Need input from owners that live in hot weather state.

[Jingx73]

Hi, i just signed up today. I have been lurking this thread for about 5 months now because im thinking of purchasing a FiST sometime this year. Before i ask my question let me tell you about myself:

I love manaul transmission cars, my first car was a 1995 Honda Del sol (1999-2010) second was a Mazdaspeed 3 first gen, OTS TUNE by Hypertech(2010-2016), BMW X3( current, not manual 😔) And both delsol and MS3 have been a solid cars for me. I daily drive my cars (about 90 - 100 miles a day) so i really need a reliable car, also i do have a good understanding with turbo cars and wrenching.
But i have a couple of questions. i need input from anybody that lives in Florida, Texas and other states that has 100 deg temp all year long, because i am afraid of overheating problems.

1.) how is your car holding up during stop and go traffic with 100 deg weather?
2.) What mods did you install that can prevent overheating of the engine?

I would love to hear your input.

 

[codestp202]

I think you would be completely fine if you got the car and upgraded to the Mishimoto radiator / fan shroud then you shouldn't have to worry too much. The intercooler is also a weakpoint, you will heatsoak it in hard driving. But for around 1k you can do radiator, intercooler, and build your own oil cooler then temps would never be an issue.

 

[STAZ15]

When I was stock it took the Arizona heat in stop and go no problem. Even when I was running stage 3 Cobb kit. Of course the intercooler had been changed. Like it was said above the stock intercooler will suffer from heat soak but it that's to be expected. Now I'm running a bigger turbo and I decided I had to go with the mishimoto radiator and I'm super glad I did since it's already broke 100 twice this week [emoji24]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jingx73]

That sounds great, im feeling the FiST since its a great handling car , good mileage and my monthly payment wil be half of what i am paying right now. Also there is not a lot of it here in west palm. So far i have seen one molten orange in boca raton area only and i drive every day all over west palm beach and surrounding county which makes this car rare.

 

[McSwine]

I live in Little Rock where it gets hot as hell and my ST never faltered in the heat and stop and go traffic. It's tuned and had a catback but I didn't do anything to address overheating.

 

[Jingx73]

I live in Little Rock where it gets hot as hell and my ST never faltered in the heat and stop and go traffic. It's tuned and had a catback but I didn't do anything to address overheating.

thats re assuring. My concern is its very tight engin compartment and very restrictive radiator airflow. I canmt wait to start my FiST shopping in about a month or 2. Looking for 2017 platinum white.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Also there is not a lot of it here in west palm. So far i have seen one molten orange in boca raton area only and i drive every day all over west palm beach and surrounding county which makes this car rare.

It's probably like around here where; Ferrari 488 GTBs, Viper GTSes/ACRs and P-car GT3s are MUCH MORE 'common' than OUR rides!! LOL!

 

[BronxBomber]

Been driving for over 14 months on a tuned hybrid turbo over 17k miles and never any issues with overheating.

 

[Jingx73]

It's probably like around here where; Ferrari 488 GTBs, Viper GTSes/ACRs and P-car GT3s are MUCH MORE 'common' than OUR rides!! LOL!

we have a lot of challenger sxt , scat pack and tesla here lol

Been driving for over 14 months on a tuned hybrid turbo over 17k miles and never any issues with overheating.

Good to know. I usually rack up about 25k a year on my cars. My mazdaspeed 3 had 180k on it.

 

[Intuit]

Late 90s GM DexCool issues aside, are manufacturers really engineering vehicles that overheat when driven under equatorial or hot-arid conditions?

High humidity environments should favor heat transfer under active cooling.

The real challenges occur with high altitude workloads and also super hot, low humidity, dusty environments.

If the intercooler is somehow proving to be a bottleneck in stop and sit traffic for a vehicle on stock programming and hardware, then it might benefit from an active cooling solution. (shroud and fan)

I assume Ford would've thoroughly tested under such conditions and engineered with at least a 10% overhead.

 

[Truth in Ruin]

You should be able to get a FiST really cheap where you're located. FYI, I travel all over the midwest for work (Texas, North Dakota, etc.), and I must say, road depending, the FiST can get very annoying at times, especially in Oklahoma lol. Just something to keep in mind. That said, the FiST is a blast!

 

[Jingx73]

Late 90s GM DexCool issues aside, are manufacturers really engineering vehicles that overheat when driven under equatorial or hot-arid conditions?

High humidity environments should favor heat transfer under active cooling.

The real challenges occur with high altitude workloads and also super hot, low humidity, dusty environments.

If the intercooler is somehow proving to be a bottleneck in stop and sit traffic for a vehicle on stock programming and hardware, then it might benefit from an active cooling solution. (shroud and fan)

I assume Ford would've thoroughly tested under such conditions and engineered with at least a 10% overhead.

