IN THIS FEATURE Filling the hole The best of both worlds Come on, feel the noise Fun through the bends Plenty of kit to boot Back from its sabbatical

As an all-round package then, the Focus is hard to beat. Its remarkable list price and decent standard spec make it better value for money than any other hot hatch of its size on the market.

It may be marginally short on power compared to the 236bhp Astra VXR and 225bhp Megane RenaultSport, but the ST is so much more capable at putting all of its power down without wasting it in wheelspin or corrupting it with excessive torque steer.

The fast Focus is back

It's much more fun than the still-comfort-biased Golf GTI, but not as hard-edged as the Astra VXR: it's the perfect balance of the two. It'll be perfectly well-behaved during a traffic-bound, stop-start commute, but will also give you plenty to smile about on a Sunday morning country road blast.

After its two-year sabbatical, it's heart-warming to know that the fast Focus is well and truly back where it belongs - at the top of the hot hatch tree.