We’ll start off with the bad news: the brand new Ford Focus RS won’t be arriving on our shores for at least a good six months or so yet.
Take it from us, though, it’s really going to be worth waiting for. If you’re the sort of driver who wears your baseball caps backwards and who delights in smashing twisty B-roads and tracks alike into oblivion, the new RS is for you.
In fact, it’s gone down so well with car fans that within weeks of its unveiling, prospective buyers were already lining up to try and get their deposits in. You can read all about it here, but if you’re still not entirely convinced, here’s the top 12 reasons why you should be.
1 - It has a Drift Mode
If you’re a fan of the Focus RS and you’ve been keeping up with all the latest news on it, you’ll probably have heard the phrase ‘Drift Mode’ before.
Sounds cool, but what do those two little words actually mean in real terms? Well, Ford says that it’s engineered the Focus RS to transfer as much power to the ground as it can, making it as quick as possible in a straight line.
However, hitting the Drift Mode switch loosens up the stability control and dampers, allowing the rear end to transfer more weight to the sides, which in turn means that the back can swing out in the corners and help you pull off all those insane tyre-shredding drifts. Sweet!
2 - It’s got the same engine as a Ford Mustang
Power comes courtesy of an uprated version of the same 2.3-litre petrol EcoBoost engine that features in the entry-level Ford Mustang.
Matching all-American muscle with the British taste for hot hatches, the four-cylinder EcoBoost pumps out a meaty 345bhp, which is around 35bhp more than the Mustang gets from the same engine.
In short, it’s going to be one hot car.
3 - As a result, it’s going to be really, really fast
How fast, you say? Well, Ford held off for a long time on releasing the specific performance capability of the new Focus RS, reportedly as it wanted to wring out as much brute force as possible.
With its debut at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, we now known that the RS will be able to zip from 0-62mph in an eye-popping 4.7 seconds. The fastest-accelerating Focus RS ever, it’ll go on to reach a top speed of 165mph. Provided that you don’t soil yourself first, of course.
4 - It’s loaded with awesome performance components
Four-piston Brembo brakes come as standard in the new RS, the same high-performance stopping gear that’s used in various sporting and supercars, from Ferraris to Corvettes and even GT3 racers.
Also optional are some super mean blacked-out forged aluminium wheels, which save as much as half a kilogram of weight apiece. The RS also comes as standard with Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, with the option of Pilot Cup 2 tyres, the same as used on halo cars like the Porsche 918 Spyder.
5 - Four-wheel drive for the first time
Ford has also outfitted the Focus RS with four-wheel drive for the first time ever in an attempt to up its on-road abilities even further.
Not just this, but it also comes with a new torque vectoring feature, which automatically senses which wheel is the best one to send power to. Wheels with more grip on the road receive more power, while those with looser grip get less to maintain stability.
When you’re just bumbling around town at low speeds, the torque vectoring essentially shuts off power to the rear wheels for better fuel economy, while it even come with automatic engine start/stop technology.
6 - It has an awesome colour palette
The colour options on the RS are pretty simple; a long way from the retina-scalding bright oranges and greens of the previous generation Focus RS models.
In this respect, it’s slightly more grown up on the outside while it still packs all that familiar insanity underneath the bonnet. So far, you can choose from black, white, flat grey and an amazing eye-catching Nitrous Blue, though more colours might come later on.
7 - Fanatics rejoice, it’s manual only
For true car fanatics, there’s simply no substitute for a good old traditional manual gearbox. Ford’s engineers clearly recognised this, as they’ve eschewed the flappy-paddle automatics of other performance cars in favour of a good old-fashioned stick.
Not just this, they’ve also upgraded the clutch so that the RS doesn’t have to pull power to protect the drivetrain; it can handle the RS full throttle, all the time. Apparently, the shifter will also have shorter throws than any previous Focus, resulting in super-quick shift times.
8 - It features a dedicated Launch Control
An electronic aid which helps drivers get the very best launch off the starting line that they can, launch control features on many popular sporting cars like the BMW M series and the Bugatti Veyron.
And now, it’s coming to the Focus RS. There’s no limiter on it either, meaning that you can do as many launch control starts in a row as you damn well please. But do spare a thought for your poor old clutch.
9 - Super-stiff chassis means super-fun driving
Compared with other Focus models, Ford’s engineers have stiffened the chassis even further to help keep all that power going in the direction you want it to.
Because the Focus RS has so much power and so much grip courtesy of its four-wheel drive system, that stiffened chassis helps keep the wheels planted better on the ground, allowing it to go faster and handle even better than it already could.
10 - Recaro seats are standard
All RS-badged Ford cars get Recaro bucket seats as standard, that’s the rule. However, with the new RS, buyers can also specify theirs with plush suede inserts, plus the option of electrically heated and cooled seats, because nobody wants to be uncomfortable while raising hell.
11 - It’ll be affordable, too
High power doesn’t always necessarily mean an overly high price tag; the new Mustang taught us that.
Priced from £28,940, the RS is priced more than competitively against its rivals. It’s cheaper than the entry-level Mustang, more powerful and faster in a straight line to boot. How’s that for a bang to buck ratio?
12 - Ken Block helped design it, ‘nuff said!
If you haven’t heard of Ken Block, you should really check him out. A rallycross extraordinaire, he’s responsible for some of the wildest automotive stunt driving ever committed to film with his Gymkhana series.
Not only that, he’s competed in skateboarding, snowboarding and motocross and is even one of the co-founders of DC shoes. In short, he’s a pretty rad guy.
As if that wasn’t enough to persuade you, Mr Block also had hefty input in the design of the new Focus RS. You can thank him for four-wheel drive, along with the Drift Mode button, by the way.
Not just content to design it, test it and even decide on the colour scheme, he also demonstrated it at its official launch early in February, and he even did it all for free. Just because he loves it. If that isn’t praise enough, we don’t know what is!
