Return of the Focus RS

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YSSMAN

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Ford has been mum about plans for a super-high-performance version of its European Focus, but a new round of spy photos indicate the automaker is indeed working on a new range-topper.

Don't be fooled by the looks of this test car. It is not the ordinary Ford Focus ST but the brand new Focus RS. Looking closely at the front end, one can see the bigger air intakes.

According to spy photographers, the sound of the 300 bhp engine was unmistakeable, was was the car's quick acceleration with all-wheel-drive and the rallye-like sound of that dump valve while shifting gears. Add some wide fenders, a more aggressive front end styling and you have the Focus RS.

tm_1-oct19-focus-rs.jpg
tm_2-oct19-focus-rs.jpg
tm_3-oct19-focus-rs.jpg

Looks great, like the idea of yet more power, sounds like a great car. Too bad we won't see it here in the United States...
 
Awesome 👍

Due to the 2 Visteon plants in my locality (Transmission and axle manufacturer for Ford group) there are loads of Fords arounds. And atleast 2 Focus RS' :D

I look forward to seeing one of these soon :D
 
such a shame. althought im 14 so i can laugh at you for the next 3 years. and i will!

[NEVERENDING]HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH[/NEVERENDING]
 
CCX
such a shame. althought im 14 so i can laugh at you for the next 3 years. and i will!

[NEVERENDING]HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH[/NEVERENDING]

Hahaha... and that's me driving to UKGTPSix. So there :D

At least Ford can't make the RS a 200hp front-driving car, like they did with the previous model - they've already got one, in the form of the ST.

So presumably, this one will have 4WD and 300hp? Looking forward to seeing it up against the Impreza and Evo. Now all we need to see is Citroen and Peugeot make some road-going rally specials, and we've got a set!
 
God it's taken ford this long to get of their arse and actually make an Evo/Sti fighter. I just wonder if it's still using the 5 pot turbo lump that the ST uses, also I wonder how much more it weighs than the st my guess is on the porky side of 1500Kg with all the extra awd diffs and rear end.

All that aside i'd still probably buy it over an evo because I am gay for anything badged RS.
 
God it's taken ford this long to get of their arse and actually make an Evo/Sti fighter.

Take a look at some laptimes of the Nurburgring and or the TopGear track...isn't the Focus ST ahead of the EVO/STi? I'm mainly asking because I don't know.
 
Gah, why the hell can't we have this here in NA. We still get the crap focuses.....
 
Take a look at some laptimes of the Nurburgring and or the TopGear track...isn't the Focus ST ahead of the EVO/STi? I'm mainly asking because I don't know.

On the topgear track the focus ST is actually about two seconds slower than the old RS with the trick lsd and about 5 Seconds slower than an sti.

Although to be honest the old RS was awesome on a track, but not very good on rougher surfaces like twisty b roads due to the amount of torque the car had and the lsd constantly working. I'd assume the st comes with an lsd, but I wouldn't be suprised if it didn't and just used some electronic nanny instead.

http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonbbc2/laptimes/thestig/

I don't know about nurb times but the ST has a definite power/drivetrain disadvantage compared to the Evo/Sti. But saying that it's allot cheaper than the two afforementioned cars.
 
I hope they'll add that WRC-style spoiler into production model, or atleast have it as option.
 
One common platform, three similarly made hatchbacks. The Mazdaspeed 3, Ford Focus RS and Volvo S30 T5. I wouldn't mind seeing Ford's trio of performance hot hatches sold here.
 
I don't understand why Ford doesn't sell it's best cars here. Give us the RS and the Falcon please. I'm not even a Ford guy but I would seriously look at those two.
 
Nice, great thing I have seen from Ford for awhile.

I am starting to see quite a few Focus XR5 turbo's now (rebaged from Focus ST), hope to see these.
 
I don't understand why Ford doesn't sell it's best cars here. Give us the RS and the Falcon please. I'm not even a Ford guy but I would seriously look at those two.

