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" LONDON \u2014 It&amp;#039;s been almost 40 years since Ford&amp;#039;s RS badge first appeared on the rump of the RS1600, a Ford Escort family sedan with a Cosworth-designed twin-cam BDA race engine under the hood. Since then, the RS (Rallye Sport) badge has denoted a blend of the exotic with the prosaic; a mass-produced model, with breathed-on performance, a good sum of sub-branded bolt-on parts and loving attention to the handling by a skunkworks crew. It&amp;#039;s a working man&amp;#039;s supercar.   Hand-built in small numbers, RS models were intended as halo cars to push the more ordinary tin. Ford almost killed the golden goose in the &amp;#039;80s and &amp;#039;90s with a number of marketing specials such as the anodyne front-drive RS Escorts and the RS1800i Fiesta. The RS Cosworth Escort, however, was a mighty all-wheel-drive, rally-derived weapon capable of winning races as well as hearts.   The RS badge has always been close to enthusiasts&amp;#039; hearts in the U.K., even after Ford closed its Essex-based Advanced Vehicle Operations (which built the RS models) in 1975 and moved RS production to Germany. A sign of that popularity is that more than half the 4500 Mark I RS Focus models made since 2002 have been sold in the U.K. That first RS-badged Focus was aimed at restoring the brand&amp;#039;s reputation, but its gestation was problematic, with exhaust manifold problems and a torque-sensing Quaife front differential that helped give this four-cylinder model a ferocious reputation for steering itself under hard acceleration. Torque steer.   This, the Mark II version and the 22nd model to wear the RS badge, is based on the second-generation Focus model with an all-new drivetrain and an extra cylinder. Is it a worthy hunk of steel to wear those two very important performance letters?  The Specs  Don&amp;#039;t confuse this Focus with anything in Ford&amp;#039;s stateside stable. The European Focus shares a platform with the Mazda 3 and Volvo S40/C30 in the U.S. This new three-door hatchback RS has a 2.5-liter 300-hp Volvo five-cylinder turbocharged engine with 325 lb-ft of torque. This is the first time that anyone has tried to channel 300 hp through the front wheels of a mass-produced car, and Ford worked with Quaife on a new differential to lessen torque steer. It also developed a front suspension joint known as &amp;quot;RevoKnuckle,&amp;quot; which reduces kingpin offset-angle variations. According to John Wheeler, the car&amp;#039;s chief development engineer, this \u00D2redefines what is possible with front-wheel drive.&amp;quot;   A six-speed manual gearbox is the only option, and the suspension is the ubiquitous MacPherson strut front, with a mildly modified version of Ford&amp;#039;s control blade multilink independent system at the rear. Raw performance data makes impressive reading, with a top speed of 163 mph, 0-to-62-mph acceleration in 5.9 seconds and NEDC Combined economy of 25.4 mpg (U.S). For a 3236-pound car, that&amp;#039;s quick. Although it&amp;#039;s worth recalling that the 1970 RS1600 (pictured at right) weighed just 1920 pounds.   On the outside, the Focus gets a host of wings, spoilers and extra grilles, not all of which are related to squeezing out the last ounce of performance and handling. The absurdly large biplane roof spoiler sets the tone, although the side vents and all-in-one lower grille are good-looking. Riding on 19-inch aluminium wheels with rubber-band-thick, 35-series tires, the RS looks serious.   In the cabin, the style is similar to that of the standard Focus but, well, more focussed. The result is a tad glitzy and incongruous, with faked fabricated seat mountings and cheap-looking ancillary gauges, but such discrepancies have long been part of the RS experience. Materials are a mix of aluminium, chrome, leather and carbon-fiber, with contrasting electric blue stitching. The front seats are heavily contoured Recaro units, the pedals are aluminium and rubber race items and the big steering wheel is perforated leather with limited reach-and-rake adjustment. The driving position will suit the tallest drivers, but some have complained of having to sit too low in the car and too far from the wheel. The rear seats are large enough for a couple of adults, although for most owners, they will be glorified parcel shelves.  The Drive  Toggle the key, and the engine spins and settles into a nervous, slightly uneven idle. The gear lever has a fragile quality, but slots quickly and cleanly. The clutch suffers a slight over-center feel that needs learning for smooth getaways. Even at low speeds, the engine has sufficient torque to pull from low revs, giving an intriguing glimpse of what is to come. The suspension is not quite as flexible, so the Focus clambers awkwardly over bumps at low speeds. It&amp;#039;s not a restful ride, but it isn&amp;#039;t harsh, either.   Speed up and ... wow. The chassis comes to life, and the steering, which is well weighted and uncannily accurate, becomes hugely communicative as well. It tells you of impending front-wheel slides before they happen, of road-surface changes the second you&amp;#039;ve crossed them and of which side of coin they&amp;#039;ve just run over. This car is completely dominated by the front end. Get the front wheels into a bend and the rest will follow swiftly and surely. It&amp;#039;s a Ford of European driving characteristics, at its acme in this RS. There is still some torque steer in the chassis, but it merely pulls the nose harder into the corner rather than crossing the street when accelerating as with the previous model.   As we drove out west from London, rain clouds were boiling the sky over the Queen&amp;#039;s retreat at Windsor Castle. The roads soon became wet and slimy, but it is a mark of the safety and stability of this pocket supercar that its inherent good balance and road manners meant that it was predictable, fast and not at all scary. At extremes, the nose runs wide, and lifting the throttle provokes the car to correct its line and eventually oversteer, but it is well-controlled by the standard electronic stability program. Particularly commendable are the brakes, which combine eye-popping deceleration with absolute control and feel. Several times we braked so hard that the car&amp;#039;s safety systems activated the hazard-warning lamps.   The engine is a remarkably assured piece of tuning. The kick in the back starts fully at just above 2000 rpm and is undiminished all the way to the ignition cut out at 7000 rpm. The hard-edged growl is in sharp contrast to the milder turbine spin of the Focus ST, and lifting the throttle results in some wastegate chatter and a distant POP as unburnt fuel ignites in the exhaust. Yet it is also a refined unit, quiet when unstressed, and in sixth gear at 70 mph the engine is turning over at just 2500 rpm. Experience tells us that this unit becomes a dipsomaniac when pushed, but we see no reason to doubt Ford&amp;#039;s claim of around 25 mpg (U.S.), provided the turbo remains dormant.  The Bottom Line  For this sort of money (\u00A325,745, or $41,133 U.S.) there is little to touch this hot Ford\u2014at least in Europe. Volkswagen&amp;#039;s 2010 Golf GTI and the Vauxhall/Opel Astra VXR simply aren&amp;#039;t fast enough, and the Renault Mgane R26.R is an extreme machine that would be impossible to use everyday as the Focus undoubtedly is. Ford admits that the RS is quicker around its demanding test tracks than even the GT supercar. There is a rumor that this might be the last-ever RS model, and, if so, what a triumphal car to bow out on. It&amp;#039;s a shame the U.S. won&amp;#039;t be getting this hot hatch. Perhaps it&amp;#039;s worth a trip to Europe to find out what the fuss is all about. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/a4362/4320964/>