What is it?
Three wheels or two, it genuinely doesn’t seem to matter. For one of the friendliest but also most addictively feral performance cars from any era and at any price, anything less than the full four contact patches appears to be its preferred mode of attack.
The M235’s gymnastic talent is something we’ll return to but, on paper, tuning stalwart Mountune’s latest take on the Ford Fiesta ST is simply for the person who wants an everyday supermini but craves something hotter in the engine bay.
This £890 aftermarket kit duly delivers, pushing Ford’s 1.5-litre three-cylinder Ecoboost engine to the brink of what it can reliably muster before stronger internals are required at considerable cost. Power rises from 197bhp to 232bhp while torque increases 44lb ft to 258lb ft for a 0-62mph time that sneaks below six seconds and midrange performance that feels, to put it lightly, decidedly grown-up.
The hardware changes are modest, and that’s reflected in the price. Included is an upgraded aluminium airbox, high-flow panel filter and a new lower air-feed hose, which together prepare the ground for an ‘mTune’ smartflash drive to plug into the car’s OBD port and safely lay down Mountune’s engine map. The software can then be switched off (and back on again) via your smartphone, and there’s one very good, exhaust-related reason why you might want to.
That is the basic M235 upgrade. However, as with all of Mountune’s development cars, this particular Fiesta ST exists as a rolling menu of everything an owner on a generous but not bottomless budget might try.
It therefore uses Mountune’s high-flow induction hose (£85) and beautifully finished throttle body elbow (£99). Look through the lower grille and you’ll also see a new prototype intercooler, which maintains performance through a wide range of ambient temperatures and is expected to cost around £350. You may have noticed the car is also sitting closer to the ground than standard – by 20mm, thanks to new springs (also prototypes, so no price) that use similar load settings to the factory items, only with less travel.
The final mechanical mods consist of Mountune’s billet quick-shift kit, which for £150 shaves one quarter from the travel of the gearshift throw, and a big-brake upgrade with 302mm discs up front, for £1295.
The remainder are cosmetic additions: the decals, rear wing and chunky mud-flaps don’t add any performance but do bring a street-fighter look to match the car’s pace.
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Top speed “estimated”
Why is the top speed estimated? Did Mountune not take the time to put their mod around a track to test it? They surely must have done plenty of testing but didn't get around to flooring it on a straight?
Oh yes!
This is more like it. Forget about Porsches that cost £150,000 and do 0-60 in less than three seconds - this is a car that a lot more people can actually afford, and will probably put a bigger smile on their face as they drive it.
Also, unlike these ridiculously expensive hypercars, you can actually get four adults in this thing, along with their luggage (squashy bags, obviously!). Yet again Ford proves to be the king of affordable fun cars.
martin_66 wrote:
put a smile - yes, bigger - no.
You just need the right Porsche, and the right Porsche is not the one that does 0-60 in less then 3 seconds, and it does not cost 150k either.
Probably....
I did say "probably"!!I have not been lucky enough to drive a 911 so cannot talk from experience. What I read though suggests that, pick the right one, and you are close to motoring perfection.
I have driven quite a few fast Fords though (my first being my own mark 1 Fiesta XR2, which was brilliant). They have all been excellent. I suspect that the only thing that might put a bigger smile on my face when driving them might have been even more power for a bigger shove in my back when accelerating. However, on most British roads there aren't many places you can safely (and legally) do that. The majority of the time though, you can have a lot of fun with a much more simple, much cheaper small Ford.
Great stuff
Buy, tune, drive and use it up, some 10 thousands miles later remove the tune, sell the car as stock to the unsispecting new owner, let him deal with the hidden problems due to increased and premature wear and tear.
Dodgy ground there my friend