8P S3 vs Focus RS

But it barely copes with 300 ponies. It would just be stupid with 400. I drove one last year which was good fun but it isn't that much faster than my standard s3. Plus it looks like it was designed by halfords.lol
 
have to disagree there, in the dry it launches very very well, seen my friends cousin's tuned one at crail. Hooked up much better then all the other powerful FWD cars.
 
Have to agree, I'd never have one, it's certainly not a cossie and the residuals are far worse than the mk1 version, not to mention the stuck on bits....nice looking car when it's someone elses

I only mentioned cos my brother was asking how my new purchase would fair against one
 
the rs is a well designed car but i think 300 hp is way too much for fwd you need 4wd for that sort of power so the S3 wins it for me
 
The rs500 stood up very well against that 4wd 400bhp volvo on topgear.... The diff seems to be able to cope

Anyone else driven one?
 
I had the Astra VXR before my S3 and in all fairness it does not suffer that bad from torque steer as people think,now 3 cars prior to that i had a Mk1 Focus RS and they really do torque steer bad,was quite weary driving it when i first had it,but after getting "used" to it i loved it and was part of the cars character

A.T.B Leo
 
my old tuned rs turbo used to suffer really really badly with torque steer i had to turn the boost down because a few times i nearly crashed it lol mind you it was kicking out 207 hp at the wheels
 
but even the scooby beat the rs by over 3 sec's on the lap on top gear
yeah in a straight line the rs is quick
but put a 350bhp up against one on a track and i would have thought the s3 would come out on top.
oh and that volvo is an animal!
 
As was said on the program...the Scooby was no longer a scooby...Come on !! 0-60 in 3.8 seconds ? well of course it beat the Ford but to do that it was driven in a way that would be imposable on the roads. People forget that what is quick on the track is usually pretty crap on the roads. I have always maintained that testing a car on the track is a complete waist of time.
 
i agree with paddy here, this is why i use straight line speed as my personal gauge..... the 3.8 seconds of a scooby isnt like turning an S3 into a 3.8 second car though, they are highly tuneable and would imagine that wasnt eeeking everything out of it.....

Im not trying to pull down the RS (obviously the top gear RS was the 500 which should be compared to the RS3) just quite suprised that i could get anywhere near one given all the hype that followed upon launch
 
I had a play with a Mountune one up to 70 and had to back off as I was catching him...lol

He looked shocked to see me gaining on him as he booted it in 2nd....

My S3 is not stock thou...
 
akash_sky1 said:
Its pretty easy to get 400 horses from an RS..better FMIC remap injectors Intake/tbe
Click to expand...

If you look at the list of bits required,it does get pretty costly getting 400bhp from one.

I'm not saying it can't be done etc,as it obviously is,but very few people are getting over 400bhp from the 2.5L Ford,and both Mountune and GGR are being sensible and only offering 350-360bhp.
 
Must admit, the RS has grown on me, I was at a meet a couple of weeks back and a guy was there with a Mountune RS. He let us have a poke a round, sit in etc. and I was really impressed with the cabin actually, the seats were pretty cool and overall it had a nice modern feel.
The fwd setup still puts me off though.
If I lived in a drier climate I might consider one.

fwiw I couldnt give a chuff what a car is like on a track, far too many motoring journos make a big deal of whether a car sets your pants on fire on a B road blast or track.

For me both are very limited barometers of how good a car is, unless of course that is ALL you use the car for (which is all journos use them for!), long term ownership experience is what is important to me.
My cars are daily drivers/shopping trolleys/kid taxi, which gets the occasional enthusiastic run out. Journos seem to miss that these are imortant attributes for `performance` cars too.

cheers
Paul
 
akash_sky1 said:
have to disagree there, in the dry it launches very very well, seen my friends cousin's tuned one at crail. Hooked up much better then all the other powerful FWD cars.
Click to expand...

