Road Test: Ford Focus 2.0T ST-3 5dr

For £1,275, Mountune will add 24bhp and 30lb ft of torque to your Focus ST estate or hatch. And you get to keep your original Ford warranty. Which all sounds very good. Because it is.

The turbocharged 2.0-litre 4cyl is boosted from 247bhp to 271bhp and 265lb ft to 295lb ft, which trims the 0-62mph time from 6.5secs to 5.9. That's largely thanks to a tinkered ECU map, but the high-flow air filter and larger intercooler do their bit too (there's also a black powder-coated cast alloy inlet duct - the silver one is £50 less - and little yellow boot badge included).

But the best bit is how it wears the extra power. Performance add-ons for turbocharged cars tend to deposit their gains in massive great big lumps, usually somewhere you don't really want them. Like the last 1,000rpm. But Mountune's increases follow the same predictable, progressive curve of the standard ST, just a few notches higher. For a modded Fast Ford, it's remarkably... tasteful.

Also, because it's an engine-only upgrade (save for the already mentioned badge and inlet duct), all the things that make the ST such a compelling hot hatch are undisturbed. The estate (our pick purely because of the added practicality, and the fact that the 27kg weight penalty doesn't affect performance) does an excellent job of reconciling performance with the real world. The 476-litre boot swallows shopping; the rear, sculpted Recaros cosset offspring. And at 39.2mpg, (the same as the standard ST, so 30mpg in the real world), it doesn't drink too much petrol.

It's not all sweetness and light, mind. The absence of any clever RevoKnuckle suspension and 30lb ft more means the torque-steer is a tad more vivid on wide open throttle. But the compensating virtue is that you're not waiting till the engine's battering against the limiter for it to feel properly fast.

But it never feels in-yer-face fast. And it nails duality. You can pootle around town without anybody knowing your car is faster than a Ferrari 308 GTB. Or feeling it yourself. Something you couldn't say about more focused stuff like the Megane RS 265 or Vauxhall Astra GTC VXR.

The Mountuned version is, quite literally, more of the same. Meant in the best possible way. Your ST wants it. So do you. It's £1,275 well spent, and Ford will fit it in 90 minutes.