2009 Ford Focus RS official teaser
June 12, 2008 by George Skentzos
Ford has given us our first official, albeit slightly disguised glimpse of the highly anticipated Focus RS model undergoing performance and durability testing at the Nurburgring.
The Focus RS is powered by a turbocharged Duratec 2.5-litre engine as used in the XR5 Turbo, however power jumps to an incredible 206kW with torque rising to a mammoth 400Nm.
Unfortunately despite earlier reports, the all-wheel drive system seems to have been scrapped in favour of a conventional front-drive orientation.
To help get all that power onto the road, the Focus RS is tipped to feature a semi-active limited-slip differential as well as upgraded springs, dampers and anti-roll bars.
“We’re staying true to the core RS principles of a no-compromise, affordable high performance road car you can live with. The new Focus RS will have the muscles, heart and soul of a genuine RS and will be exciting to drive every day.” Jost Capito, Focus RS development group.
The pre-production model will make its first public appearance at the London Motor Show this July with European sales to follow in 2009.
It is still not known whether the Focus RS model will make it to the Australian market, however more details and technical specifications will be released closer to the launch date.
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Awesome, will we get it here?
It will never be considered a “no-compromise performance car” if it is to remain front drive. Just as no-one mentions the Mazda3 MPS in the same sentence as STi or Evo, people will only consider this a very good/fast front driver like the MPS and Golf GTi. No-compromise means no compromise! Not even a little. ie dropping AWD because its too expensive/heavy/complex or what ever reason they come up with.
the Mazda 3 MPS is a fantastic car, but even owners of the car will admit that it does have one major flaw, and that is the front wheel drive. It just has too much power for it, which is a shame because basically every other aspect of the car is simply brilliant! Phenominal engine, fantastic handling and grip, good brakes, the thing just has too much grunt for the front treads! The focus RS will fall into the exact same boat.
Awesome looking machine, Ford has so many WINNER’S lately, Richo lets not get ahead of ourselfs until we have fully reviewed and tested this beautiful machine, this km eater would eat anything Toyleta could ever dream of.
“this km eater would eat anything Toyleta could ever dream of.”
except turning a profit!
Stop brining toyota into it.
Although chances are the front wheel drive factor maybring it down. If its engineered well enough it might be masked well. There are some fwd cars that don’t suffer too much, e.g. the mini, although it does have less power..but still.
Looks awesome though.
now this is the car that would look fantastic parked next to the escort was hoping for AWD though
Jez, the Ford Focus sells very well (BIG PROFITS) and performs well above many other manufacturer’s, How do you know Ford Europe is not making a profit, please don’t talk like a frail Dingo.
I bring Toyoda into it because chalk and cheese speaks volumes.. Ford obviously has more credentials.
Looks like it might have Kuga-style vents underneath the headlamps, a little different from the rendering.
The Mk1 Focus is regarded as one of the best handling FWD cars ever- if anyone can do a FWD chasis well it’s Ford. I hope they keep the weight down, because it’s porky enough as it is.
It’s a shame this is FWD, I was excited to see a Focus take on Subaru and Mitsubishi for once, what’s the point of coming out with a halo car if it’s still not at its best?
This is a 60K MPS. Buy an MPS, put an XEDE system on it, and it will be good for 205KW ATW, and 415 Nm or torque. All for an extra $1500 fitted. Hapy days. My car has 27K on the clock, and driveshafts have already been replaced lol.
Let’s not forget this is created by TeamRS, so even though it’s an FWD it will be good, guaranteed. It will still eat and MPS3 with the usual bolt ons, and it’s RS (drool). Sadly, no chance of them coming to Australia.
this car would be the perfect opportunity for fpv to expand their model range
Sorry, unlikely to be on my shopping list unless it is under $45K. I’ll keep my (already) Front Wheel Drive XR5.
No compromise?? It is FRONT WHEEL DRIVE.
FWD, yes, but with a semi-active differential. It is this important feature which nullifies or greatly reduces most of the traditional FWD weaknesses. It is this which makes the Renault Megane R26 the current benchmark for FWD performance handling, and it is the lack of this feature which makes the 3MPS such a dog. Better to use a smart FWD diff and save weight, than go heavy AWD in a small car like the Impreza, or cut back the power in 1st and 2nd gears like the MPS.
