The Ford Focus RS – the Blue Oval’s new foray into what many have dubbed the “hyper hatch” segment – has already won its fair share of praise from the motoring press.
In the latest video from the UK’s Car Magazine, we get to see how the new, technologically-advanced Focus RS fares against a more-premium German predator otherwise cut from the same cloth: the Audi RS3.
Both cars have clever all-wheel drive systems, and both spit out in excess of 250 kW (340 horsepower) thanks to aggressively-tuned and turbocharged inline engines, the Ford making do with a 2.3-liter 4-cylinder vs. the Audi’s 2.5-liter 5-cylinder. Already, a bit of a performance gap becomes apparent; the Audi RS3 has a peak power output of 367 HP, compared to 350 HP from the Focus RS.
But let’s not count Ford’s new Focus RS out just yet, as its GKN-sourced “Twinster” all-wheel-drive system is appreciably more advanced than the Audi’s drivetrain, and allows for “true” torque-vectoring both front-to-rear and side-to-side. The overall consensus from Car’s Nicol Louw and Wilhelm Lutjeharms is that this lends the Ford a bit of an edge in cornering.
By the end of the test, Nicol Louw comes away from the 2016 Ford Focus RS with the opinion that it is a “driver’s car par excellence.” But is it good enough to take on Audi’s subtler, much more premium “hyper hatch?” Watch the video above to find out.
Comment
A fair enough assessment if somewhat long-winded. I think you ought to have acknowledged that the cornering superiority of the Focus RS over the Audi is amplified even more when driving in wet conditions.
The Ford delivers the customer a masterpiece at a much lower purchase price than Audi can manage – and most likely at a much lower cost of service over the life of car.
The young-at-heart probably want their car to look exciting. But the Audi looks like the sort of car that a conservative professional would drive.