Ford Focus ST review

In turbulent times it’s best to keep focused on the wonders of life: parting the curtains on a Sunday morning and being bathed in sunlight; attending your child’s first birthday party – or perhaps the joy of avoiding somebody else’s child’s first birthday party. Oh yes, and celebrating the existence of hot hatches, such as the latest Ford Focus ST. 

At least we hope this is one worth celebrating. Ford has an immense and enviable legacy of building great hot hatches, and in this review we intend to reveal whether the latest Focus ST is yet another of Ford’s hits, or a rare miss.

As with the previous generation of Focus ST, you can order a petrol or a diesel engine, in a hatchback or estate body. Both engines come with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard; however, the petrol will be available with an optional seven-speed auto later in the year.

Power peaks at 187bhp for the diesel or a heady 276bhp for the petrol, which, by happy coincidence, matches that of the Renault Megane RS and just pips the Hyundai i30N. And by the way, the petrol is a detuned version of the previous Focus RS’s turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine, so it has pedigree as well as a healthy dollop of low-rev pull. 

To keep all that vigour channelling straight to the road, there’s an electronically controlled limited-slip differential fitted as standard to petrol versions, helping to minimise wheel spin and prevent the nose running wide as you power out of corners. Bigger brakes than the standard Focus’s are on hand to scrub off speed more efficiently, while the steering and suspension are also bespoke – tuned specifically to increase agility over the lesser Focus models.

If you’d like to buy a new Focus ST, head over to our New Car Buying page for the latest deals. For more information to help you decide, then keep on reading.