Very close Chilli, though the RS is another step up from it, the RS500 is another step above the RS. The largest population of them are sold in the UK.
The XR5 Focus are very quick cars still. I wouldn’t turn one down, they are very highly praised. In fact the current XR5 has a tiny bit more power than the RS Mk 1 which was also crazy at the time.
Just to give an example of the difference between the two cars, the RS500 has 350HP at the flywheel where as the XR5 has roughly 220HP. It is absolutely insane. How they have managed to keep 350HP controllable through the front tyres is nothing short of witchcraft.
It has often been said that the most amount of power you would want going through your front wheels is around 250HP, lol. I’ve driven a couple of FWD cars that have in excess of 220HP - 230HP and even they could smoke the fronts without too much persuasion. The torque steer was plentiful but if anything, it teaches you to have finer control of the throttle. Not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Here’s a brief history of the RS.
