Confirmed the disappearance of the Focus RS, the "responsibility" that falls on the Ford Focus ST became bigger.
After all, with the disappearance of the RS variant, the role of the sportier version of the Focus range became, precisely, the Focus ST.
Equipped with a four-cylinder 2.3 EcoBoost, 280 hp at 5500 rpm and 420 Nm between 3000 and 4000 rpm — a block that, by the way, is already familiar from the previous Focus RS and Mustang — we can say that power is something that is not Focus ST lacks.
Therefore, the question that arises is simple: which box best matches this engine? Will it be the six-speed manual or the seven-speed automatic?
The video
To find out, our CarExpert colleagues used two examples of the Ford Focus ST, one with a manual transmission and the other with an automatic transmission, to carry out a series of tests.
Loudness, performance of the various driving modes, including braking: everything was evaluated.
Finally, in addition to a drag race between the two to find out which is faster, there was still room for the appearance of an “intruder” in the video, a Volkswagen Golf GTI that appears to measure forces with the Focus ST.
Without wanting to contribute spoilers, we leave the video for you so you can discover and evaluate which transmission is best suited to the Ford Focus ST: