Weekly Roundup: The Harkonnen FiST Edition

Those of you who listen to The Smoking Tire know that Matt Farah's COBB Stage 3 Fiesta ST, as featured in the above video, is coming to live with me here in Powell, Ohio. About a year ago, I joined Matt (and Jay Leno, and about fifty other people) for an early morning run on the Mulholland Highway and I took the Fiesta for a spin down this road...

I'd been a fan of the Fiesta ST during R&T's Performance Car Of The Year, stating that

The Fiesta ST is recommended without reservation. As a dynamic proposition in the real world, it is without peer. Were this magazine named simply Road, it would have the Fiesta ST on the cover six times a year. On the track, however, the ST is outgunned. You'd never get sick of the steering or the balance, but at a track day, you'd get sick of having your point-by hand out the window for every straight. Third place, with honors.

Matt's COBB Stage 3 package helps to redress that lack of on-track power, but make no mistake: this is still a street car at heart. Which is fine, because it's not my car. It belongs to Danger Girl, who has fallen out of love with her prep-school-mom-edition Tahoe Z71. We'll see how she enjoys switching between a car that weighs 2,720 pounds and one that weighs 5,522 pounds.

Alright, let's see what Bark and I managed to sneak by the editors this week.

At TTAC, Bark helped a middle-aged father find his perfect compromise car. I gave the readers a rental review of the facelifted Focus then offered to give them free TEXAS EDITION badges. Looks like at least one reader is going to take my suggestion to put it on his wife's bare chest and send a photo. Woo-hoo!

For R&T I told the cautionary tale of my motocross adventure and then made the case against a mid-engined Corvette. That latter post was primarily notable for an angry response from some mook who assured me that the Lotus Elise was totally reliable. That's news to me --- and it's also news to Elise owners.

In the upcoming week, I'll be testing a Corvette convertible and, with any luck, an Indian Roadmaster touring motorcycle. As for Bark... only the Shadow knows!