2022 Ford Fiesta ST Review: Farewell to a Favourite

Unfortunately, 2022 has not been the most positive year for the world. Slowly exiting the COVID pandemic should have been the most invigorating period ever, yet in reality we’ve been hit with rising inflation and interest rates, sky high fuel costs, and then there’s this: the removal of the Ford Fiesta ST (and its Focus ST brother) from Australian sales. There’s just a handful of stock left for Australian sales, so should you snap one up? We tested the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST to find out.

That’s right, apparently due to limited stock availability from Europe, Ford Australia has decided to kill its hot hatch lineup and in their absence, focus (pun not intended) on an all-SUV/commercial/Mustang lineup. The Fiesta ST has long been regarded as one of the most fun, most involving and most special hot hatches since its inception in the early 2000s, so should you put your order in? Spoiler alert: YES.

Price & Equipment: 8/10

While in the past, multiple versions of the Fiesta were available in Australia, for this generation of the car, only the hot ST was imported by Ford Australia. The 2022 car is priced at $33,450 plus on-road costs (or around $38,000 drive away, depending on location).

Standard equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED exterior lighting, auto wipers, artificial leather upholstery, 12-way manually adjustable front sports seats with heating, a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, digital radio, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, an inbuilt modem for online features, the FordPass mobile phone app to lock and unlock the car, keyless entry and start, electric windows and mirrors, LED interior ambient lighting, multiple drive modes, launch control, rear privacy glass, single-zone climate control, cruise control with a speed limiter and a wireless phone charger.

Safety equipment includes four airbags (yes, four), auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, driver attention monitoring, speed sign recognition, matrix adaptive high beam headlights, an auto-dimming rear mirror, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

Chip shortage-related missing features include the heated and electric-folding mirrors, Bang & Olufsen sound system, four automatic windows (just driver’s down is automatic down now), blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert from the pre-facelifted model. Matrix headlights and a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display now feature as standard, but the absent formerly-standard kit is still disappointing.

There are seven colours available for the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST: the no-cost ‘Frozen White’, while ‘Mean Green’, ‘Race Red’, ‘Moondust Silver’, ‘Agate Black’ and ‘Magnetic’ cost $650 extra. Our test car’s $650-optional ‘Boundless Blue’ is not on the Ford website, but stock painted in it could still be around.

There aren’t may rivals to the Ford Fiesta ST: just the Hyundai i20 N (from around $39,000 drive away) and the Volkswagen Polo GTI (from around $44,000 drive away). While the i20 N doesn’t have kit like matrix headlights, it does have a larger infotainment screen, a fuller array of safety kit and a thumping Bose sound system. The Polo GTI looks expensive in comparison, but it does win back points with a larger 2.0-litre engine, a standard dual-clutch automatic gearbox and more metal for the money. However, we still think the Fiesta ST is great value for money, especially where smiles per mile are concerned.

Performance & Economy: 9/10

Under the bonnet of the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST is a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine that’s part of Ford’s ‘EcoBoost’ engine family. It makes 147kW (at 6,000rpm) of power, 320Nm (between 1,600rpm and 4,000rpm) of torque and is matched solely to a six-speed manual transmission that drives the front wheels through a limited-slip differential. The facelifted model has an extra 30Nm of torque, which hits lower in the rev range – it’s a subtle change but you can feel it in comparison to the old model.

The engine is an absolute peach – there’s grunt throughout the rev range and unlike the i20 N’s somewhat subdued engine, it’s got real character which adds to the overall experience of the car. It sounds great, with a rorty exhaust note that gets even better in sport mode with little poops and bangs, and it’s quite quick – the claimed 0-100km/h sprint time is just 6.5 seconds.

Further helping the driving experience is the easy to use clutch, which is much better than the numb unit in the i20 N. The gearbox is also sublime with a nicely weighted feel and a very short shift. Also impressive is the engine’s ability to pull happily from as little as 2,000rpm in third gear, meaning that it’s quite drivable, no matter the gear selected. This gives the Fiesta ST a real dual personality, something we love hot hatches for: around town it’s drivable and subtle, but on a mountain road, it’s quick and loud.

The combined fuel consumption claim for the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST is 6.2L/100km and in combined driving, we achieved 7.6L/100km (we definitely could’ve been more economical in the process). It uses minimum 95RON premium unleaded and it has a 45-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handling: 9/10

The Fiesta ST is known for its excellent handling, and the 2022 model is no different: this is a seriously fun car to drive. From the quick, meaty steering to the endless grip from the tyres, to the very engaging handling, it’s impossible not to have a smile on your face when driving the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST.

