2013 Ford Focus ST Launch Review
FORD FOCUS ST REVIEW
Vehicle Style: Five-door Small Sports Hatch
Power/Torque: 184kW/340Nm (with 360Nm overboost)
Price: $38,290 (plus on-roads)
Fuel consumption (listed): 7.4 l/100km
OVERVIEW
Here's one more to add to the hot-hatch brat-pack: Ford's bad-boy Focus ST. With 184kW and 340Nm pummeling the tarmac, there's some serious business going on under its bonnet.
It's Ford's 2.0-litre turbocharged EcoBoost doing the pummeling - the same engine, in a slightly different state of tune, as you'll find powering the EcoBoost Falcon.
As you'd expect, it makes the relatively light Focus ST a rocketship. Ours, in bright yellow, had all the understatement of a travelling circus.
Of late we've been stalked by bright yellow hot-hatches: first the Opel Astra GTC, then the 'bad-to-the-bone' Renault Sport Megane RS 265...and now the Focus ST.
The Astra GTC is cheapest, but, with just 132kW, it's more warm-hatch than hot (but the OPC is coming); and the 195kW Renault is definitely the maddest.
In fact, I vow and declare the Sport Megane RS 265 to be the fastest and best-handling front-wheel-drive performance car I've ever driven.
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