My Hero :rolleyes:

Can I challenge skoobidude there, I tend to find I prefer men to women ;)

Railman, were you the one wearing the Subaru jacket?

I must admit it was quite funny when the production guy was desperately trying to get someone to go out in the Impreza. It was sitting there empty for a few minutes and everyone standing around was waiting for the Focus. He almost got angry when everyone seemed to ignore him.

He ended up going into the hangar to find someone to go out (they needed to get people in it to film them and ask them questions). One guy came out wearing the Subaru jacket, so someone said "He'll go!".

I'm not saying the car is no good (although silver is a boring colour) but the Focus was generating the interest on the day from EVERYONE. If it had been up against the STi version then things may have been different.

To be fair, anyone serious about cars would have taken the time to go out in ALL of them, including the 206 (which I did) as you can't compare otherwise.

Oh - and I think you'll find there was only one or two people from the RS Owners Club there. You obviously didn't hear everyone else as many of us were actually quite critical of the car at times (boot lid not straight, seats hitting the sun visor when you tip them forward in a certain position etc).

However, I still think it deserved to win on the day. The handling was stunning. It should have also been up against an R32 which might have made the event a little more interesting (and possibly a different result).

What did you think of the Focus when you went out in it? The driver seemed a lot keener than the one in the Scooby.

Jonathan

PS. I can't see how ANY Focus RS owner will be racing anyone yet. The first deliveries only started a week or two ago, so NOBODY has one that is run in properly.


[Edited by jonmorris - 11/30/2002 5:26:00 PM]

I have a Focus (MY02 1.6Zetec) and a Scoob (MY00 RA)

Okay the Focus is only a 1.6 but its great car, very comfy, quiet, big car feel. Each of the Focus 5 doors weighes more than the RA 4 put together. The Focus feels very solid and there is actually more room in the focus as well ;). I still arent a big fan of loads of power FWD cars but I can see the appeal of the Focus, more so now I own one and yes this is me eating humble pie ;).

In terms of performance the scoob is miles ahead but has nearly 200bhp more and similar weight and 4 wheel drive so I would be gutted if my scoob didnt feel quicker.

Strange thing is I always know by exhaust and engine note how fast I am going in the scoob. In the Focus its so quiet that 20mph sounds the same as 70mph.

If I want to go for a blast or need a smile on my face then the impreza keys get picked up if I am doing any sort of distance then its the Ford. The Focus is doing 35mpg as well ;), the scoob well less than 20 ;).

The scoob just attracts too much attention (some good, some bad) so I have to be in the right frame of mind to cope with that as well ;).

Would I sell the scoob, hmmmmmm, no way ;).

Its a match for an RS Focus, who knows havent driven one ....... yet ;)

[Edited by chrisp - 11/30/2002 5:31:45 PM]

I'm with Saxo Boy on that one. According to road tests the Focus RS is very fast midrange, and would easily hold its own with a Scooby. I reckon it was a "fake" as well... Or a homosexual driving it... Like Colin McRae...

I didnt think there was a release date for the RS focus yet?
AFAIK it keeps getting put back and it will be jan before anyone gets one delivered (if not later!)

Tony:D

Not meaning to hijack the thread but I did notice a huge difference when driving an STi7 with 15,000 kms on the clock as opposed to my STi7 with only 5000 kms. It felt a lot looser and quicker to spool up.

I guess the best has yet to come :D:D:D:D:D:D

I saw one on the road yesterday, so that two confirmed sightings!:)

Tony, the car was officially "released" in October. Since then the deliveries have been slow to the UK but some people in Europe did get them fairly quick.

Dagenham Motors saw their first one drive out the showroom at 11am THIS VERY MORNING (I was there). It would have been sooner, except the customer had a road accident a week before and was unable to collect it.

Other dealers up and down the country have had deliveries and within 3-4 weeks there should be over 100 on the road.

By January, everyone who put down a deposit before August should have theirs. That will be around 400-450. Ford have orders for at least 1000 of the 2000 allocated to the UK, so I doubt it will take long for them to be sold out altogether.

Jonathan

been having fun Mark?

Theres not much chance the car was run in already, so 3000rpm isnt much to race with!

And u SURE it wasnt any reps as ive seen loadsa focus's with similar front bumpers (aftermarket jobs).

And it DEFFO wasnt a ST170?

Im jus thinkin, as after transmission losses it have a lot more power at wheels than a scoob as scoobs lose more causse of 4wd...

All std cars are **** slow anyway, gotta be daft to keep a performance car std IMO.

well theres only a few (5 at most) RS`s in britain as we speak so if you did see one your VERY licky as they are getting used for people who wanna test drive before they buy but who have left deposits........

i bet £100 it wasnt a pukka RS.

From what I have read and seen on TV (Top Gear) the RS Focus is a bag of nails. It will NOT hold the road like a Subaru. WE all know that tramlining only occurs once the front tyres are sh@gged but with an RS Focus the steering feel is like that (and worse) from day one !!

