Hot hatch Ford Focus RS Turbo makes a comeback
OVER the last few years there has been a gradual rebirth of the hot-hatch. Years ago the legendary Golf Gti , Ford XR3i, and Astra GTE were commonplace on the roads, but rising insurance, fuel costs and the fact that so called high-powered cars are not seen as politically correct eventually put paid to a great breed of cars that although based on their more mundane stablemates, provided some exciting driving.
Road Tested by Hugh Maguire
The VW Golf Gti did maintain a limited presence in the marketplace but that was about it.
Today, however, despite the ridiculous cost of motor insurance, emissions based road tax, an era of ever more restrictive speed limits, dense traffic and a multiplicity of speed ramps, the hot hatch is making a comeback.
Honda have the Civic Type-R, Seat have the Leon Cupra turbo, Opel offer the superb Astra OPC and even Mini have the supercharged Cooper S.
Not to be outdone and sitting a bit further up market, Ford's offering in this segment is the Focus RS Turbo. Inspired by the Ford WRC rally car and built in limited numbers, the Focus RS was developed in conjunction with Ford Motorsport Division, and would be seen as a direct rival to the likes of the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo.
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See Also
First Drive: Ford Focus Econetic Stop-Start
Ford's Focus 1.6 TDCi special edition proves very frugal
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The Focus RS is powered by a 5 cylinder 2.5 litre turbocharged petrol engine and is available in just three colours, Frozen White, Performance Blue, or the WRC inspired Ultimate Green. My test car was finished in Frozen White.
First Impressions
There is no doubting that this is no ordinary Ford Focus. The large flared wheel arches, which house the huge 19-inch alloys shod with 235/35R19 Continental tyres, the deep front airdam and the large roof spoiler give some clue as to the potential of this car.
Behind The Wheel
The cabin has echoes of a sports car about it with the large cloth, two tone Recaro rally style sports seats colour matched to the exterior and featuring ebony leather inserts and RS logos, an auxiliary instrument pod housing turbo boost, oil pressure, and oil temperature gauges and to the more observant the aluminium gearshift marked with 6 gears. Other nice detail touches include the metal-drilled pedals, chrome kickplates and leather steering wheel
Standard equipment is pretty good.
The car has ABS, ESP, front and side, and side curtain airbags, air conditioning, the usual electric windows, locking and so forth. Worthy of particular mention is the excellent stereo system, which delivers great sound quality and can be remotely operated from the controls on the steering column.
Overall the fit and finish is very good and the Recaro sports seats prove both supportive and comfortable. Starting is a simple push of a button as the electronic keys are recognised by the car once they are in the vicinity.
I particularly like the driving position, in true high performance car style the seats fit like a glove and you really feel part of the car. Overall then the cabin is a success, it does of course have plenty of the "standard" Focus in it but is none the worse for that.
Performance
Power delivery is nicely progressive with the turbo coming on song in a civilised manner around 3,000 rpm. Acceleration, accompanied by a lovely growl from those 5 cylinders, is seemless, which results in the car being quite deceptively quick. It's addictive and truly great fun to drive! Equally the new RS is just as happy tootling about town and delivers reasonable emissions of 225g/100km with up to 30 mpg (9.4 litres per 100km) if you can manage to drive it with some restraint!
Road Behaviour
The ride is as you would expect pretty firm. On main roads it's fine but on anything else you will notice every road imperfection leading in some cases to a rather unsettled ride. Lets face it, the standard Focus is a very good car to drive, but this is great. Limpet like grip in the corners combined with razor sharp steering make for a car that is genuinely fun to drive.
Verdict
Ford's new Focus RS is a superb raw high performance hatchback that offers a good degree of practicality, with decent accommodation and a proper boot allied to blistering performance, all presented in a dramatic package that for all the world almost looks like Ford's own WRC rally car. It's a true high performance machine that really delivers. At l43,565 it actually is good value. Bulls Eye Ford. I love it!
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Weather for Tullamore
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
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