Focus RS
- Thread starter Simon
- Start date
Jonnycoupe said:The Rover was B16 mind. The K20 is superior in pretty much everyway to the B series engine though, just seems the gearbox's arn't. My mates just rebuilt his DC5 ready for boost, he has Tuftys(?) old DC5 and that seemed to last okay with boost around 290bhp until the rod mysterily went on the motorway at low rpm. This was after a full track day at Combe too
Not sure how Martin's engine blew, we'll probably never know (he can't get into the ECU iirc). May be mapping issue with the Greddy E Manage. May have just been fatigue - those very thin rods not liking 9spi or whatever it was running. /shrugs.
SC'd K20's on the other hand all appear to be holding up quite nicely @ 7 or 8psi on OE internals.
Gearboxes not really heard about, plenty running lots of torque with no issues. Mind you - System-R's gearbox gave up the ghost on their 305bhp CTR a couple of weeks ago, that gets drag raced. There may well be a weakness there.
Somebody call? 
The EVO buyers guide is a pretty good one, although it's not completely accurate. Worth getting hold of though.
I'll try and get answers to all the questions, but bear with me, i'll probably be editing this post all afternoon as i remember stuff
Good Points:
The looks.
The grip. Simply astonishing, it'll corner like it's on rails all day and come back begging for more.
The Handling - see above. Turn in is pin sharp, the only time i can ever get it to understeer is if it's very wet, and a bit of throttle and the diff sorts that out nicely. The balance of the chassis is awesome, quick changes of direction do not phase it at all.
The much vaunted torquesteer is NOT an issue (unless you are into planting the throttle through the bulkhead mid-corner). It's becoming pretty well known that the press cars were set up much more agressively that the standard customer cars, as EVO's u-turn shows.
The ride - It's firm and there is very little body roll. About the only time it becomes an issue is over really broken tarmac, it's actually pretty comfy on motorways etc.
The grunt - is a lot of fun even when it's unmodified. It would appear that the 212bhp figure was a touch conservative, I know a lot of guys put them on the rollers as standard and were getting approx 220bhp.
Ease of modding - 250-260bhp is absolutely no problem to acheive, either via breathing mods or by Bluefin or a combination. Quite a few cars are now pushing 300bhp, over this you'll need to strengthen the engine internals though (gearbox & diff would appear to pretty bombproof however, not heard of a major issue with these).
Insurance - for some strange reason it's a group 16 car. I'm not complaining.
Servicing - depends on the dealer, but should be pretty close to standard focus pricing. About £100 for an interim, £200 for a major. Service is every 12,500 miles.
Residuals/rarity - these seem to go together. Estimates vary due to no-one knowing how many have been written off, but aprox 2100 are left in the UK. It's one of the major good points for me, and helps keep the residual values up nicely. They are still hovering at £15k even after the mk2 ST came out.
Bad Points:
The interior. Aside from the look of it the drivers seat doesn't go low enough. Having said that it's screwed together well enough, mines done 36000 miles and ther aren't any rattles yet.
Consumables. Not that astronomic, but still pricey. For tyres you are looking at £110 a corner, oem brakes (discs and pads) are wallet melting and it's the same for the exhaust/cat. For this reason nearly all owners go aftermarket for this sort of thing (myself included). Expect tyres to last about 8k (dependent on compound), brakes are depndent on driving style but the average seems to be about 10k for pads and 18k for discs. (my discs lasted for 30k so go figure).
Soft paint - stone chip city. It's easy to scratch as well.
No knock sensor - so it's 97RON or above please. Most of 'em run on Optimax anyway.
Fuel economy - there isn't any. 55L tank, and if I thrash it I'm lucky to get 250 miles. Careful driving off-boost will give me about 340miles.
The EVO buyers guide is a pretty good one, although it's not completely accurate. Worth getting hold of though.
I'll try and get answers to all the questions, but bear with me, i'll probably be editing this post all afternoon as i remember stuff
Good Points:
The looks.
The grip. Simply astonishing, it'll corner like it's on rails all day and come back begging for more.
