Quick Drive: Ford Fiesta ST

This week I had the opportunity for a quick drive in the new Ford Fiesta ST and it didn't take long to see the appeal of the hot-hatch category.

Until now I'd never driven a real hot-hatch, I'd always thought they had the potential but they had never really been high on my radar. All it took for the Fiesta ST to turn that view on its head however was 1minute in the hot seat near Riverhead.

Equipped with a 1.6L Ecoboost engine coupled with a 6speed manual gearbox the little Ford was a blast to drive around the country roads just outside Auckland's North Shore.

A few things we noted was that at highway speeds the OE tyres were a little noisy but around town at slower speeds you would be forgiven for thinking the wee Fiesta was having a siesta or more like a hybrid than a hot-hatch.

Ground clearance was also potentially problematic for NZ conditions, with the very cool ST only bumpers scraping when we tried to take the ST off into gravel dumps during our photoshoot.

But those are small beans when the experience of driving the ST more than makes up for its small shortcomings. The note from the exhaust especially brings out your inner leadfoot just so you can hear the Ecoboost rasp, while the well set up chassis handles quite well in the twisties, yet is comfortable enough for driving in town or on the highway.

Will be interesting if the Boss came to the same conclusions or not in his upcoming review on the ST.