The dry launch is good for a fwd but I am comparing it to an S3 tbh which is 4wd. the RS is Probably the best fwd, But I really don't see the attraction. THey just aren't built that well and don't perform that good considering the amount of appraisel they get.
 
audi upgrades
THe rs500 isn't that much different to the standard..... 30something more horse, wrapped in 3m vinyl and a few extra badges etc. Not a lot considering the cost. To tune a RS up to 400 ponies you are talking a lot of bread and will it be able to put it down on the tar? at least you know if you tune a 4wd car up past 300 horse it will be able to use it and not be a death trap.

In the end it is down to personal preference. I just miss the days when ford motorsport were linked with scosworth and they were leading the way in affordable performance that didn't make you look too much like a chav.
 
i have looked in a few and cant help but think that its an egg box with carbon fibre trimmings...not sure its real carbon though :/ infact id be very suprised if it is!!

I certainly couldnt live with one, when i bought my 8L i went to look at an ST1, looking around the interior i opened and closed the glovebox - decision made!! - sounds daft but coming from a T plate A3 made the Fords quality or lack of was abundantly clear.

For reference, i agree with the comments above, iirc the RS has the same turbo as the ST's? and the St's are pretty crap for what the displacement is, and the amount you have to throw at them to get any decent figure..... nice looking cars though, specifically the ST3 shape - will always be a Ford and built accordingly, thats the pity
 
I test drove one not to long back in Leeds. The noise got me, its amazing far better than my S3. The steering was better but as above the cabin quality ie the glovebox to be picky was pap. Still kind of want one though as they have a proper presence on the road. An S3 looks like an A3 if you dont know what your looking for.
 
RonstarS3 said:
I test drove one not to long back in Leeds. The noise got me, its amazing far better than my S3. The steering was better but as above the cabin quality ie the glovebox to be picky was pap. Still kind of want one though as they have a proper presence on the road. An S3 looks like an A3 if you dont know what your looking for.
Click to expand...


Presence is one thing that cuts both ways....the attention you get from people wanting to race you and pass at moronic places,plus the attention from the rozzers.

I have to say that having had a car that could attract both at great distances,I'm very happy with the S3 now.
 
Fords do look and feel so so plasticky tho...like inside and out! Only fors for me would be a tuned mk1 cortina if any. Nothing can drag me away from VAG
 
A_Stickman said:
Fords do look and feel so so plasticky tho...like inside and out! Only fors for me would be a tuned mk1 cortina if any. Nothing can drag me away from VAG
Click to expand...


Depends on what you want or like....mine was an ex GpN Escort Cosworth which would outrun just about anything...to 120mph when it began to fall foul of it's track gearing,but the constant attention of louts and police,plus it's appetite for fuel and parts made it untenable.
 
yea cosworths are another story... dont like sierra cosworths but cosworth are an amazing company for what they do. Cosworth didnt work on the RS focus did they so its all ford but ford cosworths are not strictly fully a ford...
 
A_Stickman said:
yea cosworths are another story... dont like sierra cosworths but cosworth are an amazing company for what they do. Cosworth didnt work on the RS focus did they so its all ford but ford cosworths are not strictly fully a ford...
Click to expand...

True.....the Cosworths were very much something you either liked or didn't

I owned both a Sierra and an Escort and thoroughly enjoyed both,although the running costs of modified examples are not to be sniffed at!
 
i always relate them to the same issues, where the panels meet each other, check out an old Escort GTi or indeed any ford with a bodykit and the fit is shocking, most crack at the joints and generally look like what they are worth...i expect nothing more of the RS (ok a bit better quality you'd expect) - the aim is always the same, to make it look as good as possible whilst remaining within a budget which i suppose is they are all about - suppose they learnt their lesson when they made those loss leading Racing Puma's :)
 
1animal1 said:
i have looked in a few and cant help but think that its an egg box with carbon fibre trimmings...not sure its real carbon though :/ infact id be very suprised if it is!!

I certainly couldnt live with one, when i bought my 8L i went to look at an ST1, looking around the interior i opened and closed the glovebox - decision made!! - sounds daft but coming from a T plate A3 made the Fords quality or lack of was abundantly clear.

