I know of a guy on UK Mk4s that had to sell his Focus RS as his missus nearly got rammed off the road several times, by people thinking she was up for a race while carting the kids about.
I hear they 'calmed' down the torque steer that the journos ranted about for the production models. Not driven one so PM Chris Eyre about FRS, he's driven one round Spa. Plenty of us run Quaife ATBs as per the FRS and ok, they do tug about a bit but not as dangerously so as JC made out Edited by: GVK
Yeah I expected the car to torque steer alot after reading several articles and remembering what Sutherlandm(?) had said when test driving one. But it didn't behave any differently to the Quaife in my car. Any powerful fwd car with a strong diff is going to pull and tug the steering a bit, but thats expected. I know the ECU limits the torque in 1st and 2nd gear to 160 ft lbs to try and limit any torque steer. This may have been the change they made. Sean Edited by: seanlazyass
I've only driven an RS out of the 3 cars mentioned, so I can help, but comment on that alone: Plus points: - looks mint, from any angle. A modern day Ford icon, anyday. Saw one from a rear three quarter perspective on Tues, 5-spoke rims flickering in the light. Georgeous. - tight corner turn in to die for (pulls higher G than a raft of supercars on a long hairpin Autocar used on test). I never got near it's steering angle/speed turn in limit on tight bends - it just seemed to take more and more - loads of pace, and chippable to 270 I think - rated very highly by Autocar's Chris Harris, who had custody of their car for most of the time. - off the shelf trackday machine, with hatchback practicality Plus and minus: - keeping this car wound up on corner entry easier said than done. It will pick a tighter line if you've got the throttle down on the way in. Difference can be as much as 4 foot on an apex. Affects turn on point. Nice learning curve for the driver there though. Minus points - irritating boost spike around 3k rpm in second. All to do with ECU programming/ first and second gear boost caps I suspect. Annoying on corner entry, because you're dodging the spike. Better knowledge of car might resolve: Had a lap of the 'Ring in the Autocar Focus, and though Chris Harris is very handy, the car behaved better when the driver knew exactly what he was going to do with it. - hard to stop it from ultimately understeering and munching at the front tyre sidewalls. Drove it at Spa with 45 psi in the rears to get a more neutral corner entry. Relates a bit to this boost spike/perhaps lack of car knowledge also. - high driving position (didn't like) - thirsty when the boost guage comes to life - bank on 20 mpg - 'tis a little crashy when the gas board have been out (not that it was a problem for me, but is it for Mum/Dad/you?) - naff interior - ECU's been mapped to dull the snap-shut throttle effect, meaning there's no lift off tricks available for a quick bit of additional turn in - managed to warp the discs at Spa in it, even though it was allowed proper cool down laps. Discs really grumbly thereafter. Calmed down with a bit of road use, but same again after a day at Silverstone. - Pads are pricey - 120 - so get EBC (GVK faints ) or something else. - Doesn't come with spare wheel, just foam I think. Mean't that spare tyre carried to the 'Ring and Spa, just in case, taking up boot space Will update if I think of anything else Right, high horse time: Volvo engine. Avoid this cynically produced rubbish like the plague. I don't care if it's 10 minutes faster than an RS round the 'Ring. Per Autocar, it's not the same experience. And let's face it, once we've all overtaken a few people on a track day, it's the experience that matters. Boycott a product with heavily mixed genes for godsake. Whatever next? (and I genuinely worry what is next).
Guy in our bodyshop runs a V70 and like every other car he's owned in the last 20 years I've known him, it's the best thing since sliced bread We couldn't shut the up when he found out they were putting the Volvo engine in the ST, and suddenly in his eyes all the new Fords are "just like Volvos ya know!"[:^(]
Cheers Chris, loads of good info there. We've put a deposit down on one and should be picking it up on monday! Can't wait! Its also been chipped to 250bhp!! Will post up some picks when it arrives. Sean Ps. Oh and Chris don't worry, the Volvo engined ST didn't appeal!
