In previous years, the courteous Volkswagen Golf R and rambunctious Ford Focus RS would have been almost certainly destined to joust it out in the final reckoning of this event – and even with the premium-level strength of the competition assembled, there were short odds of the winner emerging from this first-round shoot-out.
Why? Well, both have done a remarkably good job of preserving their lofty reputations. The VW is fresh from the light makeover that has finally afforded it a metric output beyond 300bhp, while the RS has been the recipient of Mountune’s attention and now boasts 370bhp in its uprated FPM375 guise.
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The two have been thrown together so often in the past 24 months that it’s almost tempting to see them
as peas in the same sub-£35k, all- wheel-drive pod. In reality, though, they could hardly be more different. Much of their dissimilarity is about lineage: the R is unashamedly plush and soft to the touch, because its multi-purpose urbaneness is meant to represent the peak of middle-class Golf-dom. The RS, meanwhile, with its democratisation of rear-driven sports car driftability, is Ford at its blue collar best, unrepentant about its silly vaunted driving position or the stock nature of many of its fixtures and fittings.
Previously, the Golf has emerged triumphant from comparisons because, in the broadest possible sense, it is more accomplished. Certainly nothing about the £899 Mountune kit – a familiar mash- up of revised software code and breathed-on components – fitted to this Focus RS is about to change that. The latest R barely needs 10 minutes of driving on the B-roads around Llandow to reconfirm that you’d drive it not only happily home but also for the rest of your life in benign contentment. Equipped with the optional (but wholly essential) adaptive dampers, its supple ride, supremely biddable power delivery and trademark precision make a compelling case against almost any real-world performance rival, let alone the occasionally chafing knife- edge dynamism of the granular and cheerily raucous Ford.
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Re Sabre, Simonali and 275not599
"It’s on the road where an AMG A45 shows it has the better moves."
"And on the road it’s the more fun car, too. It feels that bit more special."
Recognize those quotes, or did you not actually read the AMG versus RS3 article? There is no conflict whatsoever, and the correct conclusion was reached that the Golf is better than the Ford.
Agree with comments about
Agree with comments about inconsistent criteria when the final decision is made. Come on Autocar, speak with one voice!
Disagree
Adaptive dampers are not essential. They are a nice to have.