Typically, when a special-edition variant of a performance car sold here is offered to Europeans, it’s more powerful or better in some way, inciting jealousy on this side of the Atlantic. This isn’t such a case. The Ford Fiesta ST200, making its debut at the 2016 Geneva auto show, is more powerful than the standard Euro-market Fiesta ST?but that car isn’t as powerful as our standard-issue Fiesta ST. With the Euro-only ST200, Ford has more or less brought American power to its sportiest Fiesta model for overseas customers.

Measured in metric horsepower, the ST200’s turbocharged 1.6-liter four produces 200 ponies?hence its name?which means it squeezes out the same 197 horsepower as does the U.S.-spec Fiesta ST and 17 more than the standard Euro ST. Ford managed to milk 214 lb-ft of torque from the ST200’s engine, a mighty 37 lb-ft increase over the Euro Fiesta ST and 12 lb-ft beyond the U.S.-market Fiesta ST. (For fun, an overboost function can deliver up to 212 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque for 20 seconds at a time.) We’d never turn down the extra torque, but we’ve found the regular ST perfectly balances its power with its handling limits?it’s simply one of the most well-rounded performance cars available at any price. If we were to pluck anything from the ST200, it would be the shorter 4.06:1 final-drive Ford fits in place of the stock 3.82:1 gearing, just for a little extra pep off the line.
Other ST200 enhanceme...