Focus RS is a sizzler

If you didn't get your hands on one of the 60 allocated to SA, all you can do is drool.

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Then suddenly white oozes desirability because the Focus RS is a phenomenal, mind-blowing chunk of super fast machinery... the sort of car that petrol-heads drool and drone over.

The RS is the hottest standard production car that the blue oval has probably ever brought into this country and one of the most awesome cars I have driven on a race track.

Ford fans were delighted when the Focus ST arrived on local shores. It has all of 166kw and 320Nm and is capable of squirting from zero to 100km/h in 7.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 237km/h.

166kw and 320Nm will take you from zero to 100km/h in 7.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 237km/h.

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To many this was Ford finding the groove again of its sporty, racing heritage which made the brand so immensely popular in South Africa for many years.

And now into the local hatch arena strides the Ford RS, flexing 224kW and 320Nm of muscle and capable of spring from 0-100km/h in 5,9 seconds and topping out at an ungoverned 263km/h.

The RS is seriously rapid

To place this into perspective the iconic ruler of the hot hatch patch, the VW Golf GTi, pushes out 155kW and 280Nm, takes 7,06 seconds to get from standstill to 100km/h and runs out of breath with the speedo showing 240km/h - all well below and behind the RS.

And even cars such as the Mini Cooper JCW, Alfa Mito and GT, several Audi TT and BMW Z4 versions, Renault Megane Sport and Twingo RS and Subaru Imprezas cannot match the fast Ford's performance.

It’s racy – but with a hint of decorum as well.

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But the excitement of the Ford is not just its fabulous power, but the manner in which it translates that to the driver and how it transfers its muscle to the tar - with a wonderful throaty roar that makes the hair at the back of your neck stand up.

Power and speed is good fun but it all becomes rather pointless if the car cannot be driven confidently and safely to the outer edges of its capabilities, and this is something in which the Focus RS excels.

It has to be one of the best-behaved, easy-to-drive fast cars that I have ever had the pleasure of flinging around the tight Zwartkop Raceway outside Pretoria.

A white-knuckle drive

For a highly-powered front-wheel drive car the level of roadholding this Focus finds is almost unreal. This was achieved with a lot of tweaks, but mainly by widening its track and creating suspension technology dubbed RevoKnuckle.

The RS goes where you point it with no fuss at all.

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Forget torque steer and white knuckle struggles to find the correct, fastest line through a corner. With the RS you simply dab the brakes to scrub off some speed, point it at the apex and fly through. As easy as that.

The system is far too technical to describe in detail here, but trust me, it is absolutely brilliant. In fact, it works as well, if not better, than on a vehicle equipped with all-wheel drive.

There is also no interfering electronic system to wrap the steering in cotton wool and the feedback is undiluted. Put simply, the RS goes where you point it with no fuss at all.

The Green Brigade will be pleased with the RS’s performance in the emissions area.

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To produce a car with so much power matched by such high levels of driving pleasure and drivability is a rare feat and clearly Ford has benefitted hugely from its rallying experience.

The heart of the RS is under the bonnet in the shape of a turbocharged, 2.5-litre Duratec engine that delivers power in a beautiful, smooth wave. In fact, the engine produces so much power that it is possible to negotiate the Zwartkop track quite rapidly using only third and fourth gear.

The gear ratios are high but that also means that the car is as easy to drive on the track as it is between home and the office.

Quick to go, quick to stop

To match the muscular power the RS has huge disc brakes capable of generating 1.2g under braking and of slamming it to a halt from 100km/h in less than 35m.

It went around Germany’s fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife during its circuit performance development – more than 400 times!

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Anti-lock braking (ABS) with Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD) is standard, as is Ford's Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), here tuned specifically for the car, to allow a high level of sporty driving before intervening.

ESP can put a damper on enthusiastic driving but Ford says its system is tuned for later and shorter intervention and I honestly didn't feel the electronic guardian angel's hand on my shoulder once while on the track.

For real hardcore driving the system can be deactivated but it won't make a big difference according to a Ford spokesman who said test drivers have lapped the Nürburgring just as quickly with ESP on, as with it off.

There's even something for the greenies

The car's vice-like grip on the tar is also helped along by alloys being wrapped in 235/35/R19 Continental tyres specially developed for the RS.

Huge disc brakes can slam it to a halt from 100km/h in less than 35m.

The Green Brigade will be pleased to hear that in spite of the fact that the RS is a high-performance car it will use less than 10 litres per 100km and average a CO2 rating of 225 grams per kilometre in the combined circle.

After all the good news, now comes the sad news: the RS is priced at R479 000, only 60 have been allocated to South Africa - and they have all been sold.

The RS is undoubtedly set to become an iconic model in the Ford stable and I envy the 60 new owners just as much as I envy the Ford test drivers who between them completed over 400 laps (over 8000km) of Germany's fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife during its circuit performance development.

Specifications

Jeremy Clarkson on the Focus RS

Fifth Gear on the Focus RS

Focused Focus: Focus RS Test Drive in Europe