2020 Ford Focus vs Peugeot 308

What's the difference?

The Ford Focus ST is a hot hatch, but just how spicy is it? Well, if it was a curry it would have two little, red chillies next to its name on the menu. Listed directly below would be the Focus RS accompanied by three chillies, but there’d be a line drawn through it with a marker pen because sadly Ford doesn’t serve that any more.

So, is the Ford Focus ST hot enough for you? And does it also offer the practicality that goes with performance which has made hot hatches popular through the decades?

The new-generation Focus ST launched in 2020, soon after its smaller sibling the Fiesta ST (one chilli). We’ve already tested the Focus ST with the manual gearbox and this review is of the same car with the automatic.

It was almost this time last year when I had the chance to test the Peugeot 308 GT. It was a great little warm hatch, which subjectively, I loved.

Imagine my dismay then, when I discovered this year Peugeot had discontinued the often overlooked GT to replace it with the car you see here: The 308 GT-Line.

The GT-Line looks pretty much identical from the outside but instead of the GT’s punchy four-cylinder engine, it gets the regular three-cylinder turbo unit also seen on the lesser Allure grade.

So, with angry looks but less power than a base-model Golf – can this new GT-Line version win me over in quite the same way as its warm hatch predecessor? Read on to find out.