For reference, i agree with the comments above, iirc the RS has the same turbo as the ST's? and the St's are pretty crap for what the displacement is, and the amount you have to throw at them to get any decent figure..... nice looking cars though, specifically the ST3 shape - will always be a Ford and built accordingly, thats the pity
Click to expand...

The ST and RS use the same engine, its a 2.3 volvo lump bored to 2.5 litres. On the ST the bore liners are silly thin and crack past 300bhp so they must have changed something on the RS to prevent this. I still wouldnt feel comfortable tuning an RS though hoping the next time i put my foot down it didnt go bang.

Ive had a pop against one in the wet, mines standard and i walked it before i even hit boost in 3rd!
 
I've had two ST's and for the money they are fantastic cars, both were tuned in excess of 300 bhp with absolutely no running problems whatsoever. Obviously the handling suffers in the absence of a diff or 4wd but otherwise they were very good cars. The S3 feels like a completely different car, upmarket interior, 4wd, more refined etc. Imo the ST has better steering and the 5pot engine was the best i have ever
owned though.
 
Jules86 said:
The ST and RS use the same engine, its a 2.3 volvo lump bored to 2.5 litres. On the ST the bore liners are silly thin and crack past 300bhp so they must have changed something on the RS to prevent this. I still wouldnt feel comfortable tuning an RS though hoping the next time i put my foot down it didnt go bang.
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that about the liners. I know that Fords new 1.6 Turbo GDI suffers from bore liner wear.

I think when both are rolling, the RS would probably have a S3 and probably stick with one around corners, in the dry that is
 
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I raced 1 up the A1 a while back and it was closer than i expected.He had a milltek system on it and it sounded like a V10,it was a biblical sound.It tempted me into buying 1.
 
I looked at one when i sold my R32, i found they didnt sound as good, were just as bad on mpg and i wouldnt have mapped it so wouldnt have been quicker than a 32 either (slower in the wet)
 
S3 Nattie said:
Funny you should say that about the liners. I know that Fords new 1.6 Turbo GDI suffers from bore liner wear.

I think when both are rolling, the RS would probably have a S3 and probably stick with one around corners, in the dry that is
Click to expand...

i think an RS would muller an S3 in anything short of a biblical storm. it will most certainly outhandle the S3 and it has more power. the S3 might have better traction off the line, but that's pretty much the only advantage it has
 
sub39h said:
i think an RS would muller an S3 in anything short of a biblical storm. it will most certainly outhandle the S3 and it has more power. the S3 might have better traction off the line, but that's pretty much the only advantage it has
Click to expand...

Maybe in the dry but i left one behind during heavy rain with absolute ease, and yes he was trying; the wheel spin and noise is hard to miss.
 
sub39h said:
i think an RS would muller an S3 in anything short of a biblical storm. it will most certainly outhandle the S3 and it has more power. the S3 might have better traction off the line, but that's pretty much the only advantage it has
Click to expand...

Comparing untuned examples of the same,the RS would,and does lose out in the 060mph dash,but keeps up pretty well otherwise,as you'd expect with a 30bhp+ power advantage.

When you get to tuned cars,the picture is very different,and most S3s will easily outrun and outhandle an RS...there are a few around where I live(RS's that is),and even the enthusiastically driven ones couldn't cope with a Stg2+ S3,let alone more.

Obviously,I know that it doesn't always mean comparing like with like,as not only is the RS hampered by FWD as opposed to 4WD,but there are relatively few 360bhp RS's around

It is however still the best handling FWD car around currently.
 
i dont think the RS rips the S3 to pieces, you can see that in the lap times on the link ive posted - yeah if you count the nurburgring. It's definately set up more than the S3 but then it aims at a different customer base - as said originally though - nice to see that the S3 isnt as far away as i thought, maybe just perception on my part based upon the wild looks and massive hype.

and i do agree with the above, the sound of the ST/RS cars is lovely - i'd never consider one on that alone though, which is why im not driving a 3.2 ;)
 
look, its a ugly, boring, classless, cheap looking ford, end of. VAG Forever!
 
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