what mods did it for them in terms of making the FiST more appealing, but what I don't get is that it is "sterile" in the first place. It may be clunky, rattly, bouncy, skittish, twitchy, cheap and plasticy, but "sterile" would be the furthest adjective in my mind to describe it. Mine has no mods at all, and I enjoy it immensely and think it has plenty of character. Sterile is an Audi.

The basis for comparison is a 500 Abarth. Compared to the Abarth, the ST *is* sterile. Comparing the st to an Audi, yes, the Audi seems sterile. The Abarth is the most motorcycle-y car I’ve driven, just looking to get that same excitement from the new ride. After the Abarth, the st is just kinda boring me. It’s all relative to what you’re comparing your st to.

 

[FLORIDAST]

The basis for comparison is a 500 Abarth. Compared to the Abarth, the ST *is* sterile. Comparing the st to an Audi, yes, the Audi seems sterile. The Abarth is the most motorcycle-y car I’ve driven, just looking to get that same excitement from the new ride. After the Abarth, the st is just kinda boring me. It’s all relative to what you’re comparing your st to.

Maybe the ST isn't for you. It's a very smooth car and isn't loud unless you make it loud and the handling is incredible for this type of car. The biggest kick in the pants is going to be an Access Port and and an E30 tune or getting a bigger turbo. The turbo is the real bottleneck in these cars.

 

[zanethan]

That not a simple mod, that is more like a proyect lol

He didn't say it had to be a simple mod. He asked for what single mod.

 

[DaveG99]

I guess maybe you miss the sound of the stock abarth exhaust. The stock exhaust in the ST is super quiet. So get a MBRP and your problems are solved. Plenty of sweet noise comes out of the MBRP. And the fiesta ST is anything but "sterile". The fiesta st is probably the only car under $25k that many auto journalists went out and bought because its so much fun. And if you watch any youtube videos of reviewers talking about the fiesta ST they all praise it and agree that its one of the most fun cars anyone has ever made. And it even placed 3rd in the R and T performance car of the year behind the C7 and AMG mercedes.

 

[30packdlg]

I need to drive a fiat abarth I guess to truly know, what's it rev to?. Go to an autocross and you'll love the fiesta st. It beats so many cars! That's all I've done and really love the car just stock with some sticky tires. I'm sure your just feeling the near 200 pound weight difference between the abarth and st and the exhaust. Any way I kinda like the 124 abarth think it may be cheaper than the comparable Miata

 

[Clint Beastwood]

He didn't say it had to be a simple mod. He asked for what single mod.

Accurate - I'm not afraid of getting hands dirty, I just don't want to go to the point of ruining my daily driver or voiding my warranty.
One of my favorite bikes I've ever owned was a Yamaha FZ1 - I modded it for years and loved it more and more. Once I did cams, the bike was ruined - great GREAT power, and comfortable for trips, but cams totally ruined off-peak performance. I loved the bike because of its versatility, and killed the versatility by narrowing (but greatly enhancing!!) the powerband.

 

[Quasar]

Cobb Accessport for sure. Then a custom tune.

Do some research. Before I bought this car I didn't know an Accessport existed and it is about the coolest mod I could ever dream of for a car. It gives you so many options and can change the driving experience. With the Cobb OTS tunes, the gas pedal felt very spongy and I hated it. I went to a Stratified custom tune and the gas pedal is very sensitive now and the throttle response seems much better. You get custom shift lights, launch control, flat foot shifting, custom tunes, and you can monitor about 200 parameters of the vehicles performance. It is hands down the best mod for the car in my, and many others opinion.

It's only $500 and if you decide that you don't want to keep the car they have great re-sale value, typically go for $400+ used. A no-brainer in my opinion.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I need to drive a fiat abarth I guess to truly know, what's it rev to?. Go to an autocross and you'll love the fiesta st. It beats so many cars! That's all I've done and really love the car just stock with some sticky tires. I'm sure your just feeling the near 200 pound weight difference between the abarth and st and the exhaust. Any way I kinda like the 124 abarth think it may be cheaper than the comparable Miata

The Abarth revs to 6500 rpm without a tune, which is fine because the heap of midrange is what it's all about. After a tune I think some people were hitting 7300-7500 somewhere in there. I know that by all relative metrics the ST is the "better" car, I just found the Abarth more fun. As a daily, the ST is more comfortable, more practical, and it seems to have handling that is more... conventional (the Abarth sticks really well in corners, but the high seating position makes you feel like you're going to fall out the window the first few times )

Maybe I need a resonator delete and a slight pops and crackles map, the upshift-downshift pops are something I really miss. I still don't know how the abarth was muffler-less but had *zero* drone on the highway.

