For the past two years, I have been relatively “car-less”,
drifting between piloting my ’74 Baja Bug and my actual car, an ’07 Chevrolet
Cobalt SS/NA (2.4). My father, upon following my urges to pick up a ’81 Porsche
911 SC Targa, promptly sold off his ’03 Nissan Murano and began daily driving
my Cobalt, as the Porsche is not exactly suited to daily driving, what with the
spotty reliability and the lack of A/C in the sweltering Texas sun. So, I
turned over the keys to my beloved car with around 45K miles on the clock to my
DD-less father. This set-up proved effective for a while, until a miserable
semester with the horrendously unreliable and recalcitrant Baja Bug prompted a
forceful reclamation of my borrowed property. Yes, it was time to reclaim my
Cobalt. This meant two things; First, I now had reliable transportation between
Norman and Dallas, and second, my dad was in need of a new (or new to him) set
of wheels. Initially vying against the wishes of my mom for an F150, my dad
eventually came to understand that all he really needed in a DD is “spirited”
handling, economical thirst, practicality, and that alluring “fun” factor. He
had become accustomed to the Cobalt’s sporty suspension, peppy engine, large
trunk, and calm road-manners. You know what that means?
Hot hatch shopping!
Originally thinking he was simply going to pick up some
ratty used truck, he surprised me about two weeks ago when he texted me, quite
out of the blue, asking my thoughts on a new Mazda 3. This, of course, was
great news for me. When he was not using it, I get to zip around town in a
little manual-transmission sedan.
What could be better?
How about a big ‘ol dose of turbo? Yeah. A turbo makes
everything better.
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| Pictured: Better. |
I frantically texted him with countless statistics, engine
sizes, info on turbos, 0-60 times, and horsepower figures of the Mazdaspeed 3.
He sent back a demure “We’ll see.”
He returned from work later that day with a dealer quote on
a 2013 Mazdaspeed 3.
Fantastic.
I quickly whipped up a list of other cars to try as
comparison for the turbo’d little hatch.
· ’11-’13 Mustang GT
·
’13 Ford Focus ST
·
’13 VW GTi
·
Some sort of Mini
·
FR-S/BRZ
·
Abarth 500
Much to my utter
disappointment, he promptly threw the Mustang out the window. He’s had one
before, and had no desire for one again. Too many on the streets, according to
him. He didn’t want a GTi, regardless of his previous ownership of a beloved
Mk. I, and the Mini/Abarth were too ‘quirky’ for him. So, we set out to various
dealers to test a Focus ST, Mazdaspeed 3, and a BRZ/FR-S. My inner auto-journo
was simply aquiver with anticipation.
Disclaimer: I only had
about 5-10 minutes in each vehicle, so this will not be a full
instrumented/thorough test of each. This article is composed of primarily first
impressions based on Quick Spins. Also, I was a dingus and forgot to take pictures of the actual cars. Sorry.
First up: Focus ST
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| Photo Credit: Car and Driver |
As we pulled into the Ford dealer, my mind was racing. This
would be the first time I had ever laid eyes on a Focus ST in a public setting,
let alone driven one. How would I like the media’s darling? The little FWD
stunner had set the automotive world ablaze with its assured handling,
competitive price, European influence, and killer EcoBoost 2.0L. Would I be
similarly impressed?
As I let the clutch out on our Race Red ST, I found myself
in an unfamiliar environment. Quite the opposite situation to normal
enthusiasts, I quickly found that I am not accustomed to “new” manual
transmissions. I am extremely proficient with the manual transmissions in our
’81 Porsche 911, and my ’74 Baja Bug, but this new frontier of muted hydraulic
clutches and effortless gear changes was baffling to my old-world motoring
sensibilities. A smoothly operating transmission? What trickery is this?
Jokes aside, the transmission and clutch on the Focus is a
smooth affair that, in my opinion, neither excites nor douses the performance
attitude of the Focus. Shifting in the Focus is solid, but a little uninspired.
