New Focus RS spied
25 October 2006, 04:35 PM
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New Focus RS spied
Please let it be true, pretty please. 
SPY PHOTOS: Ford Focus RS
Has a TDCi ST badge on the back, but no TDCi or ST for that matter sits that low, or has such fat tyres. Looks like a ST bodied test mule. Rear exhaust's look bodged up test units.
300BHP is good, but I think the new Impreza and Evo's are going to move the game on even more. Expecting the Evo to be 300BHP in standard form, plus all the other FQ models that are bound to follow.
Would expect it to be on sale (if they are making it) in 2008, which suits me just fine.
SPY PHOTOS: Ford Focus RS
Has a TDCi ST badge on the back, but no TDCi or ST for that matter sits that low, or has such fat tyres. Looks like a ST bodied test mule. Rear exhaust's look bodged up test units.
300BHP is good, but I think the new Impreza and Evo's are going to move the game on even more. Expecting the Evo to be 300BHP in standard form, plus all the other FQ models that are bound to follow.
Would expect it to be on sale (if they are making it) in 2008, which suits me just fine.
25 October 2006, 05:13 PM
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Hans is amazing! - apparently he can perform power check using his ears and can assess a drivetrain design by observing how the car accelerates. I think i might book him instead of a dyno, should be able to save loads of cash!
25 October 2006, 05:15 PM
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Still be a ford though eh? For real grunt you gotta go down the EVO route! It's the natural progression from subarus.
Dave
Dave
25 October 2006, 05:43 PM
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Originally Posted by MarkFitz
Hans is amazing! - apparently he can perform power check using his ears and can assess a drivetrain design by observing how the car accelerates. I think i might book him instead of a dyno, should be able to save loads of cash!
Im willing to bet motor companies leak info through him, as he always seems to be bang on the money. Compared his photoshops to the cars that are out now and you will see.
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25 October 2006, 06:31 PM
#13
No!!!!! Hope they dont make another Focus RS, my car will lose its value.
Cant see them making another RS, I thought they had finished with the RS badge now, and where trying to concentrate more on the ST models from now on.
Its got to be the new diesel Focus ST!
Cant see them making another RS, I thought they had finished with the RS badge now, and where trying to concentrate more on the ST models from now on.
Its got to be the new diesel Focus ST!
25 October 2006, 07:10 PM
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The head of Ford UK was quoted at the launch of the ST Focus a while back saying that they would only be able to justify a new RS to the PAG bean-counters if the ST sold well. Last I read the ST was outselling the VXR 4 to 1 and doing very nicely thank you - perhaps hence RS Spyshots??
Hope so
Hope so
25 October 2006, 08:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Nido
The head of Ford UK was quoted at the launch of the ST Focus a while back saying that they would only be able to justify a new RS to the PAG bean-counters if the ST sold well. Last I read the ST was outselling the VXR 4 to 1 and doing very nicely thank you - perhaps hence RS Spyshots??
Hope so
Hope so
I've always been a Fast Ford man, and grew-up loving the Sierra & Escort Cosworths. I've owned the first Focus RS and loved it.
This Mk II version will have 4WD that the previous one unfortunately lacked.
Even if the new RS was £30k or more, I'd still be one of the first to get my name down on one. If it holds it's value like the Escort Cosworth, then it will be a sound buy.
Just a shame it won't have a Cosworth motor in it though. Focus RS Cosworth 4x4 sound pretty damn good.
25 October 2006, 10:24 PM
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Form March's evo with great driver John Barker:
On the Ford:
"the tighter turns become and the harder you go into them, the more
the St begins to roll on its supple set-up. The lean makes the center of
gravity feel relatively high and towards the front of the car, and understeer
arrives earlier than you expect. On track you can chuck it in, lift off and
get the rear working, happily holding big slides. On the road, where there
isn't room for those sorts of antics, its best to play the throttle to tease out
more front-end grip until the apex, then feed in the power as the corner opens and the front wheels strighten."
