The 2016 Ford Focus RS has made it to American soil.
Ford announced recently that its souped up, all-wheel drive sport compact hatchback is now being delivered to dealerships across the U.S.
The vehicle will start at $36,605. This is the first generation of the Focus RS that will be sold in America.
The Focus RS will compete for a piece of the sport compact segment along with the Subaru WRX STI, Mitsubishi Evo, and the Volkswagen Golf R. The Evo is essentially gone, so it’s good to have another rally-inspired sport compact on the market.
Although the Focus RS is in its third generation, this is the first time consumers in the U.S. will have easy access to the hatchback.
Ford is touting the Focus RS as one of the fastest compact cars in its class, going from 0-62 mph in about 4.7 seconds, and tops out at a maximum speed of 165 mph. It comes equipped with Ford’s new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine that makes 350 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque.
Motorists who want an automatic, however, won’t be able to buy a Focus RS as the hatchback only comes with a manual transmission.
Some of the new features with the new RS is that it comes with four drive modes drivers can select – normal, sport, track and drift mode, which is a first for a regular consumer vehicle that allows drivers to perform controlled oversteer drifts. The different modes tell the all-wheel drive system to adjust based on what the driver selects. For example, if a driver selects drift mode, the car essentially turns into a rear-wheel drive vehicle and puts most of the power to the rear wheels, allowing for tire-smoke-inducing fun.
The new Focus RS also comes with an engine stall feature, which allows a driver to just push in the clutch after a stall to restart the engine instead of manually restarting the engine.
Check out this related TFLcar video of everything you want to know about the 2016 Ford Focus RS:
