Get in a 2016 Ford Focus RS for $47K in Canada

What may perhaps be the most awe-inspiring Ford Focus ever built, the highly anticipated 2016 Focus RS, will set you back about $50,000 when it hits dealers in the spring of 2016.

If you think the Focus RS's $46,969 starting price may seem like a lot for a hotted-up commuter car, you're wrong on both fronts.

Powered by a 2.3-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder, the turbocharged engine makes a projected 350 horsepower and 350 lb.-ft. of torque—an outrageous amount of power compared to its rivals.

The Subaru WRX STI, for example, makes 305 horsepower and 290 lb.-ft. of torque, while the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution makes 291 horsepower and 300 lb.-ft. of torque.

Even the hotly anticipated 2016 Volkswagen Golf R will make a paltry-by-comparison 292 horsepower and 280 lb.-ft. of torque.

Much like the three aforementioned sport compacts, the Focus RS is underpinned by an all-wheel drive system that helps deliver maximum traction.

The system, dubbed "Ford Performance All-Wheel Drive" by the folks at the Blue Oval, uses a pair of electronically-controlled clutch packs to manage the Focus RS's front/rear torque split, while also controlling side-to-side torque distribution to the rear axle.

That all-wheel drive torque vectoring system also works in unison with a brake-based torque vectoring system.

The Focus RS also gets a drive mode selector that offers four different drive modes: Normal; sport; track; or drift.

Each configure the all-wheel drive, dampers, electronic stability control, steering feel, engine response, and exhaust sound.

The Focus RS will run from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds, according to Ford.

And back to the price: While the $46,969 sticker may seem steep when compared to the starting price south of the border of US$36,605, using the Sept. 18, 2015, exchange rate, that works out to $48,148 in Canadian funds.