IT was a vintage year for hot hatches and Ford was right at the forefront with its own unique take on the market.
Instead of using a four-cylinder engine as other hot hatches have, the Ford Focus XR5 has a five-cylinder engine with a turbo strapped on.
The potent engine, which has 166kW and 320Nm of torque, came straight from Ford's Swedish friends at Volvo.
It is a cracker engine, with low-down urge and wonderful, meaty exhaust note thanks to a large muffler that takes up the space normally used by a full-size spare (it now has a space-saver).
The XR5 has chunky 18-inch wheels, sports suspension and styling that instantly stamps it as a customer not to be messed with. Despite its no-nonsense looks and sharp ability, the XR5 has a softer side and that was just the thing that tipped some judges in its favour over Mazda's more focused MPS.
There was also the matter of a fair wedge of readies left in the wallet with the XR5 starting at a sharp $35,990.
