FORD FIESTA ST
It’s one of the most eagerly awaited cars of 2018. But can the new three-pot Fiesta ST match its illustrious predecessor?
Like the new 911 GT3 RS, its predecessor was one of the very best, so has Ford Performance improved upon the brilliant Fiesta ST? Here’s our verdict
IT’S A SMALL CAR, THE FIESTA ST, BUT it’s got some big shoes to fill. The previous version of Ford’s hottest Fiesta was something of a phenomenon, providing way more performance and driving fun than its bargain-basement price tag would have you believe. It was a hugely entertaining drive, and simple with it – no driver modes or chassis configurations, just press the starter button and go laugh yourself silly on your favourite road. And it wasn’t just us. People bought them as quickly as Ford could build them. At the car’s 2012 Geneva motor show unveiling, one engineer let slip that, as far as he and his colleagues were concerned, this was the best performance car they’d created since the Escort RS Cosworth. Think about that for a moment. This little supermini-based pocket rocket was, to them, more exciting than every generation of front-drive Focus RS, any Ford Puma and a whole raft of massaged Mondeos. So, no pressure for the new car, then? Or perhaps there was, because while this latest ST has arrived much sooner in its base car’s life cycle than its predecessor did – that car made its debut five years after the regular models – it has still been a little while coming. We first glimpsed the ST back at it’s official unveiling in February 2017, but it’s taken more than a year to finally get behind the wheel. The lengthy wait has been punctuated with Ford people giving evasive answers to questions as to why the car wasn’t ready, with many reading between the lines that Ford Performance, which was tasked with developing and signing-off the car, wasn’t happy with the early work. Just rumours, of course, but when a car is tasked with replacing such an esteemed machine, it’s not hard to believe them.
So, what have we got, and has it been worth the wait? Well, the good news is that the basic structure of the old car has been carried over, while our drives of lesser current Fiestas suggest the base is good for a more extreme version. However, there are also big changes, the biggest of which is the adoption of a downsized 1.5-litre three-cylinder motor. The all-aluminium unit isn’t short of poke, with 197bhp (a match for the old four-pot motor when it was on overboost) and 214lb ft of torque (likewise). It’s not shy with the technology, either, with turbocharging and variable valve timing joined by both port and direct injection, which are claimed to boost efficiency with no loss in power. There’s also cylinder deactivation, taking it down to two cylinders, which seems a little like overkill on an engine that’s hardly overburdened with pistons.
There’s also a sports exhaust with active valving, designed to deliver a ‘soundtrack that will speak to petrolheads whatever their language’. Hmmmm. As before, the engine’s mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, but now there’s the option of a Quaife torquebiasing limited-slip differential. Serious stuff.
Yet it’s the suspension and steering that have really been treated to some serious thought, and a lot of elbow grease. For starters, the electrically assisted steering features a 12:1 ratio, making it the quickest rack yet on any Ford Performance model. Also new are the ‘force vectoring’ springs. Developed and patented by Ford, these non-uniform, non-interchangeable directionally wound coils are fitted to the torsion beam rear suspension and are said to absorb
Left: standard Recaros offer great support. Far right: flat-bottomed steering wheel is on the large side; wheels are 17-inch as standard, with 18-inchers an option
both vertical and cornering forces, meaning that engineers have been able to boost lateral stiffness at the rear without resorting to a hefty (around 10kg) Watts linkage.
Another innovation are the dampers, which feature Ford’s Ride Control 1 valving to create what is essentially a mechanically adaptive set-up. Depending on the frequency and load of compression and rebound, the damper valving changes to compensate, hopefully creating greater control when pushing on, but improved comfort when cruising.
And, of course, there are now driving modes – there would be, wouldn’t there? Normal, Sport and Track each feature a unique map for the throttle response, steering weight and stability control intervention (Track essentially being Sport but with a looser, but not totally cast off, electronic safety net). Considering how good the old car was without this technology it’s arguable this is the most controversial addition, in an over-egging the pudding sort of way.
