Ford Fiesta ST review

If you want maximum fun for minimum funds, you could do much worse than the Ford Fiesta ST. It’s the feistiest version of the ubiquitous Ford Fiesta, packing a punchy petrol engine and stiffer suspension for a more focused driving experience. Ford hopes it’s good enough to tempt you away from other small hot hatches such as the Suzuki Swift Sport and the Volkswagen Polo GTI.

Lower yourself into the driver’s seat and the Fiesta gets off to a good start. Every Ford Fiesta ST comes with a flat-bottomed steering wheel and an 8-inch touchscreen with smartphone-mirroring as standard. Sadly, the cabin trim doesn’t look quite as funky as the tartan you get in a Polo GTI and the Fiesta’s sports seats grip your thighs a little too tightly to be comfortable – particularly if you don’t have the build of a beanpole.

Sports seats notwithstanding, the new Ford Fiesta ST is more comfortable than the old model. Whether you pick a sporty three-door or a more practical five-door, there’s just about enough space in the back for two adults to sit side by side – though not quite as much as you get in the VW Polo GTI. The ST’s boot is also slightly bigger than in the car it replaces (although you’d struggle to notice) and it’ll happily swallow a week’s worth of shopping.

The Fiesta ST looks like a regular Fiesta that’s put on a tracksuit and hit the gym – it’s beefier in all the right places and much more athletic

You’ll have no such trouble spotting the changes made under the bonnet – out goes the old model’s 182hp 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, and in comes a 1.5-litre three-cylinder with 200hp. And if you’re worried about losing that cylinder, you needn’t. The new model gets from 0-60mph more quickly than the old model (just 6.5 seconds) and its accompanying pops and bangs from the exhaust confirm the Fiesta as one of the most joyous ways you can spend around £20K. The new engine will also appeal to your head as well as your heart: it can deactivate one cylinder when you’re cruising along to help you save fuel.

More exciting are the new selectable driving modes in the Ford Fiesta ST that let you choose between relaxing and sporty settings for the steering, accelerator and exhaust. Stick it in Track mode and the steering feels heavier, the accelerator more responsive and the exhaust louder. You also get a torque-vectoring system that brakes one of the front wheels automatically to help the Ford Fiesta ST perform tighter turns at speed without sliding – just like in a McLaren supercar.

Even better, however, is the optional Performance Pack (standard on Performance Edition models). This comes with launch control to cut a few milliseconds off the ST’s sprint time and a limited-slip differential to fire you out of tight corners as quickly as possible.

Even without this pack fitted, the Ford Fiesta ST is a tremendous weekend toy that represents great bang-for-your-buck performance. Only its rather bumpy suspension and sensitive steering might put you off driving it to work every day in a way the VW Polo GTI will not.