Ford Focus RS'09 is.. FWD.

[thedguy]

FWD.. dont you mean FWGAY. thats bullshit. why cant ford just put power to the rear ??? so they need a new tranny and a rear end. Whoop de doo! there doing the same thing like with the mustang and its suspension and drive train. such a shame for such a pretty pretty car

They need a new rear suspension, tranny, floor, and front bulkhead design. Hammering out a tunnel on a car may be fine for the backyard mechanic, but isn't such a good idea for a factory effort.

Make it RWD and it because the BMW 1 series, and only useful for anyone who wants a performance car. At that point, why not just buy a damn Honda S2000?

 

[TC]

They need a new rear suspension, tranny, floor, and front bulkhead design. Make it RWD and it because the BMW 1 series, and only useful for anyone who wants a performance car. At that point, why not just buy a damn Honda S2000?

Yeah, different cars for different purposes.

Otherwise all of Ford's lineup would be the same, just with different names.

 

[_HighVoltage_]

I don't think FWD will be such a problem in this car. I have a feeling it will be unbelievably good!
It's just that RWD and FWD cars are driven differently. A proper driver, like The Stig, should have no problem with it and it should post a very good time around the TG track.

(Oh, Ford, please don't prove me wrong!)

 

[No Boss]

It goes to plaid?

http://img505.imageshack.**/img505/8637/spaceballslarge026xdqt9.jpg

 

[Necx0]

RWD has been done, this what the RS should be. 2.3 litre N/A rwd and about 300bhp.

[YOUTUBE]PDNqB2phNUU[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Redliner]

Come on, bashing the car because it is FWD is stupid. As usual, people are judging a car that doesn't even exist!

 

[MadCow809]

thats a great looking interior.

a hot looking car... i want one.

pity its not 4wd, and lacks on power.. but cranking the boost should definetely help.

 

[Crazyjeeper]

I think it looks fantastic, and apparently they made the MS3 work with 260hp, hopefully this will work as well.

 

[fbc]

For some reason I read the title as "'09 Focus RS is......RWD"

Spooky, so did I... my disappointment was quite large.

It looks fantastic, in an OTT-aggro way. But all that grunt with FWD raises some pretty big questions.

 

[NooDle]

Well I like it.
Yeah the FWD thing can be annoying but when can you ever really use all the power for all of the time?

Styling wise it looks OK, nice and pointy. The orange dials are a bit chav though...

 

[scathing]

look at WTCC cars there FWD

Isn't that because the rules require it? No-one builds a FWD race car by choice.

The WTCC cars probably handle well compared to a street car, unsurprisingly, but they won't handle as well as an AWD or RWD race car designed to the same rules.

 

[scathing]

You do realise the previous RS Focus without AWD lapped the Top Gear track 4 seconds faster than the WRX at that time?
How about waiting until this thing is released, drive it, then pass judgment.

Aye.

And when evo magazine ran the previous RS Focus head to head against the WRX of the time, the Focus lapped their circuit faster than the WRX did.....in the wet.

But, then again, so did the Integra Type-R with its massive power deficit.


And with the new WRX being softer than warm butter, chances are if this RS keeps the "mongrel" in it then it'll still be more fun to drive.

 

[IceBone]

It's so funny reading all these responses by the Americans bashing it for being FWD when they've never driven a sorted out FWD car. The old car was great on track, but not as much on normal roads, 10 bucks says Ford EU has sorted that out now.

 

[Karoug]

Isn't that because the rules require it? No-one builds a FWD race car by choice.

The WTCC cars probably handle well compared to a street car, unsurprisingly, but they won't handle as well as an AWD or RWD race car designed to the same rules.

The WTCC cars can be RWD (BMW)..

 

[Dsemaj]

If they could do it for the Escort Cosworth, why not this? Damn fail-wheel-drive.

 

[flyingfridge]

I'm saddend, they'll put in all this effort for the sake of saving a couple of euros and they'll end up with something that is inferior to the Golf R32 which has less power but has all wheel drive and doesn't have any problem selling or putting a big moon-sized grin on your dial.

[rant] C'mon Ford, wake up!! I know the Focus ST/XR5 handles brilliantly but you can't deny the fact that It'll be so much better with AWD, there isn't a way all that power can be put on the ground with FWD, not even with a tricky diff. The laws of physics and weight transfer are too real to ignore! The Focus is based on Ford's global C-Segment platform so it should be able to take AWD without any major modifications to the floor pan, why not adapt an existing Volvo AWD system?!

Argh! This is too frustrating, i think I need to go and club some baby seals to cheer myself up.

300bhp + FWD = FAIL (no matter how clever you think your diff is, listen to Isaac Newton you wankers) [/rant]

 

[Flynn]

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/03/03/chavvyford.jpg

Not all modified normal cars are chav you know. I know they have gone abit over the top on details but chavs couldn't afford to buy a Focus, let alone insure. Plus Chavs have no taste! They like things like this:

 

[marcos_eirik]

If they could do it for the Escort Cosworth, why not this? Damn fail-wheel-drive.

I tried to explain that in my post in this thread, but anyway here's a modified quote:

The mkV Escort was originally a transreverse FVD design, which is difficult to give an efficient 4wd system due to the design of the whole floor and rear end/axle assembly of the car. Put short, they would have had to redesign the whole floor of the car and the rear end, which would be expensive, compromise interior space and still not be as efficient as a rvd/longditutional engine-based one. So, the Escort RS Cosworth, was that it was built on a shortened version of the old RVD Sierra platform, with a flared mkV Escort body put on it. The 4wd system was a very simple, yet effective TorSen system with a longditutionally mounted engine and 70 % of the power going to the rear and 30 % going to the front, with a limited slipp diff at the back. This system was used in all of the 4x4 Sierras and Scorpios (Granada in the UK), pluss the Escort RS Cosworth.

By the way, the Sierra RS Cosworths, including the RS500 were rwd, only the late model "Sapphire" Cosworts, built on the 4-door saloon were 4wd.

 

[tigger]

It's so funny reading all these responses by the Americans bashing it for being FWD when they've never driven a sorted out FWD car.

It's Fail-Wheel-Drive, that's all I need to know :lol:. I've driven a few powerful FWD cars, such as the SRT4 and the V8 Impala. I've driven a well sorted out Integra and MX6 too. ... And it's just a shit way to try and put power down. You can make the car handle great and run like hell, but it's still not as much fun as RWD or AWD. Plus there's the whole thing of Ford saying it would be AWD, then backing out. That's just a little annoying.

 

[luvcars]

Although FWD is disappointing I think they will pull it off! It looks awesome!