The new Ford Focus ST Edition hot hatch gets adjustable suspension

This is the new Ford Focus ST Edition. It is a version of the Ford Focus ST that will allow you to indulge in track-based heroics while keeping your hands warm and your motorway journeys less stressful, all in one mediumly-blue package.

Because the ST Edition bundles a fancy set of adjustable suspension and the ST’s most popular option packs into one car, for the sum of forty two thousand and nine hundred and five English pounds.

For that headline figure, we turn to the ST’s new headliner. You could always spec a ‘track pack’ with tweakable suspension on the standard Focus ST, but the Edition now comes as standard with a set of KW Automotive coilovers.

They're brilliantly nerdy. Ford highlights the twin-tube stainless steel damper housings and powder coated springs, 10mm lower ride height compared to the regular ST, and the option of adjusting the suspension a further 20mm. The dampers get twelve jounce settings and 16 rebound settings, which is definitely something your friends absolutely can’t wait to hear about.

Especially when there’s an actual Ford technical document supplied with each ST Edition detailing the recommended suspension settings for different driving conditions, including the Nürburgring. Because Serious Hot Hatch, right?

And because it's a Serious Hot Hatch, the springs are stiffer too – by a whopping 50 per cent over the regular ST.

There are lightweight 19in wheels – reducing unsprung mass by 10 per cent at each corner – shod in Pirelli P Zero Corsas and hiding Brembo brakes, and there is also 276bhp and 310lb ft of torque from the ST Edition’s 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine. That’s no more than a regular ST, meaning the 0-62mph sprint remains 5.7s. Top speed is 155mph.

About those packs. As standard the ST Edition gets the driver assist pack (adaptive cruise control, lane centring, blind spot warnings and traffic alerts, that sort of thing) winter pack (heated steering wheel and that ace ‘Quickclear’ heated windscreen), and a 675W B&O stereo with no less than ten speakers and a sub.

And you can have any colour you want as long as it’s… Azura Blue. Yours for £42,905.