Want a seriously nippy hot hatch for under €10,000 that’s as comfortable ferrying people around as it is on the track? Look no further than the Focus ST.
By Bob Flavin of smokerspack.com
Back when men were men and women were, let’s just say, feminine everyone drove a saloon or estate. There were some hatchbacks on the market but they were useless and broken, most of them were powered by an engine akin to a coal fire that would chug its way along making babies cry.
But then came the hot hatch, some Germans were let loose with a Golf and turned it into a mental little car that could carry people and things but still left every other car on the road for dead. Soon all the car manufacturers were putting out a sport version of of a standard hatch.
Fast forward a bit and the modern Focus was turned into the ST, it stands for Sports Technologies and not a woman’s hygiene product. Name aside you get a proper sized hatchback with a big meaty 2.5ltr engine. The ST is a bit of a sleeper car, by that I mean with the badges taken off you need to know your cars to understand what’s under the bonnet.
There’s a 221bhp lump taken from Volvo and while in most of these hot hatch type cars you get a kick in the back every time you touch the accelerator, in the Focus there’s just a wonderful surge of power right up to the red line, at which point you’ll be listening to the fantastic sound of an engine that loves to be pushed.
It’s only in the corners where you need to be awake to drive fast, it is a front wheel drive which makes it understeer and added to that the big engine drags the front around a bit. The right corner will get the heart going and the sweat down the back, but it’s a manly drive, you really need to trust your skills and timing before pushing it hard into a corner, otherwise you’ll be leaving a tonne of rubber on the road and your shiny ST in the hedge.
The Focus ST is a great package: you get all the good toys, Focus handling and a big bulletproof engine up front all wrapped up in wide tough-looking body. It looks best in three door but if you have kids you’ll need the five door.
So why would I suggest a big 2.5ltr car in times like this? Price is one factor, you can pick up a decent example of the ST from 2006 for less than €10,000, which also means you can have a decent sized five door hatchback that can just as easily shuttle the kids to school right before you head to the track for a few laps.
There’s plenty of choice in the hot hatch market, the Golf GTi being the daddy of them all but in my opinion the ST Focus gives you that manly feeling while looking supremely cool.
While there’s no mechanical maladies to report, you do need to inspect the tyres carefully, even if the car has never seen the track the front tyres wear fast. As always get your history check done with motorcheck.ie and have a full mechanical inspection carried out.
Do that and you can look forward to miles of fun in the best of all the fast hatchbacks.
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