2002 Ford Focus RS Pictures, Specifications, Information

Push the start button and the 215-PS engine growls to life. Inspired by the Ford Focus WRC and boasting impressive performance credentials of its own, the Ford Focus RS is ready to take its place as the ultimate Focus for the street, reinvigorating the legendary RS brand across Europe.

Conceived as a pure driver’s car, the Focus RS delivers a true performance edge with a harmonious balance of exhilarating power and acceleration, confident and precise dynamics and steering capabilities, impressive braking efficiency, aggressive exterior styling and a purposeful, driver-oriented interior.

Focus RS is the closest you can get to a road-going version of Colin McRae's Focus World Rally Championship contender. With authenticity in mind, the Focus RS provides the performance purist with many of the same proven and respected performance technologies used by Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz and Markko Märtin to compete at the top of world-class rallying.

Appropriately revised and engineered for everyday use versus the more expensive and torturous exclusivity of a WRC event, the new flagship road car incorporates some of the most respected names in motorsport. These include Sparco (seats), Garrett Technologies (turbocharger), O.Z. Racing (wheels), Brembo (brakes), Sachs Racing (dampers), Quaife (differential) and AP Racing (clutch).

Powering Focus RS is a turbocharged, 2.0-litre, Duratec RS engine derived from the 130 PS, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder Duratec engine that leads the mainstream Focus petrol range. Duratec RS delivers peak (homologated) horsepower of 215 PS (158 kW) at 5,500 rpm, an increase of 65 per cent. Torque output has been increased even more, by over 70 per cent, to a peak of 310 Nm (227 lb.ft.) at 3,500 rpm.

Despite the performance intent and aggressive stance – its wheelbase and wide track layout are taken from the Focus WRC’s tarmac configuration – the new Focus RS features superb driving comfort and practicality for everyday driving and remains well mannered and tractable around town. A dual personality, which offers uncompromised functionality, comfort and dependability alongside a high-performance capability for spirited driving, is the key to the character of this contemporary interpretation of the Ford RS brand.

Ford assembled a handpicked team of around 60 specialist engineers to create the new Focus RS. Many of them had already played key roles in the development of the Ford Focus, which debuted in 1998, was voted European Car of the Year 1999 and is still acclaimed by many as the benchmark in its class for dynamic capabilities and driving quality.

The RS development team has been given the time it needed to prove out the robustness and dependability of the performance package – such was the determination of the project's backer, Martin Leach (then Ford's Vice President of European Product Development), to get it right.

The decision was taken to put the Focus RS through the same rigorous testing programme to which Ford's higher volume, mainstream production cars are subjected. Through this testing regimen, Focus RS has been turned into a harmonious performance package with dependability and reliability to match.

“We’ve clearly understood the feeling of urgency among performance enthusiasts to get their hands on the Focus RS,” said Mike Kilpin, chief programme engineer. “The imminent rekindling of the RS brand created tremendous excitement and expectation, but we still believe that the right thing to do was not to rush this car to market. We"re ready now, and proud of the end result -- Focus RS can now speak for itself.”