There is next to no feedback from the clutch, and the gear changes are without
drama. Again, I would chalk this up to my familiarity with the heavy cable-clutches
in the Beetle and Porsche, but later drives of the other two cars within this
test prove this assumption wrong.
The steering was a spot of contention with me as well, but I
found a happy medium. It is one of those trick variable-gearing steering racks
that provides quicker turn in with minimal steering input. For the layman: you
do not have to turn the wheel as much as you would in other cars to turn the
car into corners. Less turning means quicker steering. Here is a handy-dandy
video with all sorts of cool visuals from Ford themselves:
The steering is undeniably numb and a bit overboosted, but I
enjoyed the super-quick linearity of the variable gearing system. You win some,
you lose some.
The engine was a peach, though. The Focus’ 2.0L of
turbocharged fury was smooth and super responsive. If I remember correctly, it
would pull to 6800 rpm redline, always eager to rev and pull you through the
gears. Acceleration is strong, with a 0-60 time quoted at 5.9s as tested by MotorTrend. A rather neat-o
overboost system turns the wick up on the turbo to increase acceleration. Where
else have I experienced this nifty trick? Oh, yeah.
The interior was set up a bit sporadically, the center
console a wide array of chunky knobs and buttons, and the steering wheel a mass
of switches and dials. I mean, everything does what is expected, and its not
exactly difficult to find what you need, but it looks a bit disheveled compared
to the more traditional layouts of the other two cars I drove. However, unlike
the competitors, there was an air of luxury present within the Focus. All of
the materials and touchpoints were of quality and felt solid to interact with,
and funky layout aside, it was a pleasant place to be. All gauges were clear
and easy to read, and the steering wheel is a fantastically meaty little affair
that holds perfectly in your hands as you tear down the road. On a similar
note, I was in love with the optional Recaro sport seats. Physically squeezing
my sides, these seats made me feel like I was driving a seriously fast and
special car, and not a slightly upmarket hatch. This feisty attitude was well
represented throughout the car.
My hyperactive inner-child was on a sugar rush from all of
the boy-racer appeal of this hatch. Bright red ST badges, 18” wheels, engine
induction noise pumped into the cockpit, the seats, and that extraordinary
dash-mounted “sport” gauge cluster all screamed “LET’S GO SUPER FAST ALL THE
TIME”, but the way the car drove did not reflect this ADD attitude. Again, the
numb steering/clutch/shifter did not really prod me into driving like a
Monster-fueled maniac, and if there is one thing that I like to do, its to
drive like a Monster-fueled maniac. I’m all about stupid speed, oversteer, tire
screech, and all that noise, and on the surface, the Focus ST had that in
spades. But drive it for more than 5 miles, and a sense that the Focus is just
a rolling false advertisement for these things comes to the surface.
In reality, the Focus ST is a big softie. It talks a big
game, with its “Let’s go stir up some trouble” interior, but when the seatbelts
are on and the air conditioning is set just so, you realize it has four doors,
room for your golf clubs and groceries, and hill-assist. Where did they find
this engine? Why, they ripped it out of the raucous and racy Ford
Explorer/Escape. Its civilized, gets 32 mpg if you don’t drive like an idiot,
and at idle, you can hardly hear the engine from inside. I’m sorry, but if my
car has Recaros, it damn well better encourage me to pop the clutch at every
stoplight. I want it to be a rolling middle-finger to those pedestrians rolling
around in their little econoboxes.
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| What it feels like you should be doing with the Focus at every stoplight |
Stepping back, is this civility hidden among the hardcore
attitude an inherently beautiful thing? Is this a miniature version of that
special quality I found within the CLK63 Black Series?
When you look at the car in this light, this is the everyman
performance car. You get perhaps the best handling FWD car on the market, mixed
with a butter-smooth engine, and the ability to relax when it wants to.
