Focus RS
Wut? STIs with just a tune, exhaust, intercooler, and other bolt-ons is pretty much bulletproof. Or at least it was until Subaru decided to **** around with the stock tune and start using ringlands made out of glass or paper. 
Pre-2008 STIs don't suffer from many problems with bolt-ons. It's passed that novice level that they ****ing fall to pieces or require you to re-mortgage your house to build.

Pre-2008 STIs don't suffer from many problems with bolt-ons. It's passed that novice level that they ****ing fall to pieces or require you to re-mortgage your house to build.
power steering pump went out around the 120k mark and then the rack around 140-150k. other than that everything was good. well it ate a ton of oil, but thats normal for horizontally opposed engines
08+ subies are more reliable with a solid/safe tune on them. The OEM tune is lean and knocky. That's why stock cars break ring lands. Tuned car break rings lands because they pushed the OEM short block too far, or the tune wasn't safe.
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...-ford-focus-rs
First American takes delivery of Ford Focus RS
Ford Motor Company’s [NYSE:F] Focus RS is finally being delivered to customers across the country, and the first to be handed the keys is Californian resident Jackson Gilmore.
He’s been eagerly awaiting the car ever since he first learned of rumors that it will be sold in the United States, possibly right here on Motor Authority.
"Then they said they were going to make it, it’s going to be all-wheel drive, 300-plus horsepower, they’re going to bring it to the States,” Gilmore said in a statement. "I told my girlfriend, you know, that’s the car. I’m going to buy that.”
To get to the front of the line, Gilmore said he placed his order more than 8 months ago. However, reality didn’t really set in for him until he was told recently that his car was among the first to be delivered to the West Coast.
What does he think of it now that he’s had some time behind the wheel?
“It’s definitely quick. It’s got power, but the biggest thing I noticed is the handling,” Gilmore said. “I think it’s glued to the road; it’s super tight… so as soon as you move the wheel it just points in and hugs the turn. It’s awesome, honestly.”
Pricing for the Focus RS starts at a very reasonable $36,605, which includes shipping. For this you get a practical hatch powered by a turbocharged engine and equipped with a sophisticated all-wheel-drive system. Peak output from the car’s turbocharged 2.3-liter 4-cylinder is 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, which is enough for 0-62 mph acceleration in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 165 mph.
If that's not enough, a number of tuning firms are already preparing go-fast parts for the car, and Ford, too, could be preparing a hotter version. Focus RS prototypes have been spotted at the Nürburgring and are believed to be for a limited edition RS500 version.
First American takes delivery of Ford Focus RS
Ford Motor Company’s [NYSE:F] Focus RS is finally being delivered to customers across the country, and the first to be handed the keys is Californian resident Jackson Gilmore.
He’s been eagerly awaiting the car ever since he first learned of rumors that it will be sold in the United States, possibly right here on Motor Authority.
"Then they said they were going to make it, it’s going to be all-wheel drive, 300-plus horsepower, they’re going to bring it to the States,” Gilmore said in a statement. "I told my girlfriend, you know, that’s the car. I’m going to buy that.”
To get to the front of the line, Gilmore said he placed his order more than 8 months ago. However, reality didn’t really set in for him until he was told recently that his car was among the first to be delivered to the West Coast.
What does he think of it now that he’s had some time behind the wheel?
“It’s definitely quick. It’s got power, but the biggest thing I noticed is the handling,” Gilmore said. “I think it’s glued to the road; it’s super tight… so as soon as you move the wheel it just points in and hugs the turn. It’s awesome, honestly.”
Pricing for the Focus RS starts at a very reasonable $36,605, which includes shipping. For this you get a practical hatch powered by a turbocharged engine and equipped with a sophisticated all-wheel-drive system. Peak output from the car’s turbocharged 2.3-liter 4-cylinder is 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, which is enough for 0-62 mph acceleration in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 165 mph.
