Ford Focus ST Estate
The ST’S unleashed engine prompts some torque talk
OUR FOCUS’S RUNNING-IN MILEAGE IS now complete, so I finally got to extend its engine this month. As suspected, the 2.3-litre four-cylinder feels decently potent now it’s fully uncorked, propelling the ST along at entirely contemporary hot hatch speeds despite its peak power figure of 276bhp sounding a touch off the pace. That’ll be the 310lb ft torque peak playing its part, it being a figure that scores the Mk4 Focus ST a Top Trumps advantage over all of its direct rivals. However, along with that torque comes an undesirable side effect: torque steer.
A couple of decades ago, when the old adage that ‘you can’t have more than 200bhp in a front-wheel-drive car’ started to be disproved, torque steer was very much a hot topic, especially in relation to the original Focus RS. Here was a car that could torque steer the hind legs off a donkey, especially if its suspension geometry wasn’t set up perfectly, or it was a press car with a blueprinted engine putting out rather more than the standard 212bhp, or it was still 2002 so you hadn’t yet driven an Astra VXR or Alfa 147 GTA or Mazda 3 MPS and realised that, actually, maybe that Focus wasn’t so bad after all.
But as the years have passed, advances in tyres, suspension and differentials appear to have got a handle on the situation to the point where even 300bhp through the front wheels barely raises an eyebrow. Yes, a steering wheel may wriggle in your hands a little under aggressive acceleration, but that old-fashioned wrestling with the helm to keep the car on course is largely a thing of the past.
Except in the Mk4 Focus ST. Its exaggerated tugging this way and that seems excusable when you’re asking for everything the engine’s got in second gear. What is less so is how easily distracted the steering can be when you’re merely driving briskly, at six or seven-tenths, say. You’ll be negotiating a medium-speed turn on a steady throttle, everything going to plan, then suddenly the steering will gently spring itself back towards the straight-ahead, as if there’s a thin bungee cord tied to the top of the steering wheel and around each door mirror. Cue a significant steering correction in the opposite direction to get the car back on line. It doesn’t exactly make for natural progress.
What’s curious is that if you up the pace, this behaviour starts to fade and the ST digs in and tracks through corners more cleanly, its electronically controlled diff apparently working more effectively. Perhaps therein lies the answer: I just need to drive the ST with more commitment more of the time.
Date acquired February 2021 Total mileage 1285 Mileage this month 650 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 33.8