Ford Fiesta ST Edition 2020 UK first drive

This is the latest limited-run special-edition version of Ford’s excellent Fiesta ST hot hatch. It’s called the Fiesta ST Edition and it’s not to be confused with the, erm, Fiesta ST Performance Edition - which is itself a brightly coloured, limited-run version of the Blue Oval’s fastest supermini.

The easiest way to tell the difference between the Performance Edition and this here Ford Fiesta ST Edition edition is the paint. Where the former is a searing shade of bright orange, this one comes in  dashing Azura Blue, which actually looks remarkably similar to the Nitrous Blue paint you could have on the last Ford Focus RS. In fact, with its gloss black bumpers, rear spoiler and lightweight 18in ‘flow-formed’ alloy wheels, the Fiesta really does look like a pint-sized version of that fantastic old hyper-hatch.

However, those unique styling tweaks are pretty much where the differences between the ST Edition and the ST Performance Edition end. Like that earlier car, this one is based on the range-topping ST-3 trim level, so it gets loads of goodies (including the ST Performance Pack with Quaife limited-slip differential) as standard. Crucially, it also gets the same manually adjustable coil-over suspension, which drops the ride height by 15mm at the front and 10mm at the rear. Meanwhile, the engine is the same sweet 1.5-litre three-pot as before, developing 197bhp and 214lb ft - all of which is deployed to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.

And the price? Well, that’s £27,075, which is rather a lot when the base ST-3 - already a fantastic hot supermini in its own right - costs £24,575. In fact, it’s more than Ford asked for the £26,495 Fiesta ST Performance Edition last year. However, whereas 600 examples of that car were built, there will be only 500 of this one - with just 300 coming to the UK. So in addition to that trick suspension, you’re paying extra for a bit more exclusivity, I guess.

As fantastic as ever. More so, even, thanks to that new suspension. There are 12 bump and 16 rebound settings, with the former being adjusted using a rotary knob at the bottom of each shock and the latter via knob at the top of each shock. You can reach the tops of the front struts by lifting the bonnet, but you’ll have to lift the car up and take the wheels off to get at the rest. That seems a bit of a faff but at least it feels more in keeping with the general ethos of this car than it does on, say, a Polestar Engineered Volvo with its trick Ohlins dampers.