If you happened to have missed the body styling details as you approached the Focus ST - perhaps a meteor shower had diverted your attention for those vital few seconds - the interior would surely alert you to the fact that you were sitting in something special. A lot of it is standard Focus, of course, but this is the only model in the range with an extra row of three dials (representing boost pressure, oil temperature and oil pressure) on top of the dash, and the only one with partly body-coloured and decidedly figure-hugging Recaro seats.It looks and feels out of the ordinary, and of course that's exactly what it is. The ST uses Volvo's turbocharged five-cylinder petrol engine, tweaked by Ford to produce 222bhp, and the result is stirring straightline performance - more stirring, even, than that of the short-lived and very dramatic Focus RS of 2002/2003. But it's a very different kind of car.The reasons were discussed in our launch report, but briefly here goes again. The RS was the product of a development process so intense that Ford struggled to bring its price below £20,000. It also had the general feeling of a competition car tamed for road use. The ST is a modified road car (the engine may be new but the suspension is uprated from standard Focus spec), so it was cheaper to create and is friendlier to use.This last point is the key to the ST. It accelerates hard (0-62mph in under 7 seconds) and brakes hard (with 320mm ventilated discs up front and the usual array of electronic assistance and safety nets) but in all other respects it sits far away from any performance extremes. And for day-to-day motoring, this is a good thing, because it's pretty much equally easy to drive whether you're pushing hard or just pottering along and admiring the scenery.It does mean, though, that the best reasons for buying an ST are its style, perhaps the fruity noise its engine makes under load, and its useful ability to overtake things. As a true sporting car it operates at a level no higher than you can find elsewhere in the class (your own personal preference will determine whether it's more or less appealing than the Megane Renaultsport 225, the Vauxhall Astra VXR or the Volkswagen Golf R32).The level of grip is impressive - a combination of clingy 225/40 tyres and a relatively soft suspension set-up - but while the handling is safe it's not tremendously interesting. Experience on the Bedford aerodrome test track showed that understeer is the limiting factor, though you'd have to be driving like a lunatic to experience it on public roads.Ride quality is likewise okay, tending towards the lumpen; in particular, the ST doesn't carry itself well over bumps. It's not that I'd be expecting a smooth ride over undulations, but it should at least be possible for a really well-sorted performance car of this type to deal with a bump quickly and be ready for what comes next a bit earlier than the Focus is.But potential owners are more likely to be concerned about the financial question. Ford has made the ST available in three trim levels, but it has always regarded the middle one - known as ST2 - as being the potential top-seller. Although you can buy an entry-level ST for £17,495, it's reckoned that most people will pay the extra £1000 for the ST2 tested here, which gets an MP3-compatible Sony radio/CD system, xenon headlights, a heated front screen and - surely a must with 222bhp driving through the front wheels - ESP.You can spend more still. In ST3 form, for £19,495 or £20,095 depending on the number of doors, the Focus gets ten-way adjustable front seats, leather trim and a Sony 6-CD changer. There will no doubt be some demand, but the ST2 seems to offer the best compromise between price and equipment levels. Engine 2522 cc, 5 cylinders Power 225 bhp @6000 rpm Torque 236 ib/ft @1600 rpm Transmission 6 speed manual Fuel/CO2 30.4 mpg / 224 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.8sec Top speed 152 mph Price From £18716.00 approx Release date 01/01/2006
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