2017 FORD FOCUS RS UPDATE

Much like the first time I drove a Focus RS, Farah was giddy with excitement to take delivery of his new car. Road and Track published a long-term review by Matt Farah of a personally owned 2016 Ford Focus RS. I’m afraid that the Ford Focus RS may be one of these heartbreakers. But years down the road that little thing that didn’t bother us at first is now unbearable.

Lastly, and most commonly, a car grabs your heart that is fun and exciting on the weekends but can be reliable on the weekdays.

Others of us fall for an old smoker that we know in heart of hearts will never be what we need, but we still believe we can fix it and drive it home to our parents. Some of us eagerly await some sport wagon to come from Europe that never does. Not every vehicle we love can always be the right fit. There, I said it,” admits another.Part of loving cars, trucks, and motorcycles is leaving yourself vulnerable to heartbreak. “More fun to drive than the Porsche Cayman. “It’s a hoot to drive,” one judge says in summing up our experience with the Valencia, Spain-built 2.3L RS engine. That Ford’s 2.3L in the $36,775 Focus RS stood out in a field crowded with entries from some dominating luxury and performance brands – BMW, Porsche, Alfa and Audi among them – is worth noting and rewarding. “Wicked good, whether putting around or pulling g’s” comments one tester.įuel economy is respectable, too, for a sub-5-second 0-60 mph (97 km/h) car like the Focus RS, as we average 20.2 mpg (11.6 L/100 km) over nearly 500 miles (805 km) of testing. Mash the throttle and the Focus RS sings out in a baritone octave that would make a V-8 Mustang proud and not cause a Baby Boomer to blush.Īnd despite impulses to the contrary, the Focus RS also can be driven with civility. There’s no boy-racer noise to make the RS an embarrassment to drive to work every day – an important attribute given hot-hatch buyers are becoming a more conservative bunch, now averaging 42 years old, up from 38 in 2010. And while that may present a less-than-authentic aural experience for some audio purists, the automaker gets the calibration right. Ford creates the Focus RS exhaust note synthetically. Punching it has other rewards as well, most notably sound. “It’s like a crystal-meth addiction.” Not that we would know. “Just try not to drive it all out all the time,” says another tester. All you need to do is “pick the right gear and keep the revs rolling,” notes one judge.Īll-wheel drive and torque vectoring manage the 2.3L’s output so precisely it’s impossible not to have a high degree of confidence behind the wheel. Power delivery is lively and linear, with no sudden gushes and absolutely no dead zones. The intake system is unique, too, as is the larger twin-scroll turbocharger that increases boost and responsiveness. The exhaust system also was redesigned specifically for the RS, and Ford upgraded the cooling capacity to better manage the high-output engine’s thermal stress. That led to an all-new cylinder head, formed from higher-spec aluminum, and higher-tensile iron cylinder liners. So in addition to boosting output, Ford had to find a way to manage that load. When we tested the 2.3L two years ago in the Mustang, it made a more modest 310 hp.

That combination put the Focus RS right at the top of the most-fun-to-drive list among the cars tested in the 2017 Wards 10 Best Engines competition.Īnd it isn’t simply a case of stuffing an oversized powerplant into a small car’s engine bay. (475 Nm) of peak torque at an easy-access 3,200 rpm. pumps out a whopping 155 hp/L, or more specifically 350 hp at 6,000 rpm and 350 lb.-ft. Repurposed from its Mustang big brother, this version of Ford’s EcoBoost 4-cyl.

2017 FORD FOCUS RS UPDATE

Wikipedia may need to update its definition of the hot hatch, thanks to this new direct-injected, DOHC turbo-4 benchmark that we find ready to run from standstill to light speed and everything in between. Scores were high across the board, and despite the crowded field there was no real debate among the judges during final deliberations as to whether this high-performance challenger was trophy-worthy. If there was a slam-dunk engine in this year’s competition, it was this one. gasoline turbos – 15 of the 40 entries – making the final cut was no easy task. With this year’s Wards 10 Best Engines nominees list jam-packed with 4-cyl.

2017 ford focus rs