We’ll never see it in the States. But it is very good looking hatch.

come on ford bring this thing to the US

Wow. I never thought I would say this, but that is a great looking Ford. Bring it to the US! It wouldn’t sell well here because of the price point it would require, but it would be a nice option to have.

Actually it could be done quite easy but with 2.3 turbo motor from Mazda. It may not sell ’cause its hatch.

Not sure if it will make it to the states? We already have another POS Focus hitting dealers based of of the archaic 1st gen platform, so of course it won’t. This thing is awesome.

I think we may already get this car, or a version of it, rebadged as the Volvo C30?

Thats right this will never make it here. Why?? because that means Ford would have to do something right, and they dont know hoe to do things like that. cast in point the U.S. Focus BORING!!!!!!!!!!

Hello!! Sorry for the mispelled words. Im lost without my spell check. “hint hint Leftlane”

I don’t know if I’d pay 30k for a focus. then again, I wouldn’t pay it for a lancer or impreza either. Especially since you’ll be able to get a 1 series for that money.

I like it though.

Haha and we get a “refreshed” 8 year old car with a gimmicky interior. Ford sure does love ****ing its home country over.

This Focus looks awesome though. Just another reason I dislike Ford (see post above).

livelyjay –Yeah the C30 is basically the closest you can get to the Focus ST in the states, but it’s sooo far from it. The Mazdaspeed3 (also on the same platform) is definitely closer to the sportiness of the Focus ST.. but FWD.

The Focus ST (not even considering this new RS model) is the best hybrid between the C30’s near-luxury and AWD and the chassis dynamics of the Mazdaspeed3.

It’s probably way too heavy though, that I haven’t looked into.

What I must wonder is how they fit an inline 6 under that bonnet? crazy

oh and when I said the C30 is “sooo far from it” –I’m referring to its mush suspension, numb steering, etc. The MS3 fixes the mush suspension but not the numb steering.

Mr. Mulally,
Please bring this to the U.S. so we can shut some of these self-proclaimed expert import people up.
Oh, and so I can buy one of these for my wife.
Thank you.

AMEN!!!! LamborghiniZ

Lambo, it is not 8 years old, it was already refreshed 8 years ago. It is older then that. The good news it did not start to suck now, it sucked all its miserable life. I’ve had enough of it when Hertz was running out of other POS’s and I had to drive this particular one. Once I demanded Hyundai instead and it was better experience.

Very nice. Although Subaru and Mitsubishi have somewhat more pedigree. Then again, this is a road-going version of the current WRC CAR, which is awesome.

I hope Ford sells this in America. The US Ford lineup needs more exciting models.

I got the word, this wont be brought to the US, cause ford is still stupid

I don’t see a huge U.S. market for something like this.

kansei, the Focus ST weighs in at 3065 pounds according to Ford UK’s website, so the RS will add some pounds for the inline 6 and AWD. The difference between the Volvo S80 I6 and AWD T6 is 200 pounds, so the RS will come in around 3300 pounds. Pretty porky for a compact 3-door hatch.

Yeah and along please bring the hard-top-convertible Focus also.

You dont see a huge US market for this? If VW can sell 5000 R32’s, then Ford can definately move a handful of these, which i have to say is a better offering than an R32. And it probably has a manual. None of that DSG CRAP

bring it and let ‘er rip.

That would be nice if they did for once.

But I’d find a way to get that curb down to under 3100lbs. I think the WRX runs at 2800lbs or so. But this is better than nothing. Use a turbo 4 or 5 like the wolf Focus ST or even a Mazda rotary engine with turbos.

Blakkar: Rotary? Interesting.

A4: can ford come up with marketing that gets R32-type customers into this?

how you gonna get ‘em in if you don’t have it?
hell – just get it here.
talk about a bookend for all the Mustangs.

A4 – Amen to that regarding the R32. I’d take an RS over it any day of the week. If Ford limited it to 5-8K a year, they’d move every one.

Blakkan – The 08 WRX has a curb weight just under 3,150 lbs, FYI. Figure the AWD system/components adds about 200 lbs to most vehicles.

I was thinking of the older specs. Thanks. Yeah a smaller engine would save quite a bit. Of course a purpose built platform would be better.

I am not liking the tailights too much. But you can’t go wrong with that Mondeo frond.

It would behoove Ford to bring this to the US. Sell it with the 2.0 for those who want to save gas, and use either the turbo 2.3 or the 3.0 for those who want more performance.

IT looks good.