For anyone taking offense to me calling the ST sterile, let me clarify - I said it because the car's almost too good, everything's built well, it's very predictable, it's much more quiet and refined than my abarth - but *to me* (opinion!) it simply has a lot less "character". Character is important to me - it's why generally didn't own Honda or BMW motorcycles, they were all engineered so well that they became kinda bland. Heck, look at the fanbases the original beetle and citroen 2cv have, both are, by modern standards, *terrible*, but people love them. I wouldn't want a pet dog that just sits there perfectly well behaved all the time, I want a dog that's a goober and does weird stuff. I didn't marry a woman that did everything I said and quietly agrees with me all the time, I married a woman that embarrasses me by yelling at the TV at the bar when the Lakers are playing and can, when provoked, trash talk in online games with the best (worst?) of 'em.

I've got my mod list, and I'll continue down that path, but I'm also shopping for a weekender right now - maybe a 124 spider or another 500 abarth to keep me happy until I am medically able to ride a motorcycle again - then the whole thing will be moot. I'd be totally happy with the ST if I could ride one of my motorcycles, but I can't and it's driving me insane.

 

[Quasar]

I'm scared of doing a tune now :| maybe it'll change when I get a better sense of how Ford dealers are. I had an F150 lightning for a while but it was OOW, dealership experience was ok, they just wanted to talk about the truck. I'm just wary of rejected warranty claims on my DD. The only reason I've wanted a tune so far was really to get rid of the rev hang, that's pretty infuriating. Even stock the car pops a lot on downshifts, its just really quiet (a gentle "floomp" when decelerating). RMM seems safe tho, that's definitely on the roadmap, I can feel the engine slopping back and forth. It seems to be the trend with vehicles now, I had to do a poly rear mount on my Abarth too, the engine moved so much stock that my intake hose was bouncing off a radiator support bolt.

Mountune sells a warranty approved tune with a restricted accessport (don't get all of the features), but it will cost you. Check out the MP215 on their website. I had the MP215 on my vehicle for a while. I have no complaints with the tune, but if I could do it all over again I would have just bought an accessport and not paid the premium through Mountune for the peace of mind. I haven't heard of people having issues with tunes ruining their cars when going through a reputable tuner.

 

[zanethan]

Liking, but not loving my car. What single mod "made" the car for you?

I guess maybe you miss the sound of the stock abarth exhaust. The stock exhaust in the ST is super quiet. So get a MBRP and your problems are solved. Plenty of sweet noise comes out of the MBRP. And the fiesta ST is anything but "sterile". The fiesta st is probably the only car under $25k that many auto journalists went out and bought because its so much fun. And if you watch any youtube videos of reviewers talking about the fiesta ST they all praise it and agree that its one of the most fun cars anyone has ever made. And it even placed 3rd in the R and T performance car of the year behind the C7 and AMG mercedes.

I think he mostly misses the "quirks" of Italian engineering. I will whole heartedly agree that there is a special flair that only the Italians can spur. Life with Italian engineering is always a mystery. Is my car going to start today? Is it going to try to kill me? Is it only going to run on half the cylinders? Will it decide to run perfectly? Will it go up in a fireball? You just never know!

BTW I totally get what the OP is saying as I ride Ducati's. There are TONS of faster bikes out there but they just don't feel 'right'.

I believe the FiST feels sterile to the OP because it lacks that I don't know WTF is going to happen today aspect. He knows it will start up in a perfectly normal fashion and do what is asked without trying to buck him or fight him. There is no denying that on paper and around a track the FiST is a superior car but it lacks that am I going to make it where I'm going thrill.

What the OP is seeking is a perfectly imperfect car, at least that's how I am reading the OP. On that note I'm not sure the FiST will ever be that for him.

OP, maybe look into a FoST, in my opinion it has more of the "flare" I think your searching for.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Mountune sells a warranty approved tune with a restricted accessport (don't get all of the features), but it will cost you. Check out the MP215 on their website. I had the MP215 on my vehicle for a while. I have no complaints with the tune, but if I could do it all over again I would have just bought an accessport and not paid the premium through Mountune for the peace of mind. I haven't heard of people having issues with tunes ruining their cars when going through a reputable tuner.

Does the mountune... tune get rid of rev hang, or is it still there because of emissions?

