While the best of the Fiesta ST’s sporting competitors feature similar power to the Ford’s 197 hp, most fall short in this class, particularly when factoring in the abundant 202 lb-ft of torque that swells impressively by just over 4,000 rpm.
The feisty little 1.6L’s induction roar goes through Ford’s “Sound Symposer” to fill the cabin with just the right amount of playfully aggressive audio track to keep things fun. Best of all, it doesn’t drone on the highway the way a set of aftermarket exhaust pipes are likely to do.
  2014 Ford Fiesta ST. Click image to enlarge |
While modest by today’s power-war standards, so too is the ST’s 1,234 kg curb weight, which makes the Fiesta quite spirited on the open road or track. And routing that power to the front wheels is managed by a rewarding six-speed manual and light but precise and progressive clutch. Even when shifts are hurried, a driver would need to try hard to pick the wrong gear, although the throws are a little notchy. If you cannot drive a proper stick shift, the Fiesta ST is not the car for you since a two-pedal version is not offered. Good on ya’, Ford.
The Blue Oval company has earned considerable praise for not wasting its time and money developing mediocre seats for their sporting machines. The Mustang, Focus ST and now Fiesta ST can all be had with Recaro performance thrones. As in its more expensive siblings, the seats in the Fiesta ST are aggressively bolstered to contain the two front-seat occupants during wild driving maneuvers. What’s more, they prove comfortable (at least for my slender frame) even after a nearly four-hour trip. If you buy your suits in the Big and Tall department, you might want to try on a Recaro-equipped ST before placing your order.
The thickly padded sport seats do cut into the rear occupant space more than the standard seats in the lesser Fiestas; and the space wasn’t all that large to begin with back there. Still, for a car with such sporting pretensions, having a rear seat (and two rear doors on North American Fiesta STs) plus a usable cargo hold beneath the rear hatch makes the Fiesta ST a more practical car than most others that are also this much fun.
   2014 Ford Fiesta ST. Click image to enlarge |
Playing the practicality card when trying to convince your significant other of this purchase might be a wise move, especially if you’d like to shell out the additional $400 Ford’s asking for the Molten Orange or Green Envy tri-coat paint – the latter of which covered my press car. It should be said that the finish of this paint is most impressive, with a fine metallic flake throughout and a rich, deep clearcoat finish. I for one loved the eye-burning green hue. That is I did love it until my kindergarten-aged son started telling his teachers and friends that “daddy drives a boogie” and my wife refused to be seen in it. Oh well, their loss. More sedate colours are also offered.
To keep the weight down, one might assume that Ford cut a lot of corners on the interior of the ST, but that’s not the case. Even the base model Fiesta is finished with a lot of high-grade, soft-touch plastics and they carry over here. The layout of controls is pretty straightforward and the ST features heated seats, automatic climate control and the usual host of power amenities. Ford also throws in the Sony audio system upgrade as part of the standard MyFord Touch set up. My tester also featured the optional navigation system. Having experienced this setup in a few other Ford’s recently, I was quite familiar with its operation and had no trouble connecting my iPhone, iPod or executing any of the other tasks I requested of it.
