Ford Focus RS (2016) | English subtitled - review by Autovisie TV
Ford Focus RS (2016) | English subtitled - review by Autovisie TV
ENGLISH SUBTITLED - We can finally go flat out with the all new Ford Focus RS! The car every petrolhead has been waiting for. With 350 hp, a manual transmission, four wheel drive with torque vectoring, drift mode and a reasonable price of 50.000 euros in the Netherlands it will set everyone’s petrolheart on fire. In Holland you can’t even buy one anymore in 2016. The car has sold out already. Enjoy and ride along with Autovisie test driver Peter Hilhorst.
Eindelijk kunnen we los in de Ford Focus RS! Dé auto waar iedere benzinesnuiver zo lang op heeft gewacht. Met 350 pk, handbak, AWD met torque vectoring, een heuse driftmodus en een scherpe prijs van 50.000 euro heeft hij alles om de liefhebber in vuur en vlam te zetten. Zijn roem heeft hem zelfs vooruitgesneld, want voor dit jaar is hij uitverkocht. Geniet mee op de passagiersstoel met Autovisie testredacteur Peter Hilhorst.
Content
38.76 -> Whohoho! It just keeps on going.
41.94 -> Petrolhead's will absolutely love this car.
44.7 -> It's fast, sounds great, has lively handling and costs fifty thousand euros.
51.06 -> Ford made us wait for one and a half years.
53.68 -> Ford showed us videos, interviews with Ken Block, you name it.
57.38 -> But now we can finally take the wheel of the third generation Focus RS.
61.1 -> The first generation arrived in 2002.
63.52 -> The second generation arrived in 2009 and had that brutish five cylinder engine.
66.58 -> The third generation of the Focus RS is a totally different car.
71.02 -> It has four wheel drive because Ford wanted to give it more power and more speed.
74.98 -> The five cylinder engine, that wonderfully wild and untamed five cylinder, has been retired.
79.94 -> It's replacement is the 2,3 litre four cylinder turbocharged Ford Mustang engine.
85.54 -> It's quite a different engine. It has a huge turbocharger and behind the grille sits an incredibly large intercooler.
91.54 -> Internally the engine has been strengthened. The cylinder head has been crafted from a stronger alloy.
94.9 -> It has a redesigned intake and exhaust manifold.
96.8 -> And that gives the engine 350 horsepower and 400 newton metre of torque.
102.26 -> When I floor the throttle overboost kicks in. Which gives me 470 newton metre of torque for fifteen seconds.
108.76 -> If I use launch control the Focus RS while go from a standstill to 100 kilometres per hour in 4,7 seconds.
112.56 -> It's pretty easy. You look up Launch Control in the menu...
117.1 -> ...press the clutch, put your foot on the accelerator, release the clutch...
120.44 -> ...and then you feel the rear tires struggling for grip a little bit, before the car just takes off.
125.5 -> I can keep my right foot planted, because the RS allows me to flat shift
129.38 -> That way I can change gear from one to two, even though I'm keeping my right foot firmly on the throttle.
134.22 -> The Ford is capable of reaching 100 kilometres per hour in second gear by the way.
136.72 -> And after that you just keep on going through the gears. The engine revs very quickly,...
140.68 -> ... has enough power low in the rev range, gets really angry above 4000 revs...
144.62 -> ...and thunders on to more than 6000 revs a minute.
149.16 -> You probably remember the previous generation Focus RS.
151.92 -> It was really wide, had vents in the bonnet and sported a giant wing on the back.
156.82 -> It was barely recognizable as a Focus. This RS on the other hand looks a little bit more normal.
162.26 -> It still looks menacing, especially from the front. It has a large wire mesh grille to suck in cold air.
167.94 -> And at the back it sports two exhaust pipes below the rear bumper. So yeah...
171.44 -> You won't confuse it with a normal Focus, but it's clearly a bit less aggressive looking than its predecessor.
177.2 -> And the same goes for the interior.
180.58 -> There is blue stitching and there are some additional gauges of course...
183.82 -> ...for monitoring the turbo pressure, oil temperature and oil pressure.
188.1 -> But apart from that the interior isn't very different. The seats are good.
191.34 -> These ones are the normal sports seats. Two thousand euros buys you rally seats.
196.56 -> But to be honest, I don't think you'll need them.
201.24 -> The Focus RS does however feel less luxurious, less premium than the competition.
207.62 -> And that competition comes in the form of the Audi RS3, Mercedes-AMG A 45 and Volkswagen Golf R.
216.32 -> But then again, this Focus costs fifty thousand euros. The Golf starts at more than fifty,...
221.88 -> the Audi RS3 costs - wait for it - more than seventy thousand euros,...
227.36 -> And the Mercedes-AMG A 45 also costs more than sixty thousand euros. So...
