The Octavia and Golf are 118kg and 37kg lighter respectively than the 1,413kg Ford. Its competitors are primarily competing with Ford based on low-cost as Honda, Toyota, and Nissan tend to focus on style more than function. Check specs, prices, performance and compare with similar cars. The best competitors to the Ford Focus The Ford Focus has long been one of the class leaders in the family hatchback segment. BBC is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Immediately the ride feels firmer than the others in their softer modes, although there’s less of a gap with the Merc when you crank the dampers up. In many ways, it’s a modern-day Mitsubishi Evo, born to flatter the driver, but also to deliver those hero moments that you can’t wait to embellish in the pub. This is a really key area with cars like the Focus, and as a result, the margins of difference are pretty slim. Instead, it feels soft and slow-witted, underendowed both aurally and visually, and generally outclassed. The steering is rife with feedback and has a brawnier weight to it than the other cars do here – I wouldn’t say it requires serious muscle, but it feels like you’re operating something manly and mechanical. Official: Renault 5 reborn as compact EV due on sale by 2025, Pure-electric Sony Vision S begins road testing programme, New Dacia Bigster concept previews future SUV. Ford Focus RS vs. Honda Civic Type R vs. Volkswagen Golf R vs. Subaru WRX STI Type RA Sport compact car revival: Four pocket rockets vie for the title of best hot hatch. A mist hangs over the 2.2 miles of tarmac and 19 turns, lifting its skirt just enough in places to reveal a worryingly glazed surface. Straight away, there’s a playground pecking order. It starts from just over £17,000, whereas the Focus starts from about £14,000. Fun to drive, well-equipped and backed up by a large dealer network, it isn’t hard to see why it’s one of the highest selling new cars in the UK. Go on, have a guess at the result. The Focus has the rest of the bases well covered too. Please read Top Gear’s code of conduct (link below) before posting. If the Merc’s willingness to play the fool is the day’s biggest surprise, then the Golf R is the biggest disappointment… on the road, at least. Upshifts are now a thing of uninterrupted beauty, but it still has a habit of delaying on the way down. The Audi is an absentee because we’ve already established that it’s a bit of a one-trick pony – crushing in a straight line but inert with steering lock applied – but the A45 has arrived armed to the teeth. It’s handicapped by its outdated engine and high price. “Wait for the sun. Not so the Focus RS that sports its RS-embossed wing, 19-inch wheels and angular front end with pride, but it’s still a far cry from its heavily muscled predecessor. We’ve already bombarded you with the gritty technical details of how the electronic clutch-based system operates, but suffice it to say that it can shift up to 70 per cent of the torque to the rear axle, and then up to 100 per cent of that to either of the rear wheels. Copyright © Dennis Publishing Limited 2021. There was a winner, eventually, but frankly we’re still debating/throwing stationery at each other over the result. And I mean constantly, even with the unnecessarily twitchy R+ mode turned off. First things first: Frank’s idea of a thawed track is slightly different to mine. The six-speed manual is a revised version of Ford’s trusty unit, but with a shorter lever and revised mechanism – not quite the precision-milled action you get in the Type-R (the only other manual here), but positive enough and compatible with a gobsmackingly effective launch-control system… more on that later. Unfortunately, these gifts come with some compromises. The ultimate source of the RS’s otherworldly powers, though, is its advanced torque-vectoring four-wheel-drive system. With 30 per cent of the power still spinning the front tyres, it hauls you forward while the tail hangs out, reducing the chance of swapping ends to virtually zero. Whereas the A45 feels like it has core strength and a rippling six-pack, the Golf has been skipping leg day and grown a sizeable paunch. The way it snaps forward feels a league above, too, and because you don’t have to dip the clutch and manoeuvre a small stick when you want to change gear, there’s zero break in the torque, just all the acceleration, all the time. Top In these cold damp conditions, it would be the most effective way to post a lap time, but would it be the most fun? With a starting price of $41,120 you get a turbocharged 2.3-liter four cylinder engine that makes an impressive 350 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. The pool of contenders is smaller, but then we’ve already separated the wheat from the chaff. Will all-new version raise bar in the family class again? It possesses a genuinely mighty engine – boosty, yes, but in a straight line it doesn’t feel any slower than the Focus RS, despite giving up a second in the official 0–62mph figures. The all-new Ford Focus – which is set to arrive in South Africa before the end of 2018 – will offer a host of new technologies, higher levels of occupant comfort, plus enhanced performance and efficiency. Oh it’s good, this car, very good. In meeker colours than this Nitrous Blue, it would be a touch too apologetic for our liking. The recent changes have done the Mercedes a world of good, it’s still the most unhinged hatch in the world and it’s learned not to take itself too seriously. The 2012 Ford Focus has plenty of new features aside from the return of the hatchback body style. The Ford Focus falls short of competitors here with only 32.0 inches of rear legroom. It came into formation through the acquisition of Ford Motor Company that made and sold vehicles engineered by Henry Ford.