Orders close, era ends for Ford Focus ST
It's now or never time for a fast Ford great, as production slowly winds up
Ford UK has confirmed that it’s no longer possible to order a new Focus ST. Production of all Focuses will end at Saarlouis in November, and every slot for the Ecoboosted flagship is said to be accounted for. In a statement, the firm said: “There are no new factory orders available for the Focus ST at the moment.” And, well, look at where fast Fords have gone of late, with a 1.0-litre Puma ST, no Fiesta ST, and Mustangs of all kinds more expensive than ever. It doesn’t look great for the future of attainable Ford Performance cars.
There is a small silver lining attached to this end-of-an-era cloud, the statement adding that there are around 170 new Focus STs built and available throughout the dealer network. Of those, 30 are the Azura Blue ST Edition, with the flow-formed wheels and coilovers. A quick look on the Ford new vehicle locator shows a good few STs around with the Track Pack, which brings a lot of the Edition good stuff as well as opening up more colour choices. Mean Green being the obvious choice, of course. They’re priced from £38,800, rising to £44,895 for fully loaded, automatic estates; somewhere in the middle for a Track Pack’d, manual hatch would feel like money very well spent - they’re fantastic.
If it doesn’t sound trite, it does at least ensure a fitting farewell for the Focus ST. While the badge won’t die, and presumably something Focus-shaped will return, it’s extremely unlikely to have a 2.3-litre turbo and a six-speed manual in its fastest version. Autocar has suggested that production could resume if there’s a sudden spike in demand - or a run-out special edition - but let’s be realistic here, the Focus ST as we’ve known and loved it is done. And however great the final Track Pack cars were, that’s pretty sad.
Easy to forget that the Focus ST story is almost 25 years old now, the first 170 version launching in 2002. It tends to be forgotten because a weedy engine let down a fine chassis, but they still look smart and now offer a cheap way into retro fast(ish) Ford motoring - this 60k-miler isn’t much more than four thousand pounds. It was 2005 when the ST really came good, though, pairing lusty Volvo five-pot power with a playful chassis. And the orange, of course. It was cheap, it was fast, it was a little bit rowdy - a proper fast Ford, basically. While the lowest mileage, lowest owner cars are now prized, it’s still possible to get smart-looking ones like this ST500 for less than £10k - just watch out for the rust…
The Mk3 of 2012 was notable for reintroducing the estate to the Focus ST line-up, a derivative first seen for the 170 and which very few sold. The wagon made more sense with a hearty 2.0-litre Ecoboost up front, however, and it was a fun, feisty alternative to the usual VW Group estate alternatives. This was the time of the warrantied Mountune upgrades, too; an estate with the 275hp/295lb ft package would be quite some way to ferry dogs, kids and bikes around. Standard ones are now available from £7k; the hatches from just £5,000. Please budget for lots of tyres.
The 2019 Mk4 Focus ST we’re now bidding farewell to returned the model to a larger capacity engine, the 2.3-litre Ecoboost lending a useful torque advantage (310lb ft) over rivals like the 1.6-litre Peugeot 308 GTI, 1.8-litre Renaultsport Megane and 2.0-litre Golf GTI. Not everybody was sold on the new look, and there were more modes than ever, but there was most certainly still some fast Ford magic in the ST. The front axle was much better sorted than the old car when it came to deploying all that power, while still retaining that much-loved sense of fun that rivals like the Civic couldn’t quite boast. The diesel was retained for a bit, and an auto came along as well, but they weren’t really comparable with the six-speed petrol.
Now those 2.3s are available from £15k, which looks enormously tempting given how much is shared with those new ones on offer at three times that. The estate kept its place in the ST range, and was better than ever, though definitely sold in much smaller numbers; when you find one, expect to pay more than £20k.
As mentioned, it’s the Edition or Track Pack Focuses that are really worth seeking out. We could well understand driving one back to back with a Civic Type R and preferring Ford’s way of going about things, especially with such a price saving: this Azura Blue Edition is £37,500, while a plain black Track Pack sneaks under £30k. You probably wouldn’t be so sad about ST’s demise tearing around in one of those.
I've got a petrol automatic with Mountune map. Been around Western Europe in it, down to Italy, over to the Hebrides and down in the South West. Averaged 27mpg and enjoy driving it.
Buy a 2021 or earlier if you want Recaro branded seats otherwise you get Ford Performance seats.
As an FL5 owner now, you can get one for around £44-46k brand new so not the premium on the edition the article states
Any fa(s)t EV really can't overcome the laws of physics. There really isn't anything new under the sun.
If you enjoy a bit of hot hatchery get one while you can, they are not coming back in 2 tonnes + form.
A couple of choice modifications (specifically, retarding the exhaust cam timing 8 degrees and an appropriate map to suit) absolutely brings the engine alive and gives it a searing top end.
I don’t miss them as such, but do look back on the cars fondly. They remind me of a time where you could drive in a much more progressive manner than now, hence why I think it’s a memory best kept as a happy one from the past.
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