Ford should do what GM is doing, which is realize that their North American design team is smokin’ ****ing crank and is not to be trusted. They need to import this little ****ing beast ASAP and start doing some damage.

Or, bend over and die a slow painful sodomy-filled death at the hands of all the other hot hatches running around.

Wow. The front end actually looks good.

Hmm…veeery interesting…finally some Volvo integration, or at least parts sharing. I’m looking forward to this, Ford.

oh they gave us a word……that word is NO!

1c3d0g: i wish i could look forward to this…

Very nice. Now bring it to the North American market

If we had this car in NA I would be driving it. Not “might,” I WOULD buy this car, for sure.

SWEET ! somethign to go up against the fugly Impreza and the EVo x. the previous RS was a ****ing dream and just awesome so i cant imagine what this one will be like.

this thing will never sell in the US, it too small for rednecks and cant move farm equipment

Yet another good car from the original American company that Americans won’t be able to buy. GO FORD!

I think Ford made a mistake not bringing this last version of Euro focus to U.S. they claimed it was to expensive. Then they could have replaced the current loser Focus with Fiesta/Ka at similar price point.

Anyways in Europe the Focus and Escorts past have had incredible rally history and a performance following that help justifies this RS in the market place.

Sign Travis Pastrana as 3rd driver on Ford WRC team, offer sponsor money to networks to air WRC coverage in U.S. (when people might actually see it) next 2 years and this car will become a legend on these shores. Anyone that has seen one of WRC Focus’ dominating WRC rounds in Finland, Wales, Sweden and others with Gronholm and Hirvonen knows what Im talking about.

V2 I love stereotyping, keep it up. very original.

The euro Focus is the one I’d get due to the styling. After getting a test drive car for a week, I’d say the handling is still below the new Civic…

DeansterTJ: very colorful way of sharing your thoughts.

Veda: I had a Civic tester this fall, and I couldn’t believe how cramped and uncomfortable it was. I prefer the focus, but I an’t buying compacts anyway. Focus is below the civic in no substantial way, by my reckoning

Ford –
Slap yourself on the side of your head and say you are sorry and that you will bring this over here as soon as possible.
Then we will stop thinking you have lost your minds.

It’s as though Ford refuses to recognize the fact that American’s enjoy driving. They also must think we have no taste when it comes to vehicle design. ( By saying this I’m assuming it’s not going to come here. ) The only real car they have that I find somewhat interesting is the fusion, and that’s a stretch. I’d really take a Mazda6 instead.

With Ford I am pretty much past being sad or angry at the horrific decisions they make. Its starting to get to the point now where I enjoy the comic relief. If Ford actually turned themselves around and started making smart decisions then I wouldn’t get my laugh of the day!

i knew the first commet would be about that ford in us. I write about this issue on my blog http://www.ccxblog.com also, i think in the near future you will see similiar fords on different continents.

“The euro Focus is the one I’d get due to the styling. After getting a test drive car for a week, I’d say the handling is still below the new Civic…”

Go see how the Focus platform stacks up against the competition. Through your own personal experience you may have felt the Civic was better but push the cars to the limit and you’ll see the true performer. The first gen Focus platform is still considered impressive even by todays standards and the new platform is light years ahead.

The old Focus RS was tested with slalom speeds of 74.4mph and had some impressive times on the Ring. When the new ST came out with similar specs but on the new platform it outpaced the old RS at the Ring by over 10 sec.. That’s more than impressive and I can’t imagine how this thing will be.

“There is no word if the Focus RS will make it to the U.S.” There is no word when we will get the up-to-date version to begin with.

R1GHT30U5, you better off watching reruns of Seinfeld

terminator: The new Civic is a better car than the old Civic, but the old Civic Type-R is a better drivers car than the new Type-R…

The Focus RS Mk 1 was crap for daily driving, but the LSD really helped it around tracks.

The ST didn’t have that benefit, but it was again a better car to live with daily and was very torquey.

Can’t wait to see how this RS pans out!

I like Ford but am considering Ford to be irrelevant as far as cars go until they catch a fekkin clue and bring over some of their good ****, or build it here.

Nice trucks are one thing, but my next vehicle will be a car, and Ford has chosen to not be on the list.

Ford NA, you have yet to convince me why I should buy one of your blandish, boring boxes (save f-150) while the rest of the world laughs at the junk offered here.

Teaser ??????

I could also call an overweight 40-something in a bathrobe a “teaser”.

bring it here god damn this would be cool

Ford Europe is so fooking cool. Curious if it will be lighter than its 4WD competitors.

