Focus RS
There are some financial factors involved. Lower monthly payment (Evo is paid off, truck is $300/month) and insurance. I have a good amount of equity in the truck too. So I would come out with cash in my pocket, and lower monthly expenses by about $150, not including what I'll save on fuel (the truck is fairly thirsty daily driver lol). Just something I'm playing with in my head but probably won't pull the trigger on.
There are some financial factors involved. Lower monthly payment (Evo is paid off, truck is $300/month) and insurance. I have a good amount of equity in the truck too. So I would come out with cash in my pocket, and lower monthly expenses by about $150, not including what I'll save on fuel (the truck is fairly thirsty daily driver lol). Just something I'm playing with in my head but probably won't pull the trigger on.
Wait a minute! Hold the phones...youre telling me youre considering trading in the truck and evo for the RS? Are you for realz? How do you plan to tow the car home when the wheel falls off?
OMG talk about splitting hairs; youre worse than me
Don't do it! Just dont!
If you get rid of your evo then who is gunna answer questions around here!? Sheesh cmon man use youre head!
Don't do it! Just dont!
If you get rid of your evo then who is gunna answer questions around here!? Sheesh cmon man use youre head!
Evolved Member
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,066
Likes: 29
From: Tri-State NY/NJ/CT
Originally Posted by heel2toe
OMG talk about splitting hairs; youre worse than me
Don't do it! Just dont!
If you get rid of your evo then who is gunna answer questions around here!? Sheesh cmon man use youre head!
Don't do it! Just dont!
If you get rid of your evo then who is gunna answer questions around here!? Sheesh cmon man use youre head!
Never buy a first model year of anything !! The first year is for over zealous guinea pigs that over pay on mark ups and deal with all the problems that will come of it.
Wait a couple years till all the problems are fixed and new things are added with a mild bump in price w/o the markup
plus you know what to expect from the evo, not the rs yet
just my thought though
Wait a couple years till all the problems are fixed and new things are added with a mild bump in price w/o the markup
plus you know what to expect from the evo, not the rs yet
just my thought though
Focus RS Review
Thanks to Dan at Mach V Motorsports, I had a chance this week to spend two days with a brand new Focus RS 
, so I thought I'd post a quick "review from an EVO owner's POV."
I have a slightly modified EVO 8, purchased new in 2005. It's maybe 30 or so HP up from stock, and has Bilstein HD struts, but other than that, it's pretty much like it was when it left the factory. I was able to drive the RS for two days, and them immediately return to my EVO, so I think I have a pretty good back-to-back comparison on the cars.
Here's some random thoughts in no particular order.
- Exterior styling: not digging it. The wheels are just plain too large (at 19"), and the rubber band tires look kind-of strange on a car this size. I don't care for the front end of the car, either. To me, the original Focus ST look was awesome, but it seems like Ford pushed the envelope too far on this one.
- The car had the Michelin PSS tires on it, as does my car. I checked Tire Rack, and the stock EVO 8 size is a little over $150. The RS size is a little over $250. Holy crap.
- The front end is surprisingly low to the ground and there's not a lot of wheel gap. Not a lot of room for lowering springs. Anyone doing a +1 wheel package on this car is out of their mind.
- The blue is very nice in person.
- Brembo multi-piston calipers front, regular old sliding calipers on the back. Cheesy.
- Rear seats are the standard Focus fair, and don't match the fancy front seats. Seems like Ford cheaped out on this.
- Surprisingly good space in the back seat. Maybe slightly less than the EVO 8, but the front seats (which are thick) have a cutout for your knees, which is nice.
- Hatch space is less than the standard Focus. The trunk cover on the floor is raised up somewhat, and there are amps, electronics for the rear diff, and a fix-a-flat under the cover.
- Plenty of headroom, front and back, which surprised me as the car looks like it has a low roof.
- Front seats: my main area of complaint with the car. The side bolsters are huge, and just slightly tight on me. This is fantastic for cornering, but my worry is that it's impossible to get into the car without sliding over the (leather) bolsters, and I suspect that 5 years out, the side bolsters are going to be beaten to death. Since I tend to keep my cars (nice) for a long time, this worries me. A lot.
- I'm used to seeing people do double-takes on my 11-year old car when they see it drive by, but I got none of that with the Focus RS. The car flew completely under the radar - I didn't see one person even glance at it. This is quite surprising, given how heavily the car has been hyped.
- Doors have a nice thud to them when you close them. No comparison to the tin can EVO 8 doors. The window pillars are way-thick, which inhibits visibility a bit.
- The car feels solid and modern. The car doesn't "feel" 200+ lbs heavier than our cars.
- The car has a stop-start feature. Freaked me out the first time the car turned off at a light. It works great, though - just touch the clutch and it starts right up. I was never able to "beat" the restart - that is, I never had to wait for the restart.
- The interior is very nice. Soft-touch materials throughout, flat bottom steering wheel, nice feel to the shifter. Good radio. Push button start. Fantastic accent lighting. It's a nice, new car. Everything about it says "new car design." It's fairly jarring to go back to my EVO 8, which of course was no luxury coupe even back in 2005.
