Ford Focus RS 2016 Review

Ford Focus RS
Local Launch Review,
Brisbane, Queensland

Ford's long performance car history has added a new chapter with the arrival of the latest Focus RS, which eschews its predecessor's front-wheel drive and five-cylinder petrol-turbo engine for all-wheel drive and a four-cylinder forced induction. It also introduces industry-first drift mode, which is designed to help you sling the RS sideways as effortlessly as Ken Block. Sounds like fun.

The word 'Bluetooth' did not get mentioned once in the hour-long presentation that started the Australian media launch of the Ford Focus RS yesterday.

"When they tell me Bluetooth makes the car go faster, then I'll mention it," the car's chief engineer Tyrone Johnson said when apprised of this fact.

Instead he talked about kilowatts, 0-100km/h times and how much he hates understeer. How can you not like a bloke with that sort of attitude? Especially when he backs it up and builds a car like the Focus RS.

If your vehicle priorities are all about connectivity – as in 'can I play music from my phone in this car and sing along?' – then you might want to look elsewhere.

If, however, your connectivity interests are more about how a car steers, handles, stops and goes and how that makes you feel, then the Ford Focus RS is for you.

But then again, if you've read this far then this almost certainly won't be the first story about this turbocharged all-wheel drive tear-arse you've perused. And therefore, you know that already.

But if you haven't read any previous pieces, here's a few from the motoring.com.au treasure trove to peruse.

For Mike Duff's excellent technical wrap-up of the 30th Ford to wear the RS (it stands for Rallye Sport) badge you can go here.

For my colleague Feann Torr's track test at the global launch in Spain go here. For his equally rapturous Spanish road drive click here.

And if you want to understand more about the RS' world-first drift mode then click on this link.

But if you want all that distilled down to the essentials then this is it; the RS is a tech-fest and outstanding driver's car now on sale in Australia for an astonishing $50,990.

Astonishing? Well the RS is a leap on from any hot four-cylinder in its price range. It is generations ahead of the iconic but unimpressive Subaru WRX STI and overwhelms the worthy Volkswagen Golf R.

Its true competition comes from the far more expensive Mercedes-AMG A45 and the Audi RS 3 Sportback. A comparison between these three would be a mouth-watering prospect. Can't wait to read that one.

Just quickly, because we haven't really delved in to it before, RS exterior equipment includes 19-inch alloys shod with Michelin Super Sport tyres, Bi-Xenon HID headlights, keyless entry and a pumped body with a gaping mouth and surfboard rear wing. All the better to suck cooling air and keep the car on the ground at speed – like its 266km/h top speed.

Inside there is a rear-view camera, partial leather Recaro single-piece front seats that sit a bit too high for me but provide brilliant lateral support, a flat-bottomed steering wheel with reach and rake adjustment, sat-nav, dual-zone climate control, push button engine start, cruise control and SYNC2 connectivity system… So yes, you can hook up your phone via Bluetooth and sing along if you want to.

What's missing? Most importantly, front-side airbags and therefore a maximum five-star ANCAP rating. Because of the Recaros the RS makes do with dual front and curtain 'bags. It is a significant safety shortfall.

A spare tyre and some of the latest driver assist systems like radar cruise control, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert are also off the list.

There are four paint choices available, but you will have to pay $450 extra if you option any colour other than white. There is also a $2500 performance wheel pack that swaps to higher performance 235/35 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres and 19-inch forged alloys that are 950g per corner lighter.

The basis of the RS is a suitably stiffened Focus five-door body shell, allied with a modified version of the Mustang's 2.3-litre turbo-petrol engine that makes 257kW and 440Nm. The powerplant is turned sideways in the engine bay, a six-speed manual gearbox is attached and an innovative electronically-controlled dual clutch all-wheel drive system that includes rear torque vectoring deliver big thrills. There's also Brembo brakes and adaptive Ohlins Tenneco dampers that flip between two modes – firm and concrete. Disclaimer; not their real names...

Yes, the suspension set-up is stiff. Unsurprisingly that's one of the first things you are going to learn about the RS when you take it for a drive. Around the 'burbs you are never going to be cossetted but if you keep it out of 'concrete' then your spine will survive intact. You are probably going to be more annoyed by the barge-like turning circle.

Along with a stern ride you are also going to soon notice this thing has a ripping engine, a really nicely weighted and clean gearchange, malleable clutch, powerful brakes, direct electric-assist steering and lots and lots and lots of very usable grip.

All that means this is a deeply satisfying car to punt along a dipping, curving, winding piece of road. There's a deep well of lag-free response so you're not hammering back and forth through the gearbox and that means it's very easy to go smoothly fast and really flow forward. It's like driving this car's little bro (in power and tech terms), the Focus ST, but multiplied to the power of 10.

When you do change gear there's a satisfying crackle-bang, while the combination of intake, exhaust and piped in sound adds drama as the revs rise well beyond 6000rpm.

You dive deep into corners, swim around in them, explore them, feel them, then crack the throttle as early and hard as possible to rocket out again. You can feel the adjustability of the rear-wheel drive system working for you in those circumstances, helping to turn the car into tight corners and then eject you from them.

It's involving and confidence inspiring. To call it fun is like calling Uluru big. It's overwhelmingly good. You surrender to it and become completely immersed in the process of driving.

Then you get to the track. Or in this case a soaked skid pan at Mount Cotton driver training centre south of Brisbane.

The idea here was to let us feel out the more aggressive of the four drive modes you can nominate. On the road we'd stuck to 'normal' and 'sport', the latter dialling up the engine revs and weighting the steering but leaving the dampers untouched. On the skid pan it was time to try 'track' and 'drift' modes.

The latter first. The exercise simply involved driving in tight circles around some cones at about 20km/h in first gear, then flooring the car and seeing what happened.

The RS went sideways and in ever increasing circles as I fruitlessly counter-steered, until a lift brought us straight back into line. In a rear-wheel drive car you feel every input of foot or hand affecting the slide and the attitude. With the RS it was almost like the the wheels had turned 90 degrees to the body. Weird. I didn't master it in my three attempts, but I would certainly like to attempt more, ahem, research.

More enjoyable was a course of figure eights, chicanes and corners of varying radii tackled in second gear. First time out in track mode the RS determinedly understeered. But that all changed in drift mode with the dampers set to 'concrete' on the smooth surface. This was more like it, the rear-end flicking around to help get through the turns. I even managed to waltz through a sequence of left-right-lefts sideways, just like an expert… it was all the car of course.

And what a car the RS is! And that's even before the price comes into consideration. It's so enjoyable, impressive and involving to drive and its emotional appeal is enormous. It is one of the best new drivers' cars of 2016… can't tell you about the Bluetooth though.

2016 Ford Focus RS pricing and specifications:
Price: $50,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.3-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder
Outputs: 257kW/440Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 7.7L/100km
CO2: 175g/km
Safety Rating: N/A

Also consider:
Subaru WRX STI (from $49,490)
Volkswagen Golf R (from $52,740)
Audi RS 3 (from $78,900)