The Handling - see above. Turn in is pin sharp, the only time i can ever get it to understeer is if it's very wet, and a bit of throttle and the diff sorts that out nicely. The balance of the chassis is awesome, quick changes of direction do not phase it at all.
The much vaunted torquesteer is NOT an issue (unless you are into planting the throttle through the bulkhead mid-corner). It's becoming pretty well known that the press cars were set up much more agressively that the standard customer cars, as EVO's u-turn shows.
The ride - It's firm and there is very little body roll. About the only time it becomes an issue is over really broken tarmac, it's actually pretty comfy on motorways etc.
The grunt - is a lot of fun even when it's unmodified. It would appear that the 212bhp figure was a touch conservative, I know a lot of guys put them on the rollers as standard and were getting approx 220bhp.
Ease of modding - 250-260bhp is absolutely no problem to acheive, either via breathing mods or by Bluefin or a combination. Quite a few cars are now pushing 300bhp, over this you'll need to strengthen the engine internals though (gearbox & diff would appear to pretty bombproof however, not heard of a major issue with these).
Insurance - for some strange reason it's a group 16 car. I'm not complaining.
Servicing - depends on the dealer, but should be pretty close to standard focus pricing. About £100 for an interim, £200 for a major. Service is every 12,500 miles.
Residuals/rarity - these seem to go together. Estimates vary due to no-one knowing how many have been written off, but aprox 2100 are left in the UK. It's one of the major good points for me, and helps keep the residual values up nicely. They are still hovering at £15k even after the mk2 ST came out.
Bad Points:
The interior. Aside from the look of it the drivers seat doesn't go low enough. Having said that it's screwed together well enough, mines done 36000 miles and ther aren't any rattles yet.
Consumables. Not that astronomic, but still pricey. For tyres you are looking at £110 a corner, oem brakes (discs and pads) are wallet melting and it's the same for the exhaust/cat. For this reason nearly all owners go aftermarket for this sort of thing (myself included). Expect tyres to last about 8k (dependent on compound), brakes are depndent on driving style but the average seems to be about 10k for pads and 18k for discs. (my discs lasted for 30k so go figure).
Soft paint - stone chip city. It's easy to scratch as well.
No knock sensor - so it's 97RON or above please. Most of 'em run on Optimax anyway.
Fuel economy - there isn't any. 55L tank, and if I thrash it I'm lucky to get 250 miles. Careful driving off-boost will give me about 340miles.
Common Faults:
Various faults with various sensors: Seems to be a common cause of rough idling/non-starting. Mine has had the MAF, fuel flow, idle speed sensor replaced under warranty.
Coolant leaks - never anything major, just seepage from connectors. should have been sorted under warranty.
Engine mapping - two main revisions, AE and AF. AF was introduced to cure an occasional flat spot at about 3k revs, but introduced it's own problems. I've stuck with AE and never had an issue with it.
Minor interior niggles - the main one being the driver's seat base leather getting saggy. Ford did a fix involving a line of stitching across the base, but as the trim warranty was only for a year a lot of cars didn't get it in time.
Passenger footbath - a common focii fault, due to the pollen filter being replaced at service and not being sealed in properly. Again, should be sorted by the dealer/servicing garage.
Knocking from rear suspension - not common, but a few have had it. IIRC replacement dampers were fitted under warranty, a faulty batch of them was to blame.
Common Mods (Shopping List):
Two main routes - breathing mods possibly topped off by a bluefin, or bluefin alone. I'd reccomend going down the breathing mod route first, as bluefin comes with various files to adapt to decats etc. Problem is, they'll charge you for the priviledge of changing them, so if you get the standard bluefin and then put a decat on the car you'll have to pay extra for the decat file. Get all this and you'll be heading towards 280bhp quite easily.
As previously stated, the bluefin is a handheld unit that plugs into the diag socket (under the steering wheel) and replaces the standard map. They can be swapped back at any time.
Exhaust: Few makes, Scorpion, Mongoose & Milltek are the common ones. I've gone for the Milltek after prodding around all three, it's build quality was way ahead of the other two. 70mm all the way through, gives a really nice burble without being too "max power". Expect to pay approx £500 for full cat back system.