On the Golf:
"As the pace increases, all of the controls seem just a touch more precise and incisive in their actions. Meanwhile, the whole chassis is jiggling over the bumps and reading the roads braille where it was merely the steering wheel
talking in the focus. The feedback reveals a tautness that wasn't present in the ford set up and yet the GTI remarkable suspension never crashes. It appears to have all the mass underneath you, inches off the road; through one particularly brutal section of the six-sixty the Golf feels absolutely nailed to the tarmac. You attack in the Gti, slamming through apexes, flying over bumps and crests, the low-speed jiggling now translating into big confidence at speed. It's an intense experience, and you get sucked further and further in. It's not as malleable as the Focus, but the cornering stance is still throttle-adjustable, the differtence is that in the Golf your trimming your lines rather than counteracting understeer."
So there's barely anything in it between the two, and as well everyone likes these front wheel drivers more than the Ford/Volvo/VAG Haldex counterparts.
With this in mind how can the new Focus RS be any good using a Volvo chaisis? My bet is just as the Gti is a better handling car than the R32 so too will St be better than the RS. And I won't even get into the topic of electric steering.
Waiting for new Scooby's and Mitsub's.
On the Ford:
"the tighter turns become and the harder you go into them, the more
the St begins to roll on its supple set-up. The lean makes the center of
gravity feel relatively high and towards the front of the car, and understeer
arrives earlier than you expect. On track you can chuck it in, lift off and
get the rear working, happily holding big slides. On the road, where there
isn't room for those sorts of antics, its best to play the throttle to tease out
more front-end grip until the apex, then feed in the power as the corner opens and the front wheels strighten."
On the Golf:
"As the pace increases, all of the controls seem just a touch more precise and incisive in their actions. Meanwhile, the whole chassis is jiggling over the bumps and reading the roads braille where it was merely the steering wheel
talking in the focus. The feedback reveals a tautness that wasn't present in the ford set up and yet the GTI remarkable suspension never crashes. It appears to have all the mass underneath you, inches off the road; through one particularly brutal section of the six-sixty the Golf feels absolutely nailed to the tarmac. You attack in the Gti, slamming through apexes, flying over bumps and crests, the low-speed jiggling now translating into big confidence at speed. It's an intense experience, and you get sucked further and further in. It's not as malleable as the Focus, but the cornering stance is still throttle-adjustable, the differtence is that in the Golf your trimming your lines rather than counteracting understeer."
So there's barely anything in it between the two, and as well everyone likes these front wheel drivers more than the Ford/Volvo/VAG Haldex counterparts.
With this in mind how can the new Focus RS be any good using a Volvo chaisis? My bet is just as the Gti is a better handling car than the R32 so too will St be better than the RS. And I won't even get into the topic of electric steering.
Waiting for new Scooby's and Mitsub's.
26 October 2006, 07:03 PM
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One last note to end this obviously very boring thread. Years ago if someone
would have provided spy pictures of the new "Focus Cosworth" everyone and
their grandmother would be posting about it with huge excitment, expectation and admiration for such a Ford. But now that indeed it really does look like Ford WILL
make the RS this thread receives barely any notice. Why because its becoming
all too predicable. We pretty much know what the car will be already! And what we know it will be is yet another decent but ultimataly below top performing car.
If ford could actually convert just a bit of their WRC car to road spec, it would do so much from saving them from their demise. Theres really no reason manufacturers cannot make cars like UrQuattro's, Delta Integrales, Clio 182's, Clio Williams, etc except slightly higher cost and effort.
would have provided spy pictures of the new "Focus Cosworth" everyone and
their grandmother would be posting about it with huge excitment, expectation and admiration for such a Ford. But now that indeed it really does look like Ford WILL
make the RS this thread receives barely any notice. Why because its becoming
all too predicable. We pretty much know what the car will be already! And what we know it will be is yet another decent but ultimataly below top performing car.
If ford could actually convert just a bit of their WRC car to road spec, it would do so much from saving them from their demise. Theres really no reason manufacturers cannot make cars like UrQuattro's, Delta Integrales, Clio 182's, Clio Williams, etc except slightly higher cost and effort.
26 October 2006, 09:22 PM
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Originally Posted by jeremy
We pretty much know what the car will be already! And what we know it will be is yet another decent but ultimataly below top performing car.
effort.
effort.
