Ford seemed to be sending us mixed messages about one of its latest arrivals, the Fiesta ST, a hot-hatch version of its best-selling supermini. Ford's sporty Fiesta website proclaims a car that's "tough, tasty looking and driven to perform . . . rock solid handling in everything it does."
The marketing pitch talks about the pulse racing, rally breeding and being built to tackle anything the road throws at it, all invigorating hype.
But when Ford's new hot hatch made its Irish debut recently, Eddie Murphy, the company's boss here, was more subdued. "This isn't a hot hatch in the way we used to know the breed: it's a quiet composed performer that keeps its fiery side in reserve."
The website enthused about "affordable fun" but in the Irish context there's a very small audience. The Irish asking price is €27,000 - our greedy exchequer takes nearly €11,000 of that.
Is there a conflict about the driving style and personality of the ST? Is it really an angry performer enhanced with lots of exhaust growl? Our judgement is no and no: the ST is docile, quiet and well-mannered in urban mode, while on twisty open roads there's forceful performance from the engine and dynamic tenacity from the chassis - in this mode it's noisy, not the alluring sporty noise of a hot hatch, more the earnest sound of a hard-working powertrain.
The ST (for Sports Technologies, not Special Tuning) relies on a 2-litre Duratec 16v engine with 148bhp that should mean a top speed of 208km/h and a 0-100km/h time of 8.4 seconds. Accompanying paraphernalia include a lowered and stiffened sports suspension, a sports tuned steering, uprated braking (with rear discs on a Fiesta for the first time), two widely spaced chrome exhaust pipes and low profile Pirelli P Zero tyres. Cosmetics setting it apart from everyday Fiestas include a wider and deeper front grille, side skirts and rear spoiler.
The ST's exuberant nature is characterised by the short throw gearbox which is slick, urging you to move hard and fast. Steering is accurate and well-weighted at speed, adding much to its reassuring poise on snaking hilly roads with all their humps and dips. Surprisingly, the ride is more absorbent than expected in a hot hatch.
You don't expect exceptional fuel economy with such cars so with an overall return of 11.7 l/km (24.1mpg) we were neither depressed or delighted. The official l/100km figures are urban 9.26, ex-urban 5.7 and combined 9.7 - 27.2, 49.6 and 38.2 in mpg.
Our red test car came with appalling full length white bonnet and roof stripes, a limp attempt at giving the ST presence. Happily the stripes are an option: it's more discreet and subtle without them. The sports seats are comfortable, form-hugging and good to look at, while the dash is a smart mix of functionality and simplicity with some aesthetic flourishes such as the metal surfaced accelerator, brake and clutch pedals.
Even with the stripes, our test car hardly merited a glance. Could it be that in these affluent times, hot hatches such as the ST aren't really the stuff of envy any more? Nearly a quarter of a century ago, when the first Fiesta XR2i arrived, it grabbed attention, not least because it was the first Fiesta with a top speed exceeding 100mph (160km/h). Developing just 83bhp, it was a far cry from the 148bhp of today's ST.
Another explanation may be that the hot-hatch field is now well populated and makers such as Volkswagen and Peugeot have been long at it with their respective Golf and 206/205 versions. The new Golf GTi in particular has been making hot-hatch headlines in recent days, delivering horsepower purely, simply and thrillingly. The old Fiesta XR2, which ceased production in 1993, was a big hit and has been much missed.
The Fiesta does its volume supermini thing successfully, but recreating the awareness that was around in the past is bound to be an uphill struggle.
Readers of last week's road test on the Mini Cooper S Works will note that there are the same kind of footprints this week with the same competitors listed for comparison. Our Fiesta ST does come out on top on pricing - its closest rival, the 206GTi, being €3,530 more.
Remarkably, we noted that the Fiesta ST and Mini Cooper S Works have much the same price in Britain at around £14,000 but in Ireland the Cooper Works is a whopping €38,300 in spite of a lower VRT rate with a 1.6 engine.
Ford's task of making fast cars for both road and racing, as well as turning the ST into a thunder-stealing rival to other hot hatches, is managed by a tight knit group of 30 people buried inside a research centre in Dunton, Essex. Established in 2003, the Ford Team RS forges the link between race and road cars, allowing one to influence the other. At Dunton the mission is to get back control of fast car activity that was lost a decade ago.
It will take more than the Fiesta ST to meet that objective. It's a perilous business and the Focus RS which came out three years ago proves that point. Ford spent so much developing it to be the supreme hot hatch that the €50,000 asking price (£20,000 in Britain) was never going to be enough to make a profit. So, only 4,500 Focus RSs were ever built.
A Fiesta RS was shown as a concept at Geneva last year. Ford said it would build a 200bhp production car - if it made money. It's somewhat different for the Golf GTi and the 206: they have sustainable volume from their continuity.
Finally back to the Fiesta ST. It's fun to drive, more so for its tenacious grip and handling than its engine beat. It makes a welcome return as the flagship of a best-selling supermini range. Let's hope it makes some money for Ford!
Michael McAleer is on holiday