Ford Focus RS hype thread

bighomieflock

bighomieflock

Active member
The US is getting the focus rs in 2016 and this car definitely looks like it could be an sti/ golf r killer. It'll have around 350 horsepower and low 4's 0-60 with all wheel drive for around $35-40k. Ford is only selling it with a manual transmission and it's supposed to have a specific driving mode called "drift mode" with controlled oversteer. What are your thoughts NS? Slightly too agressive exterior styling? Looks like it could make a pretty amazing ski car.

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13489916:Peter. said:
or you could just get an SUV and have way better clearance
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Maybe it's different elsewhere as most of my skiing has happened in Colorado and the Salt Lake area, but I find I very rarely use the clearance of my 4Runner because all the main ski roads are plowed fairly religiously.
 
13489965:bighomieflock said:
Maybe it's different elsewhere as most of my skiing has happened in Colorado and the Salt Lake area, but I find I very rarely use the clearance of my 4Runner because all the main ski roads are plowed fairly religiously.
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Till you're tryna get out of parking lots, or taking side roads to avoid traffic, etc. Not to mention a heavy car has more grip. I used to drive 88 to Kirkwood every weekend at about 4am which is like 6 hours after the stop plowing and 1.5 before they start again... 1.5'+ sometimes, but super fun having the whole highway to yourself for an hour haha- I've certainly used the clearance there!

Last winter here in WA I drove on snow eaxtly once :(
 
13489968:californiagrown said:
Till you're tryna get out of parking lots, or taking side roads to avoid traffic, etc. Not to mention a heavy car has more grip. I used to drive 88 to Kirkwood every weekend at about 4am which is like 6 hours after the stop plowing and 1.5 before they start again... 1.5'+ sometimes, but super fun having the whole highway to yourself for an hour haha- I've certainly used the clearance there!

Last winter here in WA I drove on snow eaxtly once :(
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There definitely are some tradeoffs but overall after owning an suv for a couple years I would definitely take the sportier, more agressive car that's more fun to drive during the 99% of days where clearance isn't an issue.
 
I have a regular Focus right now as a loaner car. I'll almost certainly never own an RS, but I love the idea of it.

My ultimate dream is to take the drive train of a wrecked RS (which will undoubtedly happen) and put it into my Transit Connect (which is essentially a boxy van version of the Focus). Would it work with the rear diff? I don't know. But if it did, that would be amazing. My van is already set up as a mini-camper. A Transit Connect RS would be the ultimate ski/road trip mobile provided you weren't planning on off roading.

Regarding ground clearance: I'd obviously like more of it if there are no other tradeoffs, but I don't really think it's very important for winter driving. My other car is a 1st gen Honda Fit which has about 2 inches of ground clearance. I've taken it skiing basically every weekend for the past 5 years through blizzards and super storms and I can remember exactly one time that ground clearance was a real issue. Even then it was more build up for snow in the wheelwells than true ground clearance issues. I'm sure that there may have been parking lots that I didn't pull into because they looked deep, but I don't remember them so it couldn't have annoyed me that much.

(Full disclosure: I have managed to get stuck in parking lots a few times, all before I had snow tires. I'm not sure more ground clearance would have helped though. Possibly once.).
 
I love that were getting the RS in the states but holy shit why is it a fucking four door!? I hate that we get 4 door hatches that in Europe are 2 doors, like the Fiesta ST. Aside that I love the car, good looking plus my friends brother might sell his speed3 and get one when they arrive.
 
13490065:Titus69 said:
I love that were getting the RS in the states but holy shit why is it a fucking four door!? I hate that we get 4 door hatches that in Europe are 2 doors, like the Fiesta ST. Aside that I love the car, good looking plus my friends brother might sell his speed3 and get one when they arrive.
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IMO four door hatches look way better than two door.
 
13490079:saskskier said:
IMO four door hatches look way better than two door.
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2013-Ford-Fiesta-ST-2.jpg
This to me looks wayyy better than the 4 door ST, it just makes it a true hot hatch. Same with the older Focus RS, nonetheless I would love one no matter the door amount, just prefer to have a true hot hatch.
 
