1:03 pm, February 11, 2021
The Ford Fiesta is not only the best selling new car in the UK – it’s also the best selling used car.
The cracking little Ford constantly tops the sales charts and it’s easy to see why, especially in this cracking ST Edition trim.
This is Ford’s more performance-focused version of its Fiesta ST hot hatch, which is limited to just 300 examples in the UK and I got to drive it as part of our Used Car Awards filming.
In a special video, which you can watch here, I took the little hot hatch out for a spin around my workshop and must say I was mightily surprised.
What Ford has managed to do with that three cylinder engine is nothing short of witchcraft.
Under the bonnet is the same 1.5-litre turbo engine as the other STs. It makes 197bhp and 290Nm of torque, adding up to a 0-60mph time of 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 143mph.
It certainly made me scream with laughter. It’s bonkers. It’s got a cracking turn of pace and the manual gearbox is great fun to use.
I love the way it scrabbles around, it feels light and fighty and I love it – like a proper little Fast Ford should do!
The Fiesta ST Edition gets unique styling details and upgrades to optimise it for road or track use.
It has apparently been tuned on the Nurburgring Nordschleife by Ford Performance engineers – and now ragged to within an inch of its life around Leamington Spa by yours truly!
The Fiesta has two-way adjustable coilover suspension, which drops the ride height by 15mm at the front and 10mm at the rear.
The adjustability comes in the form of 12 bump settings and 16 rebound settings. This is the amount of upward damper movement in the wheel when it hits a bump and the speed at which the wheel returns to its original position respectively.
Don’t worry if that sounds confusing – all you need to know is this thing will make you grin like a cat!
Other equipment thrown in by those nice Ford people include 18-inch alloy wheels that are two kilograms lighter than the standard ST’s wheels, a Quaife limited-slip differential and selectable drive modes.
It also gets unique styling touches that include an Azura Blue paint job that was previously only available on special order, gloss and matte black parts, carbon-fibre-effect finishes inside and leather for the steering wheel, gear knob and handbrake.
It ain’t cheap though – the Ford Fiesta ST Edition is priced from £27,075.
It won our Small Car of the Year category and the overall Car of the Year. To find out what else won in our awards you can visit this special Used Car Awards section or watch the full awards ceremony below where I road test all our cars of the year.