If that's not enough, a number of tuning firms are already preparing go-fast parts for the car, and Ford, too, could be preparing a hotter version. Focus RS prototypes have been spotted at the Nürburgring and are believed to be for a limited edition RS500 version.
how about Australia try to recall the RS because the drift button...
http://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/au...da0?yptr=yahoo
http://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/au...da0?yptr=yahoo
http://www.carscoops.com/2016/07/foc...-lost-his.html
When order books first opened for the Focus RS on October 12th, Kevin Flynn ordered a fully loaded Nitrous Blue model that never made it into his possession.
Flynn took to both Medium and Reddit to tell people what had happened to him and the reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive of his case, with some people even encouraging him to walk away from this entire situation.
However, as far as we can tell, walking away is rather difficult when you've got a company representative writing you back to let you know that they will no longer be in "written communication" with you, as if they were trying to thin out the paper trail.
"At this time, this will be our last written communication to you regarding this concern," said somebody named Jeffrey, working in Ford's customer relationship center.
Anyway, here's a quick rundown of what Kevin had to go through while waiting for a car that never came:
"The order books officially opened on October 12th of 2015 and I placed one of the very first orders for a fully loaded Nitrous Blue Focus RS. My dealer commented how, due to how fast we placed it, this could be one of the first 5 delivered on the West Coast. We tentatively thought it could arrive as soon as January, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath."
"January came and went with no car. This wasn’t a huge surprise to me as they had just started building them. My dealer kept insisting my car should enter ‘Production’ status any day now, so I still kept tabs every couple of weeks. In February is where things started to go wrong. The factory was shut down for 3 weeks to fix something on all the cars produced to that date, and to change the tooling to prevent whatever issue was plaguing them from happening any more. Ford never officially communicated on this, but rumors were that it had something to do with the Rear Drive Unit (RDU) on the car. The RDU unit was brand new, cutting edge technology so some hiccups were to be expected."
"Cars were being built, but mine was nowhere in sight. We obviously weren’t going to be one of the first 5 on the West Coast, but I was sure I’d get my car in due time. The only problem was this — Ford wasn’t giving anyone any information. The production process was and still is a complete mystery. As of this writing, there are people that ordered the same day as me (October 12th) whose cars have STILL NOT BEEN PRODUCED."
Everything changed the day two anonymous Ford employees helped Kevin track down his car, telling him that it had went into production on March 13 and that it was ready to be shipped out in April.
"My car’s production was halted at one point (as were others) to fix yet another issue, but it was ready to be shipped out in April. Along with a couple hundred other cars, it was loaded onto the Grand Legacy late April and made way for Newark, New Jersey. The Focus forums had a lot of fun as we all tracked the ship in real time — and one fan even snuck on to the boat to take pictures once it docked!"
Unfortunately for them, Ford found out about the employees giving away information on the forum and apparently shut them up because after the car was unloaded in Newark, NJ on May 6th...it was the last time Kevin would hear anything about it.
"It has now been 10 weeks since my car has been unloaded and I don’t have it. I don’t know what it’s doing at the docks. Ford won’t tell me. I don’t know when it will be delivered. Ford won’t tell me. Ford told all RS owners to start contacting Ford Service on Facebook (seriously), who are outsourced customer support who read off scripts."
Now, he claims that even his dealer's calls to Ford Corporate remain unanswered and even the reply where Ford stated no further written communication would exist, came only after he tried emailing somebody up the chain.
That's one ugly mess and one very disgruntled customer, then.
Focus RS Buyer Says Ford Has Lost His Car, Has Been Waiting For 10 Months
When order books first opened for the Focus RS on October 12th, Kevin Flynn ordered a fully loaded Nitrous Blue model that never made it into his possession.
Flynn took to both Medium and Reddit to tell people what had happened to him and the reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive of his case, with some people even encouraging him to walk away from this entire situation.
However, as far as we can tell, walking away is rather difficult when you've got a company representative writing you back to let you know that they will no longer be in "written communication" with you, as if they were trying to thin out the paper trail.