13490104:yangumane said:
why do you hate them?
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The styling just doesn't fit my taste, in my high school there were a bunch of kid that drove civics and thought they were the shit, and most are front wheel drive and I hate understeer. I'd much rather have gobs of oversteer than the little bit of understeer that comes naturally from any front wheel drive. I understand this is all wheel drive but I'm not a huge fan of that. Also when I think hatch I think asian for whatever reason and I loath asian cars. Classic American muscle or nothing
 
13490109:CashmereCat said:
The styling just doesn't fit my taste, in my high school there were a bunch of kid that drove civics and thought they were the shit, and most are front wheel drive and I hate understeer. I'd much rather have gobs of oversteer than the little bit of understeer that comes naturally from any front wheel drive. I understand this is all wheel drive but I'm not a huge fan of that. Also when I think hatch I think asian for whatever reason and I loath asian cars. Classic American muscle or nothing
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a civic isn't a hot hatch. and hot hatches have rarely been made by asian companies, they're european in origin. the vast majority of hot hatches are european.
 
13490140:yangumane said:
a civic isn't a hot hatch. and hot hatches have rarely been made by asian companies, they're european in origin. the vast majority of hot hatches are european.
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I don't know man, they just aren't my cup of tea
 
hey just hopping in here to say that just because they say 350 horsepower does not mean that is what it will dyno. The stock evo x dynos around 270, stock sti is like 260?. There is about a 20% loss from flywheel to the wheels. Every company advertises the bhp instead of whp. So it will be right around the same numbers on a dyno.
 
13490192:Davin said:
hey just hopping in here to say that just because they say 350 horsepower does not mean that is what it will dyno. The stock evo x dynos around 270, stock sti is like 260?. There is about a 20% loss from flywheel to the wheels. Every company advertises the bhp instead of whp. So it will be right around the same numbers on a dyno.
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It might dyno less than the number ford publishes but it will still be more powerful than the sti by a good 30-50 hp.
 
13490238:bighomieflock said:
It might dyno less than the number ford publishes but it will still be more powerful than the sti by a good 30-50 hp.
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LOL not even defending the sti or any car but that's b.s it will be around 260-280 on a Mustang dyno all day
 
13490278:Davin said:
LOL not even defending the sti or any car but that's b.s it will be around 260-280 on a Mustang dyno all day
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Well your post implied it would be the same horsepower as the sti or evo which is not true, It will be more. And your point about the dyno is somewhat irrelevant because companies always report bhp.
 
13490468:yungsteeze said:
looks dope and fun to drive but the rear spoiler is kinda gayyyy
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I'm not a big fan of the rear spoiler. Too racer boy for me. What I like about hot hatches is the stealth factor.
 
13490140:yangumane said:
a civic isn't a hot hatch. and hot hatches have rarely been made by asian companies, they're european in origin. the vast majority of hot hatches are european.
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Yeah Japans closest thing to a hot hatch is a speed3, maybe the ep3 Si from 2003 or some Daihatsu that we dont get in America. Europe has the best hot hatches, peugeot, citroen, renault all the cool companies.
 
13490140:yangumane said:
a civic isn't a hot hatch. and hot hatches have rarely been made by asian companies, they're european in origin. the vast majority of hot hatches are european.
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Lololol not here in the states...

VW, Mazda, Ford, and Dodge are your biggest "hot hatch" players right now.

Not really sure if you can count the A3 as a hot hatch or not...

AWD turbo (STI, EVO, etc) =/= hot hatch IMO.

Regardless, FWD = fail wheel drive.

I own a Speed3. I will never own a turbo FWD car ever again. It's counter intuitive engineering targeted at the cheap frills, simple minded crowd. No thanks.
 
Nahhh I'll stick to my forester xt. Just as fast, more clearance, and lots of fun in snow.
 
13490641:Lonely said:
Nahhh I'll stick to my forester xt. Just as fast, more clearance, and lots of fun in snow.
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i want a fxt so bad. I have to live with my 07 base model fozz until i save up the funds
 
13490665:kip. said:
i want a fxt so bad. I have to live with my 07 base model fozz until i save up the funds
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I have an 04. Did a lot of work on it. Catback, cold air intake, intercooler, sti turbo and bolt ons. Also did some suspension work.
 
13490833:Lonely said:
I have an 04. Did a lot of work on it. Catback, cold air intake, intercooler, sti turbo and bolt ons. Also did some suspension work.
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04 is like the perfect year. The front ends just look mean and I love it. Fxts are like a blank canvas for mods
 
13490890:kip. said:
04 is like the perfect year. The front ends just look mean and I love it. Fxts are like a blank canvas for mods
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The angry toaster as I like to call it. It looks especially good with the scoop and all the plastidip I've done. I'll try to upload pictures
 
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