speedking

Mods: Maybe should be in 'Other marques' but only posted because the Scoob gets an honourable mention.

The Times on Saturday had a review of the new Focus RS.

It concludes that the 2WD chassis has too much power to easily cope with:

"For those reasons, if you are in search of the definitive driving experience, this is not it. The new RS may be “WRC inspired” and cost £19,995, but the lack of four-wheel-drive means it falls a long way short of the real thing. Subaru and Mitsubishi get much closer to their works competition cars with the more expensive four-wheel-drive Impreza and Evo families."

only mine wasn't more expensive ...

speedking

Another poor review of the RS focus.

I don't have a downer on the RS Focus, I hope it does well, but I offer these reviews as a service to the community for use in Impreza v. RS arguments down the pub

Chris L

hmmm interesting reading. I still think the real action will be with the 4WD Cosworth Focus - hopefully we won't have to wait another 2 years for that. That will be the car to make Subaru / Mitsubishi etc sit up and take notice.

Chris

CraigH

Haven't Ford stated that they have intentionally made the Focus a proper drivers car, ie, it needs a skilled driver to get the best out of it and were not following the mould of subaru, Mitsubishi etc where anyone with limited skill could get in and drive fast?

Maybe people nowadays expect too many gizmos to help them drive?

Sideways

I agree with Chris L and fords pricing of the RS seems low so maybe there is a Cosworth lurking round the corner at about 26K
I hope so

Jas

SideShowBob

Ive said this when I heard aboutthe Focus RS being fwd, the turbo is a waste of time!!!
for fwd, sure, get an engine that developes around 220BHP, but anything more, and its going to be tricky putting the power down, and as a few manufacturers can easily get 220BHP out a NA 2.0l, having the turbo is more for bragging rights than anything else.

On a 4wd or RWD car, a turbo is fantastic, cause it means you have th potential to dial out loads more useable power for not too much expense, but on a fwd car, what you gonna do? produce 250BHP? the thing'd just wheel spin and snake all over the place!!!

Real waste, untunable any further, not from an engine point of view, but from a practical point of view, and for my money id take the new Integra, better in every way, and as much useable power as you wanna throw thou your front wheels, without the thirst etc of a turbo you cant take any further.

mattstant

what really annoys me about comparisons between the new RS and WRX is that the RS is a limited production run special and by rights should be pitted against the new STI.
ok price wise they are similair but it seems to me that ford seem to have just tried to temporarily spoil the party
if ford had to tool up for a long production run would it be the same vehicle !!!!

CraigH

I think it's fair to compare it to an STI - performance is similar and on track I believe the RS is a fair bit quicker?

SideShowBob

Is it that good on a track? well impressive, im sure it'll be a very nice car, but its that fwd thing, I see people saying they'll change this and get this much power etc, but if the people who are going to buy it are buying it for that purpose, they may be dissapointed.

Saying that, if some peeps buy it and leave it as is, they'll have a very quick hot hatch that will leave a lot of cars standing, be rare, and gte lots of attention.

It is expensive though, a lot of high performance 2nd hand cars come into that price range (around 18k isnt it?), so tough market for a fwd hatch to be competing in, it means that people will either decide they want to go slightly quicker round a track, or save £3k, and a lot in insurance/running costs, and get a Clio/ Civic Type-R etc.

I wonder how it would do against the new Integra round a track? that would be a wicked race!!

CraigH

Not that it's a perfect test, but same day/conditions blah blah. I think the Focus was 2 secs a lap quicker than an STI 7. Maybe 3. Was a fair amount. I'd imagine the STI would be 1-2 secs quicker than a std WRX, so the WRX won't even get close.

I thought magazines had commented at how able the Focus is in the wet?

On track it's a VERY quick car.

Neil Smalley

I don't doubt the FRS is a very good car, but there is a fair amount of circumstancial evidence to state that the FRS that was tested by autocar etc was NOT your bog standard production FRS.

BTW did you know the last 500 FRS's are going to be white

SideShowBob

and whats wrong with white?!! yes, I have a white Integra....

CraigH

Neil,

Acceleration wise we're talking 1 sec difference between the 0-100 times - not a great deal.