Sports Cat/Decat: I've gone for the Milltek sports cat, which is worth about 15bhp but has the benefit of not needing to be swapped out come MOT time. A decat is probably worth more bhp, you'll pay abot £200 for a milltek decat or £450 for a sports cat.
Air filters - Heard mixed things about the K&N cone kit, including some guys that put it on and then took it off three days later. I've gone for the panel filter which is a quarter of the price and gives 75% of the benefit. (£50)
Dump valves - The standard recirc is fine for me, again you can go down the atmospheric route if you want or just upgrade the recirc. The atmospheric ones do seem to introduce some rough idling problems though, so be careful.
Brakes - Many choices. As standard the Brembos work pretty well, but lack a bit of feel. The EBC stuff is cheaper and is apparently pretty good. I've got grooved Brembo discs on the front with Mintex 1144 fast road pads and they are superb. (If a bit squeaky
) - note that although the rear calipers and pads are the ST170 items, the discs have a different offset so you can't use the 170 ones.
Suspension - You can just replace the springs for a bit of lowering (H&R do a set which will lower it by 30mm for about £180) or get a full set of coilovers for about a grand. TBH, not many people do this, as the supension is already pretty much spot on.
Overall Thoughts:
Buy one. I've driven quite a few nice toys over the years but for putting a stupid grin on my face every time I nip to the shops (via a quick 40 mile detour) nothing has ever come close. Add to that the rarity value, the looks and comments it gets and the practicality (weeks worth of luggage? no problem) and it'll be a very tough car for me to replace in a couple of years.
Edit: to answer your question below Simon, it does have to run on 97 or above: the absence of a knock sensor means that it does not like 95 at all (it's stated in the manual that it should be used as an emergency measure only). Having done it once and regretted it I now carry a bottle of octane booster at all times.
Various faults with various sensors: Seems to be a common cause of rough idling/non-starting. Mine has had the MAF, fuel flow, idle speed sensor replaced under warranty.
Coolant leaks - never anything major, just seepage from connectors. should have been sorted under warranty.
Engine mapping - two main revisions, AE and AF. AF was introduced to cure an occasional flat spot at about 3k revs, but introduced it's own problems. I've stuck with AE and never had an issue with it.
Minor interior niggles - the main one being the driver's seat base leather getting saggy. Ford did a fix involving a line of stitching across the base, but as the trim warranty was only for a year a lot of cars didn't get it in time.
Passenger footbath - a common focii fault, due to the pollen filter being replaced at service and not being sealed in properly. Again, should be sorted by the dealer/servicing garage.
Knocking from rear suspension - not common, but a few have had it. IIRC replacement dampers were fitted under warranty, a faulty batch of them was to blame.
Common Mods (Shopping List):
Two main routes - breathing mods possibly topped off by a bluefin, or bluefin alone. I'd reccomend going down the breathing mod route first, as bluefin comes with various files to adapt to decats etc. Problem is, they'll charge you for the priviledge of changing them, so if you get the standard bluefin and then put a decat on the car you'll have to pay extra for the decat file. Get all this and you'll be heading towards 280bhp quite easily.
As previously stated, the bluefin is a handheld unit that plugs into the diag socket (under the steering wheel) and replaces the standard map. They can be swapped back at any time.
Exhaust: Few makes, Scorpion, Mongoose & Milltek are the common ones. I've gone for the Milltek after prodding around all three, it's build quality was way ahead of the other two. 70mm all the way through, gives a really nice burble without being too "max power". Expect to pay approx £500 for full cat back system.
Sports Cat/Decat: I've gone for the Milltek sports cat, which is worth about 15bhp but has the benefit of not needing to be swapped out come MOT time. A decat is probably worth more bhp, you'll pay abot £200 for a milltek decat or £450 for a sports cat.
