2023 Ford Focus ST Facelift Review: Fun Car, Serious Pricetag #FordFocusST [Car Obsession]

2023 Ford Focus ST Facelift Review: Fun Car, Serious Pricetag

Over the years, Fast Fords have been well known for being working-class heroes, the kind of car you can drive to the office and then blast down a B-Road on the way home. The Focus ST has just been one of many examples of the Blue Oval’s pursuit to offer performance to the working man, and there’s a new one.

It’s the facelift version of the Mk4 and it all looks rather promising. Under the bonnet, you have a 2.3 litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine which feeds its power to the front wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox – classic hot hatch formula. The engine is connected to a double exhaust, which isn’t afraid to make itself heard, and in the middle, you have chunky sports seats to hold you in place on those ‘spirited drives’.

So far, everything looks to be on point, but there is an elephant in the room – the price. You see, this very car in front of you is almost £39,000! Granted, it has a few options, but even so, that’s not exactly loose change. In this video I find out what that money give you.

Chapters:
0:00 Channel Intro
0:17 Video Intro
1:18 Engine Performance
2:43 Ingredients of a hot hatch
3:22 Drive Modes
3:53 Adaptive Dampers/Ride
4:55 Torque Steer/Chassis
5:27 Sports Seats
7:57 Pedal Weight
9:13 Handling
11:02 Price and Specification
12:24 Ford Sync 4
13:47 Conflicted views
16:11 Conclusion

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Music Credit:

#FordFocusST #NewFordFocusST #FocusST

[CarObsession]

Good evening everybody! Apologies for the later upload, I only finished the edit today as this week has been...unpredictable. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the video!

Chapters:
0:00 Channel Intro
0:17 Video Intro
1:18 Engine Performance
2:43 Ingredients of a hot hatch
3:22 Drive Modes
3:53 Adaptive Dampers/Ride
4:55 Torque Steer/Chassis
5:27 Sports Seats
7:57 Pedal Weight
9:13 Handling
11:02 Price and Specification
12:24 Ford Sync 4
13:47 Conflicted views
16:11 Conclusion

[drsmileyjedi]

A very good and honest review. I ordered mine in January 2022 before all the chaos. Still waiting for delivery but hopefully not too much longer. I was lucky to get it fully spec’d plus panoramic roof for under £36k with a good deal on my current car. Inflation has added nearly £5k to the price this past year. Would I have bought it at the current price near £41k; nope. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. Keep up the great work. Best wishes, Edd

[MrJimbobrude]

Brilliant review, I agree with everything you said especially on the price, I was lucky enough to get my order in before the s**t really hit the fan with the car market, and my dealer kept their side of the deal even though they could of sold it for more by the time it was delivered. I would not of paid the current asking price 🥵
I’ve added the Mountune M330 remap and it’s an absolute beast now. I’m really happy with it and will be keeping it for as long as possible. I’m not interested in electric so can’t really see me swapping it when the pcp deal ends.

[simonalexander]

Brilliant review. I just swapped my 2022 Fiesta st2 for a 2023 Focus st estate as I needed more room and practically. Though I prefer the Fiesta as a drivers car, the Focus is just brilliant as an overall package. Re cost, there is nothing else really comparable for me as an estate and after a generous dealer discount and 0% financing through Ford, it’s cheaper to finance than an i30.

[kevinwall]

Nice, comprehensive review. Thanks.
I have the 2013 Focus ST. Bought it for £20k new (well, with 70 miles on the clock).
Having to pay almost double 10 years later for a replacement is hard to swallow.

[dehv]

It's a lovely car and I would argue the price is consistent with some other NEW performance cars. It should however be closer to the 35K mark.

It's a sad fact that everything is getting more and more expensive relative to incomes.

[johnwhite]

Lovely car especially in mean green or orange colour, I think the ford performance seats look much better than the recaros, the ford performance seats look amazing, great job 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[dotnetdevni]

I had the 2018 st for a while handed back under vt but wwhat I found with that was that I was being beating by the rs and the golf tdi is that the same for this model and also is the cabin noise still simulated with the ford st

[jasonh]

You're spot on when you say Ford have priced themselves out of its normal hothatch customer...Cmon Ford...almost £40k for a Focus ST with more hard plastic than Katie Price😡🙈

[cdg]

Very fair review. Car on its merits is really excellent.

[adewb]

With this newer model being very expensive, would you say the MK4 Focus ST for 23-25k is worth it?

[jacobstafford]

Ordered one in mean green with performance pack. Offer from Carwow for 33, 500 which i though was very good

[jamesbrowne]

Charging Golf R - GTI clubsport money for a Ford a lot of loyal Ford owners have moved to other brands there was a fully loaded focus st at a dealer in Gravesend for £45k was on fords site for months

[vMaxHeadroom]

Loved my Focus ST MK3 but this new one is a bit too much on the price front and it just does not stand out as a hot hatch should. YEs it certainly seems to be really well put together and the interior is a huge step up from the MK3 as well as the bump in performance and no doubt it will be a great hot hatch. I tested the MK4 Focus, the i30n and was close to pulling the trigger but then tested the new Megane RS and in the end went for the road less travelled in the Megane RS 280 Cup and extremly happy...Yes they are maybe not as nice inside but from a driving and handling perspective every bit as good as the new ST, i30N and even stands up well against the mighty Type R...and finally not many about..oh and used low milage versions are a steel! Okay, I am biased as I went for the Megane!

[brianiswrong]

If only ford had gone with recaro for the seats and Brymbo for the brakes and akrapovic exhaust tips and the flavour of the month wheel maker (oz anyone?)
£40k for a rs focus, needs a bright colour and brand names and badges.
But then iam old enough to remember the first xr3 and my house cost £21500.👴

[meangreenst]

Starting at €61k here in Ireland, it’s a massive no because there’s better cars with better quality on the market for the same price and even less. Which is a shame as I’m a massive Ford fan and would love to have one of these in my garage.

[DaveDVideoMaker]

Fortunately, the Focus ST MK4 facelift is offered in Romania. It rivals the Hyundai i30N in their market.

[kofib]

Since they no longer use Recaros, wouldn't you think the price of this ST would be slightly cheaper as they're designed direct from Ford. Or is that nit picking?!

[kram]

I would rather have physical buttons that I can easily adjust without looking than a huge touch screen. Too many fiddly distractions.

[CarFocused]

Pricing is ludicrous these days. So much so that I’ll never buy a new performance car again.