2016 Ford Focus RS 5-door review: Ford?s best car ever?

[Focus RS News]

Ford's amazing new hot hatch puts the AWD rally segment on notice

Wow, the Focus RS. It's the best modern Ford product I've driven. It's the best sport compact I've ever driven, not including small sports cars. It's quite an achievement, and it's so popular that Ford has had to push some 2016 orders into 2017. Can't make them fast enough. This car is worthy of mention alongside of Ford's best ever.

Unfortunately, the seating position really lets it down, and it's a conscious decision on Ford's part. Ford's ?DNA? dictates a high ?H-Point? because older people have bad hips. Will the Ford GT have similarly positioned seats? It better not. Ford should know that some cars don't need to be octogenarian-friendly. If I were to buy an RS, I'd have the seats out as soon as I took delivery.

The only other complaint I have is the sound. From outside, the car sounds fantastic. You can only sort of hear it from the inside. The BMW is similarly handicapped. They're both supposed to be unalloyed performance machines. Pull some sound-deadening out and lose the sound-transfer gizmos.

I don't mean to pile on constructive criticism, but the car is so astonishingly good that you might not hear another negative word about it.

There aren't many cars that I've literally pined for, for years before they hit the streets. The Nissan GT-R was one; the Jaguar F-Type another. This RS may have been the third, in 10 years. It didn't disappoint. Sure, there were a few little things, but mostly, this is exactly what I expected.

I was thinking last week that when a new car jumps into a segment, like this RS jumped into WRX/Evo/Golf R territory, it benefits from a few extra years of new technology and development than the others didn't; hence it should be the best in the segment, and right now, I think the RS is. When the new WRX comes out, it might then be the best. Just thinking out loud here.

Anyway, I think the look of this RS straddles the line between boy racer and regular car pretty well, besides the color. The open, angry mouth in front is a little tipoff, as is the restrained wing in the back, but if this was a regular color, I think it would pass by most people without a second look. But the people who know, know. I was stopped by a guy in an old Focus SVT who wanted to talk about it. Another guy on the street said he loved the nitrous blue color, but so would the boys in blue -- which they did, when I got pulled over near the airport after passing a pack of normal-colored cars. I got a 5-over, no points. Can't complain.

Some of the other drivers will tell that you sit too high in the RS. I, at 5'10?, didn't experience that. With the seat adjusted to the bottom, I could just see over the hood. The Recaro seats are perfect for me -- again, an average-sized American male(!). They're snug on the hips and shoulders and the bolsters on the bottom -- and suede covering -- make sure you don't go anywhere around hard corners. The controls are mostly easy to understand, launch control is in the trip/gauge menu, and the radio is as good as Sync has ever been. One complaint, though -- the USB connector is to the left of the shifter, which means your iPhone cord lies across or near it. I had to wrap it around the handbrake to keep it out of the way.

I did put the child seat in back with the latches, and it was easy, but the front passenger seat had to be slid up so far that my passenger looked uncomfortable on our short road trip.

The shifter is fine, not great. I'd like a little more thickness if possible. It seems to flex a little, and the throw could be a little shorter. I did miss one full throttle shift over the weekend (sorry, Ford).

The clutch pedal is really springy, which takes some getting used to, but it does catch low in the stroke, like fast cars should. The brakes are strong and with very little travel, but the pedal is a little too high and bit far from the throttle for good heel-toe braking. It can be done, with a little practice, but it's another thing that takes some getting used to.

The turbo-four comes on nice and smooth, and only seems to lag when starting in second -- I almost got plastered by cross traffic -- or when the damn stop/start system kills the engine. Make sure to give it some gas if you're trying to take off quickly. It pulls at least to 5,500 rpm and lets out a single pop when shifting. It's actually a little more restrained than I would have liked, but it does sound great when revving in neutral, like a Ken Block Gymkhana video but without the tailpipe flames.

The Cup 2 tires are super sticky and I'd say completely worth the extra $2,000. I used launch control a few times, once at 3,000 rpm, once at 4,000 rpm and once pinned to the mat. As you'd imagine, it got progressively more impressive as the rpms climbed. At wide-open throttle, it comes on with a split-second chirp from each tire, and then the car takes off like a cat on fire. First gear is quick though, so get ready with second. I did try drift mode once, but those tires are so damn sticky, I couldn't really get it around without going all-out, so I figured I'd save the tires for the next guy.

Between the tires (again, get the Cup 2s), and the chassis, the RS just rips around corners without slipping or complaint. The one time I managed to get it a tiny bit loose, it was all four tires and I slid about a foot. I'd love to get this thing on a track. I feel like it would dominate. Staying with the chassis -- and I don't know if I noticed more because Graham told me -- the difference between sport and normal shock mode is the clearest I've ever felt on a car. In normal, it's probably still a 6 or 7; livable, but stiff. In sport and track it's a 9.5, which probably means it should only be used on a track, but man, it just feels so grippy and aggressive, it's hard to turn it off. It's still a little more compliant than you'd expect at that level. Also, the system uses valves that control the fluid, instead of a magnetized liquid. I'm not sure why that makes it better, but like I said, it's the biggest difference between normal and sport that I've ever felt. Oh and I was going to complain about not being able to adjust everything individually, but there's a shock adjustment button on the end of the turn signal stalk, which can be changed independently of drive modes. Well done.

As of right now, I'd take this over any STI, Evo or Golf R, but I would still like it to be a little more raucous. I have to give it to Ford, though, for debuting at the top of the charts.

