Also: Pot-stirring comment level 11/10:

The FiST is only available in a manual. Jalopness, confirmed.
You can get the Abarth in...wait for it, a slushbox. Boo.

Yeah. I don't get the argument that the exhaust on the Abarth is the deal-maker. There are plenty of raunchy sounding exhausts available for the ST. The aftermarket for it is growing daily.

Correction: The FiST is An American branded car, designed by Germans, with an engine and transmission built at the Ford Bridgend plant in the United Kingdom, and assembled in Mexico. Also, as a platform, the Mk7 Fiesta has been on sale for a while, and 1.6L ecoboost is a tarted up version of the same engine in the…

If people are allowed to like the Fiat Abarth because it has a factory straight pipe and a crude, brightly colored plastic dash, I'm allowed to love this monstrosity. In a motherly, It can do no wrong kind of way.

So. How long until this site gets named Hellcatnik?

Argyle and plaid? High crimes, my friend. Choose one, or the other. Never both!

I definitely want to hear the Porsche story. Also: engine swap oil change?!

It's not so bad. I've experienced worse. It's definitely not as present as in the Focus ST. My car is re-tuned and still doesn't exhibit much.

FiST. Hands-down. I bought one, so this decision is easy. I also looked at the Abarth, but it's one of those cars that I know once the gimmick of the nice-sounding straight pipe and only-okay bakelite interior wore off, I'd not like so much. The Fiesta ST handles better, is faster (has a lot more torque), and has…

A survey from Auto Trader shows that a paltry one percent of car buyers used social sites to shop for cars in June. That's overall. The numbers are a bit higher for millennials, but not staggeringly so. Just five percent of young hip folks that were car shopping in June used social media to make that decision. It also…

I feel like I'd like Caterham's cars better if they were less prohibitively expensive ($40k+ without a driveline?). I get they're not value-for-money cars, but still. But, I have it on authority that driving one around a track is some of the most fun you can have on four wheels...

+1 about expansion joints. On the rare occasion I've had someone in the back on a highway ride, they were savaged by them.

They're pretty comparable, if you're talking without the DSG. The GTI I believe has a slight advantage when it comes to stock tire sizing, but the Fiesta ST is lighter by at least 250lbs.

I cross shopped the FiST against the GTI. I can't see why you wouldn't. I'm not sure many people go out to look for a car strictly by journalist-and-industry defined classes like the B and C segment.

That's cool, I guess.

I'll probably wind up with full bolt-ons, if not an outright turbo upgrade (I'm waiting to see what becomes of 2J Racing's idea of getting us the BorgWarner series EFR 6258 turbo, the crazy one with Ti-aluminide compressor wheels and stupidly low lag as opposed to the three or four Garrett GT/GTX kits available). …

My friend has Super Blue in his 5.0L V8 conversion '83 Volvo 240. Apparently the last owner put that in there on a whim. Car definitely stops with some confidence (which, given what it is, is a must).

I know this feeling. There's no guarantees that I won't dredge Craigslist for an NA or NB Miata at some point, because reasons.

Yeah, I think it's the kind of car that gets respect from those who understand what it's about. There are far more people who will be quick to dismiss it because it's a 200bhp hatchback, but in a way, that almost prevents people with the wrong attitude from approaching it. I think it's natural then that people with…

I'll play. I think images are temporarily disabled because Gawker is getting porn-bombed.

Tuxedo Black 2014, Sport cloth ST seats, Rado Gray wheels, and nothing else. Sporting a COBB AccessPort with a tune by Randy Robles from Mountune USA. Why? Because Torque Plateau of Goodness.