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Ford Unleashes Its New XR3

Now, at last, it's official... The XR3 is back! These are the pictures released by Ford of its much anticipated Focus ST - the spiritual successor to the Eighties hot hatch legend.

By Chris Thorp

15th February 2005

It's not the first time Auto Express readers will have seen the striking lines of the blue oval's latest star, as we spied the machine back in issue 839. However, we can now show you why the ST - which debuts at next month's Geneva Motor Show - promises to be one of the most exciting Fords of the decade. Look closely and you will see that the grille is narrower and taller than lesser Focus models, creating a more muscular appearance.

Aluminium trim around the foglights adds a touch of distinction at the front, while bulging wheelarches, unique 18-inch alloy wheels and low side skirts look great in profile. At the rear, a new bumper makes room for the twin exhausts and there's a roof spoiler, too.

The show car's distinctive orange paintwork will be carried over to the first few production models so that the ST makes a big impression when it goes on sale in the UK later this year. Inside, a number of tweaks are likely from the standard model, although the quality will be as high as ever.

The most obvious additions are three extra dials showing turbo boost, and oil temperature and pressure. The speedometer has also been revised
to read up to 160mph, while there is plenty of chrome trim.

Under the bonnet, Ford has fitted Volvo's turbo 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine. Developing 217bhp, the ST promises
to eclipse the performance of rivals including Subaru's Impreza WRX and should have the pace to take on the hot hatch elite, led by VW's new Golf GTI. Power is fed to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox, so extensive chassis work has been carried out to ensure the Ford doesn't suffer from torque steer and a lack of traction. An exhaustive development programme has seen the ST put through its paces at the N΃¼rburgring circuit in Germany as well as on demanding UK roads to ensure it lives up to expectations.

Although there has been no official confirmation, it seems the ST will be the sporting flagship of the Focus range until 2007, when an all-wheel-drive RS is expected to join the line-up.

Elsewhere on Ford's Geneva show stand, bosses will pull the covers off a hydrogen-powered Focus C-MAX. The supercharged C-MAX H2-ICE comes with a gas-burning internal combustion engine. And Ford will also reveal a new 148bhp version of its 1.9-litre Galaxy TDI. Developing 310Nm of torque, the model returns 44.9mpg with CO2 emissions of 170g/km.

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