- It has cruise control!
- The car has 6 forward gears, but I never found a place where I needed 5th. 5th gear = 6th gear as far as I can tell.
- The car is *quiet*. At idle, there's no sound, even with the windows down - it was just unbelievable. The mufflers include an adaptive "flapper" door, which I'm sure has something to do with it. Under power, the car has some noise, but it's not loud at all. In normal driving, it's actually too quiet with the windows down - you really can't shift it via the sound level.
- 6500 redline, as I recall.
- There are multiple drive modes - Normal, Sport, Track and Drift, and the car returns to Normal mode on a restart (don't know if you can override it). I didn't notice a difference between the modes as far as the engine goes, but the suspension... oh, yea, the drive mode makes a difference. In normal and sport mode, the car is stiff - think: EVO 8 with KYB's stiff. Way stiffer than EVO 8 with Bilstein's. In track mode... well, let's just say I wasn't able to keep the car in track mode. The suspension becomes seriously punishing on even smooth streets. Ford: you need to dial back the suspension a bit. It seems crazy, right? I'm coming from an EVO 8, and complaining about the ride in another car.
- Acceleration: nothing like our cars. Power delivery is smooth - there isn't that "wait for it... woah, here we go" action that you get even on a stock EVO. The car just smoothly accelerates in any gear you want (even 5th/6th) from any reasonable RPM. It makes for a nice DD, and it's pretty fast, but it felt certainly no faster than my slightly modified EVO 8. As the Brits might say: the car is "properly fast." I think if you have a modified EVO, you're going to be disappointed.
- Handling: unbelievable. From my limited testing, the car is a crazy handler. Miniscule body roll, and the car just digs in and keeps going around corners. I never found a time when I was brave enough to make the tires squeal - it's just that good. I think the trick AWD system is the reason. For comparison, my car (with the PSS's) is close to the handling of the RS (again, in my limited testing), but with significantly more body roll. The handling is far and away the best feature of the car.
So... bottom line for me: would I sell my 11 year old car, fork over another $25k and buy the Focus RS? No. I don't find it to be a compelling "upgrade" to what we have. The EVO has a rawness that's missing from the RS, and I like that rawness. Heck, I bought the EVO knowing exactly what a tin can "race car" it was, and I'm sticking by that decision.
If I wrecked my car, would I buy a RS? Maybe. If I could get past my worries about the seats and get over the looks, then the RS might be a good car to buy and leave stock to use as a very nice, fast DD.
Tom
, so I thought I'd post a quick "review from an EVO owner's POV."I have a slightly modified EVO 8, purchased new in 2005. It's maybe 30 or so HP up from stock, and has Bilstein HD struts, but other than that, it's pretty much like it was when it left the factory. I was able to drive the RS for two days, and them immediately return to my EVO, so I think I have a pretty good back-to-back comparison on the cars.
Here's some random thoughts in no particular order.
- Exterior styling: not digging it. The wheels are just plain too large (at 19"), and the rubber band tires look kind-of strange on a car this size. I don't care for the front end of the car, either. To me, the original Focus ST look was awesome, but it seems like Ford pushed the envelope too far on this one.
- The car had the Michelin PSS tires on it, as does my car. I checked Tire Rack, and the stock EVO 8 size is a little over $150. The RS size is a little over $250. Holy crap.
- The front end is surprisingly low to the ground and there's not a lot of wheel gap. Not a lot of room for lowering springs. Anyone doing a +1 wheel package on this car is out of their mind.
- The blue is very nice in person.
- Brembo multi-piston calipers front, regular old sliding calipers on the back. Cheesy.
- Rear seats are the standard Focus fair, and don't match the fancy front seats. Seems like Ford cheaped out on this.
- Surprisingly good space in the back seat. Maybe slightly less than the EVO 8, but the front seats (which are thick) have a cutout for your knees, which is nice.
- Hatch space is less than the standard Focus. The trunk cover on the floor is raised up somewhat, and there are amps, electronics for the rear diff, and a fix-a-flat under the cover.
- Plenty of headroom, front and back, which surprised me as the car looks like it has a low roof.
- Front seats: my main area of complaint with the car. The side bolsters are huge, and just slightly tight on me. This is fantastic for cornering, but my worry is that it's impossible to get into the car without sliding over the (leather) bolsters, and I suspect that 5 years out, the side bolsters are going to be beaten to death. Since I tend to keep my cars (nice) for a long time, this worries me. A lot.
- I'm used to seeing people do double-takes on my 11-year old car when they see it drive by, but I got none of that with the Focus RS. The car flew completely under the radar - I didn't see one person even glance at it. This is quite surprising, given how heavily the car has been hyped.
- Doors have a nice thud to them when you close them. No comparison to the tin can EVO 8 doors. The window pillars are way-thick, which inhibits visibility a bit.
- The car feels solid and modern. The car doesn't "feel" 200+ lbs heavier than our cars.
- The car has a stop-start feature. Freaked me out the first time the car turned off at a light. It works great, though - just touch the clutch and it starts right up. I was never able to "beat" the restart - that is, I never had to wait for the restart.
