Ford Focus ST Mountune (2008) CAR review

If you’re bored of your Focus ST’s performance or just can’t wait until next year to get your hands of the 296bhp RS, the new Mountune performance pack for the ST could be exactly what you need.

Who are these Mountune people anyway and what are they doing with the Ford Focus ST?

Mountune is a division of Roush, the people who engineered the Ford GT supercar. They’ve teamed up with Ford to offer a load of tuning packages on various Blue Oval family metal. First to arrive was one for the Fiesta, and now there’s this package for the Focus, but Ford admits that others will follow. The kits aren’t fully homologated – the extra expense would have killed the project – so they have to be fitted post registration.

So what’s involved?

The first, based on the outgoing Fiesta, was a proper old school – big cam, gouged head and big exhaust. Fun but rather uncouth, particularly with the optional sports exhaust. But because the Focus is turbocharged, Mountune has achieved big power with minimal changes to the hardware. There’s a new, larger intercooler, high-flow air filter and a new map for the engine control unit. And that’s your lot. But the results are impressive: power is up from 222bhp to 256bhp and torque from 236lb ft to 259lb ft. Ford says the sprint to 62mph falls by 0.5sec to 5.9sec and 100mph flashes up in 14.1sec, nearly 2sec quicker than before.

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Click here to see the Performance car of the year 2008 feature