Hocus Pocus It’s Ford’s Fast Focus

I love a hot hatch.

You can take it on a shopping expedition, use it on a dinner date, a business trip, throw all manner of stuff in it, carry folk about and when the opportunity arises, take it for a mega blast on favorite roads.

Recently, I raved about the wickedly exciting Ford Fiesta ST and the other week I took its big brother, the Focus ST, for a spin.

At AUD$38,990 (+ORC), the Ford Focus ST is one of the best and in my view on par with the king of hot hatches, the VW Golf GTi.

It has lightning fast electric power steering, short throw gear changes and big meaty brakes. Thanks to its beautifully balanced chassis, sports suspension, wide stance, and Velcro-like Goodyear tyres, it darts through corners like a house fly.

Yes, you do jiggle about on anything but the smoothest of roads, but when you have a car that handles this sublimely, who cares!

Its two-litre, direct injection, Eco-Boost turbo four engine rockets the Focus ST to triple figures in 6.5 seconds and it revs with astonishing ease to the redline. When the turbo kicks in, (and you sure feel it) it sounds like adrenalin escaping. There’s no torque steer, even when you plant your foot; it just points its nose at the horizon and heads towards it, very rapidly.

Styling wise the Focus ST sits aggressively low with a forward raking profile like Dan Ricciardo’s Red Bull F1 car, it sports red brake calipers nestled behind spiderweb 18-inch alloys on low profile tyres, pumped wheel arches, front and rear spoilers, a rear diffuser with twin central exhausts and a sports body kit. In battleship grey it has a menacing presence.

While it looks like a street fighter on the outside, inside it is surprisingly refined and comfortable. The Recaro racing seats hold you tighter than a boa constrictor and behind the chunky D-shaped steering wheel, the Focus ST feels very familiar to its baby brother. The black plastics are mostly soft to touch and it can easily carry four adults in comfort, with plenty of room.

I enjoyed the intuitive, voice activated Sync2 touchscreen for the HVAC, phone, entertainment and navigation and loved the little touches, like the illuminated red ST logo on the doorsills, which matched the dials of the two instrument clusters.

The Focus ST is well equipped with the previously mentioned Recaro race seats, leather multifunction steering wheel, a superb Sony audio system, dual climate control, push button start, satnav, proximity key, auto wipers and lights and lots, lots more.

Safety wise you get lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, reversing camera, traction and stability controls, antilock brakes and airbags throughout. It scores a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

If you are in the market for a hot hatch or a family carrier that can raise your heart rate, check out the Ford Focus ST.

His World’s partner Her World likes to share her experiences too.