2017 Ford Focus RS vs. 2017 Honda Civic Type R

Pitted against the 350-hp all-wheel-drive Focus RS, the Civic Type R makes a case for the front-wheel-drive performance car.

Making power is but one variable in going fast. The upper echelon of performance -- occupied by the mega-output Germans, big-muscled Corvettes and Hellcats, and, of course, Italian exotica -- now depends on automatic transmissions, launch control, track-bred tires, and often all-wheel drive to generate stupefying performance.

That same phenomenon is just beginning to play out in our beloved hot-hatch segment, a first step on the factory-hot-rod ladder onto which go-fast technology slowly but surely trickles. With the spiciest hatchbacks making roughly 300 horsepower, the major players have turned to all-wheel drive to provide some relief to the front tires ... read more