New Ford Focus RS: A hot hatch

The Ford German engineered and built Focus RS Turbo is one hot hatch that's guaranteed to turn heads, but it's not cheap at $59,990 plus on-road costs.

The highly refined, close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission of the Focus RS Turbo taps into the sizzling power of the smooth revving 2.5L Duratec 20V 5 cylinder turbocharged engine, delivers 224Kw of power - 440Nm of torque and a fuel efficiency of around 12.3litres /100km.

While similar high-powered cars use AWD to get this sort of power to the ground, the Focus relies on its brilliant 'Revo-Knuckle' system and its sports suspension. Its high-performance 336mm ventilated front and 300mm rear disc brakes means that it stops as well as it goes.

The exterior may look wild, but the interior looks mundane. For a $60,000 car, the grey plastic is second-rate and the 'carbon-fibre' trim looks extremely fake, but the Recaro front bucket sports seats are very comfortable indeed.

For its hefty price the hot hatch gets a sports styling kit and large rear spoiler, dual front and front side airbags, full-length curtain airbags, ABS, EBD, brake assist, traction control, stability control, dual-zone climate control, rain-sensing wipers, xenon headlamps, rear parking sensors, an eight-speaker stereo with CD USB/Aux inputs, keyless entry, ignition, Bluetooth, 19-inch alloy wheels, twin exhausts and parking sensors.

On the down side the car does not have cruise control or Sat Nav, these probably being a big ticket dealer option.

There are very limited numbers of the RS model available, but if you miss out there are a number of alternatives which offer similar or better performance at around the same price in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Subaru WRX STI and the more cost effective Volkswagen Golf R.