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That said, I'm afraid that regardless of the effort put in by any car-maker – including Porsche, whose brilliant new turbo flat-four in the latest Boxster and Cayman sounds epic - every four-pot will forever be at a distinct disadvantage to anything with eight cylinders or more. The technology has been around for more than 40 years now and it’s been almost perfected by smarter electronic ignition and fuel-injection control systems that virtually eliminate turbo lag. So what about the dreaded turbo lag? Surely having to wait to burn the gas to then force the air in has the inevitable delay in response? The simple answer is no. The extra power then enables the engine to be downsized while still achieving similar torque and power numbers to a larger-capacity, naturally-aspirated engine - and therein lies its brilliance. How do such relatively small engines achieve such high outputs? Turbocharging, that's how! EcoBoost is Ford's fancy terminology for the Blue Ovals direct-injection turbo technology and, like every turbo system before it, it achieves its efficiency by forcing the air/fuel mixture into the engine by a turbine that's powered by exhaust gases that previously would go to waste, thus producing more power virtually for free. We have also tested the Ford Mustang GT against the Mustang EcoBoost So that makes it 30-0 to the four-pot, which in RS guise is less than 50kW and only 90Nm short of the Mustang's 306kW/530Nm 5.0-litre V8. Indeed, to drive these cars without knowing what they were and perhaps with ear plugs in, it would be a battle to pick what actual powerplant you were pedalling - V8 or four-pot screamer. Yes, I know 300kW is more the norm now for V8s, but the outright power argument from these engines is now much less compelling.
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With outputs of 233kW/432Nm, the Mustang EcoBoost is 50-odd kiloWatts up the road now and the 257kW/440Nm Focus RS a further 25 or so with half the number of cylinders, less than half the capacity and burning much less juice. It wasn't that long ago that 185kW 5.0-litre V8s were a big deal. It's kinda like 'the older I get, the faster I was' type of deal. The power delivery of a bent eight is usually very seamless and the throttle response instantaneous, but are we - myself included - hung up on past glories and letting the fear of change cloud our judgement on the new world order? So there's a tick for the four-pot in the versatility box, so let's call it 15-Love over the V8.īut what about the power I hear you say? There's nothing quite like a V8 and I tend to agree. It may be less practical with only two doors but otherwise it's easier to live with day-to-day thanks to better ride quality than both the RS and the Mustang GT. It looks fast standing still and only a very keen eye can spot the subtle difference from it and its V8-powered GT counterpart. The Mustang is a sleek grand tourer and with that long bonnet and set-back glasshouse, it epitomises style.
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It's particularly suited to the racetrack but still practical enough as an everyday driver. It's just a pleasure to drive and is all the car anyone would ever need. The RS epitomises the modern hot hatch and is ballistically fast.