The six-speed manual gearbox belonging to the Focus ST is among the best you'll find in a current hot hatch - but that doesn't mean Ford hasn't been losing sales on its account. There are plenty of people who prefer the convenience of two pedals, and those people have been spending their money with Volksagen and Audi and BMW. From today, the Blue Oval plugs that gap - with the option of a seven-speed automatic on both iterations of the 2.3-litre petrol ST (although not the 2.0-litre diesel).
Elsewhere, you get an unchanged aluminium block EcoBoost motor, which means 280hp and 310lb ft of torque, although due to leggier ratios in the automatic, off-the-line performance is actually slightly down on the manual. Flat out, the EcoBoost auto hatch sprints from 0-62mph in six seconds, which is three tenths slower than the six-cog manual - but the seven-speed 'box pays you out at the other end with a slightly higher claimed motorway economy of 40.0mpg.
That said, combined economy is the same for both versions at 34.4mpg, and the slusher will do you no favours in town (where it's 3mpg down on what the ST will manage with a more closely stacked manual). Ford presumably expects the auto owner to be the sort of person who spends half their life on the motorway - or else so keen on the idea of retiring their left leg that they're not worried about going slower or using more fuel.
Either way, the diesel trumps both petrol versions for all-round economy, while obviously trailing them for outright performance, with the 0-62mph sprint taking 7.6 seconds (the estate's a tenth slower) but combined economy rated at 56.4mpg. Of course, we'd lay good odds that the manual 2.3 EcoBoost – a variant that you may remember saw off the Megane Trophy, i30 N and Mk7 GTI TCR in our hot hatch test last year - remains the one to buy.
Ford's motivation, though, is easily understood. The Megane is already available with an auto, the is i30 N set to gain an eight-speed dual-clutch 'box this year and the Mk8 GTI has arrived with both transmission types on offer, so a two-pedal rematch is certainly on the cards. At least this time around, direct comparisons with the hot hatch elephant in the room – Honda’s fabulous Civic Type-R – can no longer be made; for now the class-leader marches on with a six -speed manual exclusively.
As for the auto Ford, however, orders are being taken now with pricing starting at £34,710, which equates to a £1,450 premium over the manual EcoBoost ST. With the same increase over its manual equivalent, the estate auto starts at £36,110 – leaving the brilliantly-rounded ST line-up looking well placed in the value for money stakes. Customers will get to decide for themselves in just a few weeks, with first deliveries beginning in July.
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