Focus RS owners' opinions?

[Champale]

I test drove one today and it was VERY impressive - I think I might just "need" one. Would love to hear owner's opinions. FYI - I am a former Mitsubishi Evo owner ('05 GSR, '08 GSR, '10 MR) and love the rally-style AWD performance cars almost as much as I love my Boss Laguna. The RS would not be my DD, more of an occasional car for me, a weekend hooligan tool.

Thank you in advance!

John

 

[VoodooBoss]

The RS would not be my DD, more of an occasional car for me, a weekend HOONIGAN tool.

I fixed that for you.

In for opinions as well.

 

[Champale]

I was a hoonigan before it was cool - or even a word!

Looking at Mountune reflashes of the RS show some impressive midrange gains. Anyone reflash theirs?

 

[mattlqx]

Flatly, It's disappointing to own one once you know its limits. I feel like I've typed this a thousand times so I'll just cliffs notes it...

- RDU overheats fairly easily on track (and sometimes not even in hot climates) which triggers AWD off and becomes FWD
- Lack of front camber eats tires alive on track
- Camber is difficult/expensive to add because of electronic strut placement
- The ride is god awful, it seems to be undersprung and results in a bouncy "pogo-stick" ride on almost any road
- It's heavy and is on low profile tires, the recommended tire pressures are 46psi(!), probably contributes to the ride quality
- Even when the shock is in sport, the high center of gravity still makes the car yaw in turns
- Intercooler heat soaks quickly so you only really get max boost for a lap or two on track
- Non-forged wheels are easy to bend, skipping out on the forged option is a big mistake
- Usual complaint about sporty Focus turning radius

As a road car, it's very fun to throw around. I'd call it a good car, ride quality not withstanding. But on track, all sorts of compromises and problems. Terry's Vorshlag post about their car while a little harshly worded is pretty accurate. http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8453

 

[Champale]

Hey mattlqx - thank you for that feedback! I agree that in Track mode, the suspension was ridiculous. But when I dialed it down to sport, it felt great. I like stiff, tied-down feeling cars so it felt just about right to me.

With regard to the on track issues, those won't be problems for me because it will never see a track. At most it will subjected to 15-20 minute hill country road strafing sessions here and there. And I have read Terry's musings and he definitely seemed to change his tune over time - that very car he tested ended up being highly effective in Optima series with some fairly minor modifications.

 

[modernbeat]

...I have read Terry's musings and he definitely seemed to change his tune over time - that very car he tested ended up being highly effective in Optima series with some fairly minor modifications.

Well, I'd say softened the message. Not changed the tune.

We've found that there was more power available once beyond the "break-in tune" that nobody knew about at that time. The suspension tuning and geometry is just as bad as we reported. And more people agree about the suspension than did back then. The RDU has issues, but not as bad as we thought at the time. Tire fitment isn't great for a car this heavy, though moving down to an 18" wheel helps.

The car did acceptable at Optima due to the heroic effort of the owner. And his extreme familiarity of how to run the event (he's done 20+ Optima events).

I think Matt summed up the realities of the car pretty well. With some minor work (springs, wheels, tires) it can be a fun street car. But it's not close to the great, track-ready car Ford marketing told us it was. And for the money, there are much better dual-purpose and track cars available.

 

[Champale]

Hey awesome thank you for that post, Modernbeat! Very nice to hear from both you and mattlqx with such great knowledge of the cars!

So you raise a question - for a pure street car, do you like the RS? I come from 20+ years of sport bike riding in the Texas Hill Country and love corners. The RS would be an occasional fun car for me. I am also looking at used Evos, which I think are amongst the best and most fun backroad cars ever made.

I really appreciate your insights!

 

[buland]

same as mattqlx and we here in Europe have a lot of Enginefailures because headgasket isn't in good quality.
i use mine as dd and so far 10k miles on it. no much problems with it. i would never change a Boss with an RS.

 

[Champale]

Interesting about the head gasket.

The RS would sit next to my Laguna in the garage. I'm never getting rid of my Boss!

 

[fuhrius]

I'll add a couple things (I own two of them and a GT350R and had a '12 boss nicely modded for 5 years that I really enjoyed).
The RS is not:
- a Boss replacement...it's a totally different beast
- a track car out of the box
- probably not a great place to start if you want to build a great track car.
The RS is:
- a very capable and fun street car...particularly in specific conditions such as some that I find myself in...super twisty, tight, mountain roads...often wet.
- a nice little auto-x car for street class if you just like to show up and drive. (same as with my comment re: track car...I don't see it as the right starting point for a long-term hardcore auto-x car)

I've done mountune tunes on both of ours and that woke them us nicely. I got both cars with the stock non-forged wheels and have had zero problems with them. (we've got about 20k miles on the the two of them at this point) I did recently put some OZ legerras on one of the cars with re71r's in 255 width - dropping some unsprung weight and adding some tire patch - and that's perked up the handling a bit too. I don't intend to spend a lot more modding this car because it's just a dd for me and approachable performance packages for my kids to continue to explore their driving / car passion.

Last note: part of the reason I got the RS's versus other other potential cars is economics...given low interest rates and most other costs of ownership similar across lots of cars, the biggest cost to own is depreciation and I felt like the RS's would have decent depreciation curves.

 

[Champale]

Fuhrius thank you for your perspective! I think you got the RS for all of the same reasons I am contemplating one. I know that the RS is not the be all and end all sports car, that it isn't the best track car, that it won't cure cancer, and won't cook me breakfast in the morning (like BMW M cars do, if you believe their forums). I just want a relatively inexpensive and fun car like my Evos were to beat on when I'm not driving my Jeep SRT or my Boss.

Plus, I think the RS is just plain cool, in ways that things like the STI, BRZ, etc are not.

 

[Champale]

Update: went ahead and bought a 2017 RS today. Spec'd perfectly - no sunroof, no heated seats, has forged wheels and Sport Cup 2s, and in the awesome Stealth gray. Plus, I got it under invoice. It really is a fun little car.

Thank you for all of the advice, information, and tips!

John