Ford Focus RS'09 is.. FWD.

Leonidae

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Originally Posted by Top Gear
When the new Focus RS arrives, the Impreza STi is one of the cars it's going to be gunning for. Pat Devereux can't wait

Hot on the heels of its 2007 World Rally Championship triumph, Ford has serious plans to get back into the hyperhatch market alongside the Subaru WRX STI with an all-new Focus RS in 2009.

Yes, 2009, not 2008. Ford will show a finished concept Focus RS at this year's London Motor Show in July, but the production version of the Blue Oval's new road rocket will not be launched until the London Motor Show in 2009. The company says its design department is just too busy getting all its other new cars - the slick new Fiesta, Kuga and Ka - sorted to have the time this year to get the RS ready.

But, while Martin Smith's design team is sharpening its crayons, the engineering team, led by Ford Team RS bo
ss and ex Paris-Dakar racer, Jost Capitos, will be hard at work deciding on the car's final specification. First indications are that the car will have two-wheel drive and produce at least 280bhp, but don't take those as gospel yet.

The news that it will be front-wheel and not four-wheel-drive
will disappoint rally fans wanting a clone of the Championship-winning car, but Ford is certain that once we have seen and driven the car, few will be upset. It says it has rejected the all-wheel-drive set-up as it adds cost and weight, plus it is working on a super sexy semi-active limited-slip diff that it reckons will not struggle to get the power down.


'Traction and handling will be completely reworked to improve downforce and sucker it down onto the road'

How much power those front wheels will have to handle is still unclear. While initial rumours suggest 280bhp is the magic number, that would put the car at a significant disadvantage to the Subaru and Evo rally weapons, each of which have around 300bhp to play with. Even allowing for the Japanese cars' power-sapping four-wheel drive, a 20bhp deficit could leave the new RS eating dust.

The other key reason for expecting more than 280bhp from the turbocharged five-cylinder engine is Ford Team RS's project Blufin. Set up to capture some of the lucrative aftermarket tuning business for the Focus and Fiesta ST, the dealer-fit engine and chassis tune-up kits, produced for Ford by tuning ace Roush Engineering under the Mountune name, will boost the standard Focus ST's 225bhp in steps all the way to as high as 260bhp.

So there's no way that the full-blown RS is only going to make 20bhp more than a warmed-up standard Focus ST. 300bhp then? That sounds much more like it.



Helping traction and handling will be some very special 19-inch wheels plus a completely reworked suspension system - new dampers, springs, anti-roll bars - that lower the car to improve aerodynamic downforce and sucker it down onto the road. The brakes will also be significantly upgraded for sure.

While the company claims that the final design has yet to be signed off, the first teaser picture of the car released at the WRC celebration dinner last December shows that it's going to be a very long way from modestly styled. It might not have the rally car's four-wheel drive, but it'll have plenty of the mud-slinger's styling cues.

The deep front airdam will be complemented by some muscular wheelarches and a rally-style rear wing to give the car some serious visual attitude. Expect none of it to be there for show. The whale-tailed Escort RS Cosworth was the only production car to generate positive downforce when it was built in 1992 and the new car builds on everything that car started.

'The interior has an RS trim, mixing proper rally style functionality without compromising comfort'

And it's not just the exterior that gets new clothes. The interior will be swathed in a unique RS trim that, initial reports suggest, will mix proper rally style functionality without compromising comfort on the most important rally stage of all - the one to and from the office in the morning.

But as valve-bouncingly exciting as the rest of the car sounds, it's the price of the Focus RS that could be the real shocker. In the same way that the ST has captured the lion's share of the hot hatch market in the UK through its addictive low price/high performance mix, the RS is expected to undercut the opposition significantly.

Figures as low as ?21,000 have been mentioned but expect something nearer ?23,000 by the time the car hits the dealerships in mid 2009.

At that price it could kill the competition before it even turns a wheel, so expect the new Focus RS to sell out fast. And start talking nicely to your insurance agent now.

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Gee, what a surprise. Ford fucked it up again. Stop cutting corners and give us the 300bhp AWD RS that you promised ages ago!
 
