Ford Fiesta ST owners may want to pay special attention to this video. Matt Farah takes his long-term Fiesta ST test car for what the Smoking Tyre refer to as a ‘Stage 3′ performance upgrade. The modifications are done by tuning company Cobb and include an exhaust, downpipe, rear engine mount kit, as well as ECU software to co-ordinate it all. The results in this specific case boost power of the baby ST from 191 WHP to 217 WHP, or 142 kW and 160 kW respectively. Together with launch-control software, this extra power makes for a rather rapid little Fiesta; not to mention the sound, which almost seems worth the $3 225 asking price alone.
Like us you’re probably noticed that the Smoking Tyre’s stock power output of 142 kW is 10 kW up on Ford’s claimed figure. There are many factors that could influence this, ranging from conservative figures from Ford, to the atmospheric conditions while on the dyno, the dyno machine itself and much more. However, in relative terms this tuning package has added an 11% increase in power to the Fiesta ST and, if your Fiesta is producing 132 kW in standard form, it’s nice to know you can get close to 160 kW with some quality bolt-on parts and the correct engine management software.