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Feann Torr21 Nov 2017
REVIEW

Ford Focus RS Limited Edition 2017 Review

Track day weapon or piecemeal curtain call for world-beating hot hatch?
Review Type
Local Launch
Review Location
Sydney, New South Wales

In the auto world, the Ford Focus RS is heroic. It's a car that makes you feel like a pro driver, such is its progressive power delivery. It's so cool: if it were a jacket, it'd be leather and only Brad Pitt could wear it. The zaniest hot hatch ever built – hello drift mode! – it has a big reputation and has generated copious goodwill for Ford. But how do you retire such a special vehicle? You cram even more technical gubbins into the driveline and voila! Enter the Ford Focus RS Limited Edition, priced $6000 more than the bog-standard RS and worth every penny

When I was a kid, riding on the gravitron at Luna Park was my first introduction to proper g-forces. It made the swings at the park feel crude by comparison.

That incredible sensation of gravity pushing on every body cell, innards and all, was rekindled at the national media launch of the Ford Focus RS Limited Edition (LE) in Sydney.

Okay, so it did include access to a self-lubricating skidpan and several Ford Focus RS cars, should the AWD system overheat from two hours of repeated abuse! But in such a scenario the Focus RS LE revived those early memories of adrenaline-pumping, g-force thumping rides - and it was joyous.

https://www.facebook.com/motoring.com.au/videos/1774888565877570

I chuckled continuously as the car shunted around three quarters of its 440Nm of torque – spiking to 470Nm as full throttle engaged overboost – to the rear axle, then vectoring most of that to the outside left rear wheel.

At one point I was rotating on the spot like disgraced figure-skating champion Tonia Harding, a trick that no other production car I know can do. No broken knee-caps either! It was equal parts fluke and skill but the end game was tomfoolery at its best, or simply old fashioned dumb fun.

Spot the difference
Testing the standard Focus RS and Focus RS LE back to back on the skid pan proved an educational experience, primarily because the differences between the two were more marked than doing hot laps around the Sydney Motorsport Park.

The standard Focus RS costs $50,990 and the LE hikes that by $6000 to $56,990, which buys you some exclusivity – just 500 units are coming to Australia. It also gets you cosmetic extras such as black mirror caps, roof and rear spoiler, for a more sinister appearance, along with forged 19-inch alloy wheels finished in black, featuring neat 'RS' hub caps instead of the usual Ford jobbies.

Big Brembo brakes provide solid stopping power

The interior gets colour-matched blue Recaro seats and while the seating position is too high and not adjustable vertically due to the heavy-duty rail mounts, they’re snug and hold your body tight when going sideways like a dog scrabbling on polished floorboards.

The Focus RS LE is available only with the Nitrous Blue paint job and gets two performance-enhancing extras that make circle work just a little different. These include super-sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (optional on regular models for $3500), with 235/35 R19 aspect ratios. The other enhancement is a Quaife mechanical limited slip differential (LSD) at the front axle.

Colour-coded Recaro bucket seats, anyone?

On a soaked skid pan, the regular Focus RS could rotate on the spot and generally slide around like a Hyundai Excel with Maccas trays under the back wheels. The Focus RS LE, however generated a Darth Vader-like Jedi grip and required a more brutal approach to achieve optimum silliness.

It was easier to hook up a figure eight drift in the Focus RS LE because the LSD delivers more directional stability, and less counter steering is required. Only thing is, the grippy new tyres necessitate the banishment of any and all mechanical sympathy one had for the vehicle.

Enjoyment tinged with guilt… it's like gorging on Krispy Kreme donuts.

Here's some photos we took earlier, before the rain arrived...

Apex predator
Out on a damp track, putting in a perfect lap with the standard Focus RS was more challenging. The car generated speed so quickly that slides were inevitable (yet always fun). Turn two was a real hoot. In the Focus RS LE, the sticky tyres in conjunction with the LSD did an impressive job of ensuring the car went where it was pointed.

The Quaife slippery diff is a helical unit, so it uses gears instead of clutch packs and the upshot here is a faster reaction to torque vectoring between the front two wheels and improved longevity.

Punching out of corners with more stomp than the regular Focus RS, the fitment of the LSD to the LE version helped deliver quicker lap times, with the 257kW/440Nm 2.3-litre turbo-petrol engine snarling and crackling the whole way. There more theatre here than Hugh Jackman's turn in the Boy from Oz.

Pricing and Features
work well

The LE still slid around in the damp conditions if provoked but I felt the front end working harder to siphon torque away from the wheel with less grip. Indeed, the front diff reduced wheel spin out of corners which in theory should have reduced understeer, but with a wet track it was tricky to gauge this.

Even in the wet, the fun you can have on a closed course in the Focus RS beggars belief. We'll reserve judgement from a dry track, but the LE felt a couple of seconds quicker given the traction improvements.

I didn't have to fight the car as much when piloting the LE model; its aggressive powerplant tamed by the Quaife LSD. If you're a track rat, you need to seriously consider the upgrades…

The 2.3-litre turbo-petrol four-pot screamer is good for 257kW

Because you'd have to do something pretty dumb to shackle the meticulous balance of aggression and engagement the Focus RS possesses. The Limited Edition is simply a sharper tool, working with the Twinster all-wheel drive system, not against it.

We didn't get to drive the car on public roads, where the stiffer tyre sidewalls of the French rubber could potentially rattle your teeth over potholes. The appalling turning circle, small 52 litre fuel tank and high seating position are also negatives but easily overlooked amongst all the good stuff this car delivers.

I can't help but feel something more extreme would have been a more fitting swan-song for the current-generation (LZ) Ford Focus RS, a car that single-handedly changed the hot hatch playing field. But given that many buyers looking a car like this will take it to the race track – for several reasons – the upgrades are welcome.

A road-legal track attack weapon, the Ford Focus RS LE makes a good car better

2017 Ford Focus RS Limited Edition pricing and specifications:
Price: $56,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 257kW/440Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 8.1L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 190g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: N/A

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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Expert rating
85/100
Engine, Drivetrain & Chassis
19/20
Price, Packaging & Practicality
17/20
Safety & Technology
14/20
Behind The Wheel
19/20
X-Factor
16/20
Pros
  • Chassis dynamics
  • Explosive engine power
  • Driver engagement
Cons
  • High seating position
  • Paltry turning circle
  • Finding a skidpan
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