20 years later, there's still no hot hatch quite like the Focus RS 🥰
, should be near the top of any family-friendly hot hatch shortlist - it’s brilliant.
In fact, all of the fast Focuses, by and large, have been fantastic. There have been two decades of them now, stretching back to the ST170 of 2002. That car was the perfect example of the New Edge fast Fords that were great to drive but didn’t have the power to really do its chassis justice - see Fiesta Zetec S and SportKa for further proof. What Ford needed, of course, was a proper Focus flagship to really announce the Blue Oval as a hot hatch contender in the 21st century.
The RS was subjected to such a drastic overhaul that Ford famously lost money on every single one sold at £20k. That’s how determined Ford was to make the RS great. Something like 70 per cent of the model was new or reworked, a huge amount for something as relatively humble as a fast Focus. The money was spent on all the good stuff, too, including a Quaife limited-slip diff, Sachs dampers, AP Racing clutch, Brembo brakes, OZ Racing wheels and more.
The end result not only looked superb in Imperial Blue, it moved the hot hatch handling game on leaps and bounds. There’s still some debate about whether early ones were scrappier than later ones, but what seems in little doubt is that the modern template - 2.0-litre turbo, proper LSD, manual gearbox and expensive suspension - was established by the RS. No wonder they’ve become valuable.isn’t quite that much, but is almost as much as a new ST at £35k.
There isn’t much more info in the ad on Focus RS #3359, but, honestly, what more do you need to know? It is a lot of money, yes, but it’s only covered a thousand miles a year, with quite a few owners having seemingly taken care of it. With the Focus RS as we know it never returning, the legendary original is arguably more covetable than ever. Imagine how we’ll feel about it in another 20 years…
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