Ford prices the new Focus RS
Ford has released some new images of the Focus RS, giving us a taste of its rocket hatch minus the blinding green paintjob.
To be honest there's not a great deal else to say about the forthcoming Ford Focus RS. In fact, there's absolutely nothing new to say except, "look at this blue one."
So, look at this blue one. But before you do, let's remind ourselves just how brilliant this car's going to be when it hits the road during Spring next year. The best place to begin is the 295bhp, 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbo engine that will help the new hot hatch to demolish 0-62mph in comfortably under six seconds.
But if you've driven the current Focus ST, which employs the same engine in a significantly lesser state of tune, you'll know that it torque steers if you're not careful with your right foot. You might even have driven the last Focus RS, which had front-wheel drive, and have experienced some even more frighteningly unpredictable handling characteristics. So what chance for this?
Well, there's a limited slip differential, but the real miracle is called 'revo-knuckle', the front suspension system that is so good - according to Ford engineers - that the RS doesn't need four-wheel drive to handle properly. And just so we're clear, 295bhp and 302lb.ft will be going through those front wheels. Ford makes wonderful driver's cars these days, but that's verging on physics-defying.
Still, we trust the Blue Oval here at Car Enthusiast, and if it drives anywhere near as good as it looks, we'll have one each please. It'll cost less than £25,000 too, so we expect Ford won't have too many problems selling the lot.
UPDATE:
Ford has just officially announced how much it will set you back to buy the flagship Focus - £24,995. It's also confirmed that, contrary to earlier reports, the official power output is an uneven 301bhp, with 324lb.ft of peak torque. There's no word quite where in the rev range that latter figure comes, but expect it comfortably as low as 2,500rpm thanks to the 2.5-litre engine's turbocharger. There's no proper 0-62mph time either, though Ford has confirmed it will be 'under six seconds'.
On top of the £25k list price, buyers can specify a Luxury Pack that adds climate control, automatic headlamps, parking sensors and a host of other things, and for another £750 you can have touch screen satnav too. There's not much out of the ordinary in the options list, though at £695 the bright 'Metallic Ultimate Green' paintwork now synonymous with the RS is quite pricey.
