There is a lot of hoopla surrounding the recently launched Ford Focus RS and everybody is talking about how powerful it is and how fun it is and how drifty it is. And it definitely is all of that. But it cannot officially be called the new king of hot hatchbacks until it conquers the current king, the Volkswagen Golf R.

Well, okay, to be pedantic the king of hot hatches is Golf GTI but that damn Focus is so powerful, pitting it against a GTI would have been like pitting the American Army against the Jamaican Army, if there is one. So for this drag battle the boys at Evo brought out the R version which is only 50bhp and 67lb ft weaker than the RS. Here’s the result:

Regardless of the result, and also regardless of all that is—on paper—good about the Ford Focus RS, a lot os people, we included, would prefer the Golf R simply because it is classier. The RS with its wings and tailpipes and drift mode has a whiff yobbishness about it that is just not cool.