The Blue Oval has chosen the 2017 Geneva Motor Show to reveal the latest in a long line of legendary hot hatches, the 2018 Ford Fiesta ST. The current Fiesta ST is an extremely well regarded little hot hatch the world over, and the all-new model builds on the current model’s positive traits with added sportiness, more technology, more modern styling, greater interior quality and superior overall refinement.
For starters, the new Fiesta ST uses a new 1.5-litre turbocharged engine, producing a total of 150kW of power and 290Nm of torque, improvements of 13kW and 50Nm respectively. Despite dropping a cylinder to just three, it also features cylinder deactivation for the ability to run on just two cylinders when cruising. For European markets whom base their road tax on emissions, this is significant news because the new Fiesta ST only emits 114g/km of CO2 – a big drop compared to the old model’s 138g/km. Fuel use drops from 6.2L/100km to just 5.2L/100km.
Elsewhere, the Fiesta ST adds a dose of sportiness to the new Fiesta’s design. There are deeply bolstered Recaro sports seats, a flat-bottomed ST-branded sports steering wheel, an aggressive mesh sports grille, a large rear spoiler, sporty twin tailpipes and large 18-inch alloy wheels.
Also noticeable is the quantum leap in available technology compared to older Fiestas, including three drive mode settings – Normal, Sport and Track – that adjust the car’s throttle response, steering and ESP calibration. Also available is torque vectoring that brakes the inside wheel when cornering, and even active safety tech like radar cruise control, blind spot monitoring and automatic emergency braking.
The new Fiesta ST also gets other equipment never featured before, including an 8-inch touchscreen with Ford’s Sync3 interface, Apple CarPlay and AndroidAuto capability, a rear view camera, a Bang & Olufsen PLAY sound system, a huge panoramic sunroof and many different options for personalisation such as a range of trims and colours for the steering wheel, gearknob and door trims. This is in addition to the new Fiesta’s greatly improved interior; from the modern design to use of high quality plastics, this cabin is of quality that we’ve not seen from a small Ford as yet.
The new Fiesta ST will also be available as a 5-door for the first time, and we are greatly looking forward to its release in Australia in 2018.