This would bring me back into a Ford showroom. Inline 5 with that much torque: serious stuff. 2 doors and not 4: that’s something you just can’t have in a WRX or Evo or SRT-4. Such a shame we’ll never see it.

you know the funny thing is you can get the ST170 Focus and the older RS if and I repeat if, you live in Mexico. so it is here so to speak, you can buy one and import it from mexico to the us if you really want one, as Ford dose sell both versions of the Focus in Mexico.

Let me be clear that I hate the Focus with a passion. But If they offered this at Ford dealers in the U.S. for mid 20k’s I’d probably be in the Ford dealership for the first time in my life looking into buying this.

http://www.ford.com.mx/vehicles/homevehicle.asp?idModel=FST
Looks like I’m going to Mexico….

Viva Mexico!

…but SS, why is this even in Mexico? I mean it’s Mexico for Gawds sake. Where could you even leave it and not find it stripped for parts?

I initally thought they’d be fools not to bring that here (U.S.). Really though 280hp, front wheel drive, I don’t know about that. I can’t see it hanging with the STI’s and Evolutions of the world. Plus, they already have the Mazdaspeed 3 over here, that would probably end up being its biggest competitor……. But, Ford could really use a car with some aggressiveness. So, I don’t know?

Mexico is amazing… back off.

lol johnnycanuck well all of Mexico isn’t like the back streets of Detroit, I’m sure. Although I have not actually traveled to Mexico. From what I’ve heard Mexico City is very pretty aside from being in a strictly tourist city such as Tiajuana, Cabo, or Cancun. For the price I can’t imagine them selling a whole lot of these versions of the Focus, but just like in the U.S or Canada look at how many Focuses you see, and then look and see how many of them are SVT’s.

Hateful83, yeah I too don’t see this competing with STI’s or Evo’s however there is plenty a market for sporty FWD cars in the US, and seeing that Ford killed the SVT focus and pretty much all of its SVT lineup for some time, I think it would be a good competitor to the Mazdaspeed 3, Caliber SRT-4, Cobalt SS… etc. If they priced it around a Mazdapeed 3 I think it would be a hot seller.

It still lacks AWD to truly be competitive. Though FWD rally cars are nothing new, I don’t think most people will see it that way.

Not a total let down, but still not what all I would have hoped for.

meanpants: apologies dude. No offence intended, merely frustration that they have this car and we don’t. Aren’t Canada, USA and Mexico supposed to be free trade partners? If so, please explain why you or I could not bring one of these across. Or better yet, explain why Ford would not want this in showrooms in LA or Vancouver?

yeah that’s what I thought too johnnycanuck, About 7 years ago a friend I knew had his dad buy him like a Nissan Sentra or something from a dealer outside Windsor, Ontario to Detroit and he said that it actually cost less to buy and import in from Canada to the U.S. Now that was 7 years ago when the exchange rate was very different from how it is now. But yeah so does that mean that he didn’t have to pay taxes importing it from Canada to the U.S because he said it cost less because from being free trade partners and not paying taxes on it too? I’m not sure though but I’m going to do some research on that.

A reason why I don’t think we’ll see this in the U.S or Canada is because we just got the new domestic North American Focus (who’s looks I cannot stand) So I guess there’s an inconsistency in the style of the European Focus and Mexican Focus that is being offered, because the European focus still has the looks of the old gen focus I imagine. Now what does this mean in light of the European Focus replacement the Ford Verve? Is Ford just giving a last run of the Focus ST or RS before the new Universal Verve style comes in? All this I don’t know but I wish they would offer this in the States, and or Canada.

SS: it just seems so odd for Ford to bring this model all the way across the Atlantic just to sell what: a couple thousand- maybe? That certainly has to cost them more than bringing our Focus to Mexico. Regardless, not a lot of decisions Ford has made lately make sense to me, but this seems particularly unfocused (pardon the pun). If the object is just to sell cars then who cares if it competes with something else on the showroom floor? And specifically, what does this compete with seeing as there is no longer an SVT Focus? Call it something else then. I wouldn’t care. It’s the vehicle itself I’m concerned about, not where it came from or the name on the decklid.

Ford will never bring this car to the U.S. because it makes sense to. Whatever makes sense, Ford does the opposite.

neck to neck with the evo and sti? They need AWD first, nobody in their right mind is going to consider this for a rally car.

