Ford Focus ST 2.0 Review: Supah Thundah*

What we like:

Louder styling than its predecessor

instantly recognisable next to other hot-hatches

lovely packaging

lovely engine

lovely gear-shifter

lovely to drive hard... Who said a hot-hatch can never be lovely?

What we dislike:

Manual only transmission option will put off spoilt drivers

some plastic bits in cabin may come across as cheap

gaping face has a love-it or hate-it effect.

So this, my friend, is the current daddy of all hot-hatchbacks. It has grace, pace and space, it’s a car you could buy over the phone.

You might opine it isn’t as sharp as a Megane RS, doesn’t have much presence as a Golf GTI and “it’s just a Ford” – but this is the sort of car that you have to drive once, get addicted, go home and dream about it and following your heart, sign on the dotted line the next day.

With the new smaller cc, road tax is definitely cheaper too.

Credits: Story by Azfar Hashim, photos by Azfar Hashim and Low Fai Ming