Ford Fiest ST200: the most brilliant hot hatch ever made

The Fiesta ST is our favourite small hot hatchback, says Dan Prosser of Evo magazine. This updated ST200 model is a faster, more powerful version of it. The tweaks have made it feel tautly sprung at low speeds, the seating position is a touch too high, and the interior cheap-looking, given the price tag.

But all can be forgiven once you get behind the wheel. It is a "cohesive and expertly judged machine" to drive on twisty roads, the dynamics are as polished as any of the very best sports cars you can buy at any price and it has an "effervescent, addictive character". It is "stupendously good fun to drive".

The Fiesta ST is still the car to beat in the supermini hot hatch sector, says CJ Hubbard in Car. And this tweaked update is "mega". In-gear acceleration has been significantly improved third is now a "mighty, mighty thing", making overtaking even easier.

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The torque-vectoring electronics that manage traction mean you can "get hard back on the power almost as soon as you've finished braking for a corner, which makes short work of even the most technical switchbacks". The effect is almost "voodoo like". This is a car "best flown by the seat of your pants, the ankles of which are presumably on fire".

On a day-to-day basis, "no car not one is as much of a laugh", says Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times: it is "the most endearing and brilliant hot hatchback the world has seen". The tweaks to this ST200 have made it even more wonderful.

The trouble is, they have been so successful that Ford has applied them to the standard ST as well. Which means you're paying a £4,850 premium just to shave 0.2 seconds off the cheapest ST's 0-62mph time. "I would therefore buy the base model instead. And I don't mean instead of the ST200. Or instead of another hot hatchback. I mean instead of just about anything else on the road."

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