Ford Fiesta ST king of the mountains

The Ford Fiesta ST is a little rocket in disguise

Not to be confused with its more demure Fiesta sibling, the Ford Fiesta ST is a whole different kettle of fish.

It’s a real cheeky and confident looking hot hatch, its sporty credentials manifesting themselves on the outside in the form of a rear spoiler and a large honeycomb grille and of course the distinctive ST badge.

The ST also sits lower to the ground than the regular Fiesta.

Inside, the cabin is spacious with good legroom in the front and it’s also surprisingly comfortable in the back, again with good leg and headroom.

The boot is also a decent size and the rear seats fold to create extra room. They don’t lie flat though.

At 5ft 5in, I found it easy to get into and out of the rear seats in this three-door hatch. From the driver’s seat though, visibility over my right shoulder wasn’t great.

The cockpit in the Ford Fiesta ST is well laid out and driver focused

The front seats in the Fiesta ST1 are of the Ricaro sports variety, with cloth upholstery. While supportive, thankfully, they’re not as huggy as those in the Ford Focus ST.

The back seats don’t have the same level of envelopment, which resulted in a complaint from our rear passenger that she was getting jostled around a bit too much while we in front were thoroughly enjoying our mountain drive.

The sports theme in the car is further carried through in the red stitching on the leather gearbox and steering wheel.

Infotainment-wise, the Ford Fiesta ST1 had a radio/CD/Bluetooth/Sync/aux and USB. I liked the red interior lighting and the nice deep glove compartment but I greatly missed having cruise control.

The test car was a six-speed manual with a 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine and a manual handbrake.

Despite the Fiesta ST’s Eco credentials, it is a hot hatch and you won’t be a stranger to the petrol station if you’re doing any great mileage in this car. Saying that though, it did take us to North Kerry and back on a full tank with 100km or so to spare.

Our route took us all over the country – on city streets, motorway, country and mountain routes.

The Ford Fiesta ST also has distinctive rear styling

We took a return trip from Dublin to Limerick on the motorway and at speed on this smooth road the suspension felt a bit too firm, with one of my passengers likening it to a space hopper.

However, you’ll want to drive it forever in the mountains – it was excellent, gripping the road and handling the terrain and bends superbly.

It was also good on the city streets and you could really hear the growl on acceleration. That growl, prompted by a little rev, also came in handy for alerting oblivious pedestrians that they were blocking the road.

The Fiesta ST was also excellent at the lights, again emitting that lovely growl as you quickly gathered pace, working smoothly through the gears.

Overall, I really enjoyed this car – much more, in fact, than the Ford Focus ST. While it wasn’t one for motorway cruising, It was great fun in the mountains and quite a respectable looking car in the city.

Two versions of the Ford Fiesta ST are available in Ireland, with prices starting from €25,760 for the ST1 version I was driving. Prices for the higher specced Ford Fiesta ST2 start from €27,260. Both variants share the same engine.

Tech Spec
Engine: 1.6-litre EcoBoost 182PS
Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 6.9seconds
Maximum Speed: 225kph
CO2 emissions: 138g/km
Combined fuel economy: 5.9l/100km
Annual road tax: €280

Visit the Ford Ireland website or its Facebook page for further details.

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