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As promised, Ford has revealed the newly face lifted Focus ST at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The refreshed ST still isn’t the prettiest of hot hatches, but the new visual cleanup makes it look better than it did before.
Visually, the Focus ST now benefits from a lower, wider appearance attributed to a new front bumper design, new bonnet, new headlights, and new fog lamps. Also new to the ST are the 19-inch alloy wheels, available as an option. Ford has also revealed new paint colours, Stealth Grey and Deep Impact Blue. Internally the ST has also had a redesign, simplifying what used to be a clutter of dashboard buttons that wasn’t too friendly. The new, simple layout includes a new steering wheel, new ST pedals, and the new SYNC 2 connectivity system, which encompasses telephony, voice control, navigation, and audio.
The face lift is more than just skin deep though. The Focus ST now features new technology to enhance stability and handling abilities. The suspension features all-new front springs and new shock absorber tuning front and rear, the electronic power steering has been recalibrated for quicker responses, the torque vectoring has been revised, and the ESP has been revised to detect rapid changes of direction, such as lane changes, and adjust the stability accordingly.
Perhaps the biggest change to the Focus ST line-up is that of a new engine to the range. While you can still opt for the 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol motor we’ve come to know since its release, the Focus ST now offers a diesel engine. The 2.0TDCi unit has outputs of 136kW and 400Nm on tap, which Ford claim gets the STD (It’s a terrible unofficial name, but it makes sense) from 0-100km/h in 8.1 seconds. The diesel model also has claimed fuel consumption figures of 4.4l/100Km.
What hasn’t been included in the face lift that was suspected is the inclusion of a dual-clutch transmission, but we wouldn’t be surprised if that arrived at a later date.
So, for your money, would you take the quicker, less frugal Focus ST petrol, or would you rather have the far more frugal STD?