If the 4wd Focus is going to be ****, or below par as you put it, then also include the new Impreza and Evo in that sentence. They won't do anything much different to Ford.
As Audilover states, it the US arm of Ford that is losing money hand over fist. $3Billion so far this year.
26 October 2006, 09:45 PM
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I think audi and sti lover's should do their homework before they
slag off others statments. Also not sure why you slag the mitsub Evo
and Impreza as both cars handle better than anything from Ford or Audi.
Note The Evo 9 positively trashed the Audi RS4 in evo's latest comparison-
it wasn't even close.
Please refer to this same exact conversation from last november
the thread is here:
https://www.scoobynet.com/other-marq...a-wrx-sti.html
Ford of Europe is economically meaningless.
The St though pretty good is
merely a toss up with the VW gti- good but not great and if Ford
are to use the same garbage Haldex system- about which not one person
has ever spoken positively about, then indeed the new RS will be even
worse than the ST, just as the GTi and TT are universally prasied as being
better than their HAldex versions.
The specific words from november are here:
FORD EUROPE AND PREMIER AUTOMOTIVE GROUP (PAG)
The 2005 first-quarter combined pre-tax profit for Ford Europe and PAG automotive operations was $4 million, compared with a profit of $38 million for the year-ago period, excluding special items, a year-over-year deterioration of $34 million.
Ford Europe: Ford Europe's first-quarter pre-tax profit was $59 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of $5 million, excluding special items, during the 2004 period. The improvement of $54 million primarily reflected higher volume and ongoing cost reductions. Ford Europe's sales in the first quarter increased to $7.7 billion, compared with $6.5 billion during the first quarter of 2004.
Premier Automotive Group: PAG reported a pre-tax loss of $55 million for the first quarter, compared with a pre-tax profit of $33 million for the first quarter of 2004. The decline in results primarily reflected unfavorable currency exchange, offset partially by lower costs. First-quarter sales for PAG were $7.6 billion, compared with $6.8 billion a year ago.
slag off others statments. Also not sure why you slag the mitsub Evo
and Impreza as both cars handle better than anything from Ford or Audi.
Note The Evo 9 positively trashed the Audi RS4 in evo's latest comparison-
it wasn't even close.
Please refer to this same exact conversation from last november
the thread is here:
https://www.scoobynet.com/other-marq...a-wrx-sti.html
Ford of Europe is economically meaningless.
The St though pretty good is
merely a toss up with the VW gti- good but not great and if Ford
are to use the same garbage Haldex system- about which not one person
has ever spoken positively about, then indeed the new RS will be even
worse than the ST, just as the GTi and TT are universally prasied as being
better than their HAldex versions.
The specific words from november are here:
FORD EUROPE AND PREMIER AUTOMOTIVE GROUP (PAG)
The 2005 first-quarter combined pre-tax profit for Ford Europe and PAG automotive operations was $4 million, compared with a profit of $38 million for the year-ago period, excluding special items, a year-over-year deterioration of $34 million.
Ford Europe: Ford Europe's first-quarter pre-tax profit was $59 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of $5 million, excluding special items, during the 2004 period. The improvement of $54 million primarily reflected higher volume and ongoing cost reductions. Ford Europe's sales in the first quarter increased to $7.7 billion, compared with $6.5 billion during the first quarter of 2004.
Premier Automotive Group: PAG reported a pre-tax loss of $55 million for the first quarter, compared with a pre-tax profit of $33 million for the first quarter of 2004. The decline in results primarily reflected unfavorable currency exchange, offset partially by lower costs. First-quarter sales for PAG were $7.6 billion, compared with $6.8 billion a year ago.
Last edited by jeremy; 26 October 2006 at 09:49 PM.
26 October 2006, 10:32 PM
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another fcukin moron. I would never slag off the evo and didnt slag off the impreza either.
So what if a evo 9 is quicker than the RS4. I know which car I would rather drive everyday. Not everyones a fookin racing driver who needs to race everywhere 24/7.
By the way you judge cars you would say that a evo 9 is better than a AMG S63 cause its faster around a track. Theres more things to cars than just track performance. And anyway I can buy a car for half the pprice of the ev0 and **** on it all day long round a track.
