The Ford Fiesta ST is a blue-collar performance hero that Top Gear has always loved and celebrated. The last-generation ST was our car of the year in 2013, beating the McLaren P1 to the title, which gives you some idea how highly we rated it. But the next gen ST, which lands in the UK later this year, has had a heart transplant. So has the icon lost its soul, or is this new breed a welcome piece of fresh thinking?

Top Gear was invited to join the development team at Ford’s top-secret test facility in Lommel to experience the ST on a freezing cold day in early March. Spoiler alert: this is one little car that punches way above its weight.