Here are eight great used fast Fords from £1k to £21k you can buy right now

It wouldn’t be a fast Ford list without at least one of these, right? Sure, we could have included a Mexico here, but they also fetch big money these days. Instead, why not consider this immaculate looking 1988 X3Ri, complete with recent exterior and mechanical refresh and can be yours for £13k. Just imagine the envious looks at the school gates.

The first of… many fast Fords we declared our Car of the Year, the MkI RS set the path for all others to follow. To its family hatch Ford added a 2.0-litre turbo engine sending all its power to the front wheels plus a tricksy front diff, and the result was… spectacular. To drive it remains so today. Prices are creeping up now, but £18k for this one with 76k on the clock feels fair.

Probably not the first fast Ford that comes to mind, but fully deserving of a spot on this list all the same. The SportKa got a racier body kit, stiffened suspension and bespoke 16in alloy wheels, plus an uprated 1.6-litre 95bhp engine. Ford itself ran an advertising campaign labelling it “the Ka's evil twin". For just over £1k this one even comes with racing stripes…

Peak Fiesta ST? Quite possibly. The one you really want is the late 2016 ST200 as we found here for just shy of £8k, which received the same 1.6-litre turbo four pot as standard but got a slight power uplift to 212bhp (on overboost), plus a shorter final drive ratio and a revised suspension setup. Buy it, head to your nearest B-road and let the fun commence. 

The last Focus to ever wear the RS badge is reason alone to buy it. But the MkIII RS – check out this Nitrous Blue (it has to be, right?) example for £21,495 – got the then Mustang’s 345bhp 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo engine, a six-speed manual, a trick four-wheel drive system complete with Drift mode… and remained as family friendly as ever.

Hard to believe Ford ended production of the Fiesta over two years ago, but this last of the line Fiesta ST at least lives on in the classifieds, and can now be had for a reasonable £15k. We were concerned that downsizing to a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost in this generation would ruin its character… we were wrong. One of the best hot hatches ever.

It’s not often we admit to wanting to own a crossover, but the Ford Puma ST – not to be confused with the Ford Racing Puma – is one such car. At least, with the 1.5-litre three cylinder EcoBoost outputting 197bhp and 236lb ft, and not the later version which swapped it out for a 1.0-litre mild hybrid. Look, here’s one for £15k with gold wheels!

No shortage of options here, but with Christmas around the corner, we’re going for the more affordable option. This fifth generation 2005 GT we found gets the bigger 4.6-litre V8, a beige leather interior, has covered just 25,000 miles from new with regular servicing, and asks for just £12.5k of pocket change. Probably less if you’re good at haggling…