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Don Booker pulls out the
stops with Ford’s latest
By Don Booker MBE
The new Ford Focus RS is made in Germany, and half the production comes to the UK with 2,000 sold before the car reaches our shores.
The Rally Sport logo is carried on only a few models since the first such badging in 1970 and the reputation is so great that the orders were made before customers had a change to drive the car.
Mention RS with the blue oval badge and there is lots of emotion and fond memories drift back. It costs in the new guise £25,740 and there are only three body colours to maintain exclusivity along with bonnet in take twin-blade rear spoiler.
Four body-hugging Recaro seats are now fitted, I’ve seen them made in Sussex and there’s nothing better. The RS badging can be found nearly everywhere, even on the three-spoke steering wheel. The cabin is highlighted in brushed aluminium and carbon fibre-effect finishes while three additional gauges from the ST version, including one for turbo pressure, sit on top of the fascia.
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There was a time when the GT badge meant something really special, but it was overtaken when the Ford Escort, Capri and Sierra received the RS badge and all the glamour and thrills that went with it.
The Ford Focus RS, which is the 21st such badged model to join this sporting roll of honour, gets its power from a 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine that develops 301bhp.
The six-speed smooth gearbox helps the car to reach 163mph with a 0 to 62mph coming in 5.9 seconds. Consumption for such a car should be no worry to potential owners, but if it is, then one can expect just over 30mpg.
This adds up to the fastest and most powerful front-wheel-drive Ford. It’s a Duratec unit which has been finely tuned by the designers. This includes 80 per cent of external cooling coming through the very sporty deep set front grille.
Even the density of the mesh, now so popular with cars, has been designed to help things. Those bonnet vents with others in the wings help the cooling process with a 25 per cent bigger radiator.
The sporty exhaust note was good, but when product marketing man Chris Myers mentioned RevoKnuckle technology, I thought we were going into another world. It is, however, the engineering breakthrough which has made it possible for Ford to make this RS a front-wheel-drive car rather than a four-wheeled-drive version.
It helps to maintain high speeds over poor surfaces by adding flexibility to the suspension which by-passes the problem so allowing the lighter power-through-the-front wheels system.
There are plenty of sporting hatchbacks on the market, but nothing to match the excitement and proud ownership feel of this very special Focus.
Enjoy it if you can afford or even get one of the cars.
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