THE Ford Focus ST estate is the scariest car I have ever driven and having said that, I know many people will immediately decide they want one.

It is the kind of car that roars at you as soon as you switch on the engine at which point I suggest you roar back just to let it know who is boss. It comes with Overboost you see to let you know it is beefed up and boy, can you feel it.

I edged down my driveway in it as it twitched and growled. My daughters used to have horses and it reminded me of the times they got on the really highly string ones. They were invariably the ones that won everything so I guess as in animals, it goes with the performance.

This car is mad, bad and dangerous to know. Practically speaking it will give you the drive of your life.

It comes with a 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine - from the family of engines that Ford seems to be able to do anything with from the smallest city car to the Mustang.

This provides a top speed of 155mp and delivers 280ps. No wonder it was behaving like a bucking bronco as I tore down the country lanes around my house.

It comes with unique ST bodystyling, a large rear spoiler and 19ins alloys. And here's the giveaway - it has red brake calipers.

Inside it has alloy finish pedals, Recaro partial leather seats and rear privacy glass.

Almost oddly, due to the nature of this beast, it comes with lots of Ford's everyday common sense features like the Quickclear heated windscreen for taking the kids to school in winter, as you do in this car, the heated steering wheel, and an openable panoramic roof (£995) which is great for keeping babies quiet while you drive as they like to look at the sky.

It comes with Ford's SDYNC 3 with nav and an eight-inch colour touchscreen.

This offers connectivity with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and there are other sensible features like front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, lane centring assist and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

Interestingly though, this car had a Performance Pack onboard too (just £250) that adds an extra mode Track with a shift indicator, launch control, rev matching and multi colour ambient lighting - that's more like it. I thought.