Thank you for the info. We have flat roads here in florida, and very high humidity. Lol.

You should be able to get a FiST really cheap where you're located. FYI, I travel all over the midwest for work (Texas, North Dakota, etc.), and I must say, road depending, the FiST can get very annoying at times, especially in Oklahoma lol. Just something to keep in mind. That said, the FiST is a blast!

Roads here are flat and smooth. I have seen between $21-24K but my budget would be around $20k at year end sale. Im not getting the 3 cylinder model of 2018. Im not trying to mod the car heavy just intercooler, big mouth, drop in airfliter and to keep my warranty I would do mountune MP215. Also would like to change the charge piping and some other hose/clamps. I have a good understanding on turbo engines and data logging. Only problem with my MS3 turbo back then was smoking turbo due to leak. Hope this one does not have.
I thought automatic would be my next chapter in life but i realize after 6 months that its boring lol. Save the manuals!!

 

[Truth in Ruin]

Thank you for the info. We have flat roads here in florida, and very high humidity. Lol.


Roads here are flat and smooth. I have seen between $21-24K but my budget would be around $20k at year end sale. Im not getting the 3 cylinder model of 2018. Im not trying to mod the car heavy just intercooler, big mouth, drop in airfliter and to keep my warranty I would do mountune MP215. Also would like to change the charge piping and some other hose/clamps. I have a good understanding on turbo engines and data logging. Only problem with my MS3 turbo back then was smoking turbo due to leak. Hope this one does not have.
I thought automatic would be my next chapter in life but i realize after 6 months that its boring lol. Save the manuals!!

Smooth roads= you'll love the FiST

I Don't think 3 cylinder 2018 will even be an option for us.

Metro Ford of Miami: 2016 FiST for $17,831
Jenkins Ford Fort Meade FL: FiST $17,842
Matthews Currie Ford Nokomis FL: FiST $17,499

Keep an eye out, there's cheap ones all around you.

 

[Jingx73]

I forgot to mention, i do like the recaro package on the FiST. I have been using autotrader and cars.com to find a cheap price.. is there any other sites that i can check for a new FiST?

 

[Intuit]

Don't forget about tax and if aren't buying outright, financing.

 

[allpurposeben]

I forgot to mention, i do like the recaro package on the FiST. I have been using autotrader and cars.com to find a cheap price.. is there any other sites that i can check for a new FiST?

The locator on Fords website works pretty well, just make sure you call ahead to confirm the car is on the lot and not in transit.

I like their system because you can see the window sticker and know exactly what options it has.

My $0.02, be really sure you absolutely can't live without the recaro seats. If price is a concern, they are a very expensive option that doesn't get you much. Absolutely everyone I personally know who has them in their FiST, FoST or FoRS complains about them.

I'm in a similar situation, my commute is about 80 miles daily and if I had recaros, I'd have sold the car by now. I like grippy seats (my RX-8's seats are great) but these are really obnoxious. The normal seats are very comfortable and I have a removable Scroth 4 point harness for track days and it works great.

 

[avatar78]

I forgot to mention, i do like the recaro package on the FiST. I have been using autotrader and cars.com to find a cheap price.. is there any other sites that i can check for a new FiST?

I like cargurus.com too. Works the same as the others for new cars, but if you're shopping used cars, it will show you days listed, and estimate if the car is over or underpriced.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Don't forget about tax and if aren't buying outright, financing.

From what I've seen (but could be wrong ), Ford only seems to offer their own financing at 0% at/near the end of the model year.

 

[Jingx73]

From what I've seen (but could be wrong ), Ford only seems to offer their own financing at 0% at/near the end of the model year.

I wonder what credit score to get that 0% financing.

 

[Jingx73]

The locator on Fords website works pretty well, just make sure you call ahead to confirm the car is on the lot and not in transit.

I like their system because you can see the window sticker and know exactly what options it has.

My $0.02, be really sure you absolutely can't live without the recaro seats. If price is a concern, they are a very expensive option that doesn't get you much. Absolutely everyone I personally know who has them in their FiST, FoST or FoRS complains about them.

I'm in a similar situation, my commute is about 80 miles daily and if I had recaros, I'd have sold the car by now. I like grippy seats (my RX-8's seats are great) but these are really obnoxious. The normal seats are very comfortable and I have a removable Scroth 4 point harness for track days and it works great.

When im ready financially ( not upside down with my current car) in about 1-2 months, i will start test driving some ST's. too bad i can't find recaro package with in 30 miles near me. I do have a ford dealership 2 miles away from me which will
Be convenient with warranty issues.