Air filters - Heard mixed things about the K&N cone kit, including some guys that put it on and then took it off three days later. I've gone for the panel filter which is a quarter of the price and gives 75% of the benefit. (£50)
Dump valves - The standard recirc is fine for me, again you can go down the atmospheric route if you want or just upgrade the recirc. The atmospheric ones do seem to introduce some rough idling problems though, so be careful.
Brakes - Many choices. As standard the Brembos work pretty well, but lack a bit of feel. The EBC stuff is cheaper and is apparently pretty good. I've got grooved Brembo discs on the front with Mintex 1144 fast road pads and they are superb. (If a bit squeaky
) - note that although the rear calipers and pads are the ST170 items, the discs have a different offset so you can't use the 170 ones. Suspension - You can just replace the springs for a bit of lowering (H&R do a set which will lower it by 30mm for about £180) or get a full set of coilovers for about a grand. TBH, not many people do this, as the supension is already pretty much spot on.
Overall Thoughts:
Buy one. I've driven quite a few nice toys over the years but for putting a stupid grin on my face every time I nip to the shops (via a quick 40 mile detour) nothing has ever come close. Add to that the rarity value, the looks and comments it gets and the practicality (weeks worth of luggage? no problem) and it'll be a very tough car for me to replace in a couple of years.
Edit: to answer your question below Simon, it does have to run on 97 or above: the absence of a knock sensor means that it does not like 95 at all (it's stated in the manual that it should be used as an emergency measure only). Having done it once and regretted it I now carry a bottle of octane booster at all times.
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Awesome cheers.
Nothing really unexpected really, tyres sound like they last longer than on mine though lol. I must admit the only thing I don't like is the interior. Insurance was quoted as £900 FC. Not bad as it was the first company i tried(Tesco online, 24, 2 yr NCB )
Does it have to run on high octane? I assume the 212 is on 95Ron?
It certainly seems to have all the right bits, nice to know you confirmed what I have read: Gearboxs don't seem to have any problems.
Nothing really unexpected really, tyres sound like they last longer than on mine though lol. I must admit the only thing I don't like is the interior. Insurance was quoted as £900 FC. Not bad as it was the first company i tried(Tesco online, 24, 2 yr NCB )
Does it have to run on high octane? I assume the 212 is on 95Ron?
It certainly seems to have all the right bits, nice to know you confirmed what I have read: Gearboxs don't seem to have any problems.
Just noticed the edit John. Thanks for all that info, much appreciated.
There is a local guy on the ffoc forums who has offered to let me have a nose around and take me for a spin in his FRS. Hopefully it will make my Rover feel crap
There is a local guy on the ffoc forums who has offered to let me have a nose around and take me for a spin in his FRS. Hopefully it will make my Rover feel crap
We've got one. Pushing around 250-255bhp with following mods:
Bluefin chip
K&N Gen 2 Filter
Decat
Very nice drive, and amazing handling. Watch out for the torquesteer tho!
Makes a nice "dump valve" noise too due to the open K&N filter
Bluefin chip
K&N Gen 2 Filter
Decat
Very nice drive, and amazing handling. Watch out for the torquesteer tho!
Makes a nice "dump valve" noise too due to the open K&N filter
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The acceleration just throws you back in your seat. This is one of my dream cars. 
Simon said:Just noticed the edit John. Thanks for all that info, much appreciated.
There is a local guy on the ffoc forums who has offered to let me have a nose around and take me for a spin in his FRS. Hopefully it will make my Rover feel crap
Looking at the spec of the Rover I'd guess it will feel similar in a straight line. The twisties however........
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Yeah I am looking forward to seeing how it handles.Goliath said:Looking at the spec of the Rover I'd guess it will feel similar in a straight line. The twisties however........
My Rover is very quick around corners but isn't anything special handling wise.
I get 350miles to a 45litre tank of UL
Not that I will care with the Focus as my milage will massively reduce.
Simon said:Yeah I am looking forward to seeing how it handles.
My Rover is very quick around corners but isn't anything special handling wise.
I get 350miles to a 45litre tank of UL
Whhaaattt !!! Your car is a 2litre aswell isnt it ?? I think I can get about 330miles or so maximum out of a 65litre tank.