Can the Focus RS drift? I am about to find out as the instructor selects drift mode and gives me the go-ahead to enter the tar drift circle – this is my type of launch! I turn in and nail the throttle. The back end steps out and a quick correction on the steering wheel prevents cones from flying. The following throttle inputs are more measured and the RS responds with a graceful slide at the correct angle. As the car settles down at the balance point, I push the accelerator to the firewall and see the rear-view mirror filling with expensive Michelin smoke as four wheels take bites at the asphalt… Yes, this Focus can dance sideways.
How does it look?
Styling-wise, the car appears both purposeful and bad tempered. The Focus ST’s demeanour has been tweaked by fitting a new bumper with a large, gaping mouth to feed the intercooler with as much cool air as possible. There are also clever ducts next to the fog lights that direct cool air to the 350 mm front discs.
At the rear, two big-bore exhaust outlets protrude from the substantial diffuser. The RS trademark wing adds to the aerodynamic package and Ford is quite proud that the vehicle has zero lift at speed – a quality very few hatches can manage. The optional 19-inch forged alloys in black complete the visual appeal.
And the cabin?
The interior is slightly disappointing if you expected a completely different treatment to that of the current ST. Yes, the Recaro frame-hugging seats with blue stitching look good and there is a new infotainment system with an eight-inch touchscreen interface. It is not a bad place to be with a good driving position (I found the optional race seat too high), but you do not get a sense of occasion as with the opposition vehicles. The money obviously went somewhere else…
Why drifting is important
There is little point in going sideways and melting rubber, right? Well, not in the case of the all-wheel-drive, super-hatch segment where Ford needed to prove a point. The company knew that it would be difficult to compete with the German opposition (Mercedes-AMG A45 and Audi RS3) in terms of badge appeal and straight-line performance, and so had to box clever. The ingenious team of RS engineers spotted a chink in the armour of the Germans and it’s called understeer.
Most all-wheel-drive vehicles struggle with this “illness” that results in the nose pushing wide under hard cornering – not ideal for the driving enthusiast. The Focus counters this with an intelligent rear differential that can supply up to 70% of the engine torque to the rear axles and up to 100% of that figure to the outside wheel while cornering. This torque vectoring essentially pushes the rear around the bend to curb any notion of understeer.
Manual transmission
The second trump card is the six-speed manual transmission. In the sportscar world where dual-clutch transmissions are the norm, this is a rarity. Many would rather opt for the comfort of an auto in traffic and then have the luxury to focus on the best lines through a mountain pass while the transmission does the cog swaps in milliseconds. Not the enthusiast, though, which will endure the manual labour and sacrifice ultimate pace but reap the rewards of perfect gear selection and shifts when going for it. Ford knows it customers and the 3 700 pre-orders in Europe tells a story of its own.
On the road
How does the technology relate to the road, though? As I drove out of the city of Valencia, the RS felt docile enough and the suspension coped well with the road undulations in comfort mode. To call the car an easy daily driver is maybe going a bit far as the suspension setup is stiff, but the adaptive damping is good.
Still in comfort mode, the engine has a muted, off-beat sound that defies the four-cylinder layout. The cabin is well insulated at the national speed limit. Then the sat-nav requested that I turn off to the hilly area outside the city. Sport mode was called upon and immediately the character of the car changed to antisocial. The open exhaust flaps allowed barely legal levels of sound to reverberate of the cliffs and naughty pops and crackles on the overrun encouraged more aggressive throttle usage.
A twisty ribbon of tarmac showed that Ford chassis engineers are masters of their subject as the turn-in is good and powering-out even better. Dive into a slow-speed, second-gear hairpin and pick up the throttle early. You are rewarded with impressive thrust and a neutral attitude out of the corner as the rear differential works its magic. This is where a front-biased all-wheel-drive system will not allow you liberal use of the loud pedal until much later in the cornering sequence if you intend to stick to your chosen line.
The mill
The engine of the RS is a 2,3-litre turbopetrol unit that is also employed in the Mustang. In the RS it delivers 257 kW and 440 N.m (470 N.m for 15 seconds as an overboost function). According to Tyrone Johnson, vehicle-engineering manager of Ford Performance, cost came into play during engine development. It is much cheaper to rather add 0,3-litre in capacity and keep the engine internals conventional than to develop a race-specification 2,0-litre mill. The end result is a competitive output figure (albeit slightly lower than the competition’s). Johnson warned aftermarket tuners that only raising the boost pressure to produce more power is not a good idea from reliability perspective, as the engine internals will need upgrading first.
Launch control
The next day, we drove to the Valencia racetrack but before we headed out there was another technology to experience: launch control. The system keeps the engine speed at 5 000 r/min at full throttle and allows the driver to dump the clutch upon pull-away. Engine torque is then controlled to optimum levels and a shift light indicates it’s time for the next gear ratio. Each shift can be completed without taking your foot off the accelerator (flat shifting). The process sounds mechanically cruel, as journalist after journalist tried to beat the 4,7-second zero-to-100 km/h claim. The test units, however, showed no sign of strain and completed run after run fault-free.
On track
Ford clearly has a lot of confidence in the product, as it allowed us out on track alone at set intervals to enjoy the vehicle’s capability at the maximum of our driving ability in track mode. No pace car and no nanny to monitor forceful gearshifts… Normally, a road car is slightly disappointing on track as the brakes start to fade after a few laps and engine warnings regarding temperatures prevent extended intervals. Not the Focus RS, which took an absolute beating and came back for more – the Brembo brake setup is truly impressive. The fun factor is high and the neutral cornering attitude when powering out a revelation.
Summary
In summary, Ford has not tried to beat the German opposition in a straight fight, but rather opted to offer driving enthusiasts a pure driver’s car. Is it faster? I have my reservations, mostly owing to manual shifting compared to the shift speeds achieved with a slick dual-clutch ‘box. The owner of an RS will, however, have much more fun trying to set the ultimate lap time. Ford South Africa could not supply us with a price at the time of writing, and this is the only real bugbear. To truly make a case for itself, the Ford’s price will need to undercut the main opposition’s. Otherwise we may only see a very limited number reaching our shores.
