Flip! Did I enjoy driving this car!

But it’s much more than just a great, reliable drive and wishlist item for Boksburg Boy Racers. It’s a huge statement from the Ford team that they can and will offer South African drivers a well stacked, quick and good looking car for a really reasonable price.

The Ford Focus ST 2013 starts at a bargain low R309 000. Its biggest competitor is the GTi which starts at R353 710.

Granted the new GTi has been announced and will arrive in South Africa next year, so the ST’s reign may be short lived, but that means the GTi is going to have to come in at an incredibly low price. Time will tell.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a new car, answer the same question you would if you are looking for a new smartphone: do I wait for the iPhone 5, or just get the Galaxy III? Do I wait for the GTi or just get the ST?

As with the smartphone world, my advice would be that you can’t really go wrong. But if you’re a GTi fan, then waiting won’t be a problem.

The new ST is an amazingly smooth drive. The 2-litre turbocharged Eco-Boost engine is down a couple of cylinders, but you wouldn’t be able to tell. Pull off in any gear is effortless, although you will know when you hit 160km/h because the wind roar from outside is considerable.

Not considerable enough though to drown out the teenage lion roar of the engine which is coming to you courtesy of Ford’s specially developed sound symposer which points to the walls of the engine bay and filters the induction noise out to you in the cabin. Get used to it. The days of a V8 engine are in the past. Make your peace that car manufacturers now have to “simulate” noises to get the same effect. That’s life.

The new ST comes in two derivatives, the ST1 and the ST3. Minor differences between the two. Both though have the quite brilliant Microsoft and Ford SYNC system which works through the Sony entertainment system.

At its release a couple of years back, SYNC was the first of its kind, now many cars have similar functionality like voice command recognition, Bluetooth streaming audio and message computer read-back. But few work as well as SYNC.

The pairing of a phone is really easy, download your contacts to the car, and you’re away. Just push the voice button on your steering wheel, and start speaking. Good news is this system will recognize your voice more accurately than most I’ve tried. Even the iPhone messes up more often. You might even find yourself using it, texting less while you drive and as a result having less accidents.

Some other features to sing about:
Recaro seats
Dynamic and outlandish interior styling (it’s nice but some will complain)
Tire deflation detection system
Rain sensing wipers
Figure 8 unique center exhaust
Enough room in the back for 2 big mates, 3 small ones
4 year 90 000km warranty
18” alloys inspired by the previous generation
Torque Steer compensation to make you feel like you’re really in control
Sports suspension and specially tuned dampers along with a lowered ride height of 10mm
10% increase in power from previous gen, 20% decrease in CO2 and emissions

One warning, watch out for the grabby brakes. You will slam your girlfriends head in to the dashboard on your first journey, but you acclimatize in no time.

SPECS:
Engine: 2-litre Turbocharged EcoBoost
Output – 184kw and 360Nm
0-100 – 6.5 seconds
Top speed – 248km/h
Economy – 7.2L per 100 (good luck on that)
CO2 – 169g
Price:
ST1 – R309 530
ST3 – R353 700