There is an early TopGear episode where the FWD, semi-active front diff-equipped LR Focus ST220 positively wiped the floor with the greater-powered, AWD Impreza WRX of the day. YouTube it.
Sorry, that shoudl be the Mk1 RS, not ST220.
It makes no difference if its got tricky electronic diffs, or tuned by the best Ford can find.
The public PERCEPTION is that FWD… well FWD is a comprimise when it comes to performance cars.
Id rather see it gain 100kg and AWD, it should still outperform its rivals – Evo X, Sti, Gold R32…. as long as its priced right.
Hmmm nice car, not sure if i can agree with you dan, I would upgrade to this over your XR5 because yours doesnt excite people.
I will be looking at one of these if they do come to australia, but something says to me its not going to be cheap.
Front wheel drive doesnt effect me, if it was AWD it would be great, but they didnt do it, and i have faith that it will be a beaut package, considering the poor effort on the ST (XR5T).
So if this Focus Rs is not coming here then I would buy the Normal XR5T but wait until 3 years maybe by then it would have a more powerful engine.
Looks great, but 206kw through the front wheels of that size car? Doesn’t sound like a good idea.
Pity ford didn’t wait for the Kuga platfrom…4wd. Perhaps they could adapt it to take the focus body, lower it a bit and hey presto 4wd focus RS. just what the Doc ordered.
206kW…which is a lot for a FWD hatch LSD or not. All I can say is it better be cheap.
Time and reviews will tell how good it actually is, but on paper an photos…well you can not ask for BMW 135 money ($72k) and you probably couldn’t ask for Evo/Sti money ($60k) with an FF layout. Even the VW Golf R32 ($55k) would have to be more expensive, since Ford isn’t as prestigious as VW, the Golf has 4WD and you can bet that the mk6 Golf also coming out in 2009 will address any difference in power. It also might have a headache with the FPV Tornado ($55k) and the XR6-T ($45.5k). Looks like it will have to slot in at $50k or below to make it a good proposition. Maybe we’ll be lucky and it’ll be more like $47k. $10k more than XR5 seems fair but better be faster than the Mitsubishi railliart ($40k? When it FINALLY gets here).
Im just going to buy an impreza WRX in it’s mutt ugly guise for now, and if a 4wd version of this comes out when I have greys, I’ll look at that then..
hey there. why doesnt anyone mention BMW 135 in here, its 250 dollars cheaper then the latest evo , a lot nicer interior, and its beeen clocked doin 0-100 in 4.9 seconds, now all the crap on paper comin from BMW says it does 0-100 in 5.3 seconds, however this is only because the new M3 does the same in 4.8 so they tryin to make the M3 superior, butttt if u go to google and type in BMW 135i vs new M3 you ll see the 135i beats it 0-100 and also in quarter mile, 225 kws and 400 NM of torque availabe from 1300 revs in a real wheel drivee is astonishing, it s quicker then both evo and STI, however i ve seen a comparison between it and new evo and on track its 3 seconds slower then evo, but again it was some dodgy driver behind the BMW lol, i d love to see top gear preview a proper race between 135 i and new evo, anywywas i drive a 3 MPS and i can tell u after the engine is run in , about 5 000 kms on clock this car is like nothin i ve experienced before, 0-100 in about 5,4 seconds u just need to learn to launch it, its almost got the same torque as 135 i BMW 380 Nm vs 400Nm and its more then 70 kilos lighter, torque sensing limited slip differntial s the smartest thing mazda did for this car, my friend imports japanese cars and sells them, and his s got a mazda 3 MPS AWD, it was front wheel drive but now converted to AWD. and it now runs 12 second quarter mile but ofcourse with a tuned engine to deliver 510 Nm, and 245kws at the wheels. anyhow i am off to drive my little MPS for service, New focus RS will be a killer car, but anything over 170 kws in front wheels is too much, thats why MPS 3 has only 170 kws available in 1st and second gear, and then in third comes crushin accceleration muahhaha