SS4LIFE,

Take heart on the Focus, after you spit a few more curses. First the curses, The “new” US Focus is actually a completely redressed old Focus (you probably knew that). New sheetmetal, new equipment, but the same old car underneath. Now the good news, FORD has announced that the third Generation Focus, which could be based on the Volvo C30, will be sold in America as well as Europe. Volvo is known for very competitive AWD systems (masked behind their safety image so an AWD Focus may yet come to the US.

FORD also made note that the Verve was the basis for their next Fiesta (known as the Fiasco in America for the just better-than-a-YUGO styling and quality and it was really to wrong car for the market by far at the time)… Still FORD is claiming they are going to make more fuel efficient cars so the Verve may yet arrive here as well, especially since MAZDA is making noise they will ship the Mazda2 to America, to compete against the Mini and Scion. FORD would be foolish not to go for some of that action.

Unfortunately, we can expect that neither Rally version will be sold in America at any price. check these out for an idea of what could be:
http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-2006-Ford-Focus-RS-WRC-Fiesta-JWRC.htm

If (big if) FORD is smart they will re-open SVT and have them manage US sales of their WRC cars, and later sports cars and super cars, in the US and North America.

Sounds like it would compete with the Caliber SRT4 and Cobalt SS if it ever made it over the pond.

good thing it won’t come over here. A front wheel drive 280hp hatchback spells torqure steer all over its face. Only way to compete in the US is to boost it up about 20 ponies and give it four wheel drive. Then again who would want a Ford over a Sti or an Evo or even a Mazdaspeed3 for that matter

280bhp to front wheels?? are they stupid?

THIS IS GOING TO BE A WILD RIDE.

The reason the ST was better than the more powerful Astra VXR is the Astra had too much hp to the front wheels… FFS Ford make it AWD and 300bhp!

Blakkarr, while I did say and I quote “that I hate the Focus with a passion” I should have been more specific and said that I hate the Focus that the U.S and Canada gets as opposed to Europe and newly discovered Mexico. Like practically every car that the Domestics export to other countries many of our similiar models seemed to be watered down and not as sporty as some of their foreign counterparts. However if Ford had the same Focus that Europe has had from the beginning my “hate” for the Domestic focus would be a much “love” for it.

Now for what the new redesigned focus really is, it’s 10x better than the last Focus, another complaint I had was that at last years auto show they had it named as the Escort. I really think that Ford should have kept it called the Escort, and or then brought the European Focus over here and continued to call that the Focus.

Thank you though for clarifying that the next gen Verve was going to replace the current Fiesta. (I didn’t know that.) Over the past couple years that I traveled to Europe I saw some of the sporty model Fiestas driving around and I really liked it. I think that would also be nice to have over here.

Now when the Ford SVT Focus came out I’m guessing here (early 2000’s up until 04?) For it’s time when the only real Domestic sport compact variant that was offered that I can really think of was the Dodge Neon SRT4, It was ok. I’ve driven both and I did not like the Focus SVT. I found it underpowered, compared to the SRT4, but its suspension was very good and definetely was an agile piece. I have friends who have one, and one has a turbo cosworth engine swapped and he’s pumping almost 20psi which is definitely one of the quickest SVT’s out there and far quicker than my stock SS/SC. And the Cobalt SS was late to this market because it came out first in 05 which was already a year or two after the SVT Focus and Neon SRT4 were already killed. If Ford can revive the SVT and either rebadge the european focus as an SVT or come out with a kick ass domestic Focus to compete in the sport FWD segment then I’d have respect for it.

” Then again who would want a Ford over a Sti or an Evo or even a Mazdaspeed3 for that matter

Comment by brocky, posted on January25 at 5:58 am ”

Mazdaspeed3? Uh, that IS a Ford. The Mazda 3 is based on the European Ford Focus, which in turn was co-developed with Ford-owned Volvo. In fact, the MazdaSpeed3 in the U.S. is the closest vehicle you can buy to this European Focus RS.

As for the STi or Evo – do you want to spend $40k for one? Because that’s what they cost now. If Ford sold this Focus RS in the U.S. for $30k, they would definitely out-sell the STI or Evo.

all the info is wrong, it wont be FWD but AWD and it wont have the 2.5litre engine but a 3.0litre…leftlane u dissapoiunt me

Thats more like it.

testing

It’s not letting me pass my message. I found an article backing Z06ified’s comment.

3L V6, AWD, testing at Nurburgring, no plans for US sale however. That’s the article.

It will be a great car, but the market for a Ford like that isn’t much in th eUS. Maybe if they have aggressive commercials.

Torque steer!