Having gone to a preferred manufacter on our company car scheme, Ford have a promotional stand at our office today so I went down to have a test drive of the RS Focus.

Asked the rep where it was and he reliably informs me that they've discontinued it already as the take-up was not what they had anticipated!!!

Unlike their other RS's then ;)

Unlikely as there is a massive waiting list. I got told 5 months wait!!

my understanding is that they are not taking on any new orders because they already have as many orders as they can handle. One of my engineers has just (last week) managed to get one, having waited for months. I have to say it is absolutely stunning, not been in it yet though.

Steve

Yeah, seems a bit strange that they would stop. Especially as you say, with the size of the waiting list.

I looked into one a few months back, and the dealer basically told me to forget it for the moment, unless i was willing to put my name on a cancellation list.

He did say there was a waiting list, but that beyond that list, there would be no more going into production.

He could have been bullsh*tting! After all, he's a car salesman!!!

Straight forward enough really...

New focus is due soonish, so they've only got so long they can keep making the old ones for!

Just ask 'em where the alarm siren is.

It's comical. Fecking comical.

Forgot about the new Focus right enough.

Could be a possibilty then ?

Chiark: - So tell us...where is the alarm siren:confused: (You've piqued my interest now!)

Come on, i now need to know where the siren is.

Is it under the spare wheel like the new Mr2's, great place to put it Toyota coz ya can't here the bugger.:D

Ford announced last year that they were making only 4500 cars. People this week (UK) are picking up cars numbered around 3500-3600, so it's nearly all over. Late last year, Ford announced they were making 500 more cars for the UK market, but this was actually achieved by switching 500 cars from LHD to RHD on the production line - so even then, no more cars are actually being built over that 4500 limit. (Okay, never say never but that IS what they promised!).

I think come October/November every single car will be sold. More than half of the cars made will be for the UK market, which is quite impressive considering ALL of Europe is sharing the rest!

You couldn't place an order with Ford Motor Company after March/April and you now must find a dealer that has pre-ordered one without a customer, or has had a cancellation. Or buy one from a speculator who tries to sell them for up to £25 in the trade papers. I don't know of any that have sold for that much, but do know a few that went for £21000.

Who was this guy from Ford? Presumably it was a dealer that knows bugger all about the RS, or agency staff hired for the event. Maybe he is a politician as this twisting of words is a classic! When the production run is finished, the car will be "discontinued" so it's okay to say that - but obviously the intention is to say it in a way to suggest Ford pulled the plug because they had loads of problems or couldn't sell it.

This car has been an amazing success for Ford and will hopefully make the Focus Cosworth a dead cert because Ford now know there is a large demand for these types of car. If only they had worked that out by seeing how well the Scooby did after the Escort Cosworth disappeared!!!

Also, one thing I know from working in the phone business is that when a dealer/network runs out of stock, they are very quick to start saying "It's been discontinued", "It's withdrawn" and other excuses.

Why? To stop you going elsewhere to buy - and hopefully buy whatever this person/network DOES have. You see, if you're told something is withdrawn/obsolete, you're hardly likely to go up the road to buy it because that must be faulty, or that person is trying to sell out of date kit.

I suppose this must happen in the car business too. I wonder what dealers do when a new model arrives and replaces the one they've got loads of stuck in the showroom. Do they simply discount, or do you find dealers say things like "The new one isn't really tested, I certainly wouldn't want to have a new car that might have loads of problems.. so why not buy the old, tried and tested, model?". In other words, they tell you what you want to hear.

Jonathan

PS. Where is the siren then? Don't forget the car has TWO alarm systems. The standard Ford system (which uses the horn but is, thankfully, somewhat louder than older Fords) and a GT Auto Alarm that is retro-fitted, albeit within the factory. The alarm must be fairly decent as it got the car a group 16 rating.

[Edited by jonmorris - 6/13/2003 6:44:31 PM]

Hmm, I bet he had an ST170 he could get hold of for you...

My brother works for Ford and 2 days ago sold a used RS with 7K mile on the clock for £22,995 :eek:
Why did'nt I buy one then sell it on ?? ;):D

sell them for up to £25....sounds like a bargain to me :O)

topmarques.co.uk is full of them from around £20k upwards - brand new, few miles or a few k miles. Can't understand anyone selling a car with only a few k miles on it :confused: unless it's an absolute dog ;)

hopefully when the new one comes out they'll do a proper job this time and make it RWD.
astraboy.

