I took one for a drive today and was extremely impressed. I've driven the XR4 previously, as well as having owned an XR5 and now a Focus ST.
Although the seats are the same as in the Focus they actually feel more comfortable in cloth only as opposed to the partial leather in the Focus. Entry and egress is far better for me in the Fiesta than the Focus thanks to the longer doors - the cabin also feels a bit more open than the Focus too, mainly due to the design of the console and dash. The buttons on the steering wheel and centre stack are well laid out and fall easily to hand. I much prefer the climate control unit from the Focus though - the unit in the Fiesta looks a bit cheap and nasty by comparison.
Onto the controls - the steering wheel has a very nice feel to it and it sits well in your hands. The pedals are perfectly spaced and I would imagine they would be in the right spot for heel and toe driving.
Out on the road and the first thing I noticed by comparison to the Focus is that the clutch and gearbox are very light - excellent in their operation, but I do prefer the heavier shift and clutch from the Focus hands down. The brakes are excellent, on par if not slightly better than the Focus. The steering is extremely accurate and feels quite nice and there is minimal (if any) torque steer even on hard acceleration. The suspension tune is spot on - noticeably firmer than the Focus, but it does suit the Fiesta's personality. You do notice bumps a lot more in the Fiesta and there is also a lot more road noise in the cabin than in the Focus. The handling of the Fiesta is astonishing, it simply grips and grips without any fuss - going around a roundabout for example, you can enter and exit with considerably more pace than you could achieve without understeering in the Focus. The Torque Vectoring seems to work very well in the Fiesta. Engine performance is quite strong (for a 1.6) and there is minimal turbo lag. The engine note is excellent, I actually prefer it to the noise the Focus ST makes. With the windows down you can clearly hear the turbo spooling as well as some chatter on gear changes.
In summary, this is a fantastic car which is definitely going to sell well. It has excellent performance, handling and equipment levels for a vehicle of this price range and size. I personally think it looks great in Molten Orange, although colour choices are subjective - my Focus is Tangerine Scream, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea. One thing I wish Ford had done (and this applies to the Focus as well) is offer the grey wheels/painted calipers as an option at least, because they look so much better IMO.
I did like the Fiesta a lot - if I was buying at the moment I would most likely still buy the Focus as I do prefer the extra goodies and power, but there is no denying that the Fiesta ST is a very special car and is definitely going to sell very well. I can only imagine what these things are going to be like with some mods, or even the Mountune kit - they will be an absolute beast.
