CAR magazine UK drives the Ford Focus ST Edition model with pictures, specs and verdict
Ford says that its new Focus ST Edition is quite possibly ‘the most complete Ford hot hatchback ever.’ On paper, it looks like there’s potential for that to be true.
Standard Focus STs benefit from performance seats, an ST bodykit, a limited-slip differential for the front wheels and ST-specific suspension. As well as that, Ford throws in all sorts of equipment like matrix LED headlights, a digital instrument cluster and massive central display running on Ford’s Sync4 operating system. Luxuries like heated and powered front seats and a heated steering wheel, a B&O audio system and a wireless charger are thrown in too.
The most recent Focus STs all come with a digital instrument display and large central screen running Ford’s latest software that’s also seen on the likes of the Explorer and Ranger. The displays are clear and easy to read, with the instruments offering a little bit of customisation. The colour schemes also change between drive modes, with normal mode being blue and Sport changing to orange with a set of shift lights appearing.
And then another Ford stereotype once again comes to pass: fantastically tactile control weights. The manual gearbox’s clutch has a satisfying weight to it and bites early, as do the brakes. Shifting gears feels very rewarding, doing without the sometimes overly snickety shift actions seen in some other cars of its ilk and providing some comfort that it feels like a gearbox built to withstand some punishment.
What’s a neat bonus is that exhaust system pops and bangs between gearshifts like the old Focus RS used to do. They’re random and sound unsequenced, almost as if you have to earn them; this doesn’t feel like some DSG fart you get from a Golf R, or a software-programmed choreography that happens with every throttle lift-off.
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