COTY 2016 Best Performance Car Under $100K: Ford Focus RS
Brilliant Blue Oval hot hatch announced as top sub-$100,000 performance car in 2016's carsales.com.au Car of the YearIt’s no surprise to find the Focus RS among the contenders for 2016 Carsales Car of the Year.
It is great value, has an innovative all-wheel drive system and offers brilliant performance.
We do take issue with the lack of side airbags and the fact autonomous emergency braking is not even an option, rather than the over-hyped concern about the drift mode.
And there’s no doubt its everyday useability is affected by the firm ride, interior noise and a manual gearbox.
But the compensations are truly immense.
The 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine is a torque-laden ripper and the adjustable chassis is incredibly communicative, confidence-inspiring and unbelievable fun.
There are no hot hatches within this Ford's price range that can match its incredible level of performance, while those that can equal its kiloWatt and Newton-metre output can’t get anywhere near it on price.
We explored those issues in our recent comparison test against the Mercedes-AMG A 45 and Audi RS 3 Sportback, both of which the RS comfortably defeated on both track and road.
The Focus RS is too focussed – pardon the pun – to win Carsales Car of the Year, but it's a first-rate hot hatch and easily the best sub-$100K performance car of 2016.
Read a Ford Focus RS review
The carsales.com.au Car of the Year winners are:
2016 carsales.com.au Car of the Year category winners:
Best First Car: Skoda Fabia
Best City Car: Audi A3 Sportback e-tron
Best Family Car Under $30K: Skoda Octavia
Best Family Car Over $30K: Mazda6
Best Green Car: BMW i3 ReX
Best Offroad 4x4: Ford Ranger
Best Performance Car Under $100K: Ford Focus RS
Best Performance Car Over $100K: Porsche 911 Carrera S
Best Prestige Car Under $100K: Audi A4
Best Prestige Car Over $100K: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Best SUV Under $50K: Mazda CX-9
Best SUV Over $50K: Audi Q7
Best Tradie vehicle: Ford Ranger
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