Not bad, Ford. Not bad.
So what happens when you go in the opposite direction? What
happens when you drive a car that embodies the opposite attitude of the Focus
ST?
Enter Mazdaspeed 3, stage right:
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| Photo Credit: Edmunds.com |
“Yeah, you know the engines there,” said the salesman, who
appeared to be the absolute last person you would ever expect to be seated
behind the wheel of a super-sporty hatch. He had just cranked up the high-compression
2.3L Turbocharged 263 HP I-4 of the Mazdaspeed 3, a loud, rough, and grumbly
engine that sounds angsty at idle through its dual exhaust. Hopping out of the
Focus ST and into the Mazdaspeed 3, you would swear you time traveled back to
2007. Seriously, the interior layout and materials were exactly equivalent to
my Cobalt SS. This is not necessarily
a bad thing. Yes, the dash and buttons were all plastic-fantastic, but it was a
traditional layout, so nothing was unexpected. Nothing was funky, nothing was
out of place. There were cloth seats, a three-spoke steering wheel, and not
much else other than standard radio and A/C equipment. A bit boring, yes, but
for some people, (I’m looking at you, WRX STi boys) interior is the very last
thing that matters on a sporty car. I have to admit, a plush interior is
relatively low on my list of automotive priorities. So, moving past the dated
interior, the car was seemingly “normal” as it sat in the parking lot. Sure,
the door inserts were composed of a weird red/black mesh, and there was a
subtle “Mazdaspeed” script on the deep red gauges, but all was simple economy.
This could have been an average Mazda 3 Hatch for all I knew.
Oh, how wrong I was.
After my dad took it for a little spin, I slid behind the
wheel and eased onto the side streets. Now, coming out of the Focus, the
steering was a lovely traditional (This word is a reoccurring theme, here)
hydraulic set up, with as much steering feel as expected from a modern sporty
car. The clutch was a bit more grippy and raw than the Focus, but nothing too
painful to operate. I gave it about half-throttle from a 20 mph roll and….
Wow. What an angry little car!
There was torque-steer, turbo lag, a loud engine, and some
quite alarming thrust in a forward direction. I felt a slight wheel-tug from
torque-steer as I launched from each stop. Suddenly, all of the hard work that
Ford put into making the Focus ST civil becomes a stark contrast as you screech
down the road in a screaming Japanese hatch. Wait, wasn’t Japan supposed to be
the refined one?
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| A typical trip to the supermarket in a Mazdaspeed3 |
To the reader, this may seem as though I am deriding the
Mazda on being too rough, too old fashioned. On the contrary, this is just what
the doctor ordered. This super-responsive, mega-fast hatch is exactly the kind
of car I love to beat on, take to some back roads, and come back needing new
tires. Yes, the Focus is easier to live with, and I can guarantee that the
Focus is faster both in a straight line (0-60 in 6.4s vs the Focus’ 5.9s) and in cornering speeds,
but you sure won’t have this much fun doing it. I enjoy a performance car that
is a little “rough around the edges”. It keeps you guessing, and is almost
always higher in the cliché “smiles-per-hour” category. Its exactly why
pro-touring muscle cars are so desirable. Loud, obnoxious, unsanitary
performance is the name of the game. You don’t drive these kinds of cars, you
put it in gear and pray you can wrestle it into submission come the first
corner. This is not just driving fast, this is driving crazy.
That’s what you need to do every once in a while; get a
little crazy in your life.
But only once in a while. I wouldn’t want to deal with this
little terror every day on my commute to school or work.
A good daily driver, this car is not. Nighttime toy and
weekend warrior extraordinaire, it is.
So, if we were comparing these cars to cutlery and their
respective tact, the Focus is the overpowered electric precision drill, and the
Mazda is the psycho-butcher knife, what is the delicately accurate surgical
scalpel?
Here it comes, drifting around that corner:
It’s the Scion FR-S!
