Ford Fiesta ST (Mk8)

The 2018 to 2023 era produced a car that sits in an unusual place in a 600-car catalogue: the Ford Fiesta ST (Mk8) ranks 572nd for power and 564th for 0-100 km/h acceleration, yet its most distinctive position is elsewhere. It is the least expensive inline-3 car in the catalogue, with a used price of £20,000, and that combination makes it a rare technical shape among the available choices. This is a car from a specific moment, one where a turbocharged inline-3 engine could still be paired with a front-wheel-drive hatchback layout and placed into a performance-focused package.

The Fiesta ST uses a 1.5-litre inline-3 turbocharged engine producing 200 bhp and 290 Nm, sending power through FWD to a 4/5 seater hatchback body style. Those figures place it in a different conversation from the faster and more powerful cars around it, but the catalogue shows why it stands apart. Only 6 of 600 cars use an inline-3 engine, only 2 pair that layout with FWD, and only 5 are turbocharged inline-3 cars. At £100 per bhp, it also occupies a clear position for buyers looking at the relationship between performance and cost rather than chasing the highest figures available.

Its 232 km/h top speed ranks 558th of 600, and its 6.5 second 0-100 km/h time is faster than 36 cars in the catalogue. Those numbers define the Fiesta ST’s role: it is not positioned as one of the catalogue’s outright performance leaders, but as one of its most unusual combinations of engine layout, drivetrain and price. The UK origin adds another point of separation, with 160 of the 600 catalogue cars coming from the UK.

The Fiesta ST (Mk8) brings something specific to a dream garage. It represents Ford’s entry in this catalogue with a 14-car presence, and it carries the character of a turbocharged inline-3 FWD hot hatch from the 2018 to 2023 period. Without it, a garage can still contain faster cars, more expensive cars and cars with larger engines. With it, the collection gains one of the few cars built around this particular formula, a car whose place comes from how differently it approaches performance.