Prospective buyer; is the Stinger actually sporty enough, or just a fast luxury car?

[vipeboy2000]

You must mean new to the States, because Deep Chroma Blue (by any other name) has not existed in the US until the Limited Indigo: and Deep Chroma Blue has existed in other markets since the beginning.

Haha yes . That is what I meant .. unique for the states .. not other places. We got it already in the Sedona actually called celestial blue

 

[powermatt]

The reason I bought mine is because it is a true GT car: comfortable, but not averse to being shown a corner or two. It'll never be a luxury car because the ride isn't silky soft (there is some road feel), and the interior isn't luxury nice or quiet. It'll never be sports sedan because it doesn't have that harder edge of something like an M3. This is why I like it, though. It's not confused about what it is. It's not a luxury car trying to be sporty. It's not a sports car trying to be luxurious. It's just an honest to goodness GT car. It'll demolish highway miles, and then provide some amusement when you get bored and decide to exit 15 miles early to take the back roads the rest of the way (something I've actually done with mine).

 

[Dieselxx]

Hi all, I need your experience and wisdom! I live in the mountains outside Denver, and I'm strongly considering a GTS. I know the quality and straight line speed are there, but I worry about two things:
1. The true handling of the car, 2. Snow performance.
So I would love some input and thoughts.
To answer my questions, you'll need to understand where I'm coming from. I'm 40, and I've been racing (autocross, lemons, track time trials, ice racing, karting.) off and on most of my life. I drive a car to it's limits frequently, and exploit them for fun. I will probably do 2-5 track days a year if I get it. I currently have 25000 miles on my Focus RS, which I love, but am considering the Stinger since it's larger, and more comfortable, and would actually fit the kids.

1. I know it's not the focus RS. It's bigger, heavier, and built for comfort. But I'm concerned about understeer and body roll, as well as any overheating issue it may have. Can anybody give any experience? No one here seems to track the stinger, so there isn't much info.

2. Where I live I get a decent amount of snow, and in hilly, curvy, terrain, so I need to know the car can handle that. The RS is a car that makes snow actually fun. In the right mode I can playfully spin all four tires while fast drifting big snowy turns, or use drift mode at a slower speed and get it more sideways. And I can spin all 4 to creep up my steep snowy driveway, without it cutting my power, which would cause me to not make it.
So...will the GTS cut power if I get all four spinning? Specific to the GTS, I'm worried that if I turn off traction control to let them spin, that it will revert to drift mode and not give me much power up front. No one seems to know the answer, and it's not snowing for me to test it. Does anyone play in the snow, or just spin in parking lot circles?

There's a lot I like about the car, so don't misunderstand, but these are concerns I can't get through on a test drive.

Thanks all!

Is it possible you can afford to keep the RS?
The stinger is a great, powerful GT car, and handles pretty well in OEM form for what it is. The front and rear sway bars help with roll a bit too.
I have had no issues with the stinger in the snow it plows through nicely.
The RS is an extremely capable and very fun car in all conditions (dry, rain, snow, track).
I have an RS, ST and Stinger. If you like to track alot you may be disappointed with stinger unless you throw some suspension money at it.

The RS is a somewhat rare car (in canada anyway) and holding it's value well. I would keep it considering you have relatively low miles and add a Stinger to your stable if financially possible.
Everyone else above have made excellent points as well.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

Ok fine. I'm buying it now.

Nice!

 

[broken08]

It's home...

 

[vipeboy2000]

It's home...View attachment 58036

Congrats!

 

[MerlintheMad]

It's home...View attachment 58036

Love the pic (I save worthy ones for my calendar options folder ).

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

It's home...View attachment 58036

Looks beautiful!

Congrats!

 

[Revvdmedia]

Well that was quick! lol

 

[Grump]

Nice! So it's it sporty enough for you or just a fast luxury car?

 

[broken08]

Nice! So it's it sporty enough for you or just a fast luxury car?

Well, overall I'm very happy. Two major things that make it less sporty then I would like: sway bars should be stiffer, that's easy to fix so no worries. More importantly, and impossible to fix, the steering ratio. Too many revolutions lock to lock. It makes the steering too soft and slower to correct a skid, but I can work with it. I've already put her sideways a few times and it's fairly predictable.
I do wish the launches were harder ( I have a thread on Facebook where I thought my launch control was broken, but that's just how it goes off the line I guess).
I'm happy. It's very nice, and about as sporty as I would hope. I think for most people it's plenty good, but as a track nerd, it just needs some tweaking.

 

[Revvdmedia]

Well, overall I'm very happy. Two major things that make it less sporty then I would like: sway bars should be stiffer, that's easy to fix so no worries. More importantly, and impossible to fix, the steering ratio. Too many revolutions lock to lock. It makes the steering too soft and slower to correct a skid, but I can work with it. I've already put her sideways a few times and it's fairly predictable.
I do wish the launches were harder ( I have a thread on Facebook where I thought my launch control was broken, but that's just how it goes off the line I guess).
I'm happy. It's very nice, and about as sporty as I would hope. I think for most people it's plenty good, but as a track nerd, it just needs some tweaking.

