I don't think you are being too picky with the FSH, I wouldn't ever consider one without it.
Its not so much that Ford have magic fairy dust to sprinkle on it, it's more that these are a little bit delicate for a hot hatch and I'd only go with a properly maintained one.
I was going through a tough time financially and personally when I started scrimping on my servicing and that went all the way to warming up and cooling down the engine properly, using cheap tyres, driving it hard when I knew it was breaking etc etc whereas a lovingly maintained and serviced car won't necessarily be any more reliable you'd like to think it might have less user induced faults than my first one probably had.
These are going to head in 2 directions.. 1 the properly OTT maintained future classic and the other the barry boy ragged hot hatch used for shopping centre cruising y0.
I know which I'd rather have! The only problem with a future classic type car is you'll pay more for it and lose the value if you actually USE it. That's what's stopped me from looking seriously at things like the previous RS. Its no good for me, I need to do 20k+ a year.