- The interior is very nice. Soft-touch materials throughout, flat bottom steering wheel, nice feel to the shifter. Good radio. Push button start. Fantastic accent lighting. It's a nice, new car. Everything about it says "new car design." It's fairly jarring to go back to my EVO 8, which of course was no luxury coupe even back in 2005.
- It has cruise control!
- The car has 6 forward gears, but I never found a place where I needed 5th. 5th gear = 6th gear as far as I can tell.
- The car is *quiet*. At idle, there's no sound, even with the windows down - it was just unbelievable. The mufflers include an adaptive "flapper" door, which I'm sure has something to do with it. Under power, the car has some noise, but it's not loud at all. In normal driving, it's actually too quiet with the windows down - you really can't shift it via the sound level.
- 6500 redline, as I recall.
- There are multiple drive modes - Normal, Sport, Track and Drift, and the car returns to Normal mode on a restart (don't know if you can override it). I didn't notice a difference between the modes as far as the engine goes, but the suspension... oh, yea, the drive mode makes a difference. In normal and sport mode, the car is stiff - think: EVO 8 with KYB's stiff. Way stiffer than EVO 8 with Bilstein's. In track mode... well, let's just say I wasn't able to keep the car in track mode. The suspension becomes seriously punishing on even smooth streets. Ford: you need to dial back the suspension a bit. It seems crazy, right? I'm coming from an EVO 8, and complaining about the ride in another car.
- Acceleration: nothing like our cars. Power delivery is smooth - there isn't that "wait for it... woah, here we go" action that you get even on a stock EVO. The car just smoothly accelerates in any gear you want (even 5th/6th) from any reasonable RPM. It makes for a nice DD, and it's pretty fast, but it felt certainly no faster than my slightly modified EVO 8. As the Brits might say: the car is "properly fast." I think if you have a modified EVO, you're going to be disappointed.
- Handling: unbelievable. From my limited testing, the car is a crazy handler. Miniscule body roll, and the car just digs in and keeps going around corners. I never found a time when I was brave enough to make the tires squeal - it's just that good. I think the trick AWD system is the reason. For comparison, my car (with the PSS's) is close to the handling of the RS (again, in my limited testing), but with significantly more body roll. The handling is far and away the best feature of the car.
So... bottom line for me: would I sell my 11 year old car, fork over another $25k and buy the Focus RS? No. I don't find it to be a compelling "upgrade" to what we have. The EVO has a rawness that's missing from the RS, and I like that rawness. Heck, I bought the EVO knowing exactly what a tin can "race car" it was, and I'm sticking by that decision.
If I wrecked my car, would I buy a RS? Maybe. If I could get past my worries about the seats and get over the looks, then the RS might be a good car to buy and leave stock to use as a very nice, fast DD.
Tom
Never buy a first model year of anything !! The first year is for over zealous guinea pigs that over pay on mark ups and deal with all the problems that will come of it.
Wait a couple years till all the problems are fixed and new things are added with a mild bump in price w/o the markup
plus you know what to expect from the evo, not the rs yet
just my thought though
Wait a couple years till all the problems are fixed and new things are added with a mild bump in price w/o the markup
plus you know what to expect from the evo, not the rs yet
just my thought though
EvoM Guru
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 9,675
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From: Tri-Cities, WA // Portland, OR
...
So... bottom line for me: would I sell my 11 year old car, fork over another $25k and buy the Focus RS? No. I don't find it to be a compelling "upgrade" to what we have. The EVO has a rawness that's missing from the RS, and I like that rawness. Heck, I bought the EVO knowing exactly what a tin can "race car" it was, and I'm sticking by that decision.
If I wrecked my car, would I buy a RS? Maybe. If I could get past my worries about the seats and get over the looks, then the RS might be a good car to buy and leave stock to use as a very nice, fast DD.
Tom
So... bottom line for me: would I sell my 11 year old car, fork over another $25k and buy the Focus RS? No. I don't find it to be a compelling "upgrade" to what we have. The EVO has a rawness that's missing from the RS, and I like that rawness. Heck, I bought the EVO knowing exactly what a tin can "race car" it was, and I'm sticking by that decision.
If I wrecked my car, would I buy a RS? Maybe. If I could get past my worries about the seats and get over the looks, then the RS might be a good car to buy and leave stock to use as a very nice, fast DD.
Tom
- Front seats: my main area of complaint with the car. The side bolsters are huge, and just slightly tight on me. This is fantastic for cornering, but my worry is that it's impossible to get into the car without sliding over the (leather) bolsters, and I suspect that 5 years out, the side bolsters are going to be beaten to death. Since I tend to keep my cars (nice) for a long time, this worries me. A lot.
Also, the seats break in, they are very tight at first. I like them better than both my Evo 8 and my Evo 10 seats. The only thing I do not like are the head rests because they are too far forward no matter what you do with them. It's okay on the street but really shows itself when you have a helmet on.
Disclaimer: I am approx 170lbs and 5'9".