Why so few MK1 RS?

[Eighteeteewhy]

Personally I've always preferred the MK1, and will always point one out if I see one. Unfortunatly this isn't very often. I'm guessing they were a much more limited run than the MK2?
I've driven a few MK1s and unless you are on a particuarly badly maintained road found them very capable of pushing on while surprising s few people as they are not exactly a "Q car" they are a lot less "bad trip to Halfords" than the MK2.
Anywho, all IMO etc




A bit common?


@

[dave stew]

I'm showing my age now - thought you meant Mk1 or Mk2 Escort RS, not Focus!

[AMST09]

4501 MK1s made about 2000 came to this country

Where as about 9000 MK2s were made I think

MK1s are sort of an older classic, people have started garaging for the whole of winter etc etc

I own a MK1 and haven't seen another in months on the roads

[forzaminardi]

The Mk1 looks much better than the Mk2 which shouts a bit too loudly for my taste.

[Codswallop]

The MK1 looks really great imo (more so then when it came out). Other than that, the MK2 offers more to draw me in (mainly the lure of a 5-pot soundtrack, though the handling on the MK2 is supposedly more resolved too - though this point raises many arguments ).

[Lordbenny]

Mk1 RS.....Oh, you mean a Ford Focus!

[anonymous-user]

In a word Tooling


In order to be able to keep costs down certain pasrts (like the body pannels) were "soft tooled". These tools can only make about 4500 parts before wearing out.

The next step up to hard tools costs hugely more, and although possible to produce +50k parts, no one thought the car would sell that many (rightly so)

[Rawwr]

I think the problem with the Mk1 was that when people heard there was going to be a new RS, they anticipated or expected a loony 4WD rally-rep inline with their memories of the Escort RS Cosworth. When it was released as a FWD hatch poking just over 200bhp, a lot of [foolish] people instantly dismissed it without driving it.

I'd say that similar happened with the Mk2 but most of that seems to have been dissolved with keen marketing and promotion.

[veevee]

One of my favourite ever hot hatches, classic.

New one is over fussy, too many stick on bits, too big, and arguably should have AWD?

[k15tox]

i much prefer the look of the mk1 really nice smooth lines in the best colour ford does.

the mk2 is FUGLY

[marcosgt]

The Mk1 Focus was better than any that have followed (lookswise, anyway).

M.

[Lordbenny]

marcosgt said:

The Mk1 Focus was better than any that have followed (lookswise, anyway).

M.

I had a Ford Focus...



http://www.powerengineering.co.uk/acatalog/Updates...

[Rsohyes]

Lordbenny said:

I had a Ford Focus...



http://www.powerengineering.co.uk/acatalog/Updates...

iCame

[GuitarTech]

They're pretty rare over here too: I've never seen a Mk1 in the metal, and I've only every seen two Mk2's: One on the road, and one in the local Ford dealers showroom.

[limjamrace]

dave stew said:

I'm showing my age now - thought you meant Mk1 or Mk2 Escort RS, not Focus!

Me too ..hahaha

[daemon]

limjamrace said:

dave stew said:

I'm showing my age now - thought you meant Mk1 or Mk2 Escort RS, not Focus!

Me too ..hahaha

Not sure where that leaves me - i thought he meant mk1 / mk2 Escort RS Turbo

[NHK244V]

Take away the pics, transpose the thread onto a MNk1/2 escort site and it would still work and make sense LoL

[Nick1point9]

Since there's only 2000 of them in the UK (probably more like 1600-1800 taking write offs into account) it's hardly surprising they aren't a common site