Has Ford spoiled what was a great hot hatch, or made the best even better? Well, the ST certainly feels ‘right’ as you settle into the driver’s seat. You sit just low enough, with the standard Recaros supremely supportive. The steering wheel is a little large, but pedal positioning is spot on and the dashboard is laid out clearly and looks and feels ‘upmarket’. Thumb the starter and that threecylinder unit fires quickly before settling to a purposeful idle. Even in Normal mode the Fiesta responds crisply to the throttle, while the gearshift is quick, light and precise. There’s bags of torque low down, with virtually no lag to speak of, while squeezing the pedal harder reveals a generous dollop of mid-range, giving the ST that glorious feeling of elastic energy that marks out all relatively light cars powered by muscular motors. So far, so good.
Wring the engine out, however, and the old car’s frantic race to the limiter is missing, the three-pot feeling as if it’s done its best work by around 5000rpm – well short of the the 6500rpm red line. Make no mistake, the Fiesta is a quick car and feels easily good for a six-and-a-half-second sprint to 62mph, it’s just there’s not the same rush of ever-increasing energy you get with its predecessor, or a 208 GTI for that matter. Flicking the Sport button adds extra urgency to the throttle, but Normal is so well calibrated that the gains are marginal. What you do get is an enhanced vocal performance.
As is the fashion these days, the engine note is augmented through the hi-fi, with Sport adding extra depth and volume. Crucially, it also opens a flap in the exhaust, resulting in a carefully choreographed report of pops and bangs on the overrun. Yet there’s a curious mismatch of sounds when you work the unit hard, with the deep exhaust blare overlaid by the city-car three-cylinder thrum of the engine. It’s not unpleasant, merely a little artificial.
Regardless of mode, the Fiesta feels taut and alert from the moment you start rolling. The trick dampers are just as firm as before, but they round the edges off sharper impacts, making long motorway runs more restful. On smooth roads the Fiesta corners fast and flat, flowing down twisting tarmac with the sort of poise
and pace that’ll make it a constant irritant to theoretically faster and far more exotic machinery. Better still, the steering is quick, precise and uncorrupted, allowing you to slice through corners accurately. Its weighting is good too, particularly in Normal (Sport adds some heft, but doesn’t feel quite as natural), and the rate of response and feedback are ‘just so’. There’s some stiffness to the steering out of slower corners as the differential does its stuff, but the impressive traction makes this a small price to pay.
Up the pace and the ST responds eagerly, delivering strong turn-in bite that’s assisted by some very slickly integrated torque vectoring, giving you confidence to lean hard on the front tyres and commit to some outrageous corner entry speeds. The new car has lost just a fraction of the old one’s acrobatic agility, that feeling that the whole car is pivoting around an invisible pole that punctures the centre of the roof and heads straight down through a point just between the gearlever and handbrake, but there’s a real sense of the front and rear axles working in unison, giving the car a gloriously four-square stance through the really quick stuff.
With the ESP in Sport or switched off completely, you can start to explore the Ford’s natural balance. It’s not quite as playful as the old ST, but neither is it as edgy as the Peugeot. Instead you can push the car up to the limit of grip before subtly altering your line with a lift of the throttle or a dab of the brakes. It’s beautifully progressive and controlled, never feeling like it’s going to get out of hand. Throw in some bumps and broken tarmac and things get a little busier, however, particularly the steering.
Accelerate hard out of a corner on a heavily crowned or corrugated road and the nose takes on a mind of its own as the diff sends torque this way and that as it attempts to make best use of it. It never gets truly unruly, but it’s at odds with the otherwise slick steering. I’d be intrigued to try a car without the diff, because experience with the old car suggested that for most situations it coped admirably well with the open set-up and torque vectoring. Yet this flightiness is more a niggle than a flaw, and for some the boisterousness will merely add to the car’s considerable appeal.
Elsewhere, there are welcome improvements in all areas for the Fiesta, which is more refined, fractionally more practical and far better equipped than before – as an everyday proposition it has its predecessor licked. Yes, it’s lost a fraction of the old car’s irrepressible spirit, while the addition of driver modes feels more marketing decision than engineering choice. We’re also not totally convinced by the new engine. For now it’s safe to say that the new Fiesta ST has retained much of its predecessor’s magic. But its toughest test is still to come – against Peugeot’s 208 GTI.
‘Its poise and pace will make it a constant irritant to theoretically faster and far more exotic machinery’