Depends on what you want really.You're absolutely right in that, ironically, the slowest car (focus) is by far and away the best handling. Despite being the slowest, it's actually the easiest car to live with of the three, the 2 litre engine may not be as powerful as the other two, and may not be as economical, but it has a good torque spread, and anyone thats driven a type R or a toyota 190 will know first hand that to get them to go quickly, you need to rev the knackers out of them. However, lets face it, the ST170 is a bit chavvy.The Type R is a bit of a performance bargain, but the engine really needs working, and the steering is insanely numb, drivers often complain about the front wandering about and they can't feel whats going on.However, I'd buy the toyota, it's the only one of the three that feels special when you get in it. The wide back seats are first class and the low slung driving position and high flanks make it feel like more of a sportscar. You do have to rev the nuts off it, but unlike the civic, when just cruising round it's near silent, and motorway cruising is very refined (the civic sounds like a stuck in a wind tunnel).And for me, the Celica still looks much better than the other two. Personally, I'd be looking for one in Red with the Premium packs 17 inch polished alloys.Also, if you find yourself with about £3k lying about, TRD do a bolt on supercharger upgrade which retains the warranty.