Thursday 12th June 2008

Focus RS: First Pics

Offical images and details on Ford's new Focus RS

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After much rumour and speculation Ford has released the first pictures and details of the new Focus RS. The images are of an early prototype of Ford’s super-hatch and the launch has officially been set for early next year.

The car has been hammering around the Nurburgring recently as part of performance and durability testing. The turbocharged 2.5-litre Duratec engine in the RS will be based on the unit found in the Focus ST but has been boosted to 280bhp.

Various chassis innovations, developed in conjunction with Ford’s Advanced Engineering Centre in Aachen are being tuned for the new car by the Cologne-based Ford Team RS.The car will be front wheel-drive with a limited-slip differential.

Visitors to the London Motor Show in late July will get to see a production Focus RS for the first time. The principal architect of the Focus RS project is Ford of Europe’s Vehicle Line Director for Performance Vehicles, Jost Capito, whose Team RS development group were responsible for the first generation Focus RS in 2002, and more recently, the Fiesta ST and the new Focus ST.

He said: ‘The new Focus RS is as much a car for driving enthusiasts as the one before it and classic Ford RS models of the past. We’re staying true to the core RS principles of a no-compromise, affordable high performance road car you can live with. The new Focus RS will have the muscles, heart and soul of a genuine RS and will be exciting to drive every day.’

[Mannginger]

How come the pictures always fail to show initially?

:impatientsmiley:

[coleo]

Some more photos from around the internet:

[Neomagic]

Might look nice but in my honest opinion that is horrendously disappointing from Ford…… I was expecting a different engine and a different drive train (4WD).

Instead we get a tuned ST with LSD great!!!!!!!!!

Ford your not a patch on what you used to be I am no longer interested in there range!

FAIL!

Edited by Neomagic on Thursday 12th June 11:44

[gti-ted]

Typical, no 4x4 systems available again
When are Ford going to pull there finger out and get it sorted !!

[Neomagic]

"We’re staying true to the core RS principles of a no-compromise"

The lack of 4WD suggests compromise to me!

Lack of money and investment, useless technology steeling boring car company, a shadow of its former self.

[Beefmeister]

It really is a shame that Ford aren't taking the fight to the Impreza Sti and EvoX with a 300bhp 4wd car...

Still, i'm sure the new RS will be awesome, though i'd wager that the initial talk of 300bhp has been reduced to 280bhp now because it couldn't handle that much power....

[briSk]

i am so sick and tired of the fact that this forum makes a new thread from the news story.

please can you chaps sort this out.

cough although actually it didn't happen this time!

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Edited by briSk on Thursday 12th June 11:58

[Witchfinder]

Why bother with the RS when you can buy a semi-official Wolf tuned ST from a main dealer (with full warranty) that has the same power output through the same wheels, for less money?

[paul26982]

judging by the previous posts and agree myself, people are clearly losing intrest with ford, so why dont they give the people what they want, a true cosworth, 4 wheel drive and a monster engine along with styling to match instead of an st with extra bit of tat

[dazsmith69]

280bhp through the front wheels, bad idea

Astra VXR handled terribly this probably will too

bring back the Teg R

[RJDM3]

Well staying true to RS brand etc depends on what era they are refering to and previous models, all high performance RS models where either rwd or 4wd, but lets not forget that the rs turbo's where fwd

[anonymous-user]

Neomagic said:

Might look nice but in my honest opinion that is horrendously disappointing from Ford…… I was expecting a different engine and a different drive train (4WD).

Instead we get a tuned ST with LSD great!!!!!!!!!

Ford your not a patch on what you used to be I am no longer interested in there range!

FAIL!

Edited by Neomagic on Thursday 12th June 11:44

agreed!

[.:dweeb:.]

Mannginger said:

How come the pictures always fail to show initially?

:impatientsmiley:

Because the pictures take longer to upload. Maybe they could start uploading the pictures before they make the article live?

[davidcharles]

RJDM3 said:

Well staying true to RS brand etc depends on what era they are refering to and previous models, all high performance RS models where either rwd or 4wd, but lets not forget that the rs turbo's where fwd

true...

still...a bit of a shame its only a chipped ST with a LSD and some RS badges....

...its not different enough to the ST (yet)...now a 300bhp plus 4wd RS would have made more people take note....

[mark.h]

RJDM3 said:

Well staying true to RS brand etc depends on what era they are refering to and previous models, all high performance RS models where either rwd or 4wd, but lets not forget that the rs turbo's where fwd

the st range is pitched as a replacement for the XR... range, in Oz they are actually called the XR... range. The RS range is supposed to be the all out flagship car, which it is, but imo they didnt go far enough to distinguish it far enough from the ST.

[abdulaziz]

Well maybe there is a cosworth version on the way( I hope! ) hence it makes sense not to make the RS version to powerful

[Si_steve]

Great stick a RS badge on it and give them a warmed over ST, sorry but to be a true RS it would have to be RWD or 4WD. That why i only like the old 70's RS's, sorry but ford you have it all wrong make it 4WD get rid of the silly inline 5 and get cosworth to design a 2.3 duratec turbo maybe then you'll have a little more intrest

[Shaw Tarse]

paul26982 said:

judging by the previous posts and agree myself, people are clearly losing intrest with ford, so why dont they give the people what they want, a true cosworth, 4 wheel drive and a monster engine along with styling to match instead of an st with extra bit of tat

Sorry mods & Grandma police but
+1

[courtster]

I dont understand this - another half assed attempt - I'm sure it'll lap the 'ring a second quicker than the ST..

Volvo had a version of this engine in the S60 R with 300hp and Haldex 4wd - how difficult would it be to develop the system for the Focus?

Edited by courtster on Thursday 12th June 12:21

[Hitch78]

it's a real shame when companies like Ford, who have genuine mass market performance pedigree, try to leverage their history with marketing and hype instead of producing cars with integrity and desiribility.

They've lost their balls. Too much time worrying about what the competition are doing and not enough time making their own market.