The Ford Focus ST is the main competitor to the Skoda Octavia vRS and is an excellent choice if you want a brand-new mid-sized hot hatch on a budget
Autocar review the Ford Focus ST – the most detailed review available online covering performance, ride and handling, design, interior and economy.
There have been fast Fords since time immemorial. Even Model Ts were modified for speed, but the Escort XR3 of 1980, the first front-drive, mid-size hot hatch that Ford offered, is the Focus STs direct forebear.
This is the third generation of Focus ST, but only the second that could be described as a proper hot hatch. Nevertheless, the ST has become as much of an icon for performance hatchback drivers in this and the previous decade as the XR was in the 1980s.
This hot Focus is the tricky third album for Ford. Not only does it have to live up to the much-loved Mk2 Focus ST, with its evocative 2.5-litre five-pot, but it lands bang in the middle of the One Ford plan. That means it needs to work on the same suspension set-up in Adelaide, Alabama and Aberdeen. Its a tough ask, even for a group of engineers as talented as Fords Special Vehicle Team.
See full story on autocar.co.uk
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