As my car collection has grown and shrunk I have always been a fan of practicality. This doesn’t mean I have an armada of people carriers and the odd builders van, but that I like any part fitted to a car to be purposeful. I will have a spoiler on a car if it produces down force, I will lower it if it helps handling around the track, and if a car can get away with only subtle looks to hide some meaty performance underneath then all the better. In short I love Q-cars!
As I look across the PH Tower’s car park I see corporate Focuses lined-up across the tarmac with my new Focus ST-2 nestled unassumingly among them. It fits neatly into the sleeper car park parade and - in homage of the origin of the Q-cars word - it is adorned with Sea Grey camouflage, be wary any U-boats near by.
It's the one at the front
Since the car arrived I have been getting constant jibes from the fellow PH staff. Any diesel Focus that moves past gets labelled with “quick, someone stole your car”. I could have chosen Electric Orange to avoid these quips, but then I could walk around in cycling shorts and a muscle top shouting look at me. Frankly, it’s neither my style nor my physique. Instead I will let the car's stats speak for it.
Until the launch of the forthcoming new Focus RS this is the most powerful road Focus to date. Ah, but what about the old RS I hear you whisper. The 2.5-litre five-cylinder 20-valve turbocharged engine in the ST-2 develops 225PS compared to the old RS’s 215PS and even produces an extra 10Nm of torque. I will concede it is a little heavier and slower to 60 than its older cousin, but the Ford test pilots managed to get my battleship coloured edition around the Nurburgring 10 seconds quicker than the two-wheel drive RS icon.
Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get my paws on the old RS so it would be wrong of me to compare its handling, but I can say the Ford ST-2 chassis is one of the reasons I chose the car. Back at a very wet Silverstone I had the chance to try some BP102 fuel, and the car they chose to use for their demonstration was the ST.
Across the wet tarmac the car was very poised and the chassis allowed me to put the car where I liked. A little bit of power and the car would scrabble for grip but it was controllable with good throttle response. You could coax it onto the straight without too many dramas and quickly progress to the next braking point. The backend would step slightly out under a wet turn-in - but it was so predictable - the car has already sent you a postcard of its intentions.
Breaking the cover with stickers
The other reason for this car making me smile then and everyday I drive it since is the engine noise. This isn’t a street performance for the gathering bus queues but a private performance for those inside the car. The car has a unique sound that grumbles from behind the centre console every time your right foot stretches its tendons. You have to blip the throttle on down shift - not to be nice to the engine or gearbox - but just so you can hear the engine while slowing. It becomes addictive.
The car does pop on occasion through the exhaust but it does it in its sleeper style. As you accelerate hard the noise is heard by passers-by but they look beyond the car as it performs its ventriloquist song. I’m not ruling out letting the outside world enjoy the reverberation inside the cockpit by changing the exhaust - but only if it improves performance.
There are a few things I haven't dared look at with the car, purely to keep the illusion of how great this car is. I'm sure the bubble - and my wallet - will burst when I work out the true MPG, but that can wait till next months report.