The first reviews of the all-new 2016 Ford Focus RS are in and as we all expected, the high-performance hatchback is an incredible car.
Tested here by Car Throttle with their usual British humor, we get to see the new Focus RS up close in the sunshine of Spain, both on the Valencia MotoGP circuit and the surrounding mountain roads, giving us a good idea of how the car performs across different road surfaces and in its various driving modes. Yes, that also includes drift mode.
Given all the hype surrounding the car, there was certainly a possibility that it would fall short and fail to meet everyone’s expectations. Based on this review however, it seems that Ford has created a car worthy of the fabled RS badge and capable of matching it with much more expensive cars, like the Mercedes-AMG A45 and Audi RS3 Sportback.
Thanks to its 350 hp, 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine similar to the Mustang’s, the Focus RS is capable of accelerating to 100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds. When combined with an advanced all-wheel drive system utilizing torque vectoring that can send 70 per cent of power to one rear wheel, the car is even capable of pulling 1g during cornering.
All of the class-leading tech of the model is available from $35,730 in the US.