Road Test
Ford Focus ST 2 3dr
Test date 28 February 2006
Price as tested £18,995
For Performance, chassis dynamics, characterful engine, value
AgainstOrdinary interior quality
As the situation stands, Ford is not going to make a Focus Cosworth or even a Focus RS. Which means that apart from the somewhat esoteric, not to mention sold-out, Ford GT supercar, the car you’re looking at is the meanest machine you will be able to buy with a blue oval on its nose for some time.
But don’t fret, and don’t make the mistake of associating this car, the all-new £17,495 Focus ST, with its rather lukewarm predecessor of the same name. Last time out, the Focus Sports Technology (ST) was little more than a lightly bespoilered version of a cooking 2.0-litre Focus. This time there are five cylinders, one turbocharger, 222bhp and 150mph. More raw performance than even the previous-generation RS could muster.
Question is, does the ST go deep enough and deliver sufficient thrills to eradicate the need for an RS model altogether, while at the same time providing the refinement which the old RS was so sorely lacking? That is what we’re here to find out.
Although the Focus ST is not as committed a piece of engineering as the old RS was, no one could accuse Ford of selling out this time round. The one thing the ST lacks compared with the RS is the one thing that split opinion more than anything else, and that’s a limited-slip differential. The trade off? The ST has less mechanical traction but much better manners over a bumpy road than its predecessor. Apart from this, the ST – on paper – goes further than the RS in most directions.
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