"At this time, this will be our last written communication to you regarding this concern," said somebody named Jeffrey, working in Ford's customer relationship center.
Anyway, here's a quick rundown of what Kevin had to go through while waiting for a car that never came:
"The order books officially opened on October 12th of 2015 and I placed one of the very first orders for a fully loaded Nitrous Blue Focus RS. My dealer commented how, due to how fast we placed it, this could be one of the first 5 delivered on the West Coast. We tentatively thought it could arrive as soon as January, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath."
"January came and went with no car. This wasn’t a huge surprise to me as they had just started building them. My dealer kept insisting my car should enter ‘Production’ status any day now, so I still kept tabs every couple of weeks. In February is where things started to go wrong. The factory was shut down for 3 weeks to fix something on all the cars produced to that date, and to change the tooling to prevent whatever issue was plaguing them from happening any more. Ford never officially communicated on this, but rumors were that it had something to do with the Rear Drive Unit (RDU) on the car. The RDU unit was brand new, cutting edge technology so some hiccups were to be expected."
"Cars were being built, but mine was nowhere in sight. We obviously weren’t going to be one of the first 5 on the West Coast, but I was sure I’d get my car in due time. The only problem was this — Ford wasn’t giving anyone any information. The production process was and still is a complete mystery. As of this writing, there are people that ordered the same day as me (October 12th) whose cars have STILL NOT BEEN PRODUCED."
Everything changed the day two anonymous Ford employees helped Kevin track down his car, telling him that it had went into production on March 13 and that it was ready to be shipped out in April.
"My car’s production was halted at one point (as were others) to fix yet another issue, but it was ready to be shipped out in April. Along with a couple hundred other cars, it was loaded onto the Grand Legacy late April and made way for Newark, New Jersey. The Focus forums had a lot of fun as we all tracked the ship in real time — and one fan even snuck on to the boat to take pictures once it docked!"
Unfortunately for them, Ford found out about the employees giving away information on the forum and apparently shut them up because after the car was unloaded in Newark, NJ on May 6th...it was the last time Kevin would hear anything about it.
"It has now been 10 weeks since my car has been unloaded and I don’t have it. I don’t know what it’s doing at the docks. Ford won’t tell me. I don’t know when it will be delivered. Ford won’t tell me. Ford told all RS owners to start contacting Ford Service on Facebook (seriously), who are outsourced customer support who read off scripts."
Now, he claims that even his dealer's calls to Ford Corporate remain unanswered and even the reply where Ford stated no further written communication would exist, came only after he tried emailing somebody up the chain.
That's one ugly mess and one very disgruntled customer, then.
My car was on that same boat. It sat at port in New Jersey (at what Ford calls the Mod Center) for over a month before finally being loaded onto a truck and shipped to me in Ohio. My dealer claims that there is an issue with the headliner that needs to be repaired before the cars are allowed to be released to the dealerships. I don't think that's the real reason though.
One thing I did notice on my car though, is that the main engine wiring harness (runs to the coil packs, some sensors, the injectors (I think), and some other misc stuff), appears to have been replaced. There is cut masking tape in three spots on my harness where it looks like it would have been possibly lashed together while shipping and the bolts associated with its removal have marks on them like they've been removed and replaced.
We'll probably never know if that was actually the reason that everything was delayed, but that seems more likely than a headliner issue.
One thing I did notice on my car though, is that the main engine wiring harness (runs to the coil packs, some sensors, the injectors (I think), and some other misc stuff), appears to have been replaced. There is cut masking tape in three spots on my harness where it looks like it would have been possibly lashed together while shipping and the bolts associated with its removal have marks on them like they've been removed and replaced.
We'll probably never know if that was actually the reason that everything was delayed, but that seems more likely than a headliner issue.
+70whp/+60wtq gains with just a tune and E30 and we are still just starting.
http://www.focusrs.org/forum/16-focu...yno-track.html

http://www.focusrs.org/forum/16-focu...yno-track.html

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