New Ford Focus ST X is carsales' Best Hot Hatch for 2022
Updated Focus flagship our top pick among Australia’s best front-drive hot hatches
The 2022 Ford Focus ST X has today been named carsales’ Best Hot Hatch for 2022, defeating a classy field of six popular front-wheel-drive performance hatchbacks from Ford, Hyundai and Volkswagen.
While the light and small passenger car segments are in serious decline in the face of booming SUV popularity in Australia, the hot hatch genre continues to not only buck that trend but attract new and upgraded models to its fold.
In fact, for some car-makers hot hatches are their only entries into the light and/or small car categories. Ford’s only light and small hatches Down Under are Ford’s Fiesta ST and Focus ST X respectively, while Hyundai’s single light hatch is the fast and furious i20 N.
For the inaugural carsales Best Hot Hatch 2022 award, we shortlisted the six best light and small front-wheel drive hot hatches before testing them on road and track, then assessing them against more than 100 test criteria across five separate categories. These included safety, technology, comfort and convenience features, driving performance and ownership costs.
Performance testing was conducted with help from carsales’ own Bathurst 1000 champion and Porsche Carrera Cup frontrunner, Luke Youlden.
In the end it was the 2022 Ford Focus ST that scored enough points to finish on top of a classy six-model field including established hot hatch icons in the Volkswagen Polo GTI and Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Available to purchase now ahead of first customer deliveries in coming weeks, the range-topping MY22 Ford Focus ST X brings a number of safety, tech and design upgrades over the outgoing ST-3 we used for testing.
The 2022 Ford Focus ST X comes with a strong safety suite as standard, including a five-star ANCAP rating, as well as a generous list of standard technology, comfort and convenience features that extends beyond the norm. It’s the only model here with a standard-fit head-up display, for example.
The Ford Focus ST is also top of the class when it comes to ownership costs and impressed in key performance considerations including engine and gearbox operation as well as, handling, braking and ride quality.
Best Hot Hatch 2022 contenders:
Ford Fiesta ST
Ford Focus ST X
Hyundai i20 N
Hyundai i30 N Premium
Volkswagen Polo GTI
Volkswagen Golf GTI
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