Ford Fiesta ST review

The Fiesta ST driver benefits from a supportive (but very figure-hugging) Recaro sports seat with excellent adjustment and a steering wheel that moves up, down, forward and back by a plentiful amount. Thanks to pedals that are perfectly aligned with the seat and steering wheel, you'll feel instantly at home and in control.

Ford's Sync 3 infotainment system is standard and comes with an 8.0in touchscreen. It isn't as good as the Polo GTI's system but, for the price point, is pretty decent: it has sharp graphics, lots of features (including Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, a DAB radio and Bluetooth) and relatively simple menus. One gripe is that there are no physical shortcut buttons to make it easier to hop between functions, but nevertheless, it's far better than the systems found in the Peugeot 208 GTi and Renault Clio RS. In-built sat-nav is added on ST-3 trim.

Interior quality is also far better than in its two French rivals', and the ST stands out from the rest of the Fiesta range thanks to its leather sports steering wheel, those unique Recaro seats, carbon fibre-effect trim inserts and plenty of ST badges. However, certain areas, such as the door trims, are a bit flimsy so the the Polo GTI remains the plushest in class.

A fine-sounding 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen Play stereo comes with ST-2 trim. Oddly, it's not fitted to the ST-3 model as standard and is well worth considering as an upgrade. ST-3 trim does feature a rear-view camera and rear parking sensors as standard, though. You can add both to ST-2 trim.