ProperCharlie

AFAIKR it was generally reported that the RS was quick 'round a track (particlarly a very *smooth* track) but when it came to yer typically sh!te british highway, the bumps and holes and reverse camber and poor surface and everything else caused the FRS to lose its advantage and made a scooby considerably quicker and more comfortable.

Charlie.

siwrx

i read that they raced it round brandshatch and it beat the lap record previously held by a scooby....

Dave T-S

SSB
Wait until the Alfa 147 GTA is let loose on our roads - FWD, 250bhp and a dirty great 3.2L V6 in the nose...

Neil Smalley

Craig, agreed re: 1 second difference; but I was talking about the laptimes.

This excerpt is from a mail sent to me by an anonymous contact at prodrive, and it was talking about the STI PPP

I can't understand why people think there is a different spec of
package fitted to the Press car and the demo. It's not a TVR or a Focus RS!!!! ;-)

The pace of the car around track also surprised the RSOC folks, with it outpacing several 300Bhp+ Cossies. So it was'nt just me who smelt something fishy. It'll be interesting to put production versions on track and see how they go.

I also hear via the rumour mill that prodrive have been testing a focus RS around their test track. Apparently, only when its fitted with tons of top secret prodrive goodies can it beat an STI and EVO 7 to the same degree as was recorded on the autocar tests.



[Edited by Neil Smalley - 10/23/2002 2:35:51 PM]

Forester_GP

I don't know what FRS they tested in autocar but i'm sure not the same one as the one tested by Drive mag here in Greece. The test was performed on 0-100-0 mph in secs for 16 cars including FRS & STi among others, even an F1 car. They compaire the RS with Seat Leon R and type-R Civic. The sti is compaired with EVO RS sprint and lotus Elise 135 (different class of course !)
Times were (secs):
Focus RS(dynoed @215Bhp) STi(dynoed @265Bhp)
0--->62--->100<-->0 6.43, 16.39, 4.32 5.29, 13.77, 4.25
total time 21.25 sec 18.4 sec
1 mile secs/Tspeed 37.34/215.84 Km 36.6/220.27

From the above, i just don't see how an RS could be faster than an STi, since the STi outruns it & outbrakes it, Unless the use active suspension on the RS for the track. And if you think that UK roads are crap, then wait until you drive in Greece where we have defined the meaning "bumpy road" and down here you know who the winner will be!!!

Regards,

George

timisaledge

i picked up the autocar tiff needells guide to the worlds fastest cars and the focus RS beat the STi 7 around the track was some 2 or secs quicker, but i find strange that the standered WRX is quicker to 0-60 then the Rs but the RS still beats the scooby STi 7 sround a track by some 3 seconds with less HP??

CraigH

What's strange about that? If a car handles better it doesn't need to accelerate as quick to be faster on track - hence why an Elise which will be way slower straightline, will be quicker round an average track than a Scoob.

Vanish

The news I have heard about the RS focus and the major technical problems they have experienced thus far would put me off buying one.
Why do you think they dont want Joe honest unbiased bloggs to drive one.
I went to the launch over a year ago at Gaydon to get a close up and moved over for it on the track this year at RS owners National day.
The Focus on the day I beleive was not standard but modified with a lot of trick bits on it.
I have heard of gearbox problems because of the boost being controlled by the gearing and turning problems because of the 18's and all sorts.
A close freind has purchased an RS Focus which he gets in January and he has only seen the brochure. I personally have just purchased an MY01 WRX so we shall see how good the Focus is in direct comparison.
I am a Ford nut but also a car enthusiast and I wait to see what problems regular honest use will bring for new RS Focus owners.
I am expecting plenty from what I have heard hence the long delay's.
Anyone contemplating buying one should wait 6 months first to gauge other owners reactions.
It is rumoured that Mountune have already developed a chip for the Focus which increases power to 265bhp.
Whispers are also circulating that Ford are not in fact going to limit production but wait until the demand dies down if that exceeds 5000 of course.
Original production figures of 5000. 2500 to the UK and 2500 to the rest of Europe.
Nice looking car but understated in my opinion compared to the new age Impreza.
Me former RS mates are going to linch me.

Regards

Anonymous

rich uk300

if i wanted a track car it wouldn't be the focus...lot swifter cars for tracks out there and costing a lot less