Four-wheel drive performance cars put to the test: Audi TT RS v Mercedes-AMG A45 v Ford Focus RS

Slippery showdown between three of the most iconic performance badges in motoring.

We've taken three four-wheel drive performance heroes to Oulton Park’s brilliant low-grip handling circuit at to see just how manageable a high-power car can be when the conditions are less than optimal.

The contestants are Audi's new, and hottest ever, TT RS coupe, Ford’s competition-honed Focus RS, and Mercedes-AMG’s bonkers A45.

It’s all too easy to dismiss the Audi TT as nothing more than a style icon. The truth is very different. Its image is built on real substance. For as long as it’s been on the market, the TT has been winning road tests against the best that the opposition can throw at it. In RS format, with a 400bhp 5-cylinder engine and a Porsche 911-beating 0-62mph time of 3.7 seconds, it’s packed with character as well as raw speed.

The Focus RS has what is arguably the most sophisticated and adjustable 4WD system available on a mainstream car. It’s fast, capable, exciting and, in this company, cheap. The final entrant in our unholy triumvirate is Mercedes-AMG’s 376bhp A45, an assassin in accountant’s clothes if ever there was one, equipped in this case with the optional limited-slip front differential.

So, let’s hand you over to our gamely shivering adjudicator Matt Saunders up in Cheshire for a day’s slipping, sliding and sumptuous drifting. Place your bets on the result – and maybe be surprised at what happens…

Tony Middlehurst is a writer for AutoCar.