Find Reviews by Make:
Bound for the U.S. market at last, the Ford Focus RS took the ramp at the 2015 Geneva Auto Show.
Under the bonnet, a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder sends 315 horsepower to all four corners through a six-speed manual. Seventy percent of its torque can be directed toward the rear axle, 100 percent toward a single rear wheel, via two electronic clutch packs.
Stiffer springs and bushings, larger anti-roll bars, optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tires, and Recaro seats are some of the other features onboard the 30th Ford vehicle to wear the RS badge.
19 Comments on “Geneva 2015: US-Bound Ford Focus RS Revealed...”
Read all comments
Except for the butt fugly front end, I would rather one of these over a Mustang.
Whya are the manufacturers designing front ends like a Darth Vader helmet mouthpiece.
It really looks crappy.
“Whya are the manufacturers designing front ends like a Darth Vader helmet mouthpiece.”
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
That’s exactly why I like it! Cool little car…I wonder how much it’ll be up here in the Great White North…
I’ve liked hatchbacks all my life. I even liked the AMC Gremlin. However, the front end on this car is incredibly ugly. It looks like a big catfish with it’s mouth open!
Teenaged Focus, complete with orthodontic headgear.
I was expecting a 3 door…
Why were you expecting a 3-door Focus RS? Ford hasn’t made a 3-door Focus in over three years.
Speaking as the owner of an ’08 Focus coupe (which they discontinued after 2010), I think it would certainly be a nice change of pace for Ford if they offered either a two-door coupe or three-door hatchback bodystyle. Not everybody wants a 4-door sedan/5-door hatch. A bit more variety in the compact FWD segment would be nice.
“Under the bonnet, a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder sends 315 horsepower to all four corners through a six-speed manual. Seventy percent of said power can be directed toward the rear axle, and 100 percent toward a single rear wheel, via two electronic clutch packs..”
-Cameron Aubernon
“A maximum of 70 percent of the drive torque can be diverted to the rear axle. Up to 100 percent of available torque at the rear axle can be sent to each rear wheel.”
– https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2015/02/03/all-new-ford-focus-rs.html
It looks like 70% of available torque, not horsepower, can be directed to an individual rear wheel. Interestingly, the press release does not provide the maximum torque specification.
If would be cool if a company offered a high performance winter tires like Nokian Hakkapeliittas in addition to high performance summer tires.
A few thoughts:
1. I like that it stays in hatch form. This gives everyone who wanted a WRX STI hatch an alternative now.
2. Not wild about the front end, but maybe it’ll grow on me. Too much black plastic.
3. Pilot Sport Cup 2? I hope that’s optional or some type of mistake, I just don’t see ford selling a $30-40k car with R-compound tires, at least not standard (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Sport+Cup+2). That’s a tire measured in heat cycles rather than tread depth and shouldn’t be driven in the rain, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the stickier options for tires. Something like the Bridgestone RE070 would b more appropriate in my opinion, it at least has pretensions of being a street tire.
I assume it’ll have most of the Focus ST’s benefits and flaws, not exactly a bad car to be based on. I’m excited to see how it turns out, aybe one of these is in my future in a few years.
It did say in the article that the Pilot Sport Cup 2 was optional, not standard. The PSC2 is not as crazy of a tire as you make it out to be it does earn a UTQG score of 180 for tread wear, for traction in earns an AA, better than many so called all-season tires and that traction test is based on wet surfaces.
Now the Bridgestone you cite only earns a 140 on tread wear and an A in traction despite it being classified as Max Performance summer tire rather than a Street/Track tire like the Michelin.
As a autocross/track weekend warrior, I know a bit more about tires than those spec sheets give you.
Treadwear and Traction ratings mean basically nothing in this case. Treadwear is only meant to be measurable within a single manufacturer and is not a meaningful measure of anything when looking cross-manufacturer. As for wet weather braking, I can see why the PSC2 might be better due to more channeling grooves, but that doesn’t change the overall classification of the tire.
Tire Rack’s classifications of tires are pretty spot on, and they list the PSC2 in the Streetable Track & Competition category and are OE tires on cars like 911 GT3s, Scuderia Ferraris, and the like. Meanwhile the Bridgestones are in the Extreme Performance Summer category, came out when 140TW was still the cutoff for street tire classes in track and autocross, and was the OE tire on much more streetable cars like STIs and the S2000 CR. Michelin doesn’t have an Extreme Performance tire in its lineup, so i think its a bit disingenuous to compare the treadwear of the 2
The body kit is horrifying and I hope they give the option to change the grille and remove the spoiler, at least the ST is still tasteful looking. But amazing car otherwise
Isn’t part of Focus RS’s charm is the fact that it’s slightly offensive looking? This color blue does not induce epilepsy. It must be changed to glow in the dark green or Cheetos orange.
I like it and I like the looks. Body kit gives it great differentiation.
So the expanse of cheap flat black plastic on the front clip that appeared on the Chevy SS is finding itself slapped on other cars.
*groan*
The Mitsubishi Evo is dead, long live the Ford Focus RS
Agreed. As a former Evo owner, I’d LOVE to drive around Japan in one of these. Crapping all over the local hot hatches in an aggressively-overstyled *FORD*. Hilarious.
I generally hate the hatchback bodystyle but I would own this car…
This is a bonkers hot hatch, but Honda’s Civic Type-R has the better styling execution, at least on the front end. This has too much cheap black plastic up front.
It’s aggressive to have all those intakes that don’t really function, but come on, at least try hide the fact that they are fake.
What makes you think they have no function?