This has been long coming. Since before the head gasket issue came to light. Ford is consolidating its line up and focusing on trucks for the US market. The fiesta will live on in other countries. The new head of Ford is also supposed to be less interested in the performance market.

The RS is always a limited production run at the end of one Focus body style before transitioning to another. The MK4 is going to be coming out next year. The MK2 RS was also a limited production run about 7 years ago and only over seas. This is the normal cycle for the cars.

 

In our local group one person had the head gasket issue. He also had a May 2016 build right in the middle of the screw up. I still recommend the car and love driving it everyday. People are making good power with minimal mods and new stock location turbos have been released by a few companies. Precision being the best looking one.

Personally, I plan to mod the EVO and keep the RS stock till it is out of the warrant period. I see no reason in modding any new car and losing that assurance. Besides the power and grip is excellent. Not to mention I can power slide the car pretty easily if I enter a sharp turn with some speed and pop the wheel. It feels very well controlled and intuitive. This is done in either track mode with the dampers turned to normal (my favorite mode) or sport mode.

Generally though it has grip for days and can fit four people as well as a good size Costco run. The main complaint of most is the ride is bouncy. This can be fixed with some $200 mountune sport springs but personally i dont mind the ride. For those who do I recommend the Golf R. Both are good cars but I wanted heated seats and Navigation but had to have a stick shift (no paddle shifters for me lol).

 

same here.

Ford really let RS fans down with this. Even the FWD RS is more exiting and tunable car. Looks better in my opinion as well.
When tuned/ worked on, on tarmac i would say just as fast, despite the fact only FWD

I love the 5 cyl. RS sound , sounds amazing!
Also the olders just looks better in my opinion, and more of a type of car what the new RS just only can mimic, even if its faster by the numbers.

its like sex with girls, just because you can came faster, that not necessarily means the sex was better .

 

let's clean this up...

 

Done.

Guys, keep it civil.

 

And on the topic at hand, I was just reading about this yesterday.

It's amazing how a subtle design detail like the extra coolant passage can have such are serious negative effect on the system. It will be a case study for engineering failures I'm sure.

 

I think they rushed too much to get this car in production. Also i personally think, make it in a "standard" Focus shell was a mistake.
​​​​​​The AWD etc. is debatable, and maybe it's time for some cars loosing the tuner scene, and looking for warranty keeper users rather. Dont know i am not a market guy.
I still think the AWD system is not what we hoped for also.

Dont get me wrong. The Car is a great car out from the show room for many people. Its a fun car. Not a good looking one for what it is though, in my eye.
For me even if the STI is slower, i rather buy that one today instead the FRS. And i am truly not subi engine fan. Other then that its a great car.

 

Ford has released an FSA for the head gasket. All cars built before July 2017, will be eligible for the swap. If the gasket is leaking you get a new head. Pretty surprising but welcomed

 

I just saw an episode of "The Smoking Tire" . he explained that the head gasket issue happened due to Ford installing the wrong head gasket on the RS. apparently the head gasket of the Mustang 2.3 ecoboost was used and of course they are slightly different

 

Well, if they did use the wrong head gasket it was a decision not an accident.

 

in what way? i mean apart from reliability which is yet to be seen, i think it's a pretty nifty awd system. the only things it doesn't have is 1) any kind of center diff or 2) any mechanism for locking the rear wheels

what's the difference between a TSB, FSA, and recall?

 

The FSA is pretty much for "customer satisfaction", meaning the issue is not necessarily a safety issue, but should be fixed. It's Ford's way of saying 'we ****ed up, but not enough to endanger your life, so it's 'not that bad''.

The difference between the gaskets is actually because of the block.
The mustang block used a saw cut between the cylinders, so coolant is routed from the block, through the saw cut, and up into the head via the holes in the head gasket (if you look at the reference images posted earlier, you can see what holes I am talking about).
The RS uses a bore bridge coolant passage between the cylinders, pretty much a 'V' cut below the block surface of the block that sends coolant through a single hole which lines up with the head.
When the mustang gasket is used with this design, it allows coolant to 'leak' in between the cylinders from the extra hole in the head gasket and, because there is no return hole, the coolant sits in this passage, heating up and eating away at the elastomer on the head gasket.

 

well i ask because i'm wondering if they can be denied or anything like that - or if it's pretty much a recall and they gotta fix it no matter what

 

From what people have been saying so far, it looks like Ford owes anyone that comes in at least a head gasket replacement. I haven't seen anyone denied yet.

 

They are doing it for everyone. The awd system kicks ***. Very intuitive. It feels natural. Only when entering an empty intersection at a good rate of speed and popping the wheel did it surprise the **** out of me and go sideways. I asked for it though. If you gently steer in and stay in it will pop back in to place. Long sweeping on ramps it just sits rotates and holds. I actually had to let off on a tight clover leaf before the car unsettled because it felt like I was sitting at over a 45* angle and got freaked out a little lol. It was crazy awesome