A few years ago, I had the pleasure of driving the Focus RS for a week – the experience being that of driving a family car that sounded like an ASBO waiting to happen, with a ridiculous amount of power and looks to match.

While the new RS is a couple of years away and, if rumours are to be believed will feature electric hybrid tech, the current hot hatch of the Ford family is the Focus ST.

A balance between crazy power and practicality

The ST has always been a balance between crazy power and practicality, and to a large extent, that remains the case. However, with the lack of an RS in the current line up, it seems that the ST has upped its game a little.

This iteration uses Ford’s impressive 2.3 litre EcoBoost – the same power unit that sits in the old RS, and indeed in the ‘lower’ powered Ford Mustang, so it’s no slouch. With almost 300hp in the five-door car, it accelerates hard and makes a very agreeable noise from its twin exhausts, but with a smidge less weight on the throttle, it rumbles along quite respectably.

Its looks are clever too. The clues to the performance are there in the 19-inch alloys, spoiler, bodykit and aerodynamic tweaks that make this stand out from the everyday Focus you may see. The ST-Line spec comes close in terms of looks, but if you want the full effect, you’ll have to fork out for the ST.

Is it money well spent? The mid-thirty-grand mark is a congested market, with offerings from Audi, BMW, Jaguar and many more to contend with, so can a Ford really challenge these? I’ll make that conclusion at the end.

But it does well on interior space and equipment. The satnav is okay – I have always found the Ford navigation to be a little clunkier than many rivals, but functional all the same. The feel of the materials while you’re sat behind the wheel is very much a high-quality feel – no complaints there.

Practically, we took this on a long weekend to the North Devon Coast and took a lot of stuff with us, as we were expecting bad weather, and it swallowed everything we threw at it with a little space to spare. It was a bit thirsty, coming in somewhere around 30mpg for the trip, but I was probably a little heavy handed on the accelerator as I really liked the noise.

I’ve been looking at buying a Focus for years, but my wife has never been that keen. I made sure she was insured on this one, so she could have a drive – the Focus has always been given credit as a driver’s car after all – and now, finally, she sees why.

A very good choice

So does the blue-oval challenger fit in the price bracket it sits? On balance, I think so. But at the same time, it’s different to the options there. A Golf GTI doesn’t feel quite as spacious, a Jaguar XE will always feel more luxurious, but if you want a practical, family sized car that still looks poised and ready and able to give a good kick when your right foot drops, then the ST is a very good choice.

For the long term, I think I might be swayed to the ST-Line for the added fuel economy, but I would sorely miss the noise of the ST.