2017 Ford Focus vs Toyota Corolla

What's the difference?

Don’t dismiss the Focus RS as just another hatchback with a sporty body kit. The RS does exactly what it says on the tin. It goes fast and handles perfectly. At $50K the bang-for-your-buck is excellent, it's as practical as a regular Ford Focus, from ease of parking to room inside, and it’s not too hardcore making it something an enthusiast could live with every day – even with a family.

The Corolla Ascent Sport hatch's looks, driveability, and optional advanced safety equipment mean that despite the fact it's older than most of its rivals, it's still a great buy.

Based on the regular five-door Focus hatch the RS isn’t as extreme looking as its predecessor. Don’t underestimate the RS though it’s still very much a ‘Franken-Focus’ monster in looks and its heart – a four-cylinder turbo engine transplanted from the Mustang. 

First the looks. There’s its angry anteater snout and that lower grille with intercooler looming inside and its splitter that looks sharp and low enough to shave Cats Eyes off the road. 

From the back it looks just as tough with the large, roof-mounted wing, and diffuser-integrated twin 4.5-inch tail pipes. Then there’s the optional 19-inch gloss black alloys shod with licorice-thin low profile rubber. 

Our car looked like a poison dart frog with its 'Nitrous Blue' paint; a similar hue to the front Brembo brake calipers, but with metal flake added. There’s also White, Magnetic (which looks gun metal grey) and Shadow Black. 

Looking at the RS’s dimensions compared to a regular Focus in base Trend spec, the RS is 30mm longer at 4390mm end-to-end; the same width from mirror-to-mirror at 2010mm, 13mm taller at 1480mm (that’d be the rear wing) and has 9mm less ground clearance at 100mm (thanks to the lowered suspension).

Don’t even think of comparing the Focus RS to something like a Hyundai Veloster Turbo, the Volkswagen Golf R is the RS’s true rival although the VW’s more sedate looks don’t make it obvious. 

The RS’s insides are almost identical to a regular Focus. There’s the same display screen, centre console layout and dash design, including the climate control dials, instrument cluster and steering wheel. Making the RS’s interior different are the dash-mounted gauges for boost and water and oil temperatures, alloy pedals and racy Recaro seating. 

The Golf R’s interior is a bit more mature, too. I’m not a fan of those toy-like gauges in the RS.

There are bottle holders in all the doors and two cup holders up front; none in the back though.

This current Corolla has been around five years and it still looks great thanks to a good initial design and successful styling updates along the way.

I like the sharp nose, the sleek headlights, the profile, even the ‘egg splat' tail-lights. The hatch is so much more attractive than the sedan, but struggles a bit in the beauty stakes against the new Mazda3 and Hyundai i30.

Measuring 4330mm end to end, 1475mm tall and 1760mm wide, the Corolla hatch is 290mm shorter, 15mm narrower but 15mm taller than the sedan.

Inside, the cabin has barely changed in years, but I'm still a big fan of its swooping dash and clean design. The new touchscreen modernises the interior, the instrument cluster is clear, grown up and stylish, while the blue lighting throughout is a great ambient touch.

There are eight paint colours to choose from for the Ascent Sport (only four for the Ascent). As mentioned our car was 'Inferno' (a burnt orange) but there are seven other colours to choose from including 'Blue Gem', 'Citrus', 'Crystal Pearl', 'Silver Pearl', 'Ink' (black), 'Wildfire' (bushfire blonde) and 'Glacier White', which I happen to like the most, and not just because it's free.

With the body structure of a regular Ford Focus the RS is one of the most practical high performance cars on the market right now. Decent sized back doors which open wide and a headroom friendly roofline meant even swinging our toddler in and out of his car seat wasn’t back breaking. 

A great Recaro bench back seat is comfortable and supportive although there’s not as much legroom in there as a regular Focus thanks to those larger front seats. Still, I’m 191cm tall and there’s daylight between my knees and the seatback when it’s in my driving position. More space than the new Renault Megane for example.

The boot space isn’t great compared to other small hatches at 316 litres (44 litres less than a Toyota Corolla and 63 litres less than a Hyundai i30's cargo capacity) but with our family there was enough room for the weekly shopping and the mountain of gear that follows our child everywhere such as a pram and change bags.

The interior lighting is frustrating. There are map lights over the driver and front passenger and directional lights over the rear passengers. However, while the LED bulbs are intensely bright to look at, they don’t cast a wide beam.

Wondering if the Corolla hatch is more practical than the sedan? No, of course you weren't. So, consider it trivia that the hatch has far less rear legroom (at 191cm tall I can just squeeze in behind my driving position) but more headroom back there.

The boot is smallish at 310 litres (110 litres less than the sedan), but it will fit the CarsGuide pram, just. The hatch tailgate gives you a bigger opening than a sedan boot and by folding the seats forward the car is better for cargo carrying.

Storage inside is not bad with two cupholders in the fold down centre armrest in the back, and two more up front, plus bottle holders in all of the doors. The centre console bin upfront is deep but, not large because the handbrake eats into the space. There's also a small hidey hole in the dash under aircon dials for bits and pieces.

