2016 Ford Focus RS First Drive Review

PRICE $36,605

We finally slide behind the wheel of America's first RS model

 Your Kia Target RS is usually a car or truck that requires minor introduction. Kia continues to be hyping their all-wheel-drive hatchback intended for pretty much a full yr, lately using a viral online video plan showcasing additional shows compared to a lot of HBO dramas. Like the a couple of preceding Target RS models, it is often designed generally within European countries; in contrast to the earlier vehicles, it's going to be distributed worldwide, like the Ough. Ersus., in which their $36, 605 MSRP puts it within one on one rivalry with all the Volkswagen Golfing 3rd r along with the Subaru WRX STI. It is uncharted terrain intended for Kia.

 

The first and most obvious point when inspecting the RS up close is how familiar it looks. Yes, the body kit has a bit more muscular definition than that of the Focus ST, and the rear wing is bigger and the front air vents enlarged (and covered with motorsport-style mesh). But could you tell the two hot Focuses apart from across a dark street at night? Probably not. It’s the same story in the cabin, with some RS graphics and blue trim, plus the red zone of the rev counter sitting fractionally higher. But other than that, and a control panel for the four switchable driving modes next to the gear selector, very little has changed. After a brief turn in the passenger seat, while a senior Ford engineer attempts to acquaint us with the track and reacquaint us with our breakfast as he demonstrates the impressive levels of lateral acceleration the RS is capable of generating, it’s time to take over. Our first instinct—as we imagine yours would be—is to thrash the RS like a stolen donkey during our too-brief time behind the wheel. But with the same senior Ford engineer now sitting shotgun, and the sight of another RS prototype buried deep in a gravel trap serving as evidence of how slippery the track gets in the Belgian perma-rain, we opt to start at a more cautious pace. The first question is answered within 100 yards of leaving the parking lot, that being whether the RS’s engine feels different from that of the Mustang EcoBoost. The two cars share what’s basically the same unit, although it has been turned sideways in the RS. The hatch also gets a more powerful twin-scroll turbocharger and various internal modifications to handle the increased boost pressure that delivers its headline-making 350 horsepower. (Read our full tech deep dive here.) It feels far more enthusiastic than the Mustang, with none of that car’s top-end tightness; there’s some lag down low, but the RS’s engine pulls hard once the turbo spins up and exhibits an undiminished zeal all the way to the 6800-rpm fuel cutoff.
Let's say that’s there are not enough? Exactly what if you need the total Ken Prohibit? Very well, that produces us on the much-vaunted “drift function, ” an element in which, whenever Frd introduced this, just about fixed the world wide web burning. Frd won’t we will enjoy using this type of about the road-aping parts of Lommel’s different training, and so alternatively many of us encounter this on one of the huge the road seas on the center. Following appealing drift function through the actual selector, many that’s necessary is to implement a great wrong proportion connected with directing fastener and throttle your pedal concurrently. There’s some original “are a person certain with this? ” understeer, performing since a sort of powerful legal responsibility waiver, after which it, since almost all of the engine’s end result is used in the outside back exhaust, the move into using tobacco oversteer. It’s the cool key, although it's really a key. Your RS can be meant to virtually rewrite within its period in the event you’re and so minded, although from higher data transfer speeds the device works in order to control the actual point of view of the drift—denying the kind connected with two-turn other fastener in which promotes by far the most magenta auto prose—with the actual stability program intervening by pinging the leading brakes to hold the actual RS on training course. It’s surprisingly hard to support the slide pertaining to more than a couple of seconds, while many of us suppose this will be sufficient for the majority of owners. Over a Belgian check observe the actual Focus RS is brilliant. Now many we have to watch for is to see how the latest Focus will probably handle the world outdoors Lommel’s cautiously produced simulation from it. Your RS falls short of the actual crude allure in which attained it's predecessors their particular cult using within European union, along with Ford’s world-wide aims because of this car or truck clearly resembled within the fact that it’s significantly additional completed. Frd has been making RS types for almost several decades, and People in america happen to be lobbying for the kids for almost so long as. The primary one to formally corner the actual Atlantic can be among the best.