Rally-eMag September 2013 / Feature
31/52
Walking to the car you can’t help being impressed. Not by the exuberantly different looks
from a standard Fiesta but more by the subtle
details that immediately show, your looking at a
potent car. The ultra thin tyres around the 17 inch
grey alloys play an important role here. Also the
not to loud spoiler over the rear door is a tell tale.
The honeycomb front is impressive but doesn’t
differ too much from the normal Fiesta. The colour is an ST exclusive: molten orange. It seems
to be red, but next to a racing red model you see
the difference and when you’re parked in the sun,
you can see some gold flakes. It seems tacky but
it definitely is not. It fits remarkably well
Inside
So the outside shows enough of the potential
but without being too much for a normal roadcar.
The first look at the inside immediately is a bit
different. The seats look impressive. And actually
that is what they are. We had the ST2 version
of the car and one of the niceties of that version
are a set of genuine Recaro’s with a mixture of
leather and some kind of very comfortable fabric.
The Reacaro’s don’t just look ‘racy’ but they feel
that way too. Climbing into the seats is the first
time you feel like one of the Ford drivers. Okay
there is no roll cage but dropping yourself into
the seats is not an option. And if you sit, you sit!
The normal seatbelts keep you in place so you
can’t just slide lazily under the steering wheel. An
agile driving position has simply been built in.
Ok so now you’re sitting, in front you find the multi
functional steering wheel. Due to all the buttons
it doesn’t look that racy, but the perforated leather cover feels good and the grip is tight. To be
honest we think the design inside the car does
not match the outside. The choice of materials
and colours is a bit too much. (It’s a lot better if
you’re driving in the dark though) In the middle of
the dashboard a huge Sony infotainment system
does everything you possibly could want from a
system like that.
Roarrrr
After adjusting the seats you are both comfortable and safe. The seats support every part of
your body and keep you in constant contact with
the car’s movements. But you’re still in the parking lot. Not the normal habitat for a car like this.
So let’s start. A light touch of the start button is
enough to wake the engine. The 1.6 Ecoboost
engine is clearly pleased to be able to do it’s trick
again and shows that with a pleasing roar. A simple touch of the right foot on the throttle increases the roar. Impressed you carefully release the
clutch and instantly the car starts to move. (That
is if you didn’t release the clutch too fast, killing
the engine in the process).