Our handy Ford test driver was able to break the traction of the rear wheels and hold huge drifts before straightening up for the exit of a bend, just like in a rear-wheel drive sports car.
Joining the track via a straight section revealed the car’s prodigious acceleration, which pins you to your Recaro bucket seat ready for the first corner, where the Focus does its best to reshape your face – either through gigantic g-forces or simply a massive smile.Ĭornering forces are enormous, as you’d expect from an all-wheel drive car, but there’s no sense of understeer.
The two massive tailpipes protruding from the rear diffuser should give you a clue how impressive the new RS sounds on a run, with a rattling cacophony of rally car crackles and bangs.Īll-wheel drive grip with rear-wheel drive fun The car was silent as we climbed aboard with one of Ford’s test drivers, but the EcoBoost engine soon made itself heard even through a tight-fitting helmet. Subtle details stand out more too – those massive Brembo brakes with their blue calipers, the engraved RS logo on the rear wing, plus that fabulously mean front bumper. In pictures the styling seems a bit dialled down compared with the previous Focus RS, but in the metal it’s bristling with restrained menace. What the black and white figures can’t get across is the way the third-generation hot hatch handles, and for this we had to take a trip to Ford’s exclusive Lommel testing facility in Belgium.įirst thing’s first: the looks and the noise There’s 345bhp from the 2.3-litre turbocharged engine, a 4.7-second 0-62mph time, and a bottom-line of £28,940. If you’re a fan of the Ford Focus RS (or are one of the thousands that has placed an order already) then the following numbers won’t be new to you, but we’ll repeat them anyway.
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