29 October 2009 - 12:00
Front of the pack
How much power can a hot hatch's front wheels handle?
We've spent much of 2009 being astonished by how well the Focus RS copes with 300bhp piling through its front tyres (find out what Jeremy thinks of the fast Ford) but German tuning firm Loder1899 - no idea, sorry - reckons this is a pitiful amount of horsepowering.
So the Loder boys have tuned Ford's double-hot hatch to a meaty 345bhp, courtesy of a fatter, louder exhaust and bigger air filter. They've dropped the RS over an inch on its springs and fitted a shiny new set of 20-inch alloys for good measure.
No word on performance yet, but if - and it's a very big if - the RS can somehow stick all that power to the tarmac, we reckon it'll be cracking the 0-60mph run in something close to five seconds flat. Which is frankly a bit silly, especially if you happen to encounter, say, a corner at some point.
So what do you reckon? Have we reached the limits of front-drive power? Or will we, in a couple of years' time, be merrily toasting the 500bhp Leon Cupra RRRR?
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under steer isnt the word. u will simply go strait on no matter how much u turn the wheel. give it bloody lambo style 4 wheel drive. or at least RWD. YAY 2nd comment Hakuna Matata!!!
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How stupid do you have to be to put so much power into a front wheel drive car, I think they should give the RS four-wheel drive and a million BHP
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There's only so far that technology can bend the laws of physics. I bet this won't handle as well as the factory-spec RS, and those front tyres will need changing at least once a week. That said, most of the time in the real world, you won't be flooring it anyway. So it might be quite nice cruising around at normal speeds with the knowledge that you have one of the most powerful FWD cars on the roads today.
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As being on the cover of the Duel DVD, we'll see what the lambo does to it:)
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I still reckon Ford should've stuck with 4WD instead of FWD for the RS
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So, you've got a dayglo-bogey-coloured Ford, how do you make it stand out more? Ah, shiny 20s, just what every Focus needs. I'm sure Ford stopped at a nice round 300bhp for a reason, though, and I doubt that some unknown German tuning company that sounds like a password can better one of the world's biggest car companies. Other than lowering it, have they tuned the suspension or brakes?
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I like that so much, i think i just wet myself.
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Lots of power, very little poise. It'll be: "errrrr... that bend there - yeah, you know that bend? The one you just missed? Weird how you turned the steering wheel and it did nothing. Why am I in a field?"
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Could any one please tell me how many litres this amazing looking car has got on it?. (could someone comment on it underneath (thanks) ).
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Hmmmmm... a supercharged 2.5 Duratec, isn't it?
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FWD cars shouldn't even exist. This is even more absurd than a cheap FWD with a 1L engine. Why waste the time building it, and who'd waste the money buying it? 354bhp doesn't make those rear wheels spin or the car handle well does it... oooh 20in rims on a Focus... I'm going to go throw up now. I think that's how they got the idea for the paint color.
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They got the idea for the paint colour by looking at your vomit, Invisiblepigeon? Hm... well, you either work at Sellafield or you are from Surrey.
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What's wrong with FWD? Sure it's the least sporting, and 345bhp is likely to be understeer-tacular, but it's a safe, space-saving drivetrain, and hot hatches are based on safe cars. Besides, they're better at doing J-Turns and stuff. Just ask Russ Swift.
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I don't think there's anything wrong with FWD at all. It can make small cars pokey and cars like the Focus a bit more, shall we say, interesting. Some would say the Lotus Elan is the finest car Lotus ever produced - worked brilliantly with FWD. I do think 345bhp going into the front wheels of this is a bit excessive though, even with the diff. 20-inch rims make the tyres more responsive and therefore give extra grip, yes, but I think you'll only ever see these things being driven into lamp-posts, personally.
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ooooo this is gonna torque steer like hell unless they seriously beefed up the chassis and suspension, but in the end all that extra power to the front will harm the handling. some kinda 60/40 awd system would be sweeet, but they'll have to put the car on a strict diet to make up for the weight gain :/
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oh i'd so love the leon cupraa RRR
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That looks fantastic on those wheels and with tinted windows, shame it'll understeer and burn though =(
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well FWD's are more stable in the snow and if you are a good enough driver you can still drift them (in the snow of course) but RWD conversions really arent that difficult, if they just liked the body or the attitude then they should have done that too.
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A Golf GTI MK 1 had 110bhp, a 205 GTI 130bhp... of course they were much lighter, but quite fun. 345bhp FWD sounds crazy... but who knows? After all the stock focus got 300bhp and manage to stay on the road, no? (for info, a ferrari 328 was only 270bhp...)
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Most of the dominant BTCC/WTCC cars are also FWD. And this will only torque-steer if you drive like a lunatic, and pretend to be a racing driver, if you drive normally, without flooring it all the time, there wont be a problem. And when i drive quickly, i have nothing against a bit of wrestling with the car, thats why i loved the old Focus RS. At least its not boring. RWD is fine in supercars&powerful coupes, but FWD is really the only way to go for family cars, and even hothatches. And yes, i have driven the BMW 135i, its lovely to drive, but its a pig when it gets slippery, or even wet, here in Finland.
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this car is not the best fast ford at all. It needs a cosworth engine and a 4wd system, then this thing would be a fast ford. its nothing special.
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Nakke: If Ford shoved a supercharged 2.5 litre Duratec engine into a Focus then doll it up with a green paintjob and a full racing interior, as well make liberal use of aerodynamic and race modifications, do you really think they want you to drive it normally and sensibly? Look at the thing! It's a pig, it wants to be wrestled.
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I am sorry to spoil the news. But a Swedish tuner has a stage-3 mod for the RS that gives is 365bhp on regular gas and 400bhp and 615nm!! on E85(thats ethanol). Check it out: http://www.websitefolder.net/atechmotor/art-1.asp?id=248&iPageID=652 . It comes with retuned box through ODB, bigger exaust, bigger intercooler, and bigger injectors. This tuner is well known volvo tuner so they know these engines. Maybe TG should pay a visit??
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50 years ago they believed one day there would be a couple of thousand computers in the world, 125 years ago some people probably looked at Karl Benz's contraption and thought he was insane. We can inevitably put more horsepower in but we don't know how, so we assume it is impossible.
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I think it can be inproved puite a lot especially the engine.
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they will not be selling them in australia which is a shame, due to wrx looks crap, and the evo looks plain and there is a market for them over here
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Referring to the article: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/focus-rs-tuned-2009-10-29 and http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=282681245570&share_id=168248894463&comments=1 -> Oh Godness, Jeremy! You, sweet gorgeous, Anglo-Saxon hunk! Thank you for your pearls of wisdom, we hang on your every word here at Loder1899 in peaceful, quaint Germany, but oh, oh dear you got it wrong! We (check out the video: http://www.loder1899.de/en/videoYouTube.html ) me and my girls at Loder1899 have cranked it up it a little bit more, it´s not 345 horsepower it´s a mindblowing 370 horsepower and it follows those alpine curves like a hand in a glove. So watch the video and get your butt down to the Nürburg ring and let our girls take you for a ride. See you soon, Mr Clarkson.
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The_Monk commented on this article
29 October 2009
You know - it's a tangent and everything - but I'd still love to see if Lotus will do another FWD like the old Elan. That was a fantastic machine. The whole FWD/BHP war takes the piss a bit. You can only understeer so much. FWD cars should be about control and balance .
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