If there is a downside to the Fiesta ST’s sporty nature, it’s the firm ride quality. The firm ride makes the handling incredibly sharp and adds to the Fiesta’s amazing nimbleness. The ride quality is actually quite good thanks to lighting sharp body control, but when you’re just driving from A to B, there’s no escaping its firmness. Of course, that’s the trade off for such a fun car and it’s never harsh or uncomfortable, but the sporting nature is always present.

Once you’re out on the open road, the Fiesta ST’s ride settles and it becomes quite the excellent all-rounder. On a highway cruise, it’s capable of all-day driving comfort, and in slow or much faster bends, it seriously impresses you with just how quick it is and how long the grip remains from the excellent Michelin tyres. What helps the handling further is the standard limited-slip differential, as well as its torque vectoring functionality – put it in sport mode for slightly meatier steering and watch the corners come and go with ease (and at an alarming rate as well).

Elsewhere in the Fiesta ST’s driving experience are sub-par visibility levels, fine road noise suppression and well-tuned active safety equipment. Though, there’s no blind-spot monitoring or rear cross-traffic alert, thanks to the chip shortage. That would be fine if the mirrors were huge, but they’re quite small. But special mention must go to the matrix LED headlights, which impress with their quickness and beam.

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

The interior of the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST is a largely positive space that’s dripping in sports details, lots of standard tech and a generous allocation of standard equipment. From the heavily bolstered 12-way manually adjustable sports seats to the ST badging to the switchable displays for the 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, the Fiesta ST’s cabin feels special.

The quality inside the cabin is reasonable, with soft touch plastics on the dashboard and the front door tops, good quality switchgear that’s used in the rest of the current Ford range and high quality screens that add an expensive feel. We also like the synthetic leather used on the sports seats, as it feels durable and of high quality. The seats themselves are excellent, with seemingly endless adjustability and all-day comfort, as well as heating and even a heated steering wheel.

Centre of the dashboard is an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio and satellite navigation. It uses the same ‘Sync 3’ infotainment software as the Escape and many other Ford products for the past five years and it’s totally fine, though we wish it had the newer ‘Sync 4’ system from the new Ranger. The standard six-speaker sound system is surprisingly punchy, though we still miss the Bang & Olufsen system that was used in the pre-facelifted car – bloody chip shortage!

Where the i20 N or Polo GTI have an advantage over the Fiesta ST is in rear seat roominess and overall practicality. Despite their similar sizing, both competitors manage to feel roomier on the inside than the Fiesta ST, and their back seats in particular, are larger. They also have more cabin storage, with larger door pockets, larger centre console designs and bigger centre bins under their armrests.

The Fiesta’s sports seats – and its large dashboard – impact cabin room quite a lot – that’s the price you pay for total sportiness, apparently. Two average-sized adults will fit fine back there, but legroom isn’t great and it’s light on features – there’s no charging ports, no air vents, no arm rest and only small door pockets to be found.

The bootspace for the Fiesta ST is a reasonable 311-litres with the rear seats up and over 1,100L with the rear seats folded. The boot has a few features such as hooks, though no spare wheel and there’s a big gap between the boot floor and the seat base height when the rear seats are folded.

Service & Warranty: 9/10

Like other Ford products in Australia, the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty with up to seven years of roadside assistance if serviced at a Ford dealership. Its service intervals are once-yearly/every 15,000km and five years/75,000km of servicing costs $1,691 ($338 per service).

Both Volkswagen and Hyundai offer the same warranty length as Ford, though Volkswagen gives its cars just 12 months of roadside assistance and Hyundai’s is up to five years in total. The Polo GTI has the same service intervals as the Fiesta ST, but the i20 N has shorter 10,000km intervals, which gets expensive for those doing more mileage. Servicing the Polo GTI over five years/75,000km costs a massive $3,507 ($701 per service), while servicing the i20 N over five years/50,000km costs a reasonable $1,545, though this will increase if buyers travel more than 10,000km annually.

The 2022 Ford Fiesta ST DiscoverAuto Rating: 8.6/10

It’s an absolute crying shame that this is the last Fiesta ST that we’ll see in Australia. Despite chip shortage-related missing features and that it’s not the most practical car around, the 2022 Ford Fiesta ST is a sublime car that really deserves to be sold here for longer. Alas, that’s not going to happen, so we’re left with its long list of attributes: its excellent handling, fun nature, grunty engine, long list of equipment, good quality cabin, relatively cheap service costs and great value for money.

If you’re after a hot hatch like the Fiesta ST – or even something sporty for around the $40,000 mark – we suggest getting to the your local Ford dealer and attempting to put your name against one ASAP. There’s a limited number of them coming to Australia and we’d wager that most are already sold. Those people are very lucky, as they’ve signed up for a world-class hot hatch. Without much more to say, thank you to the Fiesta ST for providing years of driving fun at a reasonable price. We will miss you!