Ford Focus ST Review 2024

Ford has probably done more to democratise performance than any other car company, and the Ford Focus ST hot hatch is a case in point. That’s because it’s a brilliant, all-purpose kind of car that is realistically affordable for a lot of people. And it happens to be really fast and fun to drive alternative to a Volkswagen Golf GTI, Hyundai i30 N, Cupra Leon and Honda Civic Type R.

Let’s start by examining what makes the Ford Focus itself so good. It functions really well as a family car, with plenty of space for a typical family of four and a decent-sized boot. Go for the estate version (which is also available in ST guise) and that boot becomes genuinely huge.

The Focus may be family-friendly, but it’s still quite a compact car, so it doesn't feel excessively big for single people and couples.

Its interior is a really pleasant place to spend time, too. The dashboard looks good, the seats are fantastically comfortable and supportive (the Ford Focus ST’s sports seats, in particular), it’s quiet, there’s a good view out from every seat, and it feels quite plush and really well-made.

Among the raft of updates applied to all Focus models in 2022 was a new infotainment system with a 13.2-inch touchscreen display, which runs Ford’s latest SYNC 4 software. If you’re familiar with older Ford infotainment systems, you’ll notice straight away that the new one is a massive improvement, with sharper graphics and simpler-format navigation. If you’re new to Ford, just know that this is one of the best media systems in the business.

Even regular Focus models are fantastic to drive. They feel light and poised, and you have complete trust that the car will do what you want. More than that, you feel like you’re directly plugged into the car, which makes the Focus really rewarding and fun – whether you’re just popping to the shops or going for a blast on a favourite country road. 

In the Ford Focus ST, everything gets turned up a few notches. The 280PS 2.3-litre turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine serves up a suitably rapid turn of speed, with a 0-62mph time of 5.8 seconds and 155mph top speed. And the suspension is tuned and honed to provide a more focused and fun driving experience.

It’s not the quickest or most hard-edged hot hatchback you can buy, but the Ford Focus ST treads the fine line between everyday usability and ultimate B-road thrills. It’s really fast and fun when you want it to be, the rest of the time it’s a normal everyday car that’s easy to park and can dispatch hundreds of motorway miles in one stride. Faster hot hatches tend to feel like they’re straining at the leash, which can make them a bit wearing when it’s not appropriate to let them run.

There’s only one model of Ford Focus ST available, with a few variations. The hatchback costs just under £37,000 at the time of writing, while the estate is an extra £1400. You can add an automatic gearbox, but it dulls the driving experience. The ST is also the best-equipped Focus you can get, coming with loads of features as standard.

There are more thrilling small-ish fast cars than the Ford Focus ST, but few are as well-rounded or as usable everyday, especially if we’re talking about the estate. With production of all Focus models due to end in 2025, buy one while you still can.

You can have a lot of fun driving the Ford Focus ST. It responds keenly to the slightest movement of the steering wheel, and feels interactive and rewarding. It’s not quite as poised as the smaller Fiesta ST, nor as riotous as the similarly-sized Hyundai i30 N. But it’s easy to build a rapport with the car because it feels so intuitive. 

There are a couple of issues. The front wheels can follow lines and dips in the road at 40mph or so, dragging the car away from where you want it to be. You feel exactly what’s going on through the steering wheel, though, so any deviation is easily corrected. And the ride is very firm, if not intolerably so. The fantastically comfy and supportive seats help here.

The optional Ford Performance Pack (only available on the hatchback) includes a Continuously Controlled Damping System with various modes to vary the ride stiffness. They range from super-stiff Track mode to the more supple Normal, which is actually a bit more comfortable than the standard suspension.

Otherwise, the ST is much the same to drive as any other Ford Focus: quiet, easy to park and rock-steady on the motorway.      

The Ford Focus ST comes with a 2.3-litre four-cylinder EcoBoost petrol engine, similar to the one previously found in the Ford Mustang. Its 280PS output is actually on the low side for a hot hatch these days, but it’s still a lot of power.

Floor the throttle in pretty much any gear and it takes off very quickly indeed. It’s at its best in third and fourth gears, where you can really take advantage of the torque on offer to make very short work of overtaking. The engine sounds good, too: really purposeful, if not exactly musical.

You can choose between six-speed manual or seven-speed PowerShift dual-clutch automatic gearboxes. The former has 420Nm of torque, the latter has 415Nm. Acceleration times are identical, though, with both cars sprinting from 0-62mph in 5.8 seconds. Top speed is 155mph.  

The Ford Focus performed extremely well when assessed by safety experts Euro NCAP, gaining a five-star rating. It scored 96 percent for protecting adult occupants in a crash, and 87 percent for protecting children. It also gained strong marks for protecting vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, and for its active safety features.

The latter include automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist. In addition, the Ford Focus ST has adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition and a system that keeps the car in the centre of a driving lane.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Ford Focus ST has the highest towing capacity of the whole Focus range, at 1600kg. That’s more than enough to pull a typical two-berth caravan, or even a smaller four-berth one. We reckon, however, that most Focus ST towbars will be used to mount a bike rack.

The ST is just as practical as any other Focus model. There’s sufficiently generous space in the front seats that pretty much anyone should be able to get comfortable.

The rear seats are plenty roomy enough for any age of child, while six-foot-tall adults won’t feel cramped. The bench is even wide for three adults to sit side-by-side without feeling crushed together – a rarity in a car of this size.

