Drive Review: New Ford Focus RS 2.3 EcoBoost

If you’re a thrill seeker, boy racer, aspiring drift meister or newly settled with a penchant for going fast from time to time, the new 2016 Ford Focus RS fitted with the 2.3-litre EcoBoost might just be the car you’ve been searching for. Hurry though, as only 300 are destined for our shores.

Interior

The interior trim is reminiscent of the ST and one can see that not much of the budget went towards pepping up the interior of the Ford Focus RS.  Will you get the optional seats or not? The choice should be taken depending on if the car will be driven often or just weekends or track days.  The switchgear is all ST other than the easy to use mode settings. The seating position is a tad high and when on track I would have loved to have been sat lower with those perfectly placed pedals dead ahead.

Engine and gearbox

The 257kW 2.3l EcoBoost engine has a little lag at the bottom of the range but use the launch control and lag is all but forgotten.  There is 440Nm of torque available (470Nm on overboost) and the sprint to 100Km/h gets devoured in 4.7 seconds. The car does drop out of boost slightly when changing gears but that too can be forgiven after timing blips perfectly on downshifts. Blipping only feels natural when hard on the Brembo brakes though as then the pedals line up rather nicely. The engine note is crisp and effervescent and nibbling on the rev limiter ever so slightly is a smile inducing treat.  The car is without doubt a driver “focused” car.

On The Road

In normal mode the latest Ford Focus RS is surprisingly pliant. The suspension feels like an upgraded ST. Our test car unfortunately had a puncture just before we drove it and Ford dutifully filled the tyre up with some emergency foam. The car pulled to the right slightly and although this felt like a combination of a slowly deflating tyre and the front differential working I cannot say for sure if that was the case or not. Either way, at slower speeds the Focus RS feels surprisingly comfortable. Passengers will be hard pressed to feel the difference between this and a lightly tuned ST. Fuel consumption is a respectable 7.7l/100km.

On the track-Drift Mode

When Ford first boasted about Drift Mode I was convinced is was a gimmick conceptualised to sell more Fords.  And it is.  It does however work as advertised. Andrew, my Ford Performance instructor points out that although going sideways in the Ford Focus RS is now as possible as it was when the RS500 roamed the UK B roads, the real use for Drift mode is the yaw control made famous by earlier Mitsubishi Evos. The fastest way around a race track is usually with a little “Slip Angle” meaning that a car, contrary to the adage, should not corner on rails.  Ford have engineered this characteristic into the RS in a usable, accessible way, allowing for uncanny grip up front and just enough slip at the back to rotate the car at every turn. It sends up to 70% of the power to the back, and then from that up to 100% to an individual rear wheel. It becomes the bastion for every good trait found in every drivetrain platform. Marvellous.

Value

At a whisker under R700 000 the Ford Focus RS is great value when pitted up against its obvious rivals; the more refined AMG A45 and the surefooted Audi RS3.   The short options list of the Ford is quite the revelation as many of the options available come at zero or very little cost, something the Germans could learn from.   None of the other cars in this segment offer the same thrills the Ford can. For real world fun factor, designed for all skill levels, the Ford delivers like nothing else.