Every once in a while Jay Leno’s Garage welcomes a down to earth car that is an exact opposite of the gazillion horsepower monsters that reside there. But this being JL, they usually have a something of a hotrod about them. This Ford Focus ST fits the bill perfectly well.

What you have here is a family hatchback with a big boot and all the luxury amenities you would possibly need, and it has a 250 horsepower turbo engine, and a sport tuned chassis that offers an unforgettable driving experience.

Jay is joined by Ford’s chief engineer of high performance models Jamal Hameedi to breaks down the ST for you, and shows you what makes it one of the hottest small fast cars in the world right now:

New Focus ST will be offered to European customers in three distinct trim options – ST1, ST2 and ST3. This approach is already familiar to owners of the previous Focus ST in the UK. The ST1 is the standard model, offering the key features like cloth Recaro seats, keyless start, front door scuff plates with ST logo and standard ST rear bench with centre armrest.

Focus ST2 adds leather Recaro seats and dual zone Electronic Automatic Temperature Control (EATC). For right-hand drive markets, as well as ST floor mats, automatic headlamp control, auto-dimming rear view mirror and automatic wipers. The top spec Focus ST3 increases the features with the inclusion of those exclusive heated leather Recaro seats with 8-way adjustability and pull out cushion, plus the newly developed Recaro rear bench.