Fiesta forever

It'll always put a smile on your face.

Ford has tried to make the Fiesta even better by launching the ST200.

Throughout the summer my Instagram feed was topped up by friends posting pictures of themselves on beaches in Greece, on boats off Italy and in hot springs in Colorado.

And then one day there was a photograph of a friend's wife and kids playing in Cornwall and I almost vomited with envy.

So it goes with cars. I spend most of my life whizzing hither and thither in exotica made from platinum and rhodium and fitted with engines that roar and bellow and spit fire. And all I want on the way home is a Ford Fiesta ST.

Over the past 40 years there have been many hot versions of the Fiesta and largely they were tremendous little things - bluecollar buzz bombs with puppy-dog enthusiasm and raspy back ends. The XR2, for instance, was perfect for those whose Thames estuary vowel sounds and rust-round-theoptics drinking dens precluded them from having a slightly superior and slightly more expensive Volkswagen.

But then, four years ago, Ford gave us a hot version of the Fiesta. It had a turbocharged 1.6-litre engine, bucket seats and breathedon suspension, and everyone thought it was going to be more of the same. In fact, it was a gamechanger; the most endearing and brilliant hot hatchback the world had seen. No car was as much of a laugh. It was propelled by telepathy.

You thought about the corner ahead and it went round, gripping when you wanted it to and slithering about when you didn't. If there were such a thing as a funometer, this little car would break it. And now Ford has tried to make it even better by launching the ST200.

It's a bit more powerful than the standard car, which means it's a bit faster. A little bit. In fact, it's only 0.2 of a second faster from 0-100km/h.

But it feels more urgent because it has a shorter final drive. Not good for the fuel economy. Not good for Johnny polar bear. But tremendous for putting a smile on your face.

Need to dart into the next lane on a slow-moving motorway? No car does it better. Then there's the noise. You expect to have the "wheee" of a catherine wheel. Instead you get something deep and bassy. It sounds like a faraway battle. It's wonderful.

Underneath, the rear twist beam is stiffer and at the front there's a bigger anti-roll bar. This means the platform is more solid and Ford has been able to soften the springs and dampers. You get all the composure you need and a decent ride.

The only trouble is that the tweaks have been so successful, Ford has applied them to the standard ST as well. Which means you are paying a premium for the ST200 to shave 0.2 seconds off the cheapest ST's 0-100km/h time. Oh, and you also get a little plaque on the centre console that says ST200 on it. If it were made from gold maybe the price hike would be justified. But it isn't. It's just a fridge magnet.

Other than this, the interior is standard ST, which means you get Recaro seats that are too high and so big they reduce legroom in the rear to the point where only a double amputee would fit. And a dashboard of unrivalled complexity. I assumed that my inability to change the radio station or engage the sat nav, let alone read it, was because I'm old.

But no. I recently bought a standard ST for my daughter and, like all young people, she plunged in, pushing buttons, until she said: "I'll have to read the handbook." One of the clever things in the ST is the MyKey feature. It means you have one key for yourself and a spare for when you are lending your car to, say, your teenage kids. The idea is that you program the spare so that the engine produces reduced power and the stereo has a maximum volume of about two decibels. It's actually a very good idea, but such is the complexity of the dash that even my tech-literate daughter somehow managed to set it up so that both keys prevented her from listening to her drum 'n' bass at anything more than a whisper. Anyway, back to the ST200.

Apart from the shorter final drive, and that grown-up exhaust boom, it's pretty much the same as the standard car, only more expensive. I would therefore buy the base model instead. And I don't mean instead of the ST200. Or instead of another hot hatchback. I mean instead of just about anything else on the road.

FAST FACTS FORD FIESTA ST200

ENGINE: 1.6-litre turbocharged four cylinder petrol (147kW/290Nm)

Average fuel 6.1 litres per 100km

TRANSMISSION: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive

PRICE: $27,490 (ST200 is not available in Australia)

RATING: 3 stars