THREE GENERATIONS OF AN ICON

Which is best; Mk1, Mk2 or Mk3 Focus RS? We get asked that a lot. And it’s a constant debate that’s usually rife around shows and events at this time of year. Take a walk around any Ford gathering, and you’re bound to hear people comparing the three generations. It’s only natural, given that each individual model will go down in fast Ford folklore as something of an icon, albeit for very different reasons.

The Mk1 saw the return of the mighty Rallye Sport badge for the first time since the Escort, and after a brief fling with Racing models, the first RS of the 21st century will forever be remembered as the first of its era: a hardcore hot hatch that firmly put the Blue Oval back in the performance car game.

Then came the Mk2. And we all know how that turned out. Snubbed at first for not having four-wheel drive and ridiculed for having a ‘Volvo engine’, that same five-pot is among the most successfully tuned engines ever to grace a fast Ford – not to mention the main reason for many buying an RS in the first place. This ultra-aggressive brute has already stamped its place in the Blue Oval annals, and it just keeps getting better with age.

Finally, the Mk3 entered. For the first time since the Cosworth days, the Mk3 RS gave us four-wheel drive and was clearly aimed at the hooligan in all of us, coming from the factory with the ridiculous (and fantastic) idea of having a Drift Mode. Its comparatively tame bodystyling and the lack of a three-door Mk3 Focus bodyshell meant it came under fire from the uninitiated at launch, but just four years into its existence the Mk3 has already etched its way