With production now underway, we can't wait to slip behind the wheel of the Ford Focus RS and finally find out if it lives up to the promise of being a rally car for the street. There's still some time before the RS arrives on these shores, but Ben Collins, formerly The Stig, recently got to experience one to explain this highly anticipated hot hatch's drive modes.
A press of a button on the center console lets drivers swap between four modes that alter the Focus RS' all-wheel-drive tuning, dampers, steering, engine, stability control, and exhaust. Normal keeps things sedate for everyday motoring; Sport tightens up the handling to let you have a little more fun, and Track turns everything up. Drift is the most interesting choice from a technical perspective because it leaves the steering and dampers in their basic settings but tweaks everything else. According to Collins, the result makes sliding the RS "effortless."
The 2016 Focus RS arrives in the US this spring for a starting price of $36,605 after destination. Its 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder churns out 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, and the torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system helps the hot hatch sprint to 62 miles per hour in a claimed 4.7 seconds. We hope that the driving experience lives up to
