GTP Cool Wall: 2000 Ford Focus FR200

  • Thread starter Thread starter GranTurismo916
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2000 Ford Focus FR200

  • Total voters
    169
  • Poll closed .
I don't get it, it's just a drivetrain.

Surely AWD is more impressive, Especially considering said AWD Cars were actually production cars.

@McLaren there is no point to condensension as I clearly understood it was FF just pointing how terrible it is compared to AWD.
 
C-ZETA
It actually looks worse than a Focus RS??? How do you manage that?
Seriously uncool.
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I understand that this is all opinion and what-not, but the Mk1 Focus RS was actually pretty decent looking to me. Certainly it didn't need any silly giant wings to spoil the show and while the front bumper is a bit fussy:

Ford_Focus_RS_mk1.jpg


it's not necessarily over the top.

This on the other hand....

Seriously Uncool.
 
mustafur
I don't get it, it's just a drivetrain.

Surely AWD is more impressive, Especially considering said AWD Cars were actually production cars.

@McLaren there is no point to condensension as I clearly understood it was FF just pointing how terrible it is compared to AWD.
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Hence why this car, despite looking god awful, barely managed Uncool for me b/c Ford somehow thought a high-hp Focus was something worth attempting 15 years ago when most others would have gone RWD/AWD, even if it did take them another 7 years to actually perfect the specs listed.
 
McLaren
Sight has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. 300Hp in a FF car in 2000 was akin to imagining 1,000Hp supercars in 1990; it's the only reason it didn't get SU like everyone else who forgets what era this car was shown during. :rolleyes:
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The era the car was shown in had nothing to do with it at all.

I voted it SU because its my subjective opinion that its seriously uncool, regardless of the era or the aspiration of the project. As such please refrain from telling me (incorrectly) why I voted how I did.

McLaren
................. even if it did take them another 7 years to actually perfect the specs listed.
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You could argue (and I do) that what it took them to be able to effectively lay down 300bhp in a FWD car was the Revo-knuckle, technology they 'borrowed' from Renaultsport (who had been using the same design in Clios and Meganes for a number of years).

Ford were the first to manage it, with technology perfected by the French (Renaultsport first used the PerfoHub in the 2004 Megane RS).
 
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"Spoiler: Additional Pics"

Because the spoiler's so massive you can't really see the rest of the car. It might be a Focus RS on steroids mechanically speaking, but visually, it's Halfords on steroids. SU.
 
RandomCarGuy17
Honestly, I do wish the FR200 went into production for the performance it had. Give it better looking body panels and it would have been something. 👍
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A production version wouldn't have had the 300hp that this development concept had. Any likely production version would have had around 225hp.

"Ford Racing's chassis dyno tests returned 301.4 hp and 286.9 lbs-ft of torque. "Clearly, the horsepower numbers for our version of this car are extreme," said Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology. "Going forward, our plan for going to market with parts would be to do something less extreme than this - perhaps in the 225 hp range."
 
TheCracker
A production version wouldn't have had the 300hp that this development concept had. Any likely production version would have had around 225hp.
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Darn, it would be cool too see a 300hp production Focus come out that early. Oh well, 225 hp still sounds very good; that's how much power the MK.2 Focus ST has.
 
Murcie_LP640
the Mk1 Focus RS

Ford_Focus_RS_mk1.jpg
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Oh, the Mark 1 was fine. And understandably that's the one you'd look at since this is also a Mark 1.

But the RSs afterwards are big no-nos. Yes they aren't Mark 1s but they're still Focuses and therefore still very much relevant.
 
McLaren
Sight has absolutely nothing to do with what I said. 300Hp in a FF car in 2000 was akin to imagining 1,000Hp supercars in 1990; it's the only reason it didn't get SU like everyone else who forgets what era this car was shown during. :rolleyes:
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Well to be honest, even if I had seen it when it was originally thought up, it wouldn't have changed my opinion on its looks. Although you're partially right, I kind of neglected that the amount of HP at the time was a big step. So I think I could have balanced out to uncool, had I thought of that :lol:
 
Three hundred horsepower nothing. The tuning scene was full of four-hundred to five-hundred horsepower front-wheel drive cars at the time. It would have been quite possible to make a three hundred horsepower factory car at the time... it would simply have been impossible to make it handle near as neatly as the contemporary RS.

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The real problem with this car is the body kit. That's simply hellaUNfunctionally ugly. That body kit obviously hasn't been anywhere near a wind tunnel or through real world testing. I'd dread to be the engineer who signed off that front end for cooling OR aerodynamics.