232.28 -> This Ford delivers the hardware petrolheads were waiting for.
236.6 -> Four wheel drive, launch control, a manual gearbox, 350 horsepower and lots of speed.
242.6 -> The Focus RS is based on the Focus ST, Ford's equivalent of the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
251.1 -> The front suspension is more than thirty percent stiffer and the rear suspension almost forty percent stiffer.
259.08 -> The dampers have two settings, which can be changed by pressing a button on the steering wheel.
262.78 -> When it is set to Normal the dampers are just as stiff as the ones on the Focus ST.
267.48 -> In Sport mode the RS is basically to stiff for use on public roads.
273.96 -> But with Normal mode engaged the Focus RS can be comfortably used every day.
278.6 -> The great thing about this Focus RS, what really sets it apart from the competition...
283.96 -> It's competitors all use a Haldex coupling, which means their four wheel drive systems work really fast.
290.36 -> When the rear wheels lose traction the systems send power to the front wheels immediately to straighten out the car.
296.3 -> That's great of course, because it allows you to drive really fast really easily.
300.3 -> But it also means cars with a Haldex coupling are not that much fun to drive.
303.6 -> Ford did experiment with a Haldex coupling for the Focus RS
306.9 -> But they quickly realized that you can't build a truly exciting four wheel drive car with a coupling like that.
314.62 -> The RS uses a completely different system, which Ford calls a 'rear drive unit'.
318.2 -> There are two plate clutches situated at both sides of the rear axle, that can be engaged or disengaged electronically.
323.92 -> And that's how the four wheel drive system is controlled. It can send all the power to the front wheels.
329.92 -> You can feel it working sometimes when you pull away. Just a little bit, through the steering wheel.
333.38 -> But not nearly as much as in the previous generation of the Focus RS.
335.84 -> In which the steering wheel did this sometimes when accelerating hard.
339.36 -> In this RS the four wheel drive system transfers power to the rear wheels when the front wheels lose grip.
342.3 -> It can transfer up to seventy percent of the power to the rear.
347.7 -> And incredibly, the system can send all that power to one wheel!
351.12 -> And because of that, this Focus is a totally different car to drive than a Audi RS3 or Mercedes-AMG A 45.
358.92 -> It's quite noticeable actually. Although it depends on the drive mode you're in.
364.06 -> There's Normal, Sport, Track and Drift. And I will get to that last one in a minute.
369.82 -> In Normal Mode the RS drives like a regular four wheel drive car. You can feel the rear axles working a little bit.
375.66 -> In Sport Mode the suspension gets stiffer and the steering gets heavier.
379.26 -> Personally I think the steering feel in Normal Mode is the best, the most natural. It's just a bit lighter.
385.82 -> In Track Mode the throttle response is incredibly quick and the exhaust let's out loud bangs.
390.4 -> In Track Mode the car also pipes artificial induction noise into the interior.
395.78 -> A feature I could do without. Especially since the rest of the car feels so pure.
400.66 -> The pops and crackles out of the exhaust on the other hand. They are absolutely spine-tingling.
406.18 -> Of course there is also Drift Mode. The best setting for this car in my opinion.
413.56 -> The steering is set to Normal, the lightest setting.
416.42 -> It's very precise. I can feel exactly what the front wheels are doing. It's excellent.
421.5 -> The dampers are also set to Normal, so the car moves around a little bit more and becomes more predictable.
427.26 -> The four wheel drive system however makes all the difference, because in Drift Mode it sends seventy percent to the back wheels.
433.98 -> And when you enter a corner you can set up the car by lifting the throttle and turning in hard. The rear then wants to step out.
439.84 -> Push the throttle and the car will send most of its power to the outer rear wheel, which causes the car to rotate.
449.42 -> On public roads you have to be careful. You have to find somewhere to use Drift Mode safely.
461.06 -> Drift Mode is perhaps more suited for use on a track.
465.28 -> The trick is to really set up the car for the corner. Just flick it and floor the throttle.
474.02 -> Damn. Blue smoke, black skid marks.
477.92 -> It's different than drifting in a rear wheel drive car. But it certainly is drifting in the Focus RS!
488.74 -> All in all this Focus RS offers a great deal of value for money!
492.94 -> The interior is nothing special. And Drift Mode can't really be used easily or responsibly on public roads.
500.3 -> But I don't want to end on a sour note. Because the Focus RS is an exceptional car!
505.5 -> It's so much more fun than the Mercedes-AMG A45 and the Audi RS3 Sportback
512.04 -> In fact, it's so much fun that I ran out of gas within 110 kilometres.
520.06 -> It's really empty, Patrick! It's going to quit on me. Shit!
525.48 -> But then again, we did have fun.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE0DoDTJWYE