![]() What surprises is how compliant the car feels over a long haul, without the rock-hard suspension common to many small performance cars. Its roadholding ability puts the aggressive front-seat side bolstering to work as the car tests the limits of how much pressure internal organs can take when pushed up against a seat in a hairy turn.Įxpectedly, the sport suspension’s ride is stiffer than that of the base Focus. The ST’s great steering feel and turn-in confidence make this Focus hot-hatch a riot to drive. These traits are exaggerated to their best extent in the ST, which has the tenaciousness of a sports car and the civility of an everyday driver - not an easy task. The non-ST Focus already has amazing handling and is easily one of the most fun to drive compact cars currently available. Click here to compare the ST to a regular Focus. The ST competes with the Mazdaspeed3 and Volkswagen GTI - plus the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ - on the merits of cheap performance. ![]() The 2013 Ford Focus ST is a well-thought-out, refined performance machine that manages to remain civil when needed - and downright fun when wanted. As a testament to its performance intentions, the ST only comes with a six-speed manual transmission. While the small size and confusing features remain, the performance-injected Focus ST hatchback with a 252-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder expands on the Focus’ best handling attributes. The Focus’ amazing handling dynamics weren’t enough to make us look past its small interior, poky acceleration and confusing controls for simple features. The Ford Focus didn’t get much love in our $20,000 Compact Car comparison, where the Focus sedan brought up the rear of a five-car field.
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