Спец подготовленные версии Ford Focus ST/RS/WRC

"The RS is astonishingly fast, but it’s flexibly refined from very low down (it pulls strongly and smoothly from 1500rpm in sixth) while also stretching to a redline that – to be quite honest – we couldn’t find on our twisty second and third gear mountain roads – you’ll always reach for another gear before you hit the limiter.

The soundtrack, too, is great, intensifying the Focus ST’s throaty five-cylinder warble and adding in an extra serving of dump valve. There's more whooshing than at a Thomas the Tank Engine steam train convention. You may turn your nose up at wastegate whistles but, believe me, you will like it. Much like the rest of the car.

We’re deeply impressed with the new 2009 Ford Focus RS. Yes, it battles to put power down more than we were led to believe and its styling is a little overwrought, but we’ll forgive that – an RS should be lairy, after all.

Overall, the RS is an amazing package. It’s easy to live with day to day (if a little firm for some), while delivering an incredibly intense adrenaline hit when you’re in the right mood. If you're after thrills, the new Focus RS hot hatch makes the MkV VW Golf GTI seem positively pedestrian." CAR magazine

"As a result, it feels even faster than its 5.9 second 0-62mph figures suggest. Thanks to huge torque reserves, the RS feels fast in all but top gear. It sounds fantastic too.

But it's not the pace and WRC soundtrack that steal the show. Nor even is it the precise, well-weighted and accurate steering. What leaves us gobsmacked is the supernatural way the Focus RS can deploy almost all of its power almost all of the time.

That's thanks to the combination of wide 19" wheels, specially developed Continental tyres and the trick diff that allows full power to be deployed far earlier without either wheelspin or the ESP calling time. Torquesteer isn't banished completely, but now instead of tearing the wheel from your hand under full throttle, the RS softly reminds you this is a very powerful front wheel drive. It adds to the experience rather than subtracts.

Push hard and the Focus RS chassis shows real handling prowess. It's always engaging and the biggest compliment we can pay is you will never miss four-wheel drive." Cannel4

"The most controversial aspect of the car is its drivetrain, which remains front, not four-wheel drive. Ford’s engineers have developed and patented a system called the RevoKnuckle which, they claim, eradicates torque steer by keeping the kingpin offset angle very consistent, even under heavy load. And when you have 301bhp and a whopping 324lb ft on tap courtesy of a heavily modified version of the 2.5-litre turbo motor found in the Focus ST, this is crucial.

The chassis has been stiffened by approximately 30 per cent and there are bigger driveshafts, a much wider track, lower ride height and a faster steering rack.

In the raw the RS looks like a proper thug-mobile. From its gaping grille to its 19in wheels and tyres and enormous wing, the RS leaves you in no doubt about its intentions.
What’s it like?

The big question, of course, is whether Ford really has managed to develop a front suspension system that enables the RS to deploy its 301bhp and 324lb ft without feeling like an unguided Exocet missile. And we’re glad to report that the answer is a resounding, faintly befuddled “you bet”.

What happens when you select second gear and give it full beans in the RS frankly feels like some form of miracle, because even on a rough or wet surface the car takes off without drama, feeling for all the world as if it is four, not two-wheel drive. Considering how much raw thrust there is – Ford claims 0-60mph in 5.9sec, 0-100mph in 14sec dead and a top speed of 163mph – it’s quite weird to begin with. You even wonder whether they’re fibbing about how many wheels are being driven.

In the event this is just one of many tricks which the extraordinary new Focus RS has up its sleeve. What we are talking about is a car that really does shred the rule book on front-wheel-drive dynamics, but one that’s also civilised and well mannered enough to live with every day.

And when you do go for it, do not expect to be disappointed. Even with as little as 1800rpm showing it goes, and goes hard, in all of the first five gears. In sixth you need to wait until just over 2000rpm before the whirlwind of torque begins to blow you, and then throw you, towards the horizon.

If anything the Focus RS feels faster than the raw numbers suggest, partly because of the huge wallop of torque so low down, but also because of the noise. It really is a key part in the transformation from relatively humble ST to altogether more meaningful RS. The same can’t quite be said about the gearchange, unfortunately, which is shorter and sharper than the ST’s but not short or sharp enough to do the rest of the drivetrain justice.

On the other hand, the chassis more than makes up for this most minor of issues. With the previous RS Ford may have dropped a whoopsy on the finance front, but it also made one of the sharpest handling front-wheel-drive cars there has ever been. It has gone at least one, if not two steps better this time round.

The way the RS puts its grunt down is truly incredible, but beyond that it’s also a lovely car to hussle along a good road. The steering is just delicious in the way it telegraphs so clearly what’s happening beneath the fat Continental front tyres. Yet it’s what happens at the other end of the car that provides you with the biggest confidence booster. The way in which the car neither under nor oversteers, but just hangs on is, well, breathtaking." Autocar