I turn it off when I get a manny-tranny press loaner. Kills the excitement factor.

And I didn’t even stall it leaving the parking lot the first time. May have needed to bring the revs up to 3,000 to prevent that, but hey, greenhorns gonna greenhorn.

I used to start by bringing the engine up to 2-2.5k and slowly letting the clutch out. I probably sounded like a god damned fool to everybody around me.

Here’s how I learned stick:

NBC had better not fuck this up.

Great review, and I agree on nearly every point (I think the Recaros are pretty darn good, but I have a heroin-chic frame, so there’s that).

I get the hell away from them. I pressure-weld my foot to the firewall and try not to think about how many idiots are out there.

No flamesuit necessary. Burroughs and Ritter are two of the most talented photographers in the industry.

I bet this is what Larry Vellequette really wanted to write this morning.

I’ve been poring over the car’s parts, trying to figure out what vehicles they’re jacked from, but I’m pretty sure nothing is factory.

Well, as some of the nicer burner accounts have pointed out, the torque steer coming up was mostly due to my need to be in a hurry; rolling on the throttle doesn’t produce the same x-axis motion. If you’re smart with inputs, it’s actually a real hoot to drive. I may seem like I’m piling anger onto the car, but you’re…

17-55 f:2.8

Oh, I don’t expect them to change either. But one day, when, God willing, I end up at a buff book, I’ll spin some editorial yarn about how it’s bullshit, so more people understand there’s a bit of a haze surrounding it all.

The Focus ST and the Fiesta ST are two entirely different cars.

Yes, but as an FF fanatic and a guy who gets paid to write about cars, I have a slightly better idea of when I’m screwing up. Your average buyer won’t. I know the enthusiast share of this car will be larger than most, but not everybody knows how to counter all that torque steer. It could have been better sorted out…

Yes, but then parroting some line like, “Most popular mid-size sedan in America” is misleading. It might not be the most popular car with actual buyers.

If this were my car (and it almost was, before I decided to start browsing Rennlist hunting for my dream car), I’d throw the Quaife LSD at it first, followed by tires. That should sort it out. And yeah, I punched it a bit — a quick pass on a two-lane road not totally free of traffic didn’t give me much time to ease…

The FiST is actually better.

I wonder what the Mustang’s sales numbers are, independent of fleet sales.

Yeah, because everybody loves a heapin’ helpin’ of torque steer every time boost comes on. I tried passing somebody on a two-lane road this week, and boost came on right when I was making the pass, and it damn near threw me right back into the car I was passing.