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Looks awesome. And if you go by the previous Ford RS, this one will be more than good enough.
 
I don't care how incredibly sexy you make the diff, it will not be as sexy as AWD.

Also, I should reiterate how much I want a new Euro Focus, now that is sexy.. compared to the pile of shit we get here at least:
070107_ford_focus_2008_hmed.hmedium.jpg
 
I don't think the FWD will hurt this car very much - in fact, it could be beneficial as not only does 4WD add weight but it will also have greater drivetrain losses than a FWD LSD. Of course handling won't be as great but I reckon this car's shaping up to be a really good fun blast as opposed to a more methodical track-type car (though I expect it'll be half decent on a track). Look at it. The front end looks like a trainer. In a good way. Not a Smart Fortwo way.

Anyway, I'm sure I read about this in Car magazine a few months ago.
 
Five bucks says it's gonna handle like RS, like the previous one.

I don't think they won't make it work* eventually, but it'll take them at least 2 more generations.

* They ARE German, after all.
 
this car will be epic

the Focus ST is already one of, if not the best handling hot hatch you can buy..... this thing can only be better. i dont think its going to miss out on not having AWD.
 
Epic, like Vauxhall VXR/Opel OPC lineup, that is notorious for their overpowered, understeery FWD's? They should have given this car Volvo's Haldex-system that it deserves. But no, they just stole the trick diff from MS3. If they want it to sell, they shouldn't cut corners when it comes to cars like this.
 
If they want it to sell, they shouldn't cut corners when it comes to cars like this.
Yup, what a bunch of assholes. An opportunity to create a really kick ass little niche car comes along, and they say, "Aw screw it, nobody needs AWD, they'll buy it anyway!" Assholes.
 
Mmhmm, you can expect Ford to cut costs there where it hurts the most..
 
This FWD thing I think is a mistake, but it can be done, look at WTCC cars there FWD, but its somewhat of a black art getting a FWD car to handle well

As for the looks - Should be called the ASBO RS, but I still like it
 
Epic, like Vauxhall VXR/Opel OPC lineup, that is notorious for their overpowered, understeery FWD's? They should have given this car Volvo's Haldex-system that it deserves. But no, they just stole the trick diff from MS3. If they want it to sell, they shouldn't cut corners when it comes to cars like this.

The MS3's "trick diff" is the same as the last RS (just a torsen unit) the difference is Mazda programmed the computer from letting to much torque being sent in to the diff to keep any torque steer down.

I just don't understand why the car is so expensive to make in the first place, to make them rule out AWD. Either way, it's still better than Dodge and their SRT-4. 280hp sent to 1 front wheel at a time. Yeah that was fantastic idea! :rolleyes:

Then again, why do I care about this car? Not like Ford is gonna offer it to us :rolleyes:
 
I did not realise until I saw that NA Focus pic how ugly their version is - strange because I am sure thet actually the design is not all that different, just the detailing I suppose. That razor blade radiator grill - yew on a small car.
 
What I don't get is what do they expect to achieve by making a weird version for certain countries; except lower sales figures ofcourse. But why would a car company want that?

As the the Focus R.S., I think it looks nice although the detailing seems a tad over the top I feel they should remove some of that to make it smoother overrall. I wish they would make a version that looked good and was really economical!
 
Yes, the ST is my Focus of choice, I agree with you the RS is just a few slashes and slats too many.

Inside is nice though, some clever and thoughtful touches.
 
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Yup, what a bunch of assholes. An opportunity to create a really kick ass little niche car comes along, and they say, "Aw screw it, nobody needs AWD, they'll buy it anyway!" Assholes.

Wow, it's like they brought in some goons from the American division to manage this project!

-rep to Ford. :roll:
 
Looks fucking brilliant. Sucks that they didnt give it AWD tho. However, I think Ford may pull it off.
 
Wow, it's like they brought in some goons from the American division to manage this project!

-rep to Ford. :roll:

No, if you had American goons you wouldn't be getting the RS at all, and you'd get the above referenced US Focus.

Ford Europe does have their share of idiots, there's just a lot less of them than they have in the US branch.

Many of them manage Jaguar.
 
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