The Ford Focus ST is the sporty hatchback version of the Focus that gives us an exciting drive. With a sport tuned suspension and higher end engine the ST is attractive with a sport styling and a low roofline to be a hot hatch that looks like it should be a lot of fun to drive and can handle corners with quickness and agility that isn’t found in even some of the higher end sports cars. One of the most interesting parts of the ST is the slight bit of history of its tire story and what is offered.
The tire story is one that certainly makes you understand once again why much of the world views us in America as spoiled. Most of the world runs their cars on two sets of tires. They have one set for the warmer months and another for the colder months. While this does help the tires last much longer than the all-season tires we are accustomed to in North America drivers in other countries are used to this need and understand changing tires every few months. When the Focus St showed up originally it was fitted with summer tires which meant other tires had to be purchased, making many Americans upset about having to pay for more tires, even though this would make their tires last twice as long.
The reason these tires were offered this way was to create the proper grip in the right temperatures, which is understood elsewhere but not here. Because the gripes about the tire issue were so loud, for 2015 and forward the Ford Focus ST offers all-season tires as an option for an additional $30, which most buyers are more than willing to pay.
As for the rest of the fun of the ST, the car enjoys the 252 horses that come out of the engine to produce a run to sixty mph in only 6.3 seconds and a quarter mile that comes in at 14.9 seconds. This performance is not going to beat sports cars around the country, but certainly offer you a Ford Focus that is fun to drive, especially when you add in the old style manual transmission that is great to shift and makes you feel as if you are a huge part of the overall driving experience of the car. As the most engaged drive in the Focus lineup, the ST offers you an old school driving feeling from a car that is fully updated.
Not only do you get the power you need to make this little car go and a great manual transmission, but the revised electrically assisted steering system that is connected to the sporty flat-bottom steering wheel makes entering and exiting turns at speed much more confident and controlled than ever. With all these improvements in place the car feels much smoother than ever before and gives you some of the best transitions from point to point, now if you can see your way to using the right tires for the season, you will really see what this awesome car can do and find yourself seeking out every canyon or mountain run in your area in your new Focus ST.
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