So what if a evo 9 is quicker than the RS4. I know which car I would rather drive everyday. Not everyones a fookin racing driver who needs to race everywhere 24/7.
By the way you judge cars you would say that a evo 9 is better than a AMG S63 cause its faster around a track. Theres more things to cars than just track performance. And anyway I can buy a car for half the pprice of the ev0 and **** on it all day long round a track.
26 October 2006, 11:01 PM
#24
Originally Posted by stilover
Please let it be true, pretty please.
SPY PHOTOS: Ford Focus RS
Has a TDCi ST badge on the back, but no TDCi or ST for that matter sits that low, or has such fat tyres. Looks like a ST bodied test mule. Rear exhaust's look bodged up test units.
300BHP is good, but I think the new Impreza and Evo's are going to move the game on even more. Expecting the Evo to be 300BHP in standard form, plus all the other FQ models that are bound to follow.
Would expect it to be on sale (if they are making it) in 2008, which suits me just fine.
SPY PHOTOS: Ford Focus RS
Has a TDCi ST badge on the back, but no TDCi or ST for that matter sits that low, or has such fat tyres. Looks like a ST bodied test mule. Rear exhaust's look bodged up test units.
300BHP is good, but I think the new Impreza and Evo's are going to move the game on even more. Expecting the Evo to be 300BHP in standard form, plus all the other FQ models that are bound to follow.
Would expect it to be on sale (if they are making it) in 2008, which suits me just fine.
What a great looking Focus.
I wonder if I can persuade the missus to trade up from her 1.6 in a couple of years. 
27 October 2006, 08:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Suresh
What a great looking Focus.
I wonder if I can persuade the missus to trade up from her 1.6 in a couple of years. Does'nt it look like Darth Vader????? anyone???
27 October 2006, 09:36 AM
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Originally Posted by simo
it's just a tdci version of the ST Focus. They made a Mondeo Derv so why not a Focus one! No way imo it's a RS
Have you looked at the Photo's? No TDCI sits that low, and has such negative camber angle on the wheels. I think the guy would be able to tell the sound of a Petrol engined car compared to an Oil Burner. Plus, there has to be something in the way he said the how it accelerated up the road. Surerly most people would be able to spot a quicker car tearing up the road.
As said before, Ford has said they would only build it if the ST sold well. It is, so it's very likely (as shown) that they are developing it.
It won't look like that either. That is a ST shell, so it just looks like a normal ST while it's really a test mule for the RS.
27 October 2006, 09:50 AM
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Originally Posted by jeremy
Ford of Europe is economically meaningless.
The St though pretty good is
merely a toss up with the VW gti- good but not great and if Ford
are to use the same garbage Haldex system- about which not one person
has ever spoken positively about, then indeed the new RS will be even
worse than the ST, just as the GTi and TT are universally prasied as being
better than their HAldex versions.
Don't they have there own 4WD system that they could, if needed, develop to todays standards. (Don't know whats in the Volvo AWD)
Remember also, that while Audi use the Haldex system, they don't use it on all there cars. The RS4 for example is a proper 4WD system. No doubt the S6, RS6, and new R8 will adopt this system too.
I think it's a bit unfair to say Ford WILL use the Haldex system (or similar) and call the car cr@p, even before they've developed it.
Just because the Impreza and Evo have 4WD, that doesn't mean that anything Ford produce will be **** in comparison.
27 October 2006, 01:09 PM
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[QUOTE=jeremy]I think audi and sti lover's should do their homework before they
slag off others statments. Also not sure why you slag the mitsub Evo
and Impreza as both cars handle better than anything from Ford or Audi.
I am pretty sure Ford have made some of the best handling cars out there.......Ford Racing Puma, Focus RS......base fiesta focus and mondeo models were all leagues ahead of everything else.
I have no doubt to believe the now Focus RS will be hot stuff.
slag off others statments. Also not sure why you slag the mitsub Evo
and Impreza as both cars handle better than anything from Ford or Audi.
I am pretty sure Ford have made some of the best handling cars out there.......Ford Racing Puma, Focus RS......base fiesta focus and mondeo models were all leagues ahead of everything else.
I have no doubt to believe the now Focus RS will be hot stuff.