There are five types of Corolla hatch, and the Ascent Sport, with a list price of $23,250 for the automatic (the manual is $21,210), is the second rung up that ladder. That's only $980 more than the entry-level Ascent. So what's the point of the Ascent Sport?

The point is, by paying the extra grand you get 16-inch alloy wheels and a 7.0-inch touchscreen, plus the ability to option sat nav (as our car had) which you can't get on the Ascent with its 6.1-inch screen. Other standard features include a reversing camera, rear parking sensors, a six-speaker stereo, Bluetooth connectivity and halogen headlights.

The value is good and the rivals are a close match. The Mazda3, for example, is $24,890, but comes with built-in sat nav. The exception to the rule, though, is the new Hyundai i30 hatch. The base spec i30 has the same list price as the Corolla Ascent Sport, but comes with an 8.0-inch screen, wireless phone charging, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Outstanding.

The update also brought a new advanced safety package. It's the best $750 you'll ever spend (read more about what cool tech this brings below).

Also optioned on our test car was sat nav ($1000) and 'Inferno' premium paint ($450).

The Focus RS has a 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine with an enormous output of 257kW in power and 440Nm of torque. It’s not as much as the 280kW/470Nm of the Mercedes-AMG 45 hatch or the Audi RS3 Sportback with 270kW/465Nm, but those cars are much more expensive, so from a bang-for-your-buck angle, it’s excellent value.

The engine is fundamentally the same four-cylinder that’s in the Mustang EcoBoost, but has been re-engineered for the RS with a low-inertia turbo featuring a bigger compressor, as well as a larger intercooler and radiator, while being tuned to produce a higher output. 

Having driven the Mustang EcoBoost I can say this four cylinder is far better suited to a hot hatch. The spooling boost that works like a slingshot is more in keeping with the character of the RS.

The Focus RS only comes with a six-speed manual which sends drive to all four wheels with 100 percent going to the front ones normally, but if needed 70 percent can be delivered to the rears.

The Focus RS doesn’t need a limited slip differential thanks its twin clutch all-wheel drive system which uses torque vectoring on the rear axle. This means drive to a slipping rear wheel could be cut completely, with 100 per cent sent to the opposite wheel. Yup, you could almost turn on the spot.

All Corollas, sedan or hatch, regardless of grade, come with the same engine. It's a petrol, a 1.8-litre four-cylinder with a power output of 103kW (torque is 173Nm). Actually that's not true. There's a petrol-electric hybrid Corolla hatch. Did you know that? Here, read my road test.

Okay, back to the Corolla Ascent Sport. You have two transmission choices: a six-speed manual and seven-speed CVT auto. Ours was the CVT, and if you're looking for something which shifts automatically and smoothly, go for this one. But if you're really into driving, you'll want the manual.

Ford says the Focus RS will run on 95 RON premium unleaded at an average combined rate of 8.1L/100km but I doubt they drove their car like I did. After putting almost 300km on the clock in a combination of country and city driving I recorded 11.9L/100km. 

The Corolla Ascent Sport we tested had the seven-speed CVT auto. These transmissions are known for their efficiency, but lack a sporty personality. When you ask them for more acceleration, they tend to drone noisily, rather than dramatically increase your speed.

Toyota says that the hatch with a CVT should consume 6.1L/100km of regular unleaded petrol for the combined (urban, extra-urban) fuel economy cycle. That's more efficient than the same engine in the sedan, which gets 6.6L/100km. We took our car on mainly urban adventures/chores and saw 11.5L/100km.

Being happy to drink the cheap 91 RON petrol should make filling the 50 litre tank easier on the budget, too.

It was only 10 minutes into my journey home in the Focus RS when I noticed the Audi RS3 in the rear view mirror driven by somebody I can only describe as Korean Elvis. I was darting through peak hour traffic and so was he, keeping right behind me. He wanted to play. It’s the curse of driving a car which screams 'race me.' 

Drift mode. It’s a victory over the fun police.

Thing is, I knew how much pain Korean Elvis was in. The RS3’s suspension is so brutally firm and our big city road surfaces are so bad that every pot hole feels like a nuclear bomb going off underneath you. 

Not the case with the Focus RS. Sure it doesn’t have the cushiony ride of a Focus Trend, but you can still absolutely live with it. Those optional low-profile Michelins ‘feel’ the road in great detail, which also means they have a habit of following grooves in the road, but they are matched so well with the suspension that the result is a firm but absorbent ride that isn’t going to have you putting it up for sale on our website a week after buying it.

That suspension can also be softened thanks to adjustable dampers when you select the Normal driving mode. The other modes Sport, Track and Drift, which stiffen up the suspension for sharper handling, add weight to the steering, and as you step up to the final two, loosen the traction control leash to give you more freedom to slide – in the right setting of course.

Yup, you're read right. Drift mode. It’s a victory over the fun police, and the actual police. How it works is clever. When Drift mode is selected the car’s computer examines the driver’s steering inputs and will allow the car to slide, but will jump in if it predicts a loss of control. Electronic stability control remains on the entire time. Of course, unless you pay to shut down an entire street like Ken Block, drifting should be done on a skid pan or track. 