My economics teacher says it's because the Europeans are more distinguishing consumers, so Ford thinks it can keep unloading it's worst models on us.

unh-huh.
 
Take a look at some laptimes of the Nurburgring and or the TopGear track...isn't the Focus ST ahead of the EVO/STi? I'm mainly asking because I don't know.

The Top Gear track is a crummy yardstick IMO...way too biased toward handling and with no measure of transitional composure. It's basically just a big figure 8 with a tight chicane. No uphills, downhills, offcamber curves, high speed esses....
 
The Top Gear track is a crummy yardstick IMO...way too biased toward handling and with no measure of transitional composure. It's basically just a big figure 8 with a tight chicane. No uphills, downhills, offcamber curves, high speed esses....

True, but the Nurb, on the other hand....
 
Hello? Ford? Wheres our MKII Focus? Why do we have the crappy car since 2000? (not really crappy, just outdated.) WHAT HAPPENED TO DETROIT?
 
Laguna Seca would perhaps be a very good place to test a thing like this, is the Evo MR or the STi faster than a new RS? I would think so, simply because they seem more focused, unlike the er.. Focus. Or possibly not, at least according to the name, the Focus should be, well, focused.
I love Blue Oval-cars, in the true spirit of the German or British built Fords. Interesting to see how different Fords were in the 50s to the 70s from British built cars, Anglia, Cortina and Escort, to American built cars, Fairlane Skyliner, Edsel Corsair, 66 Thunderbird and LTD Brougham Hardtop. Now, Americans are focusing (that word again), it seems, on smaller vehicles like the Fusion, while British built cars are getting bigger, like the Galaxy, S-Max and the future Mondeo.
The Focus II is regarded as more boring than it's predecessor by motoring press and that's no good thing, especially not as a sporting icon. Why can't Ford just go fully back to the basics, and do cars like the Escort Cosworth, Sierra Cosworth, Capri S, Fiesta XR2, Escort XR3i and RS2000 like they did in the older days, real bang-for-buck. Instead, they are making their cars duller, despite upturns as the fantastic Focus I. The ST was just a teaser, while the RS really was the car we had been waiting for. It's a shame the production run lasted so short. A new ST, just a new teaser?
No folks at Ford Europe, learn from your (originally) German, Volkswagen, pioneers of todays hot hatch segment. Find your roots, go back to the basics, like they did with the newest Golf GTi. All around capability and track warrior at the same time.


Eirik
 
All we need now is these kinds of models:

*Mondeo RS
*Fiesta RS

Also maybe this news will lead to these names coming back:

Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
Escort RS Cosworth and maybe an ST version.
Escort RS Turbo with maybe an ST version.
Fiesta XR2
Capri - Now this would be a good time to bring this name back into the market.
 
All we need now is these kinds of models:

*Mondeo RS
*Fiesta RS

Also maybe this news will lead to these names coming back:

Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
Escort RS Cosworth and maybe an ST version.
Escort RS Turbo with maybe an ST version.
Fiesta XR2
Capri - Now this would be a good time to bring this name back into the market.

Pour moi, it's wrong to "bring back a name", simply because it's hard to follow up on the original car's reputation and icon. Look what happened to the Escort, it went from a nice, rear wheel drive sporty car to a boring, crude, nasty familycar, which is not a cool affair. Still, perhaps the best Escorts were made in the 90s, especially the Cosworth ones? I remember the 97 WRC car, what a nice affair.
I would say the Sierra is dead, it's over and done, despite the very handsome looks of the earliest models. The Escort, no more. Fiesta, going for a slow loss, from hero to zero. And Capri, forget it, most young people of today don't even know what it is.
However, I would like to see other names coming back, like RS, Cosworth and XR. I also think Ford should forget about the Focus before they'll do like they've always done, making their cars worse over the years. Escort Mk I, dandy, Escort Mk IV, not so cool. The Focus Mk I was a trendsetter, with it's triangular touches and surprising originality. The Focus Mk II on the other hand, completely lacks originality and is just many German and Japanese cars put into one. It simply lacks the flair of the first model, which bothers me. Still, I fine drive I've heard.
Ford has done it before, revived names from the past. They were completely off with the Thunderbird, I think it might be their lousiest effort in the past 20 years. However, even if the "40" was reserved and couldn't be registered, the GT is more of what the GT40 was, mean, simple and clean.
And BMW has really done it with the Mini, making a huge icon once again. So Ford could be into something here, with their RS affair going on.