Somebody please put us out of our misery and tell us where the alarm siren is.....:)

I seem to remember say ALL of this months ago. I told you that Ford wanted out of the RS because of its VERY iffy Handling. Its rather unhelpful habbit of Torque steering in one direction....and than suddenly....the other.

Remember Clarkson? Remember EVO? Remember Mega?

Just look at how many have brought the car, than sold on quickly! And not just to make a fast buck.

Please take note......when your told by those who know!
Time to drive my CTR!
Mega

my mates had 2 in the last 4 months and sold them both on.

Sold mine on !!

Didnt like the fact that it was based in the LX model.

And the fact of every tvvat In a nova and clio wanted to race it or cut it up !!

"Based on the LX model"??

What the hell..? The Focus only has a couple of different trim levels and they're hardly any different to each other interior wise.. and are all interchangeable parts anyway.

Many dealers will offer to upgrade the interior light and wiper stalk for nothing (Ghia trim level) or you pay about £50 to do it yourself. As both units clip out, it takes 5 minutes to do literally.

The black panel on the dash is from the CL (not LX) and that's about it. Centre console is unique (real carbon fibre for what it's worth), the seats are unique, the steering wheel is unique... and outside? Well, come on - this is just a windup isn't it - the panels are totally different!

http://www.b.morrisiam.btinternet.co...ccessories.htm

As for racing, then yes a lot of people do try it on but did you feel threatened by a kid in a Saxo? Did you have to rise to the challenge all the time? In 6000 miles of driving, nobody has cut me up in the Focus either.

[Edited by jonmorris - 6/15/2003 9:05:44 PM]

The BIG question is has it been Deleted?
Mega

Hint for the siren:

think where it should be, then start working backwards. Stop when you're in the boot, and behind a trim panel. Nicely sound deadened!

The LED is helpfully cable tied to the siren there too, nice and visible behind the boot trim.

The ignition barrel wiring looks like it has been butchered by the Max Power brigade for the starter button. Yes, they've cut the original loom, and are routing the wiring from "start" on the barrel to a button. Sophisticated.

I'll stop there on takes of horror for security reasons :eek: - seriously, if you own a Focus RS, you may want to look at security... Same for 03 WRX/STI owners :(

Does no-one properly read these threads? The RS had a limited production run - this was sold out promptly and the final 1000 or so cars are being built and delivered shortly.

New Focus is due out shortly (C-Max already using floorpan) and new derivative will use this floorpan , possibly in a 4WD RS Cosworth version due 2005/6.

The alarm in the back is the secondary GT Auto Alarm and, yes, it is a bit of a last minute addition to get the insurance rating down. I didn't know the siren was there though.

To be honest, the standard Ford system is more than sufficient and a lot of people don't use the GT one at all. The Ford one has the deadlocking, which is more useful really because alarms do bugger all (who bothers to investigate an alarm going off, or call the police - bar the owner of course!).

One thing though; The siren is incredibly loud. Have you heard it?? The Focus RS has most of the sound proofing removed to keep the weight down, so you can certainly hear it without any trouble and because it's so loud you can't easily work out where it's coming from.

As for the LED, if that's inside the trim at the back - how can you easily see it? I've not noticed it yet, although I will now go and have a look!!

Sorry Jon, it was my attempt at sarcasm ;)

Actually, what you say suggests that when Ford decided to bolt on the alarm (and they take the power via the interior light) they probably took everything out of the box and wired it up - including the LED that they knew would be no use!

If you want another laugh, the Focus (and all modern Ford cars) has a feature where the ECU automatically shuts off any interior lights after 30 minutes - which saves you from a flat battery. Because the alarm is connected to the interior light, it is triggered by this sudden drop in voltage and goes on .. and on .. and on. Literally forever (well, 30 seconds, then a few seconds silence, back on etc) which has happened to me once and was not fun because eventually someone would have put a brick through the window. :(

Ford have a much better alarm system in the ST170 but the RS is based on the original electrical system (it was too expensive to change the design for a limited run). Even though the ST170 came out earlier, it was done by a different department who had decided to switch to the Mk2 electrical system and allowed for things like HID lamps and the climate control over air conditioning. Ironically, the Mk1 RS has a mixture of wiring looms, so some things can be added easily and others cannot..

But at the end of the day, by and large, making the RS on a normal production line still worked out better for Ford. Considering their disaster with the handbuilt Racing Pumas that ended up so expensive they didn't sell, I think they did a good job. When the Focus Cosworth arrives, I hope they'll have everything sorted out and it will feature ALL the same toys that the Zetec-S/ST/Ghia-X models have!

[Edited by jonmorris - 6/18/2003 1:13:49 PM]