The Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] has made big promises to blow your enthusiast face off as of late. The Blue Oval is certainly delivering too, with the arrival of a new GT supercar, a new Raptor performance pickup, and the Mustang Shelby GT350 and GT350R duo. There's one machine noticeably absent from that list, though, and that’s the new Focus RS. It is coming though, and Ford has finally revealed an important piece of missing information: the power.
We can finally confirm that the new Focus RS hot hatch’s turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost engine will deliver a maximum output of 345 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque, with the latter rising to 347 lb-ft for up to 15 seconds thanks to overboost during hard acceleration. The rev limit has been set at 6,800 rpm.
The same engine is found in the Mustang EcoBoost, where it delivers 310 hp. For the Focus RS, the engine features a new low-inertia twin-scroll turbocharger with a larger compressor that delivers significantly greater air flow, along with a much bigger intercooler to maximize charge density. Engine breathing is also enhanced through a less restrictive intake design, and a large-bore high performance active exhaust system.
Furthermore, the cylinder head is produced from an upgraded alloy material capable of withstanding higher temperatures, while the cylinder block employs stronger high-tensile cast iron liners. Engine cooling also has been given the highest priority, with engineers creating additional space within the front of the vehicle to house a significantly larger radiator pack.
The 345-hp output makes the new Focus RS one of the most potent vehicles in its class, though Mercedes-AMG’s A45 and the Audi RS 3 are hotter still, delivering 355 and 362 hp respectively. Nevertheless, the car will be hard to beat on the track thanks to its sophisticated chassis technology, which includes the new Ford Performance all-wheel-drive system and driver mode selector complete with a “Drift” mode that allows controlled oversteer drifts.
Featured above is a video showing a pre-production Focus RS being prepared for this week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where rally driver Ken Block will drive the car up the famous hill climb. This is how the RS will want to be driven, and this is how we plan to drive it when we get our ham-fisted mitts on it.
For more Goodwood Festival of Speed coverage, head to our dedicated hub.
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