Softly, Softly
by David Finlay (16 Jun 08)

The Focus ST is worth revisiting two and a half years after its launch simply because of the facelift that was introduced in May. Nothing dramatic has gone on. All Ford has done is add the new interior and exterior styling details which other Focuses received at the start of 2008.

Why the delay? Well, Ford builds the Focus in huge numbers, but the ST can't represent more than a tiny fraction of overall sales. There was bound to have been a backlog of existing STs waiting for owners which had to be shifted before the slightly restyled versions came to market.

We've already dealt with the ST in a launch report and a road test whose subject was the ST2, a slightly less high-spec model than the one being considered here. A quick recap might be in order, though. The heart of the ST is a 222bhp 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which actually comes from Volvo, the only remaining manufacturer in the now largely dispersed Ford Automotive Group.

With that amount of power, the ST fairly whistles along in a straight line, and really that's its main claim to be a hot hatch. Ford says that the car is quicker round a lap of the fabled Nürburgring race circuit in Germany than the less powerful but distinctly angrier Focus RS which was sold briefly at the start of the century, but I suspect this is because it makes shorter work of the flat-out sections.

I've driven the ST in enough environments (including two of the test tracks at the Bedford Autodrome) to be quite confident in saying that it's less nimble through the twisty stuff than the RS was. Ford describes the ST as "one of the sharpest handling cars in it class", but it depends on what class you're talking about. There are other hot hatches - my favourite being the Volkswagen Golf GTI in Edition 30 trim - which are much more fun through a series of bends.

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