To put all of that more simply, the Ford Focus ST is spacious enough to cover pretty much any eventuality, which can’t be said of every midsize hot hatchback. Rivals such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Hyundai i30 N just aren’t as accommodating. 

Moving to the boot, the Ford Focus ST hatchback has a fairly modest capacity of 375 litres – five litres less than the Golf GTI – but it’s square and flat. The opening is also quite large, making it easy to pack. The back seats fold down in a 60:40 split, freeing up 1354 litres of luggage space.

The hatchback’s boot won’t be big enough for everyone. But having a family, business or hobby that requires lots of stuff doesn’t mean you have to miss out; there’s also the Ford Focus ST estate.

This car’s 575-litre boot isn’t quite class-leading, but it’s still huge by any measure. The space is, again, flat and square, the opening is massive and there’s no lip between the bumper and floor to heave things over. There’s also a storage area beneath the boot floor intended for dirty shoes, dog toys and other stuff you don’t want to ruin the carpet. Folding the back seats down expands the load area to a cavernous 1650 litres (measured up to the window line).  

There aren’t many places to keep odds and ends in the Ford’s interior. Its door bins are usefully large, but the glovebox, front armrest cubby hole and glovebox are all on the small side.

When the current generation of Ford Focus ST was launched, the massively improved materials used throughout the interior immediately jumped out. Honestly, it made the previous generation feel rather cheap and nasty by comparison.

Everything you touch most often is made from plastics that feel warm and soft, while the buttons and knobs operate with a reassuring precision. There are a lot fewer of those in the latest, facelifted version of the Focus, however, because the air-con controls have moved to the infotainment touchscreen.

You will find some hard and scratchy plastics used where more hard-wearing materials are needed. As a result, the Ford Focus ST doesn’t quite have the premium feel of a Golf GTI, but the wonderfully comfy and supportive seats add a touch of plushness. Everything is very solidly put together, too.  

One of the key elements in the 2022 facelift for the Ford Focus was a new infotainment system. It’s a massive improvement on the tech fitted to older cars. You’ll spot it immediately, due to the massive 13.2-inch touchscreen perched atop the dashboard.

Ford’s latest SYNC 4 software underpins the system and, again, it’s a massive improvement on the old, still-pretty-good SYNC 3 software. Most significantly, the system loads almost instantly when you turn the car on, and there’s much less menu-diving needed to access the feature or information you want. The air-con controls have also been moved to the screen, but fortunately they are permanently in a row at the bottom – rather than hidden away in a sub-menu, as in some other cars.

Add in sharp and colourful graphics and a super-responsive screen, and the Ford Focus ST has one of the best infotainment systems you will find in any car.

Features of the system include sat-nav, DAB radio and Bluetooth. You can also connect your phone via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and it even reads out text messages. If you’d rather not tap away at the screen, the system responds to voice commands.

The driver also gets a 12.3-inch digital display that you can configure to show the information you are most interested in.

At the time of writing, prices for the Ford Focus ST start at £36,950 for the hatchback. The estate costs an extra £1400, at £38,350. To put that in context with the Ford Focus ST’s rivals, it’s a bit more than a Hyundai i30 N, but less than a Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport.

Adding an automatic gearbox costs around £1400. There’s also quite a large selection of optional colours and features to choose from, which can easily stretch the cost of a Ford Focus ST to well over £40,000.

You can get a modest discount by buying a pre-registered Focus ST, but it’s rare to find a deal that will save you more than £500 or so. 

It’s a high performance car, so the Ford Focus ST inevitably uses more fuel than other Focus models. Still, average economy of 35mpg isn’t bad for this type of car. Of course, the numbers you will see depend entirely on how and where you drive. Around town, economy will be appreciably lower, but on a long motorway run you might see around 40mpg.

CO2 emissions are 183g/km with a manual gearbox, or 182g/km with the automatic. Private owners will pay £190 per year in vehicle excise duty (VED, or road tax). Spec your Focus up with enough options to push the price beyond £40,000, however, and you’ll be landed with a much bigger first-year VED bill, plus an extra £390 charge from years two through six.

The CO2 emissions mean benefit-in-kind tax rates for company car drivers are pretty high.

Servicing costs should be pretty reasonable for a high-performance car (they invariably are with Fords), and the Focus is covered by a warranty lasting three years or 60,000 miles.

There’s just the one model of Ford Focus ST available and, being the de facto flagship of the range, it comes absolutely loaded with standard features.

These start with a bodykit that consists of deeper front and rear bumpers, Crystalline Grey inserts and a huge rear spoiler. It also comes with 19-inch Y-Spoke alloy wheels finished in Magnetite grey, lowered sports suspension, red brake callipers and Matrix LED headlights.

Moving inside, you’ll find magnificently comfy and supportive heated front sports seats with six-way power adjustment. All the seats are trimmed in suede and leatherette upholstery, too. There’s also a heated sports steering wheel, aluminium gear knob and ST-branded scuff plates.

As for gadgets, you get a 13.2-inch touchscreen display running Ford’s latest SYNC 4 infotainment system, which includes sat-nav, DAB radio, Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto phone connectivity. It’ll even read out your text messages. Add to that a thumping Bang & Olufsen surround-sound stereo system, 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, wireless phone charging pad, dual-zone air conditioning and LED interior lighting.

Driver assistance features include adaptive cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist. It’s a comprehensive package.