Not too sure what the specs are compared to Europe but I'll try and compare.
Focus ZX5 (ST170 - Europe 170bhp 2.0 and 0-60 in 7.1)
I’m a sucker for the Focus cuz it’s my daily driver and has a very good chassis. The ST170 is 1 step down from the newly released Focus RS (which is a beast).
Civic Si (Civic 1.6i - Europe 125bhp 1.6 V-Tec and 0-60 in 9.0)
I don’t like the look of this car at all unless it is in Type-R form then it looks the dog bollocks! The 1.6i is a bit slow for the competition though.
Mini (Mini Cooper S 1.6 Supercharged - Europe 164bhp and 0-60 in 7.4)
Very good looking car with good build and handling but far too common over here. Would easily give all of these other cars a run for there money in a straight line or round the twisties!
Golf GTi (Golf GTi 1.8 Turbo - Europe 150bhp or 180bhp and 0-60 in 8.0 and 7.1)
We don’t get a VR6 Gti but a crap V5 2.3 5 Cylinder car. There are actually 3 Gti models, a 2.0 (crap) 1.8T (150bhp – could be better) 1.8T (180bhp – this is what they should have built 1st time round). Both turbo’d Gti’s are nice but I would take the Focus over the rest of these cars any time unless the Civic Type-R was in this catagory.......