Driving a Focus RS quickly around a corner is shockingly different from anything else I've attempted in rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive cars. On turn-in, and with the revs up, you brace yourself for the transfer of weight as the car leans out, and then the hard yank of the differential as it does its job. It never happens. Instead of a standard differential or hideous e-diff, the RS uses a more complex automatic torque biasing Quaife limited-slip. It gently twitches the car a corner, creating an experience both comforting and exciting. I imagine magical fairy creatures inside the diff making just the right adjustments to keep the car moving.

This is where benchmarking becomes a challenge. The RS outclasses any FWD drive car you can imagine and therefore has to compete with more complex cars like Mitsubishi's Evo and Subaru's WRX STI. But after a few minutes in the Focus, that feels like cheating. Like hitting home runs with a 13-inch novelty bat, the Ford just feels better. The only thing I'd change is power — I want more. I want to see how far you can go before the diff trick stops working.

On turn-in, and with the revs up, you brace yourself for the transfer of weight as the car leans out, and then the hard yank of the differential as it does its job.