I agree with your points there from my ownership experience. Definitely needs a couple parts to get the suspension more where you want it. I also felt the steering ratio never felt quite 1:1 from what I would expect. I much preferred what it was on my Mustang, and what it is on my BMW. Those two just felt like a natural amount of steering input that I would expect to feed to get the results I need, the Stinger needed just a bit more. A right hand turn in a turning lane (smoothed curve inside the corner where there is an island for the traffic light) took 1/4 turn in most sporty cars for me, Stinger needed about 3/8? Also yes, the launch control from factory is really soft (does not build boost) but there are a couple mods out there to fix that.

 

[vipeboy2000]

Well, overall I'm very happy. Two major things that make it less sporty then I would like: sway bars should be stiffer, that's easy to fix so no worries. More importantly, and impossible to fix, the steering ratio. Too many revolutions lock to lock. It makes the steering too soft and slower to correct a skid, but I can work with it. I've already put her sideways a few times and it's fairly predictable.
I do wish the launches were harder ( I have a thread on Facebook where I thought my launch control was broken, but that's just how it goes off the line I guess).
I'm happy. It's very nice, and about as sporty as I would hope. I think for most people it's plenty good, but as a track nerd, it just needs some tweaking.

re: the steering, wow, i felt this was a very quick ratio.. I'm coming from bmw's sport ratio steering which i thought was pretty fast but the stinger's is even quicker. I guess i just haven't driven a car with a faster ratio.. bmw m340i has a 2.5 lock to lock, while our stinger has a 2.1 lock to lock... sti's and evos are slightly quicker at i think 2 turns lock to lock

 

[MerlintheMad]

There is no slack in this steering. I think that's the main virtue: very sharp and instantaneous feedback. I never thought about how many turns to go from lock to lock: I just drive the car as it is.

 

[vipeboy2000]

I agree with your points there from my ownership experience. Definitely needs a couple parts to get the suspension more where you want it. I also felt the steering ratio never felt quite 1:1 from what I would expect. I much preferred what it was on my Mustang, and what it is on my BMW. Those two just felt like a natural amount of steering input that I would expect to feed to get the results I need, the Stinger needed just a bit more. A right hand turn in a turning lane (smoothed curve inside the corner where there is an island for the traffic light) took 1/4 turn in most sporty cars for me, Stinger needed about 3/8? Also yes, the launch control from factory is really soft (does not build boost) but there are a couple mods out there to fix that.

does the new m240i you have have the variable steering? the stinger does so that could be it.. where the steering quickens the farther you get from the center... it did take some getting used to on the stinger as it is not linear.

 

[MerlintheMad]

does the new m240i you have have the variable steering? the stinger does so that could be it.. where the steering quickens the farther you get from the center... it did take some getting used to on the stinger as it is not linear.

I never noticed any change in "throw" of the wheel, much less speed input from the steering itself. Even when I changed my Custom steering from Sport (where it had been for years) I didn't really notice any difference in Comfort. Hmm.

 

[vipeboy2000]

I never noticed any change in "throw" of the wheel, much less speed input from the steering itself. Even when I changed my Custom steering from Sport (where it had been for years) I didn't really notice any difference in Comfort. Hmm.

the ratio doesn't change on the stinger depending on mode i don't think.. it just gets stiffer. the variable portion is just related to steering angle

 

[MerlintheMad]

the ratio doesn't change on the stinger depending on mode i don't think.. it just gets stiffer. the variable portion is just related to steering angle

I'm sure I'm not understanding this: you're saying that as you get over toward lock that the steering stiffens up? And the steering angle changes? In different modes?

 

[vipeboy2000]

I'm sure I'm not understanding this: you're saying that as you get over toward lock that the steering stiffens up? And the steering angle changes? In different modes?

no, I meant, the different modes, comfort/sport etc only changes the steering stiffness. The steering ratio variability changes as you increase steering angle.. i don't have specific numbers but say close to center the steering ratio is 13:1 but as you increase angle, that ratio will decrease to say 10:1 meaning the actual tires are turning faster to the left or right even if you don't change the speed of turning the steering wheel.

This gives you higher stability initially but increases "sportyness" during spirited driving as you don't have to "saw" at the wheel in the turns like you would in a truck or something.

 

[Revvdmedia]

does the new m240i you have have the variable steering? the stinger does so that could be it.. where the steering quickens the farther you get from the center... it did take some getting used to on the stinger as it is not linear.

Yes my car does have the variable sport steering. All I recall in particular is in typical places I have driven all 3 cars, the amount of steering wheel input to enter the turn just felt like an unusual amount in the Stinger. It wasn't bad steering feel at all, just the input felt a little off from what I was used to. Maybe the point in the Stinger where the ratio changes wasn't in the same ratio as these same turns I took daily.