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| Photo Credit: Autoblog.com |
I cannot remember another car that has been surrounded by quite
the hype and speculation as the BRZ/GT86/FR-S was pre-production. Auto rags had
a field day with the specs. Flat-4, Front-engined, 6-speed manual, under
2800lbs, RWD, Toyota/Subaru reliability, under $25k….
It goes on and on.
So here I am, stacking up the already-venerable 200
horsepower, rear-wheel-drive Toyobaru wonder-coupe against 250+ HP front-wheel
drive 5-door hatchbacks.
Oh, dear.
First off: I stalled this car. Stalled the hell out of it.
Apparently, the FR-S clutch is much different than what I am used to. I don’t
know if it was a shallow engaging point, or a small grab window, but I did not
initially get along with this clutch. Not to say it was bad, as it was springy
and had plenty of feel, but my limited behind-the-wheel experience made my
shifting a little bit sloppy. Despite the uninspiring driving theatrics from
yours truly, I managed to get a good grip on what makes all the auto
journalists get all dizzy when you even whisper, “FR-S”. This car is one
serious little go-kart. I remember my dad telling me that he took an approaching
corner at X MPH in my Cobalt, and all I know is, I took said corner at double
that. Steering was direct, shifting was short and snappy, the engine was
punchy, and the chassis felt established and linear. You sat extremely low, and
felt as though you were driving a true sports car. And if you do feel that way,
congratulations! It is a true sports car! It seems easy enough to reel in if
things get a bit sideways, is great on gas, and will last forever because of
its Subaru/Toyota components. In summation: It handles great, has all the
features that a budding enthusiast needs (read: first-time drivers who want a
sporty first car), and is priced competitively. What a nice little sports car.
But can it compare to the practicality to performance ratio
of the other two cars I tested?
Not really.
This car is slow. Too
slow.
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| An FR-S at speed |
I know slow cars. I have done “slow” on a scale that most of
you readers wouldn’t comprehend. Think 30+ seconds to 60 from a standstill. Think
W123 Mercedes Diesel. I’ve earned my “slow” car badge, and for now, I’m done with
slow. ‘Quick’ is the theme de jour in this comparison, and I am a disappointed
to say, the FR-S does not thrill on the level of the other two cars. Yes, it is
not painfully slow, with 0-60 times ranging from 7.0-7.7s, but that’s terrible
for a sports car, entry level or not. I own a sports car with near that power
and acceleration time, and every time I drive it, there is a little part of me
that yearns for a bit more thrust. That engine, while reliable and smooth, is
underpowered. The worst part? Its underpowered only slightly. If they tweaked it to about 230 HP, I would have nothing
to complain about. But they didn’t, and so here I am, griping away. There are
endless rumors about a hotter version on its way, but why wasn’t it hot from
the get-go?
The Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ: Handles like a dream, accelerates
like a pig.
So, here we are at the end of three short drives in the most
lauded little compact racers you can buy from a dealer right now.
Out of the three, The Focus would be the car that I would be
happiest to live with each day. Sure, the Mazdaspeed is a hoot and a half, but
its hard suspension, nagging torque-steer, and fierce engine would wear me thin
after a few days of commuting. Happily, It easily wins the consolation prize of
“Most enthralling”. The FR-S is perfect for me, as I am a college kid with
really nothing to haul or transport save beer and a backpack. Sadly, my dad is
convinced he needs more space, so no FR-S for him.
So, the Mazda has the temperament of what the Ford appears
to be on the surface, but the Focus is faster and an all around better car when
the facts are laid out. Really, though, which ever car of the three you choose,
you will be a winner in my book. All around speed your kind-of-thing? Pick up a
Focus ST. Need some excitement? Grab a Mazdaspeed 3. Need to hone your drifting/oversteer
skills? The FR-S is your best bet.
Well, which one did my dad end up buying?
He ended up buying the ________
Coming soon!!!
