I’m not given to using exclamation marks much — I believe that even the most verbose person should use at most one a week, otherwise we devalue them. It is thus with interest that I direct my gaze at the file in front of me, marked “Test Car Notes and Specifications”. At the bottom of the page for the Ford Fiesta ST, in my unmistakable scrawl, I see “lovely, lovely lovely!!!” and “9,5 / 10!!!” What tickles my interest more than way I squandered over a month’s worth of exclamation marks, however, is the question; why did I dock a half a mark from the Fiesta? The car’s really that good.
Some cars try to be sports cars without much success. The manufacturers either devote all their resources to getting the thing to go like hell, without giving it any soul, or they go overboard on styling issues without worrying about how well the whole package works together. The Fiesta ST is, in my book, a perfect example of a well rounded package. It’s stylish, it’s quick, it handles, it stops and it goes, yet it doesn’t lose any of the standard Fiesta’s user-friendly nature. It feels almost as if this hot-rod was the prototype for the series and all the other derivatives were simple downgrades.
The Fiesta ST is stylish without being garish. Massive 17″ alloy rims shod with wide low-profile 205/40 ZR 17 Pirelli rubber give the game away first, followed by the black honeycomb grille and aggressively protruding spotlights. The interior is very businesslike, with black leather and blue cloth upholstery trim punctuated by pseudo aluminium trim. The effect is classy, with the stubby aluminium-topped gear lever and alloy pedals giving the necessary sporty image without being too flashy. The racing seats are good looking and work very well at keeping the driver firmly upright behind the wheel during even the hardest cornering.
The ST version of the Fiesta’s a two door, which led to my only gripe — I just about dislocated my shoulder trying to get to the seatbelt every time I climbed behind the wheel, because the door aperture is so wide and the belt is so far away. All the usual toys are tucked away somewhere in the Ford — aircon, electric front windows, a first class sound system and ABS brakes are all standard.
The Fiesta ST uses Ford’s new two-litre Duratec HE engine, tuned for 110kW of power and 190 Nm of grunt. The factory claims that driven aggressively the car will reach 100 km/hr 8,3 seconds after you drop the clutch, and they reckon that its top speed is somewhere around 208 km/hr. That’s not as quick as, say Toyota’s RunX RSi, which uses 141 kw and 180 Nm to get it to 100 km/hr in under eight seconds on its way to a 222 km/hr top end, but the Ford feels much more of a sports car than the Toyota does, because it’s simply so driveable. Although the Ford has a 31 kW power deficit it benefits from a 10 Nm advantage in terms of torque, and, more importantly, the Fiesta’s torque peak of 190 Nm arrives at a lowly 4 500 rpm, while the Toyota needs to be spun to 6 800 rpm before all of its 180 Nm becomes available. Add to this the Ford’s weight advantage and you begin to understand why the Fiesta is such a strong contender in real-world conditions. The car pulls strongly in any gear at just about any revs, and the beefed-up close-ratio five speed transmission with its crisp, short-action gear changes is perfect for the job in hand.
Handling of the Ford is also way above average, thanks to the trick suspension components and wide tyres that get it sticking to the road more determinedly than Zuma to his job. Bigger disks and calipers pinched from the Fiesta ST ensure that the whole plot can be brought to a halt in a rush without fading.
Ford’s latest Fiesta range has impressed me from the day it was launched. The latest ST (Sports Technologies) version is the finest of the lot, offering real driving satisfaction in an extremely well balanced package. At R169 500 I’d have one tomorrow.