So it's quite a different proposition from the 1.5-litre, 10,000rpm, bike-engined SR3 RS we drove back in issue 217. Not least because this engine's a fair bit calmer. It's Ford's 2.0-litre turbo EcoBoost, the 240bhp engine that'll underpin the new Focus ST. It can't even manage 8,000rpm flat out, but on the plus side delivers over twice the torque about four times as early.

The wing's the easiest way to tell SL from RS: it's been narrowed to stop it interfering with errant pedestrians in a fatal sort of way. There are proper door mirrors that adjust electrically from inside the cockpit, an actual handbrake, a simple single-buckle harness (do it up tight, as the seats aren't as supportive as they look) and the start-up procedure is far less of a kerfuffle. Twist key, press button and you're up and running in a very understated, typically Ford sort of way.