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Ford Focus RS: hot hatches enter supercar territory in style

8 September, 2016

First of all, if you just wanted to see the video of the Ford Focus RS in action click here. If you’d like to have a read of what Lachie Jones thought of the vehicle, read on!

The game has changed significantly in the hot-hatch sector over the last few years. Gone are the days when a MkI Golf and a Peugeot 205 GTI were the pinnacle, we have now entered an era of small machines capable of 1–100kph times better than those offered by supercars not all that long ago, combined with the ability to swallow entire families and their gear.

This is the first Ford Focus RS with four-wheel drive (the first four-wheel drive since the Escort Cosworth), and it needed it. For the previous-generation Focus RS, Ford had proudly introduced its all-singing, all-dancing torque-vectoring system to reduce understeer. Unfortunately it didn’t work very well, and the RS was doomed to be fired into many trees and embankments around the world in the hands of over-enthusiastic Sundayists.

This new machine does a lot of things very, very well indeed. The most impressive feature is just how comfortable it is. Not designed to be a tourer by any means, the Focus still manages to soften the ride enough to ensure that it could indeed be used for such driving. And it should. But the Focus is a hell of a car to drive too, and encourages you to keep pushing.

When I reviewed the new Porsche 911 Carrera 4 earlier this year, I explored some excellent driving roads not far from Auckland City. I took the Focus out for a blast along the same route. When I stopped at the end of the road, I referred back to what I’d written about the Porsche, and one sentence stood out. “It felt planted at every point and was forgiving enough to give you a second crack at the occasional apex.”

Having just completed the road in the Focus, I could honestly say it felt as if it handled those corners just as well as the Porsche, if not a bit better. Now I’ll be the first person to put my hand up and say that with a different driver on the same roads, things would be very different.

And while neither concept is particularly appealing, the difference between putting a $220,000 car into a ditch versus a $70,000 car that has probably appreciated since it was bought possibly changes the approach to the drive somewhat. But it also offers some insight into the capability the Focus RS offers.

Back in the city driving in ‘Normal’ mode (there are four driving modes, Normal, Track, Race, and Drift), the Focus feels just that. It will tick a lot of boxes as far as room, practicality, economy, and comfort go. Apart from the undeniably race-bred seats (a $2500 option, but worth it) and short-shift manual gearbox, there would really be no way of telling that you’re driving anything but a normal rep-spec hatch.

So any gripes? A couple.

The gearbox. We’ve been through the pain of shitty steering wheel–mounted shifters attached to gearboxes that take an age to engage reverse and a lunar eclipse to skip between second and third, but we’re past that now. There is no way that you could justify owning a manual car by saying that you can change gear quicker than the automatic does, you can’t. And for the most part, those gearboxes are very good at doing the day-to-day stuff, getting in and out of supermarket car parks, and stop-start traffic on the motorways.

If the new Focus RS wants to pitch itself as a daily driver, and potentially even a proper performance car, it may need to look at offering its own version of VW’s DSG or BMW’s TCT. And then there’s the lock. It’s dreadful. I’ve been driving a Ford Ranger for the last while, unfortunately I didn’t have it with me when I was testing the Focus, but I’d suggest that Ford’s steering department was concentrating on the ute’s turning circle more than the Focus’. But then, maybe that’s what Drift Mode is for?

So who will buy this new version of Ford’s racing lineage? Not you or me, because Ford has already sold this year’s allotment of cars (around 50), and as I write, next year’s is very close to being sold out too. But we’d highly recommend getting your name on the waiting list, as it’s a car that needs to be driven.

Ford Focus RS

  • Engine: 2261cc (137.9ci) 16-valve
  • Formation: Turbocharged in-line four-cylinder
  • Transmission: Six-speed manual
  • Top speed: 265.5kph (165mph)
  • 0 to 100kph (0-62mph): 4.6 secs
  • Power: 257kW (345bhp) at 6000rpm
  • Torque: 467.7Nm at 2000rpm
  • Kerbweight: 1599kg (3525lb)
  • Drive: AWD
  • 1/4 Mile (est.): 13.05 secs at 104.3mph

Coaching from the bench: Casting plastic knobs and rubber parts

16 July, 2026

Casting rubber items is simple if you have a good original to work with. The item doesn’t have to be perfect. You can use plasticine to smooth out cracks, and you can even make whole prototypes out of low-fire modelling clay available from craft stores if you need to. Prototypes can also be made of wood or metal.
You will need mould dams to contain the liquid urethane moulding solution until it cures. You can build boxes out of strips of wood, but I have found that small plastic boxes and bowls such as those you would use for leftovers in your fridge work well if you spray them with a mould release agent.
Temperature is important to the chemical processes involved, so work in an area that can be maintained at around 20 degrees. You will also need adequate ventilation because the fumes can be dangerous to breathe. And you will want to wear latex gloves to protect your hands.

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.