The £27k Ford Fiesta ST Edition Has Manually Adjustable Coilovers

It’s extremely hard to pick fault with the Ford Fiesta ST’s handling. It’s the best-driving current hot hatch bar none, so making improvements in the dynamics department wouldn’t be high on our agenda. Ford reckons there’s room for improvement, though, as evidenced by the new Fiesta ST Edition.

Said to be “extensively tested” on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the Edition’s most important improvement concerns the suspension. It has a new set of manually-adjustable coilovers, giving a 15mm lower ride height at the front, and a 10mm drop at the back which can be altered should you wish. It’s also possible to choose from 12 compression settings and 16 rebound settings.

To go with the fancy new suspension, there’s also a new set of 10-spoke alloy wheels, which reduce the unsprung mass by eight kilograms. They’re ‘flow-formed’, which involves applying pressure to the wheel’s inner barrel post-casting, compressing the aluminium and adding strength. The new shoes are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres, now found on all STs due to the Super Sport being phased out.

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Ensuring it won’t get mistaken for any old Fiesta ST, the Edition has been given unique Azura Blue paintwork with a gloss black rear diffuser, boot spoiler and ST badges. The lower grille, meanwhile, is matte black.

On the inside, there are fake carbon fibre details, blue stitching and a new Ford Performance steering wheel which includes a shortcut button to put the car in Sport mode. Ford’s Sync 3 infotainment system - which works out of an eight-inch touchscreen - is fitted as standard, along with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

500 will be available across Europe, with a whopping 300 of those units allocated to the hot hatch-loving UK market. It isn’t cheap, though - it costs £27,075, putting it close to the starting point of the all-wheel drive Toyota GR Yaris.