What a Car - UK - (2020-04)

Mileage 1918 Listprice£32,495

TargetPrice£29,655Priceastested

£32,745Testeconomy26.6mpg

STis agileand

funto drivehard

in Sportmode

AllanMuir

[email protected]

82 April 2020 whatcar.com

Mileage 3548 List price £31,630

Target Price £28,047 Price as tested

£31,055 Test economy 36.9mpg

Can a couple of USB ports really make the

difference between buying or not buying a

car? I know I could be accused of wonky

priorities, but I think it can.

Even in my relatively lowly spec, the

Tarraco has two USBs up front and – more

importantly, in my view – one in the back.

As a result, the kids are happy, because

they can plug a device in and play to

their hearts’ content. Or at least the extent

of their mother’s patience. I know leaving

them to stare at a screen isn’t the greatest

bit of parenting, but on a long motorway trip,

it’s more stimulating for them than staring

out of the window.

Given how much we judge cars on how

comfy or quiet they are, I think it’s fair to laud

these humble ports for making life better. JH

Seat Tarraco

2.0 TDI 150 SE Technology

Lexus ES

300h Takumi

Mileage 11,574 List price £45,665

Target Price £44,435 Price as tested

£45,650 Test economy 49.9mpg

A good luxury saloon needs to be quiet, and

my Takumi-spec ES, with 18in alloy wheels,

indeed lets hardly any wind or road noise

disturb its occupants – something I was

grateful for on a recent mercy mission to

adopt two kittens and their young mum.

Leaving the car in Comfort mode helped

prevent shudders from all but the most brutal

of potholes from penetrating inside, too. That

meant the kittens calmed down and had a

nap on the way to their new home.

Another feature that’s proving useful for

getting the ES onto my drive – and avoiding

any pets that have come outside to greet

me – is the rear-view camera. This displays

both live footage of the space I’m backing

into and a bird’s-eye view of the car and its

surroundings on the infotainment screen. CE

Ford Focus ST 2.3 Ecoboost

EVEN IN A car built for hooning, as the Ford

Focus ST is, my preference would usually be

to leave it set in its default Normal driving

mode most of the time, because it gives

a more comfortable ride than the more

aggressive Sport and Track modes – although

‘comfortable’ is a relative term here. However,

so far I’m quite underwhelmed by the way

the car behaves in that mode as you build up

speed out of town, mainly due to the steering’s

strong self-centring tendency. The effect is

that the car always feels as though it’s trying

to straighten itself up in corners, rather than

darting eagerly towards apexes.

Switch to Sport mode, though, and the

ST is transformed. Although the steering

weights up even more, the front end is far

more eager to arrow into corners – quite

aggressively, in fact – thanks to some torque

vectoring trickery across the front axle. That

sort of behaviour is much more what I was

expecting of a car like this.

The whole car feels more alert and on its

toes, too, with sharper engine response,

slicker gearshifts (thanks to the excellent

rev-matching feature that comes into play

in Sport and Track modes) and a louder

warble from the engine when you press the

accelerator. You still have to put up with the

steering tensing up and tugging on the wheel

a little under hard acceleration, especially on

the way out of corners, but this ST is nowhere

near as unruly as some previous front-wheel-

drive fast Fords, in part thanks to the traction-

enhancing benefi ts of having an electronic

limited-slip differential.

The ST feels so much more agile and fun to

drive in Sport mode that I’ve been making an

effort to select it more often, as I’m sure most

owners will do. Happily, there’s a shortcut

button on the steering wheel that takes the car

directly into this mode, rather than you having

to scroll through all four modes via the other

selector button on the same side of the wheel.

The inevitable downside is that the ride – which

is fi rm and fairly jiggly even in Normal mode –

becomes even more inclined to jostle you

around in your seat over bumps.

If I could wish for one thing for the ST,

it would be a ‘bumpy road’ button for the

suspension, allowing me to leave the main

driving mode in Sport, with all the benefi ts that

brings, but soften off the suspension to give a

properly comfortable ride when required. It’s

something that the likes of Alfa Romeo and

Ferrari offer on many of their models, and it

works brilliantly. Given that the ST has adaptive

suspension anyway, how hard could it be to

include such a switch?

As it stands, the ST’s ride isn’t as compliant

in Normal mode as that of the rival Honda

Civic Type R in its Comfort setting. It’s

acceptable, but I do fi nd it tiresome at times,

as do any passengers, especially those sitting

Button marked ‘S’ takes you straight into Sport mode in the rear seats.

Our hot hatch reveals different sides to its character

depending on which driving mode is selected