I'm not sure what comparison tests you're speaking about, but the only performance aspects that the FiST beats the FoST in is braking and mpg's. Outside of that, the FoST is most always on top and when it's not it's generally due to drive error. Strictly speaking in measurable performance specifications, not driver preference, of which a year prior the FoST was reaping the same praise.
I had to go back to your other post to understand what your complaints are, and I don't necessarily agree with them. That doesn't mean that you're wrong, just that you value different things than I do in a car.
1. I love the brakes, but I don't drive hard very often nor do I put a lot of miles on. I will have had my car a year next month and I'm not even (but almost) at 10k miles. If I drive more miles harder, frequent changes would probably bother me but I don't so they don't. By your schedule I'm only looking at doing brakes every 2-2.5 years-and that's not an inconvenience to me in the slightest.
I don't like the dusting though, but that's a trade-off for the performance.
2. I've had almost zero problems with sync. Nothing big enough to stick in my mind, anyways. I think my screen blacked-out once.
3. Because I don't use Sync often, this also doesn't make my gripe list.
4. Unless you have an AP3 you have no way of knowing that this is actually occurring and it most likely isn't. You'll argue it but won't be able to prove it without datalogs to substantiate. A drop in rpm does not indicate massive amounts of timing change. As stated, this is a known issue with the capless system.
My whole point of addressing that list brings me to your GTO and Z06-just because you personally didn't have gripes doesn't mean that no one else did, nor does it make the FiST any more problematic. All it really means is that you had two cars that fit you and your personality well and that the FiST doesn't. I have not owned a single vehicle that I haven't had some form of complaint over and I likely never will. That's just me and I'm a bit hyper-critical.
All good points, let me expand on them just a little bit.
As for the timing and the gas, your right, I don't know that it is making timing corrections, but it only does it when I fill up and the tach and motor seem like they don't like something and are trying to correct for it by raising and lowering the rpm. I have a lot of experience with HP tuners and tuning GM cars, it seems like they are timing adjustments but without the AP3 or some other device to monitor it, I have no way to know for sure.
As for Sync, Sync is awesome when it works. It is by far the best voice command system I have ever used, when it works. When Sync was invented, the programmers concluded that a person gets in the car, gets out of the car, gets back in the car, gets out of the car and goes inside the house. Typical average worker. What the system is doing is when you get in the car, whether you have your ipod or iphone connected or not, when you turn the car on and connect it, the system reads the index from the device and indexes in the ford sync system. The system only has so much memory to deal with. What the programmer should have done is either checked to see if the device was still plugged in, or whether it was a ipod or iphone. Why? Because you cannot add songs to an ipod unless it is disconnected and plugged into a computer. Thus the programmers could have looked at the size of the index, compared it to the last index and seen that nothing had changed and left it alone. The same could have been done for the iphone, but you can add songs to the iphone online, but the index still could have been checked. Instead, the programmers decided to reload the index each time, and not wipe the previous index. If you only get in your car, every so often and only have 1000 songs on your device there is 50MB of storage there for the memory, so it would take some time to fill it up. Imagine you have 7500 songs, all recorded at 256K or better. And the car is being cut off and cut on on average 10-15 times per day. That means every time the car is cut on, it reloads that index. (I know because it says it is). It only takes 3-4 days and the whole sync thing stops to function and you have to do a hard reset. If I was just getting in the car 2 times a day, it would not be a big deal. That is not a flaw. It is a programming problem that could be fixed.
The brakes. Ok, so prior to having the st, when I started this job I bought a brand new 2012 Ford Focus SEF. I loved that car for this job. It was perfect. That was the fuel efficient one. Steel wheels with covers. My Sync. Not the touch thing. Anyway Tires and brakes were changed every 50,000. This is when the pad got to the metal. But when you took them off, like any normal braking system, the inside pads were worn exactly like the outside pads. Dead Even. The car was totaled at 115,000 and I was severely and permanently injured.
I opted for the FiST because of the story I shared earlier. I think it was like 30, or 35000 miles the brakes were gone. But when we took them off, the inside pad was down to the metal and the outside pad looked near new. When the deal informed me pads were not available, and Orileys had the wrong pads listed for the ST, I found a set online, so I bought a new set of rotors (which I change out every time I change brakes, because I want the same braking capability every time), and a new set of pads off of amazon. They were the ford pads. Now, spirited driving or not on a 2400lb car, 35,000 miles on a set of brakes is a joke. ST or Not. The summer tires outlasted the brakes.
Remember I am driving 6000 miles a month, rush, stop and go, all day.
The second set did exactly the same thing. I called Ford, and we talked about it, and they put me in touch with an engineer. We talked about it. They examined my car, and said they didn't see anything wrong with it. It is not natural for brakes to not wear evenly. Not even on a race car.
As for the GTO, it will always be my favorite, and such a undiscovered vehicle. This is a car that made 400hp and 400 TQ, and had a $12,000 interior from GM, the most expensive interior you could get in a GM car, Cadillac included. I drove this car across country and when I got to Flaggstaff from there to Phoenix, I was able to drive this thing at 130 plus for over an hour. It did everything I asked it to do and nothing more. The car was very predictable and comfortable for all 2500 miles.
The vette was a different animal. The vette is and will always be a world class wanna be. Until GM sticks that motor in the back they can just keep on wishing. With that said, There is something to be said about 500hp in a 2100 lb car. It was unbelievable to drive. In the rain, you could not drive the car over 45 due to the wide tires. The car liked to walk something terrible. The seats were cheap, the interior was cheap. But people don't buy Corvettes for the seats and interior. They buy Corvettes for the heritage, the name, looks of the body and whats under the hood. Today's Corvette is much different. They are getting close to being world class with the new Stingray Z06. 2017 should show us a rear engine corvette, but we will have to wait and see.
As for how do I feel about the Fiesta ST. I love the car. It is the best 4 cylinder I have ever driven. PERIOD.