- Jake Lingeman, road test editor

Like most hot-hatch fans, I looked at the European version of Ford's badass Focus RS like a dog watching a squirrel from a window. Like the dog, I knew that, despite how cool the Focus RS looked, it simply wasn't for me. Not because I didn't want to hoon around in a 300-hp Focus, but because the likelihood of Ford bringing the all-wheel drive wannabe rally car stateside wasn't really in the cards.

That is, until the whole hubbub about the new third-gen Focus RS, which isn't really associated with the older Focus RS, besides its heritage. As the hype built around the 350 hp turbocharged I4 hatchback, and the announced limited production (and even more limited allocation), it seemed like everyone was caught in the same whirlwind love affair that I was with the winged RS.

Rolling out of One Autoweek Tower in the nitrous blue Focus, it was clear that all the things I expected about the hatch were wrong -- it wasn't the crass spiritual successor to the Sierra Cosworth or the RS200 I hoped it would be. Sure, it's a little more rough around the edges than the Volkswagen Golf-R, but it's considerably more refined than, say, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. The cabin is quiet, the transmission doesn't want to fight you, and everything seems well put together -- unlike the Evo, which feels like it's already been stripped ahead of a rally.

Sure, the Focus RS pops and crackles with authority, reminding you that it is as bad as any other hatchback on the market, but it only does it when pushing hard. When you're simply driving around, outside of track mode, the car is perfectly tame and comfortable. The heavily weighted clutch and heavily bolstered (and optional) Recaro racing seats are the only real reminders that you're in a Focus RS.

That is, until you switch the center-console-mounted drive select button to the track setting. Track mode firms up the suspension, switches off the pesky stability control and quickly reminds you why you're happy to spend 40 grand on a boy racer hatchback. With track mode on, there is virtually no body roll, and the steering is about as heavy as you'd want from any race car -- so much so that after the five hours I spent behind the wheel, my arms felt like I'd been doing a light weight workout.

It's certainly faster than any of the not-quite-homologation-specials like the previously mentioned Lancer Evo, as well as the Subaru Impreza WRX STI, but not by much. The one real advantage that the Focus has over the two aging rally machines is that the Focus can make enough low-end power to let you drive it like a daily car should be driven.

All of that to say, if you want a Jeckyll and Hyde sports car, you likely won't find a better one in the market. However, if you want an absolute bruiser, you'll likely be disappointed -- despite the Focus RS being as great as it really is. Of course, this lack of brutality might be addressed with the rumored Ford Focus RS500, which could shed some of the Focus' heft, and likely some of its domesticated behavior.

-- Wesley Wren, associate editor

In the interoffice back-and-forth that bubbled up after each of us had had our turn in the Focus RS, I detected a note of?not disappointment, exactly, but maybe the sense that oh-so-eagerly anticipated hatch wasn't quite the same beast we'd imagined it would be it.

Don't get me wrong, it's good. Better than expected, even, in a lot of ways. At the same time, it's not quite as wild or raw as we'd thought it to be.

Read the specs -- another reminder of how good we as enthusiasts have it these days. Crazy power! Crazy torque! And it's got something called Drift Mode! Are those Ford guys out of their minds?! Might as well throw in an anti-lag device and slap on some rally lights!

Then you go to drive it, climbing over the extremely well-bolstered seats and tuck in behind the wheel, expecting to blast off in something not too far removed from what Ken Block drives.

And boy, do you blast off. I didn't even bother with the launch control setting -- I found a nice quiet stretch of road, revved to four grand and eased out the clutch. Especially with the Michelin summer tires on each corner, you're basically guaranteed a straight, steady, takeoff. No drama, no torque steer. Just speed -- be ready to grab the next gear before the rev limiter kicks in.

Everything the RS does, it does well (except for the synthesized sound; no engine has ever had that weird, boomy resonance). Turn the wheel, and the car's already pointing in that direction. There's loads of grip -- you pretty much need that drift mode if you want to cut loose -- and the multi-mode suspension shows just how far these systems have come -- how far cars in general have come.

Here's where the difference between perception and reality comes into play. You're expecting something raw, something that will bite you if you don't hold it the right way. If it's going to be a hot hatch in the hot hatch tradition, is it wrong to expect -- or hope for -- it to be a tad unrefined?

You really don't get that with the RS. It's weird to call a bright blue, 350-hp, winged hatchback mature, but that's how the Focus RS comes off. This isn't the old days. It's not a built-to-a-price economy car with more power than it knows what to do with. It's a really good economy car that has been enhanced and refined to make full, responsible use of everything its 2.3-liter can serve up.

It's not something that Americans are necessarily accustomed to from Ford, despite the commendable trail blazed by the Focus and Fiesta STs. Just compare it to the new Mustang, the Blue Oval's quintessential performance car in this part of the world. I know, I know, totally different product for a totally different audience. But when it comes down to which one is the more modern performance vehicle -- the one that best demonstrates just how good a car Ford can build, when Ford builds a car for enthusiasts -- it's got to be the RS.

-- Graham Kozak, associate editor

RS2 package including 8-way power driver seat, black leather recaro with miko-dinamica inserts with RS logo, heated mirrors, heated front seats, heated three point steering wheel and voice activated touch-screen navigation system with SiriusXM traffic and travel link ($2,785); Michelin Cup2 summer track tires 19 inch forged alloy wheels ($1,990); nitrous blue metallic quad-coat ($695)

Read more on Autoweek.