Sixteen thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five pounds.
Hand over this sum at your local Ford dealer and you will get in return the finest hot hatch of its generation, you lucky so-and-so. Please go and do this now. Thank you.
Or perhaps you already have a Ford Fiesta ST on your drive because, as a regular reader of Autocar, you have taken our advice based on our year’s experiences, tales and giant-killing antics of this remarkable car.
You’ll know how big a smile it can put on your face, even at speeds on the safe side of the speed limit. You’ll know how supple its chassis is, how it can make even the most mundane of drives come alive and how adjustable it is on the limit.
Like all great cars – and that’s not a term we use lightly – it’s so simple underneath. Ford has taken the wholly competent underpinnings of a standard Ford Fiesta – underpinnings that make humble petrol and diesel versions ride, handle and steer with real zest and verve – and stiffened everything up, while fitting a 180bhp turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine. Drive is sent to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.
That’s it. No real electronic trickery. No Active Cornering Straight-Line Torque-Reducing thingy that people would tire of hearing about and which would add weight and cost and sanitise the experience.
And what a car those simple ingredients produce. Straight-line performance is fantastic. There’s so much grip in the corners, but still vast levels of adjustability on the throttle. It refuses to roll and steers with incredible precision, with your backside at the centre of everything, like a pointy front-wheel-drive kart.
Existing Fiesta ST owners, you should get your coat and head to the dealer, too. Ford now offers a Mountune performance upgrade that liberates an extra 32bhp and 59lb ft more torque. A sub-6.5sec 0-62mph time is the result. And yes, it is quite brilliant too. Still unconvinced? Ford asks just £599 to give your Fiesta ST the Mountune treatment. You know it makes sense.
Tune into Autocar.co.uk again tomorrow where we'll continue our rundown of the best cars of 2013.
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