Ford Focus RS or Mustang: which is better?

For the last few months we’ve had not one, but two fast Fords on our long-term test fleet. The Focus RS was first to arrive. Ours is specced to £35,765, putting it within sight of the £37,830 as-tested Mustang, which was delivered soon after.

The fact they’re so close in price led to a small fight, in which fists, food and office stationary were thrown. Luckily we managed to calm Jack RIx and Tom Ford down long enough for them to write a few words on the subject. It’s Jack in the blue corner and Tom in the, erm, bluer corner. En garde!

Tom Ford: It’s a good one, this. Two legendary badges both sold in the UK to people who like fast, blue things. Although other colours are available. But mine is better. Because it’s, y’know, a Mustang. Legendary. You can’t really say that about the Focus. It might be RS-mighty and very quick, but it’s a jumped-up shopping car, really. 

The Mustang has a 5.0-litre V8, a long bonnet, a chunky manual and virtually unusable rear seats. It also doesn’t have a drift mode, because it is drift mode. On the Sottozero winter tyres we’ve fitted, it basically lives life at a quarter-to the straight ahead. It makes you feel like Bo Duke and Steve McQueen at the same time. Except that I like to think I’m a bit Steven Seagal…

Jack Rix: What, a washed-up weirdo with dodgy hair? 

TF: But have you seen Seagal in Under Siege? He’s such a powerful artiste that he doesn’t have to even move his face to act. He has a secret, magical power to him – something charming that draws you in, even though you know it’s a bit… cheesy. Yes, like a Mustang. 

I know that a 5.0-litre pushrod isn’t the cutting edge of downsized, forced-induction efficiency, but I don’t care. I suppose you either get the inherent brutal beauty of the V8, RWD manual, or you don’t. I’m not sure there’s any particular rhyme or reason to it.

JR: I see your point, but you’re wrong about the RS. The Mustang is a wonderfully evocative thing, I’ll grant you that, and is huge fun in the right situation, but would you actually want to own one? I think not. I mean, wearing fancy dress is fun now and then, but you wouldn’t go to work in Bo Peep costume, would you? 

In the US, the Mustang is a pop icon, a slice of freedom and just cool, full stop. Here it’s a posing pouch that drinks too much fuel, and makes you look like a tit. 

TF: The weird thing is, I sometimes wonder about the kind of guy that buys a Focus RS. Young men can’t afford them (or more to the point, insure them), and they have the slight whiff of the midlife crisis to anyone 35-plus. I get that the Focus RS is kind of an everyday supercar – especially braving the back roads in a UK winter – but is it really special? 

The Mustang is an event every time. It’s the kind of car you can’t help but look back at every time you park it. It gets under your skin. And it’s not because it’s super-expensive, either – the one we're testing is only £37k.

JR: So what you’re saying is the Mustang is cheap? Agreed. That interior is particularly scratchy. Our Focus RS is affordable, too, at around £35k but doesn’t feel like it’s pretending to be a £60k car. It’s honest – a practical 5dr family hatch that happens to have a ridiculous turn of pace.

It feels like the money has been spent on the engineering, not the styling. It might not look as special, but when you get the chance to wind it up, hear the exhaust warble away and get all four wheels sliding, boy does it feel special. It also won’t kill you if you crash into a pigeon. 

TF: I knew you’d bring that up. Euro NCAP stars aren’t everything. And the test was... uh… hush, Jack! Still, why do you think the Mustang is pretending to be anything at all? I think the pitch is remarkably unconfused in a world full of segment-spanning niche-busters. 

I’m not sure the RS Focus even counts as a hot hatch these days – isn’t that more the preserve of something like the mighty little Fiesta ST200? I know this sounds like heresy, but as a pure hot hatch experience (FWD, more modest power, less electronics), I think I prefer the Fiesta…

JR: Let’s not go there, because I might end up agreeing with you and ruin my carefully crafted argument that the Focus RS is one of the finest cars you can buy. And for duality of purpose, it probably is – boring stuff, I know, but it really is usable as your only family car – can’t say the same of the Mustang, could you? 

My real beef with the Mustang is that it’s wilfully backwards-looking. We live in an age when technology allows us to have inordinate amounts of power from a four-cylinder engine, and dizzying amounts of grip and balance from a sensible body shape with five doors. The Mustang is cool, I enjoyed driving it, but it preys on our dislike of change.

The RS is where we’re heading, the Mustang is where we’ve been. If there’s a V8-shaped hole in your life, can’t you just buy an old Mustang and let Ford get on with making clever stuff?

TF: Thing is, I don’t regard the Stang as anything other than a smile-per-mile car. You can pull it apart in so many small ways, but it’s got that big-hearted charm that means you end up giving the damn thing a name. It feels simple. Homely. It looks great – still a bit of a surprise on UK roads – and people seem to genuinely love it; there’s none of the slightly boy-racery attitude you sometimes get with hot Fords. 

JR: Hmmmm, so it’s a choice between being a boy racer… or Steven Seagal. There you have it folks, some golden consumer advice. 

If you want to engage in any (hopefully) good-natured mud-slinging with your fellow internet commenters, please do so below. Focus RS or Mustang: which is the better fast Ford?