However, and think about this twice:
What made the Cosworths and RS's so cool in the first place, was because of their simplicity and originality. The same with the Focus Mk I, it came as lightning from the sky. The name wasn't even set some days before the debut, that's what I call spontaneously development.
So what was the deal about the Focus I RS? It was promised, delayed, promised, delayed, and maybe a bit dissapointing when it finally arrived? Therefore, Ford should make themselves a brand new car, only to be in hotter versions, with two or three doors.
Allright, so maybe a spiritual successor to the older cars isn't such a bad idea after all.

Eirik
 
On the topgear track the focus ST is actually about two seconds slower than the old RS with the trick lsd and about 5 Seconds slower than an sti.

The new ST is faster than the old RS on the Nurburgring by about 10 seconds, due to the greatly improved handling:
http://www.topspeed.com/cars/ford/ford-focus-st-ar3427.html

I would imagine that this new RS will definitely be a competitor to the Evo & STi, and probably just above the R32 and S3. Again: It totally sucks that the US doesn't get the new Focus, Ford!
 
On the track testing: Car and Driver Magazine now has an "offical" test course they use, Virginia International Raceway, to "measure" all of their new cars. They claim that it has the best overall setup to accurately see how a car would handle most situations, similar to the 'Ring.

---

On the MKII Focus (addressed to European critics, etc.):

What may be considered to be a somewhat boring car in Europe would certainly be something new and exciting here in the United States. We've been running essentially the same car since 1999, only a few minor style changes inside and out, with one more comming down the pipe for 2008. But overall, the only things that have really "changed" on the car are indeed the trim levels, and the introduction of more Mazda-related parts, particularly the MZR (is that the name?) 2.3L I4.

The car is dramatically out-of-date, the only thing keeping it a success in this country is the fact that they are so cheap, and they are relitively easy to maintain. The entire line does without a truely "stand-out" model now that the SVT option is gone (think former ST models), and the current ST on-sale now is a joke to the true ST in Europe.

Even if the car is "boring," it would atleast be a ride that is on-par with the American Honda Civic, Volkswagen Jetta/Rabbit, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cobalt, and Nissan Sentra. You have to keep in mind that although driving dynamics certainly do matter to some extent here in the US, most people buy small cars like these for travel between work and home... No playtime to speak of, as most time is spent on the interstate.

...Ford's "excuse" has been that the car is too "expensive" to bring to the United States as a viable option against it's foreign compeditors. My arguement against that is that Ford needs to be willing to spend money to make money. If they aren't going to atleast try the car here in the US, how will they know if it is too expensive? If they have a compeditive product at fairly compeditive prices, why wouldn't it succeed?

I've been fairly well-known as a somewhat anti-Ford guy at various times. But if the folks in Detroit would use some common sense for once and actually send over cars like the Focus, Fiesta, and hell even the Mondeo, they could convince this GM/VAG guy to cross party lines. They are great cars, no doubts about that, but if they aren't going to give them a shot, how can they know if they will be a success or not?

Look at General Motors; Even they are smart enough to realize that they are missing out on some sales because of poor Delta designs with the Ion. What are they doing to fix it? They've chosen to send over the Opel Astra as a Saturn, bypassing the Delta chassis altogether, and doing what they see fit to create a "premium" compact car at a "reasonable" price. Ford certainly could do the same with the Focus, although I doubt they would classify that as a "premium" compact unless they had the Fietsa to go with it.
 
If you guys want I can start a new car and driver thread with that stuff yssman is talking about. I have the scans etc.
 
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