WHAT’S IT LIKE TO DRIVE?
IF THERE’S ONE problem with the Fiesta ST150, it’s that Ford didn’t quite give it the engine it needed to fight its rivals.
As we’ve mentioned opposite, its 2.0-litre unit is a tough old thing and it shows up relatively few common faults. But it is outgunned by its contemporaries. Given that Renault’s rival four-pots kick out 180bhp, the standard Fiesta’s 148bhp looks distinctly underwhelming.
Out on the road, it shows, because the Fiesta ST feels like a car that hasn’t quite reached its full potential. If that sounds familiar for a Ford, it’s because it was a common refrain of road testers discussing the marque’s hot hatches in the late 1990s and early 2000s, from the first Fiesta Zetec S to the Focus ST170.
Was it because Ford didn’t quite have the confidence that a full-fat hot hatch would sell? Perhaps. Either way, driving the Fiesta ST today, you can never escape the sense that it’s holding back ever so slightly; that the engine has more to give; and that the chassis has been tuned for predictability rather than outright agility and breadth of ability.
For all of that, though, there’s still fun to be had. Stretch the engine and it rewards you with a sweet top end, a lovely little nugget of zinginess that gets the juices flowing and encourages you to hold on for the redline. The noise could be more exciting and perhaps a fruity exhaust would liberate the rorty snarl that feels like it’s just dying to get out. But although the Fiesta isn’t quite as quick as its rivals, neither is it a slouch.
The suspension set-up initially feels soft, which means that when you’re bimbling around town or cruising on the motorway, the ST stays more comfortable so than some more firmly sprung hot hatches of its era. But the flat, wide roads west of Basildon are pretty heavy with ruts in places, and they overwhelm the dampers, sending the ST skittering across the road like a top. Planted, it ain’t. Wrestling the wheel back into a straight line holds
some amusement, though; a sense of taming an unruly little terrier.
On smoother tarmac, the steering is faithful and quick, and the front end feels as though it will cling on forever. You won’t get as much feel here as you will in a Clio, mind you, but there’s enough to be going along with. Lift off, even brutally, and everything stays in shape, which gives the Fiesta the benefit of being a car in which it’s hard to mess things up – although more experienced drivers will lament the lack of adjustability.
Inside, the plastics feel thin and the stereo is rather tinny. But the design of the dashboard, with its circular vents and neat binnacle, is still appealing and coloured panels, as featured on our test car, liven things up a bit. The switchgear feels surprisingly good, too, with buttons and stalks all neatly damped. The seats, meanwhile, are comfy and supportive and the gearshift is as neat as you could hope for.
So is the ST a decent hot hatch? Yes. It’s not a great one, though. In fact, it feels like a beginner’s performance car – a hot hatch you’d buy to learn the ropes safely, without risk of lift-off oversteer or too much power, before graduating to something more exciting once you’d outgrown it. In that role, the ST is a perfect buy – and, at current prices, it’s available to anyone who needs such a thing.
On smooth tarmac, the front end feels as though it will cling on forever