FIRSTDRIVE FORD FOCUS RS:Ford's new Focus RS is, quite simply, the best performance car on the market, writes Paddy Comyn
I’VE NEVER been much good at maths. In fact, I suffer from the sort of numerical dyslexia that has lead to dusters being thrown at me by frustrated Franciscans maths teachers and the sort of phobia of fractions and equations now reserved for bank officials.
When it comes to figures, I am plain stupid, and I was even more baffled by what Ford was telling us about the Ford Focus RS. You see, despite my dim-wittedness when it comes to sums, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how 300bhp could go into two wheels – more tellingly, the front ones.
Growing up, when not dodging dusters thrown by maddened maths teachers, there was a general rule of thumb that said you couldn’t really put more than 200bhp through a car’s front wheels without pretty hideous results.
Cars like Saab’s 9-3 Viggen tried, leaving many a puzzled Swede facing the wrong way in a hedge and then Ford, in 2002, gave us a Focus with more than 200bhp, and many who drove it spent most of the time wrestling with it in a pointless attempt to keep it in a straight line. It was the motoring equivalent of a rabid Labrador; it looked friendly enough until you took it for a walk and it tried to drag you through the nearest ditch.
And apparently, it’s taken since then for Ford to figure out how to do another Ford Focus RS, this time with better manners and, in keeping with the world’s recession-ignoring horsepower race, buckets more power and torque.
Ford thought it might have to make this car four-wheel drive but, according to the head of Ford Team RS, Jost Capito, it just “didn’t feel right” – plus, with the weight this would add to the car (and therefore higher CO2 emissions) it was decided that this would remain a front wheel drive car. And that would obviously bring with it some challenges – mainly putting all the power through the front wheels.
The engine in the RS is based on the 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder turbocharged unit found in the Focus ST, itself an engine borrowed from Volvo. This time around, the RS has 300bhp and 440Nm of torque, with the torque available between 2,300rpm and 4,500rpm. The engine gained a revised cylinder head gasket, metal-sprayed cylinder bores, revised pistons and a bespoke camshaft profile and connecting rods. The greatest change is a new intake system; exhaust manifold and a larger turbocharger, which helps with the car’s 35 per cent power increase. A revised ST gearbox allows the RS to reach 100km/h in second gear and that takes just 5.9 seconds on the way to a top speed of 263km/h.
Physically, the car is an angry-looking monster. There isn’t anything subtle about the way the car sits on the road: the large fin on the back, the huge 19” alloy wheels, the induction scoops of the Ultimate Green paintwork (you can have Frost White or Performance Blue either) and, as it sits on a wider track, this makes it look even more sinister and will have every modified car owner dribbling when they see it in the flesh. It isn’t beautiful by any stretch – but then, neither is a scud missile.
Overcoming the problem of torque steer, whereby there is a tug on the steering wheel of a front-wheel-drive car, mainly due to too much power, was done by some clever engineering. Instead of a standard McPherson strut, Ford employed a suspension aid called a RevoKnuckle.
This technology was originally conceived for diesels and consists of a two-piece design, one part fixed to the strut and one part that rotates with the steering line of the car. Without boring non-engineers with the details (I barely understand them myself), it reduces the forces on the steering rack by moving the hubs away from the front struts, so you don’t get the violent tug on the wheel. There is also a limited slip differential to give the RS further manners.
And when you put this all together, the results are nothing short of astonishing. When Ford really puts its mind to making a performance car, we know that there are few better – and this is nothing short of magnificent. You sit quite high in the car, but the Recaro seats suck you in like a leech.
The steering, even as you move off, is super-accurate and the rumble from the exhaust is not unlike something you would hear at a World Rally Championship. It’s when you squeeze the accelerator that it all kicks off. The power is constant, not a neck-snapping jolt, more a gradual and neverending whoosh, like opening a dam.
As you snap through the gears, it does tug a little at the wheel, but nothing like before and the grip is simply amazing. On the sharp and twisty roads around Grasse in the south of France the RS displayed itself to be the finest hot hatch on sale today, without even breaking a sweat. The car never runs out of puff with seemingly unending power. The grip will run out eventually, but not before you run out of nerves.
You won’t yearn for four-wheel drive because this car has been so well-engineered that you’ll think it has it already. The ESP is not so intrusive as to spoil the fun but, even switched off, Ford has left it to work in the background, possibly unsure as to whether there are that many people capable of coping with an unbridled RS.
We’d have this over a Lancer Evolution, Subaru Impreza and many others that are way more expensive.
And here’s the really interesting part. This car costs €43,565 – and that, believe it or not, is very good value. Because it has CO2 emissions of 225g/km it scrapes into Band F and so doesn’t get nailed with the full VRT penalty, and that means it’s priced very well.
A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution will cost €21,357 more than the RS and an extra €1,050 per year to tax, while an Audi S3 will cost another €10,205 and hasn’t anything like the potency of the RS. It also likely to cost you about €7,000 more than the next Golf GTi while being in a different league in terms of power and performance. Ford Ireland tells us it has sold 12 so far, and hopes to sell 50 this year; it’s not hard to see why. This is quite simply one of the finest performance cars in existence.
FactFile FORD FOCUS RS
Engine:2,522cc 5-cylinder turbo putting out 300bhp / 440Nm torque
Maximum speed:263km/h
0-100km/h:5.9 seconds
Fuel Economy:9.4l/100km
CO2 emissions:225g/km
Motor Tax Band:F – €1,050 annual road tax
Price:€43,565