Ford Focus RS
Focus RS takes on Civic Type R. In the wet...
At the risk of getting too technical, I like the Ford Focus RS a lot, the Honda Civic Type R… not so much. Thing is, I drew this conclusion well over a year ago when I drove them both backto-back on an icy racetrack in northern France. To cut a long story short, the RS was hilarious, clawing its way around the Circuit des Ecuyers, hanging its tail out at every corner, while the Type R sat forlornly in the pit lane, all but redundant because front-wheel drive, a boosty turbocharged engine and ice do not a happy threesome make. Since then, I’ve been masterfully avoiding the Type R, but everyone deserves a second chance, right?
And that second chance paid of handsomely when I spent a couple of days in it recently. The weather was warm(ish) and dry, and it clicked. The driving satisfaction here doesn’t come from an exotic exhaust note, or ambitious cornering angles, it comes from leaning on the Type R’s immense lateral grip, jumping on the power early and letting the dif do its thing to catapult you out the other side. If the RS has rallying in its DNA, the Type R is a touring car at heart. Also the seats are so low, and so comfortable, while still holding you in a vice-like grip. Don’t know how you did it, Honda, but bravo.
And then we took it to a wet Dunsfold to take the picture below, and it all fell apart once again. More than half throttle, more than a quarter turn of lock and the front tyres were scrabbling around, understeering and going nowhere fast. Conclusion: what good is a rife-bolt manual gearshift, lots of power and perfect seats when you can only deploy it all for a few months a year? The rest of the time you’re left pinballing of speed bumps and looking like a throw-back from the Max Power generation. I’ll stick with my rain-or-shine RS, thanks very much.