Ford Focus RS: Premier Spot

Cars

New Ford Focus RS cuts a dash in the 'parents-and-babies' aisle.

We spotted our first Ford Focus RS in the steel this week.

It’s always an event to see a car that will likely sit up there in the rarified atmosphere of blue collar legends like the Sierra Cosworth and the Escort Mexico.

We haven’t yet had the chance to try one for ourself – but by all accounts this is exactly what this car is – a working class hero in azzuri.

Close to 350 horsepower. 0-60 in under five seconds. Price tag around £30K? You can see what the fuss is about the new Ford Focus RS.

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The car utilises a clever new four wheel drive system makes the most of an amazingly efficient four-cylinder engine. There are huge discs, a trick exhaust system and a list of unique RS Ford standard features that make this a pure-bred classic for aficionados of the breed.

But looking at it here we think they’ve pulled off a subtle masterpiece in terms of design.

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It’s much more understated at first compared to some of the previous generations of RS cars. We loved the tweaky torqueyness of the last Focus RS, with its bulges and fatness and its lime green chavitude.

We loved also the matte black badness of the Cosworth RS 500.

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But the much more refined scoops, louvres of the latest Ford Focus RS makes this car feel as if it might appeal to a truly broad and diverse bunch of folk. The sort of people who might have traditionally opted for your smaller Audis and AMG hotties.

The splitters and wing and diffusers are still there – as is that flat, racer like rear end that haunches down nicely. But the whole package is palatable whilst being openly loud and proud of that badge (which is featured in relief on the wing as well as in 3D on the front and rear).

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All in all this Ford manages to bridge the gap between out and out street hero wannabes like Honda’s Civic Type R and things like the RS3 Audi that hide their lights too far back in the woods.

It won’t be long till we get a go and we can bring you a an experience from the wheel.

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