Look at the edges of the bumper, for example... no kicker to push air away from the front wheel well (and yes, they DID know how to use those in 2000... the Mk I RS had them. The Dodge Neon had them too, fer Chris'sakes) and the tire offset puts the wheels out into dirty air. With a wider front track like that, they really should have done a proper job with the front end.

It's little touches like that which suggest that the whole thing was a cobble-job. Shame. Reading the build specs, they really did a number with this car. Trick front suspension, custom fuel system and electronic control unit, etcetera... But in the end, it's kitted out like an extra for FnF... and that's simply not cool.

In the meantime, Dodge, in the same year, released its own turbocharged showcar. Which it then went on to build, offering customers 215 - 235 horsepower straight from the factory (though estimates peg it at around 250 - 260... as Dodge purposely under-rated the car... and Mopar Stage 3 kits from the manufacturer enabled over 300 whp) in a much neater looking front-wheel drive coupe.

That's the Neon SRT4. Which, let's face it... was still a Neon (with a godawfully big wing), but it's a million times cooler than this thing.
 
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niky
It would have been quite possible to make a three hundred horsepower factory car at the time...
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Which, it should be reiterated, the FR200 wasn't even close to being regardless of whose dime it was built on.
 
niky
Three hundred horsepower nothing. The tuning scene was full of four-hundred to five-hundred horsepower front-wheel drive cars at the time. It would have been quite possible to make a three hundred horsepower factory car at the time... it would simply have been impossible to make it handle near as neatly as the contemporary RS.
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The tuning scene is hardly the same thing, though. I doubt any of those had factory warranties standing behind them, did they?

It's as you said: it would have been impossible to make it handle as nearly as the RS. Their decision to build the idea into an actual car anyway gains some decency from me, regardless of it entering production or not.

I had forgotten about the SRT4, but my vote stays the same; "overpowered" FWD cars are cool in my book. It was the body kit that dragged this thing down.
 
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McLaren
The tuning scene is hardly the same thing, though. I doubt any of those had factory warranties standing behind them, did they?

It's as you said: it would have been impossible to make it handle as nearly as the RS. Their decision to build the idea into an actual car anyway gains some decency from me, regardless of it entering production or not.

I had forgotten about the SRT4, but my vote stays the same; "overpowered" FWD cars are cool in my book. It was the body kit that dragged this thing down.
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300HP was a number they themselves said they couldn't have if it went into production, as that was basically at Max Boost they said 225hp was the figure they would most likely end up with.

Im sure if you put a SRT4 Neon on Max Boost it would be getting around or over 300hp.

Heck MK5 GTIs(with 200hp stock) will get nearly 270hp from a Mild boost increase from changing the ECU to Performance mode.
 
mustafur
Im sure if you put a SRT4 Neon on Max Boost it would be getting around or over 300hp.
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It would, and Dodge happily sold performance kits to people to do exactly that. Something like $1500 to add 50 horsepower to a car already underrated from the factory. If you wanted even more, Dodge would sell you even more. You just had to "promise" not to use it on the street.


In comparison, the big performance news for Ford in 2004 regarding the Focus was... that they cancelled the SVT Focus.
 
Just going to repost why I voted it the way I did because I just don't care anymore to keep discussing this car.
"overpowered" FWD cars are cool in my book. It was the body kit that dragged this thing down.
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It seems to make a decent amount of power, and admittedly I like the design of the rear tailights, but is otherwise competely ruined by that HUGE spoiler and that Hood Scoop.. oh and don't even get me started on those atrocious wheels.

It was better off staying in video games than becoming a real thing.

Uncool.

740.jpg
 
Seriously uncool even for a concept car, because not only does it not matter how much power it has because nobody gets to drive it, but it looks worse than an '80s concept car even though it's from 2000.
 
Welp. I just accidentally voted cool.

I now feel terrible, because that is just hideous. Didn't even read the specs; this thing could be in McLaren territory and it would still be horrible.
 
I was on seriously uncool, and then I said to myself 'Really? Do I really hate it? No, not really, I just dislike it extremely.' It's still probably a great handling car, hopefully still practical, it is no where near cool, I mean, it's been nominated as a troll, surely, but I can't vote seriously uncool unless I really really hate the car, personally.

So just uncool here (It'll be voted as seriously uncool anyway, no votes could save it now).
 

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