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“Don’t drive a flashy car” is one of the U.S. State Department’s recommendations for remaining safe—read: alive—in Mexico. On seeing the Focus for the first time in the basement of Ford’s garage in Mexico City, I can see we’ll be breaking rules from kilometer one. The black spoiler is big enough to get a Cessna off the ground, and then there’s the paint on the rest of the car. The official color is Ultimate Green, but it’s clear the designers were going for a shade closer to Nuclear Jesus Lightning. I settle into the Recaro sport seat with color-matched, green fabric side bolsters. It feels like it had been special ordered to my own spec. The first thing that catches my eye is a quarter-size button labeled “Ford Power” right behind the gear shift. Likening it to the M Power button on a BMW M5, I can’t wait to press it and find out what violence is unleashed. Seeing no place to put the key, I push it in my pocket. Looking around the dash, it occurs to me the Ford Power button is more utilitarian in nature. I press it and the car starts.

One would have to travel to Thailand or India to find a driving environment more chaotic than Mexico City’s. Traffic signals are generally obeyed, but everywhere else it’s go-if-you-can-go. Turn signals are rarely employed, and everyone drives with the right of way. Surprisingly, horns are nearly absent from the soundtrack. Everyone has accepted the situation and proceeds amicably. With heavy traffic in lanes whose width can only be described by an American as “offensively narrow,” there is little chance to flog the RS in town. My first impression worries me: This car is too easy to drive slowly as a commuter to be as much fun as everyone says.

Stoplights provide time to inspect the interior and controls. The carbon-look plastic console and cheapish gear shift remind me that even though this car is not sold in the U.S., it was meant to be sold somewhere, and minor trade-offs were required to keep the final sticker price reasonable. Other than those small gripes, the interior is spot-on if you’re okay with color-matched seats. The perforated-leather RS steering wheel is nicely shaped, with blue stitching that matches the blue RS badges, and blue stitching in the seats and door panels. As a hatchback, if a couple friends were to fill the rear Recaro seats, they would have headroom to enjoy the ride. The interior on this Ford was clearly not an afterthought, and overall, it deserves very high marks. It would almost be a shame to strip it to race in the World Rally Championship. Almost.

There are two types of roads in Mexico: cuota and libre. Follow the cuota signs and you will pay periodic tolls for the privilege of driving on smooth pavement mostly void of potholes at a posted speed limit of 110 kph that is rarely enforced. Choose libre and you are served a sadomasochistic combination of broken asphalt, dirt lanes, potholes, rock slides, downed trees, donkeys, manholes without covers and, by far the worst of all, the topes. Topes are similar to speed bumps, but they are placed in and around villages, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, to force drivers to slow. They vary in height from merely annoying to capable of complete destruction of suspension and axle. The free roads are the most fun and challenging to drive, but they will have to wait until tomorrow.

Once out of Mexico City, the aluminum accelerator meets carpet. Ford claims the Volvo-engineered 2.5-liter Duratec 5-cylinder delivers its 325 pound-feet of torque from 2,250 to 4,500 rpm. Three thousand RPM feels like the magic minimum, and it is felt and heard as the exhaust note alerts everyone this is not the standard Focus. It won’t take the GT’s spot as best-sounding production Ford, but uncorked, it would give any ’Stang a run. In fourth gear, on the way to fifth and sixth, I hit what feels like a massive dead spot in the powerband. I slow down and wind it up again in an attempt to re-create what would definitely be a deal-breaker. There’s no dead spot; I just wasn’t all in it. At the top of each gear’s rpm range, the 3,200-pound car’s power quickly goes from on to off unless the throttle is pinned. The RS is smoothest and most rewarding when the hammer is down. 40 USD later on the pleasant cuota, we pass the “Bienvenidos a Veracruz” sign.

See photos from the trip here.