- 2017 FORD FOCUS RS MANUAL
- 2017 FORD FOCUS RS UPGRADE
- 2017 FORD FOCUS RS OFFLINE
- 2017 FORD FOCUS RS SERIES
The Focus RS is also a true “best of both worlds” proposition.
2017 FORD FOCUS RS UPGRADE
With an upgrade to a racing-spec brake fluid, we're sure the braking system is, otherwise, more than up to the task of shedding the heat generated by slow-pedal abusers like us. But prior to this, the big front Brembos provided plenty of stopping power and excellent pedal feel.
2017 FORD FOCUS RS SERIES
The only weak spot we found in the Ford’s otherwise impenetrable armor was when we managed to boil the brake fluid after a series of laps driven at maximum attack. The sensation of technology never overrides the sense of joy the RS delivers, though, with its heavily bolstered Recaro seats holding you in a warm embrace that say, “It’s OK, you can toss me into the corners even harder.” And where the 2.3L, EcoBoost, turbocharged, direct-injection four-banger sounds unremarkable in the Mustang, in the Focus RS it’s been tuned with a much throatier exhaust note that turns every straightaway into a high-rpm symphony and every heel-and-toe downshift into a rally-inspired rapture of snaps, crackles and pops. Drive it with a Gymkhana Nine level of commitment to sideways, though, and you will likely feel the power moving around from tire to tire as its torque-vectoring system searches for traction with the same kind of unrelenting determination as a T-1000 searching for John Connor. The traction generated by the RS defies logic, and if you drive it in a neat and tidy fashion, it feels completely natural, with no sign of any of the electro-hydraulic wizardry going on beneath your seat. Where the Focus RS felt the most special, though, was coming out of the corners, where it puts all of its 350 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque to the ground with a kind of efficient rage normally reserved for elite MMA athletes. We were seeing average lateral g’s close to 1.2 g and pulled a peak g-force reading of 1.31 g as we slid the RS through a 90-degree left-hander onto the middle straightaway. It’s refreshing to see a major automaker embrace the fact that enthusiasts like us take our cars to the track, especially ones as special as the RS.Īs a result of its high-grip tires, magnetic dampers and electro-hydraulic, computer-controlled differentials-which can send as much as 70 percent of available torque to a single rear wheel-cornering speeds and lateral g-forces were well into supercar territory.
2017 FORD FOCUS RS MANUAL
Speaking of which, kudos to Ford for putting a section in the owner’s manual about Track Use.
2017 FORD FOCUS RS OFFLINE
Turn into a corner a little too eagerly and smash the apex curb? In most cars, this will upset the chassis and push you offline (or worse), but in the Focus RS, its magnetorheological dampers soak up the high-speed bumps like high-end race shocks while adjusting to smaller changes in the road surface hundreds of times a second to ensure maximum grip out of the tires. Overcook corner entry and the Ford’s physics-defying, torque-vectoring system will bail you out in an impressively noninvasive way, making you feel like a hot-lap hero instead of an e-nannied zero. Of course, the lap times-which, as we quickly discovered, put it solidly at the head of the hot hatch/AWD turbocharged sport-compact class-only tell a small part of the story, because it’s the way the RS delivers its pace that solidifies it (in our minds, at least) as the most fun you can have for less than $50K. But as certified go-fast geeks and weekend road racers, what we wanted to know was how fast it is around a racetrack, not how good it is at doing Hoonigan-spec power slides through abandoned warehouses.ĭon’t get us wrong, we are all for drifting in post-apocalyptic settings or around racetracks, but for stopwatch warriors like us, the proof of the Focus RS’s inherent goodness would be determined by its lap time around a track, an 11-turn road course with a good mix of tight and technical twisties and long enough straightaways to really stretch the EcoBoost’s legs. With its much talked about Drift mode and Ken Block as its avatar, the 2017 Ford Focus RS has certainly made a splash as it goes on sale in North America for the first time in its history (prior versions having been enjoyed exclusively in Europe).
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