
Ford Focus ST (Mk3)
Why 7.8: The first proper hot Focus Ford actually sold in North America — no Mk1 SVT successor, no Mk2 RS import, just a 252 hp EcoBoost four available at a Ford dealer. Cheap now, driven hard, the same ownership profile as the Fiesta ST one size down.
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Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €20k (2013) → €12k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
The long version
Ford had not sold a proper hot Focus in North America before this one — the Mk1 SVT Focus was as close as the US got, and both the Mk2 ST and Mk2 RS stayed European exclusives — so the Mk3's 252 hp EcoBoost four arriving at ordinary Ford dealers in 2013 was a genuine event for American enthusiasts who had spent a decade watching European road tests. It depreciated the way every mainstream turbo hatch does, steep and fast, which is exactly what put it within reach of the daily-driver-and-track-day crowd that owns most of them today. Doug DeMuro's own numbers rate it a middling 56, the DougScore's usual disagreement with cars that are more fun to drive than to review, and the ownership pattern backs the paddock over the scoresheet: high mileage, real track use, no flip premium. It is the car that proved Ford would sell Americans a real hot hatch if it just built one.