Re: Does Anyone own an RS Focus?

Jul 28, 2003 2 Replies
A


I would just like to know how good are they...are you having any problems


>with the car...is it everything you expected it to be?
>
>Any information would be appreciated as i'm planning to buy one.
>
>Regards
>
>dcg
>
>
>

Guy at work has one for the last month. comments so far -:


1, Scarily fast


  1. Not so clever when its very wet

  2. You have to be a complete looney or a very very good driver to get the best out of it


  1. Outside looks great Inside looks like an explosion in a cheapo car accessory shop.

  2. Not had it long enough to have had any problems with it.

So would I want one? No definitely not as a day to day car (My license wouldn't last 5 mins) If I were well enough off to have one for odd days and track days then yes.



I was torn between replacing my 2.0l Ghia (end of 3 yr lease period



90k on the clock) with either a ST170 or a TDCi 115Hp in the end the fact that another guy with a ST told me how poor the fuel consumption was i.e. very rarely more than 30mpg and generally in the mid to low
20's I went with the TDCi Ghia which another guy in the office has and generally gets around 55mpg whilst still being a fairly nippy motor.
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

s'only 212bhp, s'not that fast ;-)

Not driven it much in the wet but I can't think of anything else fwd that i'd rather be in. You shouldn't be driving fast if it's very wet anyway.

I totally disagree, the car is wonderfully easy to drive, hooking up the diff and zooming out of corners gives the "indelible smile" effect, possibly acompanied by manic laughter.

Outside does look great, personally I like the inside, it's a little OTT which is just what the doctor ordered quite frankly.

See

formatting link
and
formatting link
for owner forums that will tell all the horror stories (mainly coolant leaks due to poor clip placement on some coolant pipes), more recent builds seem fine, mine is perfect. Some people complain of rampant brake squeek but mine are silent, they should be run in carefully.

You should have got one, day to day they are surprisingly easy to live with, though if you are prone to going a bit too fast maybe the diesel was the right choice :-p

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
A

Notice --> ;-) he he he

the RS will only spin both wheels together due to the diff so power understeer is eliminated thus TC is useless, I don't think there is anyother FWD car available that could "blow away" an RS _particularly_ where corners are involved whatever the road conditions (barring snow n ice of course)

I would say that if it feels easy to drive then it is probably easy to drive fast, havn't done any track driving but I think the main problem is that people drive it like a fwd car, trick is to go into the corner quickish and nicely balanced then stomp on go pedal well before the apex and the diff works its magic. I guess it just corners quicker than most other cars and that requires a slight reappraisal of technique. A recent autocar article pitched 5 fast cars along a short stretch of B road, the RS was slowest overall mainly due to having the lowest power/weight ratio by quite a bit, but it was the quickest car through some of the slower corners, quicker than a 996 and a noble around a corner is not to be sniffed at.

Like I said, OTT suits me fine, I think it matches the character of the car TBH. I have seen special edition evo/scoobs that look like a "stick a pin in the deemon tweeks catalog" effort so it's not just ford who are guilty of that one. Plus the seats are _really_ comfy.

AT 15k miles a year you would want a runabout to ease the strain, the tdci is certainly a nice motor.

8 points ouch, maybe you should have considered the 100hp version ;-)
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required