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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

Last Tango in the Fast Lane

30 April, 2026

In the mid ’80s, I locked into a serious Nissan/Datsun performance obsession. It could have kicked off with my ’82 Datsun Sunny, though this would have been a bit of a stretch of the imagination, given its normally aspirated 1.2-litre motor — not the sort of thing to unleash radical road warrior dreams. But it did plant a seed, and it was a sweet little machine and surprisingly quick, in contrast to all the diabolical English offerings I had endured.
I was living in South Auckland at the time and was an unrepentant petrolhead. Motor racing was my drug of choice, and I followed the scene slavishly. Saloon car racing, with the arrival of the international Group A formula, was having a serious renaissance here and in Australia and Europe. There was suddenly an exotic air in local racing that had been absent for 15 years.
I was transfixed by this new frontier of motor racing that had hit our tracks in 1985–87 and the new array of machinery on display. In 1986, the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 made a blinding impression on me. The Australian Fred Gibson-run, Peter Jackson-sponsored team of George Fury and Glenn Seton were the fastest crew of the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. But Kiwi legend Robbie Francevic snuck through to win the Aussie Championship in his Volvo 240T after a strong start and consistent finishes.

NZ Classic Car magazine, May/June 2026 issue 405, on sale now

26 April, 2026

Reincarnation of the snake
We are captivated by a top-quality sports car
The Shelby NZ build team at Matamata Panelworks has endured a long and challenging journey, culminating with the highly anticipated public unveiling of the 427SC and firing up of its sonorous V8 at the 2026 Ayrburn Classic Festival of Motoring in Queenstown on February 20. This is a New Zealand-built car with loads of character and potential.
The car is now back in Matamata, and I finally have an opportunity to get up close and personal with it. But before then, the question that must be asked is, “Why would ya?”
The first answer is easy, as mentioned in the last issue of New Zealand Classic Car (#404). It was a great way to use up all the surplus Mustang parts acquired while converting brand-new Mustangs into Shelbys. The unused new Mustang parts would be great in any kit car, but the 427SC in front of me cannot be classified as one.
This is not a kit car. The reality is that it is a high-quality, factory-made production car.
Possibly the second answer is because the CEO of Matamata Panelworks, Malcolm Sankey, wanted to build a replica of the car that is a distant relation to the Shelby Mustangs scattered around his showroom floor, a car created long before the first Mustang was even thought of, and the brainchild of Carroll Shelby back in the early ‘60s.