Another win is how light the clutch is, and how easy that manual gearbox is to use. That first night home in the traffic – Korean Elvis aside – was spent dancing constantly with that clutch and it’s as close to perfect as you’ll find with a low take-up point, and shifts that just find their way home happily.

You’ll see that people online are complaining about the Focus RS’s turning circle, and it’s true 11.8m isn’t good – and that’s two turns lock-to-lock. Streets in my test route that normally take a text-book three points to turn around in took up to five in the RS. It’d be a disaster if the clutch and shifting wasn’t so easy. Even the placement of the gear stick is ergonomically spot-on, so it lands right in your palm when you drop your arm down.

Those 19-inch wheels wouldn’t be helping the turning circle, but also remember that the RS3 doesn’t do much better at 10.9m and the BMW M2 with 19-inch rims has a turning circle of 11.7m.

The steering itself is on the heavier side but accurate, particularly in Sport mode.

And then there’s the acceleration – 0-100km/h in 4.7 seconds. A new Porsche 911 with a manual gearbox can do it in 4.6 seconds but it's $150,000 more. The 911 also doesn’t have all-wheel drive or four doors, while only children fit comfortably in the back seats, there’s also next to no boot space and it comes with the constant fear that you’ll return to it after a nice dinner and find some arse has run a key down the side.

The RS is just a lairy looking Focus – or so people will think. To most people that’s just what it looks like and you’ll appear to be an overgrown teenager who thinks they’re Ken Block and has hooned up their Ford Focus with spoilers and plasticy bits. 

But to those that know – like Korean Elvis – the Focus RS is not a lairy looking Focus. Under that skin is a very different animal with outstanding handling and agility – worthy of the RS badge.

I didn’t get to drive the RS on a racetrack this time around, but I did get to blast through a wet, twisting, semi-rural backroad in the dead of night and it performed beautifully. Balanced, surefooted with so much grunt under your foot the entire time. My 2002 Holden Monaro with its 5.7 litre V8 could only manage 225kW; this is a Ford Focus, with 270kW! And it’s all far more manageable thanks to the all-wheel drive.

That hot-four engine note is brilliant and the crackle and pop from the exhaust is addictive – and can be made louder and more aggro through the different drive modes.

No, the interior isn’t special – apart from those Recaro seats. And no, the Recaro seats don’t have a height adjustment which leaves you feeling way too high up, but the athletic ability of this car makes these small issues fade away. Besides, you could always get somebody at Ford to look at the seats and see what can be done to adjust them.  

So, what was painful about the experience? Smashing my knee on the dashboard’s air vents every time I climbed out. I have the same issue with a regular Focus – the dash board design sees the section which meets the door swoop down. It looks great but my knees hate it.

Surely if something has the word 'sport' in its name it has to be sporty, or connected to sport or performance in some way. You know deodorant, or a watch, or trousers. Not so with cars. Nope the Ascent Sport is in no way faster or higher-performance or sportier than the Ascent or any other Corolla grade. It doesn't even have a stripe down the side of it.

So, if you're buying it because you want performance or better handling, forget it, and buy a Toyota 86, which doesn't have the word sport in its name at all, but is possibly the best sports cars for Corolla money on the planet.

Driving the Ascent Sport is easy: easy to park, easy to see out of, easy to use, with enough power to overtake easily. The ride is comfortable and the handling is good for a small car. I'll be honest with you though, the Mazda3 Maxx is more fun to drive, and so is the Hyundai i30.

That's mainly because both have traditional autos, which feel more responsive, and it's also down to small tactile things, which make a big difference, such as the steering wheel shape. The Mazda and Hyundai's felt fitted to my hands, while the Corolla's is hard to grip comfortably. Handling is not bad, but it's not as agile as the Mazda3.

Then there are those the headlights. They're halogen, and adequate, but could be brighter. The LED headlights on the ZR grade are excellent, but you'll have to pay more to step up to that spec to get them.

The Corolla Ascent Sport hatch has the maximum five-star ANCAP rating, but nearly every new car does now, and while the score is a good place to start take a look at the advanced safety equipment offered – that's what really separates the safe from the safer.

The 2017 update to the Corolla Ascent Sport hatch brought an optional safety package which is well worth the $750 asking price. The pack includes AEB, lane departure alert and auto high beams. Of all the options you could go for this one can save your life.

There are two ISOFIX mounts and three top tether points across the back row for child seats, and under the boot floor you'll find a full sized spare wheel.

The Focus RS is covered by a three year/100,000km warranty with servicing recommended every 12 months or 15,000km. It’s capped at $375 per service for the first three visits, then $520 for the fourth which is major service. Then it's back to $375 each service for the next three, and again $520 for the eighth service. Here’s a bit of pub trivia for you: after 33 years or 495,000km the service will cost you $375 according to the service price calculator on Ford’s website – try to hold them to that!

The Corolla Ascent Sport hatch is covered by a three year/100,000km warranty. Servicing is recommended every six months or 10,000km and is capped at $140 per visit up to 36 months or 60,000km.