Focus ST has power, good mpg
Jamming a high-output engine into an inexpensive car comes as naturally to Detroit as crossing the river to Windsor, but the three-star 2014 Ford Focus ST is a new kind of Detroit muscle.
It’s a 21st-century successor to the first affordable V-8, the 1932 Flathead Ford. The hot 252-horsepower hatchback also recalls the birth of the musclecar era decades later, when GM engineers sneaked a big engine into a humble Pontiac Tempest coupe. European automakers reserved highpowered vehicles for wealthy and powerful customers, but the Motor City delivered power to the people.
The Focus ST is among the most powerful compacts on the road. Prices start at $24,115.Its 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder delivers powerful acceleration. The car offers only one transmission, a six-speed manual with a tight, sporty shift pattern and easy clutch.
Other standard features include voice recognition, a
The ST that I tested was at the high end of the range for front-drive compacts. It also cost more than base versions of the AWD Subaru and Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart.
The Focus ST has more power than any of the FWD cars. That’s a mixed blessing: Plenty of power, and a heavy dose of torque steer — the tendency of a powerful frontdrive car’s front wheels to stray off line under strong acceleration. It makes handling less precise and takes some of the fun out of driving fast. The ST’s front wheels also have a tendency to meander with the road surface’s slope when accelerating. A limitedslip front differential can reduce those problems, but it adds weight and cost.
Ford gave the car a variable steering ratio to offset the wheels’ tendency to stray. It reduces steering sensitivity when you’re headed straight and increases it in turns. It works remarkably well negotiating twisty stretches.
The Focus ST has terrific grip. The suspension holds the car flat and stable in enthusi- astic driving and absorbs bumps comfortably.
The leather-trimmed Recaro seats in my car offered plenty of support and adjustments without being confining. An ST-exclusive pod of three gauges on the dashboard includes a turbo-boost gauge.
The controls combine voice, a touch screen and traditional buttons. The touch screen’s sensitivity is adequate, though the spots one touches to switch from phone to audio to climate to navigation are too small to hit consistently in a moving vehicle.
The hatchback provides plenty of practical space and enhances a sporty appearance that begins with a big ST-specific front fascia and includes red painted brake rotors.
The Focus ST’s fuel economy is excellent. The Environmental Protection Agency rates it at 23 mpg in the city, 32 on the highway and 26 in combined driving. No other sport compact approaches the Focus ST’s power and fuel efficiency.
That’s a combination that hasn’t always come naturally to Detroit’s automakers. The 2014 Focus ST is a fine start as Ford develops a new formula to deliver power to the people.