Category: Ford

After the Fiesta ST, the Mondeo ST, here is the Focus ST. It inaugurates the first 5-cylinder engine ever in a Ford, probably inherited from Volvo. This turbocharged 2.5 litre Duratec engine develops 220bhp and is coupled with a 6-speed manual gearbox.

For a better grip, the Focus ST is fitted with low-profile 225/40 tyres on 18×8-inch five-spoke cast aluminium wheels.

This hot hatch displays its strength through new bumpers with aluminium-like inserts outside, and a specific upholstery inside. Besides, the driver will find a set of three dials (oil temperature, turbo pressure, and oil pressure) just over the central aerators.

The Focus ST will hit the showrooms at the end of 2005.

60,000 miles on the clock, light blue, just one careful owner: Pope John Paul II. Jim Rich, the Illinois businessman who bought it directly from the Pope in 1996 for $102,000, has decided to sell it in order to raise cash for his businesses. It is Kruse International that puts it up for auction next June 3-4 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. The auction company’s president, Dean Kruse, thinks the bids may reach $5 million (£2.5 million), even if the value of such a car is impossible to determine. Against all odds, sold for $244,000 only, Pope Benedict XVI’s 1999 Golf was a mere bargain !