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 to be 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 current 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 diesel engine, in hatchback or estate bodies. Power peaks at 187bhp for the diesel and a heady 276bhp for the petrol; by happy ‘coincidence’, that matches the Renault Megane RS and just pips the Hyundai i30N. Just for a bit of trivia, the petrol engine is a detuned version of the previous Focus RS’s turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder, so it should have a healthy dollop of poke, not to mention a dash of pedigree. 

To keep all that vigour channelling straight to the road, there’s an electronically-controlled limited-slip differential fitted as standard to petrol versions, to help 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 – and tuned specifically to increase agility.

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