Once a year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (
SMMT) round up the UK press offices and a selection of their fleet cars for a one-day event at the Millbrook Proving Ground. It's a chance to catch up on colleagues and new personnel as well as an opportunity to drive some of the latest vehicles on the high-speed bowl and entertaining 'Hill Route'.
Some outlets write full 'road tests' from the day's activities, though time in each car is fairly limited. This year I got behind the wheel of no less than 25 different cars, which goes to show perhaps how little time I did spend in each, though that included at least one lap of the challenging Hill Route in each car. There are so many new cars being launched this year that we thought it would be worth compiling my first impressions on these cars. Many we will test in depth at a later date.
Ford Focus ST
Model tested: Ford Focus ST 3-door
Price: £17,520 on-the-road.
0-62mph: 6.8 seconds
Top speed: 152mph
Combined economy: 30.4mpg
Kerb weight: 1392kg
Relevant links:
All Ford road tests.
Given that the Focus ST is aimed at enthusiasts, it's a bit if a tragedy that we've not managed to get our eager mitts on the leather-rimmed steering wheel before now. Unsurprisingly, the UK press fleet has been inundated with requests. Reviews have been mixed, most of them putting the
VW Golf GTi ahead of the cheaper and faster Focus. Time to find out for ourselves.
First impressions are great, especially in the retina-burning Electric Orange paintwork of the car in Millbrook. The interior of the
latest Focus is of high quality with tactile materials and switchgear to rival the regular
Golf and the ST raises the game further, with snug Recaro sports seats front and rear trimmed in cloth, but available in several colours including orange. I really like the Performance Blue paintwork that comes with blue cloth.
Under the ST's bonnet is a turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine that is essentially a Volvo unit. Output is 222bhp to the front wheels only. Ford were working on a 300bhp version to go into a four-wheel drive version, possibly with the RS badge, but sadly it looks like that car is not to come to fruition. Still, the Focus ST manages its significant power well, in the dry at least. In the two laps of the Hill Route I completed, the ST felt every bit as involving as the Golf GTi, with an extra dollop of absorbency in the suspension. The engine predictably makes a great noise, though the cabin is possibly too isolated from it, with the outside world being treated to the full melody. It will be interesting to see how the Focus ST fares on our usual testing routes later this year.
Shane O' Donoghue - 31 May 2006
