Ford Focus RS review – Ford Focus RS vs rivals

Now in its third incarnation the Focus RS has developed a strong following but how did it fare when we pitched it up against SEAT’s Leon Cupra 300 and the new kid on the block, Honda’s latest Civic Type-R in our Supertest in issue 241?

The RS looks to have it all on-paper – nigh on 350bhp, four-wheel drive to keep it in check and a tweaked and lowered chassis set up. Plus it looks the part with aggressive styling and couples this with an entertaining soundtrack. It’s blisteringly quick but does it have the finesse to go with its outright speed?

Weight, dimensions and performance data

Thanks to its four-wheel drive it’s the heaviest car here at 1569kg – 220kg up on the SEAT and 150kg more than the Type-R – but even this can’t stop the RS from being the fastest to 60mph from rest, and by quite a margin. At 4.9sec it’s a full second quicker than the Type-R and 1.3sec faster than the SEAT. Extracting that figure is a brutal process though and not one for those with an ounce of mechanical sympathy as the RS’s launch control effectively involves dropping the clutch at 5000rpm. The Focus’s brakes lagged behind the Civic’s though, taking 15 metres longer to stop from 100mph.  

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Lap time and track driving 

On Bedford’s West Circuit the Focus RS was somewhat hampered by its weight – it was fast at the beginning of the lap but its times dropped off as the brakes and tyres struggled towards the end of each lap. At 1:26.9 It was faster than the SEAT (by 0.9sec) but 0.7sec slower than the tenacious Type-R.

The RS’s unruly nature saw it struggle in some of the faster corners such as Tower where the Civic could manage an 83mph maximum, nearly 10mph faster than the RS which was impeded by its tendency to oversteer. Ultimately the RS was fun, but not the quickest.

Supertest data and specs table