I couldn't put up with that: COULD YOU:D

PeteII

i think your little race was a bit biased towards your car as yours has a few more run in miles than it.......wait till they are 10k miles old and see what happens....you will get a etter comparrison then :)

Top Gear was nonsense.. Anyone would get the impression from JC that you will kill yourself in minutes because you can't keep the steering wheel straight!

Tiff Needell did mention the fact it twitches a bit - and Jason Plato also said it does, so I am happy to accept it needs a bit of care.. but it's not as bad as Jeremy Clarkson made out.

JC isn't even a good driver in ANY car. He acts up for the camera (so does Tiff) because it makes better television. The car magazines seem to think the complete opposite and Autocar even slated Top Gear saying if you knew how to drive, you wouldn't find it hard to drive the Focus.

How JC could talk about the Focus like some expert and then speak about the traction control being turned off (what traction control?) beats the hell out of me!

Jonathan

Here's a comment from someone who went to Gaydon today for a test drive organised by Ford for the first 400-450 customers.

http://www.bbsfocusrs.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001051


[Edited by jonmorris - 11/30/2002 10:07:17 PM]

i saw a focus rs in birmingham about a week ago

clicketyclick ;)

"evo" didn't like the RS too much. giving it only 4 stars.

4 out of 5, not 10 or 100!!

That's not exactly bad.

Jon no it was not me in the subaru jacket.
I respect the opinion of other car owners weather it be ford vauxhall or whatever but there was a particular person that day who thourght he was mr ford he just p##sed me off(might of been because i just come stright off night shift), he was with a group so i thourght they were all from the same club as most of them turned up in ford focuses and seemed to know each other.
I was quite inpressed with the performance it was better than i thought it would be but i was not that keen on the inside.

its was defo a rs as it had the interior the brakes badging etc etc and also hear theturbo spooling up as i 1st drove past, i made sure of that 1 :)

my rb5 has just passed 20k so is still just run in itself :)

i was told that people werent entitled to a test drive of the rs focus, i found this very strange as who'd buy a car without a t drive 1st!!!

i no ford like to go by reputation but thats taking it too far!!!

i have no dislikes about the focus or fords as i have always owned a ford, the rb5 is my 1st non ford, also having owned a focus (1.8 zetec with leather and a/c f/f/s e/w e/m) myself i know how gr8 they r, so gr8 we want another one, it handled much better with 17's on it.

I just had the oppotunity to have a go so i did, true i didnt take in2 consideration it may have been running in but i KNOW he was well above 3000rpm!!!:)

i wasnt trying to slag it off just stating the facts.and thought i'd convey my result :)

My brother is team leader at the local Ford dealer and took delivery of their first Focus RS on Monday. He went out in it on Tuesday for the PDI and the customer picked the car up on Wednesday. The bloke who bought the car actually let my brother drive it on the road first. The car only had 25 miles on the clock but the bloke said to my brother 'lets see what it'l do'. As mentioned, no running in is needed :eek: so my brother thought OK if he wants me to 'drive' it. I'll DRIVE it ;).

He took the first 3 gears all the way to the upchange light :) (he's now not so sure he should have done this)and managed to reach 125 before backing off (non-public road of course :p). He then pushed it through a series of quickish bends.

His overall impression was that it was pretty much like driving a boggo Focus but with obviousley more power. He was expecting a more 'hard edged and involving' driving experience from reading all the mag reports. He has driven my standard MY99 turbo and says that they are very similar for power performance - allowing for the Focus not yet being loosened up. The Focus is quieter and doesn't have all the turbo whining & hissing noises of the impreza, but he said the brakes are superb and the clutch is spot on. He says that the Focus could also do with a short-throw gear lever(as mine has) to give a sportier feel.

The RS only comes in the blue/purpley? colour, must run on 97 octane fuel or above, has a waiting list until next May and only 2500 (including any imported) are coming to the UK.

I think that's about it - anyone still awake ;).

C ya
Rich

Also ;) there is absoloutley no test drive and no discount.

Summing up - Not worth buying. Get your deposits on a WRX in February....Blutes

Cool, I don't have a problem with that and I'm interested to hear your results. Just be careful you don't get cocky next time you meet one as I suspect it might not be so easy :)

quote:
Can I challenge skoobidude there, I tend to find I prefer men to women. from little miss wrx

why did you just shatter 90% of mens fantasy?

cheers kev :D

My local Ford dealer has one (chairmans car I think).

Good on ya m8!!!!!!!!!

I concur with chrisp. There is one at my local dealer, and it's been there for a few weeks now. Same the chairman is a twatt really chris !

Anyway, how are you ?

Never met the chairman but the sales guys I dealt with were all great and when I walked in a year after buying the Fiesta off them the first comment I got walking through the the showroom door was, "eh up that guy with the scoob is back" :D. Nice friendly bunch down there.