You should recognise the Ford Fiesta ST. In its four years on sale, 25,000 of the blighters have sold in the UK alone. A low asking price, generous lease deals and the ubiquity of the Ford brand all make it perhaps the easiest hot hatch to justify buying. It’s a jolly good coincidence, then, that it also happens to be fantastic.

Or rather was fantastic. Very soon the new Fiesta will be on our streets, so production of the outgoing car has already ceased. Yes, there will be a new Fiesta ST. But it won’t be anything like the car it replaces. At least not on paper.

Out goes a 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo with 179bhp; in comes a 1.5-litre three-cylinder, still turbocharged, and with a stronger 197bhp. Sounds like good news, but with cylinder deactivation (it will run on two cylinders when you’re not being silly), a number of driving modes and standard ‘Electronic Sound Enhancement’, it has the potential to be a completely different animal.

Replacing the Fiesta ST really is an unenviable task. Even if the new one is epic, the car it replaces has its place in the hot hatch hall of fame already cemented. Keep clicking to find out why…

Images: Drew Gibson