Muffleman

Hi all,

Toying with the idea of a Focus RS just for a year, but just wondered if anyone has any idea of what the values will hold up like ?

There's LOADS of them in Autotrader at the mo, might be able to grab a winter bargain.

I know these cars are receiving mixed reviews, but might be worth owning for a year.

Cheers


Matt

davyboy

compshack

Muffleman, Focus RS = great car. I had one for 3 months, which is no reflection on the car. I think if you buy one you won't have a problem selling it. I sold mine the first week in auto trader for more than I bought it for. In a years time I think they will be more desirable. Cheap to run as well no where near as expensive as the STI 8 I have now, which is a better car but my wallet is serverly dented. Go for Ford Insurance, I got mine for £395.00 for the year! Very fast and looks the biz

Muffleman

LMAO at Davyboy. I know I know, but I was just after some 'gutfeels'. I'm not sure on this one.

My problem is I give great car advice to my mates cos I'm using my head, but I make terrible decisions when it comes to my own cars cos I'm ruled by my, er, not my brain anyway !

Thanks compshack. The reason I asked is I got a quick insurance quote with Tescos - £540 ! That's ridiculous !!!

I may well have to have one for a year.

Matt

messiah

sisters (now ex) boyfriend just bought an R32. His mate was also going to buy one but the dealer wouldn't take his RS Focus in exchange - they refused to make him an offer.

Nice cars but it seems the word "Ford" puts a lot of people off.

RB5320

Whatever car you buy is likely to lose you money. The RS is likely to lose you less than most. It is also pretty cheap to run/insure.

Steve

Muffleman

TELL me about it ! Just wish I didn't love cars so damn much...

Hey ho.

DjacK-uk

I have a focus rs kicking out 255bhp and its pretty god damn fast.. It handles very well and looks nice. Insurance only went up 50 quid on the mods i have put on the car.. Very impressed with it.. And this is coming from a 350bhp Evolution 6, for the same reasons its cheaper to run insure and i do alot of travelling. But i do miss my 4 wheel drive!

Muffleman

Cheers, I just can't believe the insurance quotes !

DavidChief

The RS looks, handles and performs brilliantly. Traction is good for a high powered FWD car. The only time you feel it is lacking AWD is using low gears in the wet - you have to be gentle to avoid wheelspin.

This car is a lot quicker than people think. At Santa Pod I recorded a quarter mile time of 14.3 at 100.88mph. That means the 0-100 time of this car is 14.3! Did I mention that my car is completely unmodified, not even chipped! The quoted figure of 16.4 is rediculous - it's a lot quicker than that. With good traction the 0-60 should be around 5.5 - 5.6 as standard. It pulls strong all the way up to 145 and the massive torque makes the gearing very flexible - at 70 mph, 3rd, 4th and 5th all pull strong.

In the dry the diff makes it feel more like a AWD car than a FWD car.

Probably the best hot hatch ever - but still not really an Evo / Scooby competitor. Can't wait to see what they do with the next gen Focus - a 300bhp AWD Cossie would be insane!

At 20k it's a good deal - but I would be cautious of paying a premium - you're going to lose quite a bit of cash if you pay a 3 - 4k premium to get one. Residuals should be good, demand is high and they are relatively rare.

[Edited by DavidChief - 10/31/2003 4:04:57 PM]

mart360

See enough of these beasts rolling off the production line!!

it has a few flaws that would make me steer (sic) clear..

there are three top end models the st170 uk the svt170 usa(better) and the RS it has some clever body syling to make it look bigger..

imho the biggest niggle is the handling,, they dont seem to have the suspension correct and all that bhp through the front wheels.... have fun


Mart

Cabinet Enforcer

What makes you say the SVT is better than the ST170? I'd be interested to know, since the SVT is the costed down version in most respects, similar to the way that the US focus isn't a patch on the euro one.

chrisp

David we still need to go head to head at SPOD sometime (its MY02Focus BTW )

DavidChief

Bring it on!! What sort of times are you running?

chrisp

dont know never run the RA, which makes it even more interesting

jonmorris

Care to share some of the flaws with the rest of us?? I've not discovered any problems yet and my car is just over a month away from its first years service!

And the 60mm wider track has nothing to do with it!!

I do.

Mercury

I have seen all the RS guys saying how cheap insurance is through HIC [08451 290290] for standard and highly modified cars, apparently it includes unlimited trackday insurance too.

RS Grant

Well insurance will be cheap... IIRC the RS is only a group 16, same as a V6 Mondeo!!

Cheers,
Grant

chrisp

Rumour of insurnace grouping changing. Its very strange an ST170 is 15 and the RS is 16 and 2.0 zetec is 7/8 I think.

DavidChief

Insurance groups don't really change. AFAIK, it is a one time classification, and can only change if there is a good reason, not "oops we changed our minds".

jonmorris

The rumour started on a forum and was quickly corrected but still seems to pop up from time to time.

The rumour suggested the car had changed to group 20 because they were all getting nicked/stolen - and the person worked at an insurance company etc etc.

bumcrack

Err, isn't this topic meant to be about the value of a Focus in a years time, not how great/crap there are?????????

jonmorris

Oh yes we were!!

Well, the value is obviously going to drop in the future. I doubt anyone will kid themselves otherwise, although because of the limited numbers and the badge I expect them to hold out well in 2-3 years time.

£25k examples are people out to make money, who can afford to buy/sell cars for extreme profit but also cut their losses after a certain time and buy the next "limited production run" model. With 20-30+ in Auto Trader and the like, the time will come that a) they're all sold or b) they all have to drop the price.

Like the high price for an old Escort Cosworth, you need to forget book price as it's worth what someone will pay. Then again, selling private can be a nightmare and you can be sure that if you opted to trade it in, then the sneaky dealer would give book price and not a penny more!

When the new shape Focus comes out, that will have an impact. Certainly if they decide to (quite likely) make a Focus RS out of the new shape, then the current one will suffer accordingly. Nobody knows if they will but I'm 99.9% sure they'll make something even if it's not the 4WD Cosworth version and just a toned down Mazda/Volvo engineered version.

If the Focus Cosworth IS announced, that will have another impact but as long as the numbers of all the cars are limited, I still believe the car will be worth relatively more than a mass produced CT-R or WRX.

I really like the Focus RS for not just the performance but the style, colour and practicality (and cheap insurance). It's an affordable performance car that is also based on one of the most reliable production cars on sale (Honda and Subaru are also very reliable too of course).

I believe that this desireability makes the Focus RS worth good money compared to say the ST170 which is a great car in its own right but nothing too out of the ordinary.

chrisp

Only difference with the esc cossie is that 90% of them have been written off/not on the road anymore. If you write off 90% of the FRS then I guess you will have a rarity value.

jonmorris

Once the Focus RS is 5-6 years old and is cheap enough for the kids to buy (and insure), I'm certain a fair few will be wrapped around lamp posts.

While it's not hard to drive and doesn't twitch around as many say (who haven't driven one), the car obviously needs care - like any other performance car - so they WILL get wrecked.

I don't intend to keep the car beyond 3 years though in any case, so doubt I'll ever get to appreciate any increase in value like the Escort enjoyed after reaching rock bottom in the mid 1990's (when dealerships were trying to give them away).