 

[Clint Beastwood]

I think he mostly misses the "quirks" of Italian engineering. I will whole heartedly agree that there is a special flair that only the Italians can spur. Life with Italian engineering is always a mystery. Is my car going to start today? Is it going to try to kill me? Is it only going to run on half the cylinders? Will it decide to run perfectly? Will it go up in a fireball? You just never know!

BTW I totally get what the OP is saying as I ride Ducati's. There are TONS of faster bikes out there but they just don't feel 'right'.

I believe the FiST feels sterile to the OP because it lacks that I don't know WTF is going to happen today aspect. He knows it will start up in a perfectly normal fashion and do what is asked without trying to buck him or fight him. There is no denying that on paper and around a track the FiST is a superior car but it lacks that am I going to make it where I'm going thrill.

What the OP is seeking is a perfectly imperfect car, at least that's how I am reading the OP. On that note I'm not sure the FiST will ever be that for him.

OP, maybe look into a FoST, in my opinion it has more of the "flare" I think your searching for.

Yeah you get it - the Abarth was I think the third italian car I've owned, and was the best blend of "character" and "actually works" that I've found yet. Owning an italian car is consciously deciding to hate loving it, and also love hating it. Every italian vehicle I've ever ever touched has *always* made me ask "why the hell did they do it that way?" - With the Abarth... why are the window switches on the center console, but with the shifter between them? There's literally no way to roll both windows up/down at the same time. With Ducatis... why isn't there a steering stop to prevent the bars from denting the tank if the bike falls over? (they might now, I dont know - but you know the ducati dents I'm talking about, right? On the left side of a used craigslist bike there was almost always a dent right on the "d" in ducati )

 

[chicagoslick]

Cobb Stage One upgrade is a must. After that you just need to get out on a curvy road and drive. That is what made the car impressive to me. Reminded me of my younger years driving a modified Mazda RX-7 though Spearfish Canyon in SD...

 

[M0LTEN]

I foresee soon into the future you posting a review of the Fiesta with an accessport and tune.
Things will go from fun to funtastic.
to up the fun factor for you, like it did for me an accessport is a must.

 

[zanethan]

Yeah you get it - the Abarth was I think the third italian car I've owned, and was the best blend of "character" and "actually works" that I've found yet. Owning an italian car is consciously deciding to hate loving it, and also love hating it. Every italian vehicle I've ever ever touched has *always* made me ask "why the hell did they do it that way?" - With the Abarth... why are the window switches on the center console, but with the shifter between them? There's literally no way to roll both windows up/down at the same time. With Ducatis... why isn't there a steering stop to prevent the bars from denting the tank if the bike falls over? (they might now, I dont know - but you know the ducati dents I'm talking about, right? On the left side of a used craigslist bike there was almost always a dent right on the "d" in ducati )

Yep totally get it, as I said I really don't think the FiST will accomplish what you're going for no matter what you do to it. Don't get me wrong it's a fantastic little car but it's very hard to change the inherent personality of a car. Yes a tune will make it faster, yes an exhaust will sound nice, yes you can swap in a turbo and make 300 hp at the wheels but at the end of the day it will still do this without all the flair that your looking for. As I said check out the FoST it has that "you better pay attention or else" attitude. Also a Mazdaspeed3 would be worth a look.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Yep totally get it, as I said I really don't think the FiST will accomplish what you're going for no matter what you do to it. Don't get me wrong it's a fantastic little car but it's very hard to change the inherent personality of a car. Yes a tune will make it faster, yes an exhaust will sound nice, yes you can swap in a turbo and make 300 hp at the wheels but at the end of the day it will still do this without all the flair that your looking for. As I said check out the FoST it has that "you better pay attention or else" attitude. Also a Mazdaspeed3 would be worth a look.

heh yeah had a lil history with MS3, went with an SRT4 at the time though. I like cars with a personality, even if that personality is a total d***head
You want to accelerate? FINE lets change lanes then too (mazdaspeed)

I'll probably break down and get a tune at some point, I want to get past a few thousand miles at least so any new car problems work their way out. I thought about mountune but their tunes are so expensive for what you get, and the fact that the accessport is locked to that tune is kinda bleh.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

next functional mod is an rmm, next personality mod is probably resonator delete just for a little growl without drone. I know it won't do anything for performance, but if it makes me smile it's a success.

 

[slowcord]

Id say drop in filter, so you can actually hear the turbo and possibly an exhaust delete then a tune.