While they aren’t really rivals, its natural to want to know how to of Ford’s performers stack up. A V8 powered, rear-wheel drive Mustang going head-to-head with a four-cylinder, turbocharged, all-wheel drive Focus RS is ripe bench racing fodder. The Mustang features a 5.0-liter V8 engine with 435 horsepower going to the rear-wheels, while the Focus RS uses a turbocharged 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engine that puts out 350 horsepower to all four wheels. The Mustang definitely has it on the Focus with cylinder count, horsepower, and torque, but the Focus RS has the Mustang in the traction and weight categories.

So the question remains, which one would win in a race, a Ford Mustang or a Ford Focus? The answer seems pretty obvious, but when the specs are laid out, but both cars have their advantages, and honestly, the race could go either way. So it’s a good thing the Top Gear crew actually gave it a go rather than just sitting around and hypothesizing all day.

Sitting at the line, the drivers rev their engines. Tom Ford, the driver of the Focus, commented that the four-cylinder engine sounds “fruity.” Although definitely healthier than the usual four-cylinder you’d find in a Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla, it doesn’t sound nearly as healthy as the V8 sitting between the shock towers of the Mustang. We like the RS exhaust note, but to each his own.

At the start of the race, the superior traction of the RS send it off the line ahead of the rear-wheel drive Mustang. The Focus holds the lead for most of the race, but the powerful V8 in the Mustang pulls it ahead at the last second. Although it was a close race, the Mustang crossed the finish line first. While it’s interesting to see what technology has done to improve the performance of a smaller, turbocharged engine, the day was still won by the superior torque and horsepower provided by the V8. However, with different drivers and mods, you just never know. It was that close…

The results.