Back in a Ford RS (after 18 years away)
 

Well it took me 3 months after selling the K1 to finally decide on a replacement, which included alot of miles racked up viewing the following :

Focus RS Black 16 plate 10,000 miles
Audi S5 Sportback Sepang Blue on 20's 64 plate 18,000 miles
Audi S5 Sportback Sepang Blue on 19's 64 plate 12,000 miles
VW Golf R Grey 17 plate 4,000 miles
Focus RS Black 16 plate 8,000 miles
Focus RS Grey 16 plate 7,500 miles
Audi S4 Avant Sepang Blue 64 plate 20,000 miles
Focus RS Black 66 plate 3,400 miles (put a deposit on it, but pulled out.......twice !!!!)
Audi S5 Sportback Grey 64 plate 31,000 miles
VW Golf R Lapiz Blue on 19's 65 plate 20,000 miles
VW Golf R Lapiz Blue on 18's 65 plate 18,000 miles
BMW 340i Manual Dark Blue 65 plate 12,000 miles
BMW 340i Manual White (M Performance) 65 plate 6,000 miles
and finally.....Focus RS Grey 66 plate 2,800 miles

So here it is :

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4608/...cc9fd3a2_z.jpg

It seems a long time ago we filmed this little feature with our good friend Mr.Lucky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4Ng5tH3fFo&t=311s

Thanks Steve for all your help and patience with my endless texts on the subject

They do look the business in that colour :ok:

Very nice - I saw it on Olly's YT channel. Lot of cars you looked at there.

Lovely looking motor.. looks mean and yet being a ford will be comfy inside..

Great amount of research gone into that choice :ok:

Great looking cars, and as mentioned above, look great in the grey. Definitely prefer over the blue.

Enjoy :) Do I foresee a remake of the above vid by Olly, but with the two RS's side by side now?

Very Very smart,
Love the grey on these and super low miles too.
Well worth the wait,
When am i picking the scoob up then :whistle:

Just waiting for the weather window.
Maybe have a trio

Very nice, love the colour :doubleup:

Nige still got his?

Congratulations on the new car Scott :-D excellent choice :ok: do you have any mods planned ? And did you go for the standard or shell seats ?

Yes

Shell seats, with lowering rails to be ordered.
Mods may be mountune or a combination of mountune & dream science.

Nice one mate. Trio sounds good!!

Very nice mate, did wonder where you got to with your deliberations.

You wouldn't have gone wrong with any that you looked at, but can see its appeal Enjoy.

Hope the old girl in the garage don't feel too put out having been replaced with a younger model. But nice to have your cake and eat it, and have a bit of MILF on side as well. ;)

What were you running 18 years ago ?

As he hasn't come back yet, unfortunately all the photo links were in photofu**it

http://www.southeastscoobies.co.uk/v...read.php?t=999

Have you checked out Litchfield's upgrades?

Glad you finally settled on something after so many test subjects. I have been watching the MightyCarMod lads start work on theirs after they helped build it in the factory in Germany.

No crazy mods yet but the have been wise enough to add some nice Mountune goodies as well as a Milltek exhaust.

https://youtu.be/9tKTzZspcEo

Links now fixed

Looks smart, Scott.

There's a great deal of negative press about early failures on these. I'm assuming you did some research and got comfortable. Any thoughts you have on that would be gratefully received.

The FSTi will tick over 105k miles soon, so I must find a suitable replacement and these interest me.

That’s going to be some drive you need to stick all these cars on :drive::-D

I'm quite surprised it took until post #20 for someone to mention it

I think we know what your like Scott, if there had been any doubt about it you wouldn't of gone for it :ok:

I'll only buy one... just cannot decide which one for the life of me!!

I didn't mean it in a negative way. It was a genuine question.

Exactly, so I'm really interested in Scott's views as it's a personal experience/thought process rather than some random posting that could be from an angry lunatic.

My experience so far.

The reason I bought it was it was the closest thing to my old hawk that I drove. Like Scott, I test drove pretty much everything in this class. I think once you have had 4wd it’s hard to go back, and this isn’t just any 4wd system. It’s incredibly clever and gives the feel of a more rear wheel drive car making it quite entertaining. It also makes a great sound which was missing from all the other cars. The pops and bangs are very childish but great fun.

Performance wise it’s quite deceptive. It does feel quick, particularly in sport or track, but like all new turbos it’s quite lineer. It is without doubt quicker than the hawk, but put it in normal and it’s pretty comfortable, quiet and is an easy family car, so you really can have the best of both worlds with this car.

The only downer on ownership so far is the head gasket issue. All of the RS’s up to July 2017 are fitted with the wrong gasket. Somehow the mustang gaskets found their way into them and in about 5% of cases so far, they have caused failures. Ford are recalling all of them when they have parts available :roll: but as yet we haven’t had a letter recalling it. Mine to date hasn’t lost any coolant , nor is it showing any signs of problems, however if it does, it’ll be sorted under warranty. Not ideal, but it is what it is.

All in all, I can recommend them. It’s great fun to drive and with the lux and winter packs it’s loaded with nice bits. It was one of the few cars that still felt a bit ‘raw’ rather than a bit soft like the golf r etc. Had I not had scoobs, the golf r would have probably been something I would have gone for, but the scoobs spoil you a bit and the RS feels very similar.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :ok:

Nice one Scott!!

A few more pics.
Now sporting RS Gel logo's under bonnet, RS Gel wheel decals, lowered seat rails and K&N.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4772/...d65c7154_z.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/956/4...6511943a_z.jpg

Before
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/949/4...777349d7_z.jpg

After - 50mm lower
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/832/4...2405701e_z.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/980/4...c80a83f3_z.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/977/4...99d9aaf7_z.jpg

Looking very swish Scott :ok:

Cheers Ryan,
I'm running out of places to put RS logo's though
Even under the seat there is an air-vent and that's RS branded too !!!!!
I might go and count them later....but I bet I miss some.

Multiple Apps running on the Sync 3 at once :

Android Auto
AA Mirror Link
OBD2AA
Torque Pro

It took a bit of unofficial rework to get it working and will also run Youtube via Android Auto (although Android Auto keep blocking it, so roll back to earlier version is required).

Gives gauges and Safety Camera Warnings.
The standard SatNav also has Safety Camera's, so it's quite noisy in the car when you approach them, with all sorts of warnings going off.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/869/4...52c58d56_z.jpg

New seat rail set up to up looks good :ok: Car looks great :doubleup:

Nice one mate.

I’ve just got some new RS centre caps for the wheels to replace the ford ones and some blue RS gel inserts for the rear spoiler. I need to get them on over the weekend and will stick some pics up ��

Thinking about going back to a three quarter size plate.

Important bit, how does the driving position feel now you have changed the seat rails? I remember you saying it had the potential to make or break the relationship between you and the car if it wasn’t greatly improved.

Any more induction noise with the K&N?

Best of friends, but no tongue's

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7808/...24558874_z.jpg

Looking Sheep'ish

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7924/...043be98f_c.jpg

So is the RS staying for a while now? Haven't been tempted by a beemer? ;)

Dealerships put me off a beemer at the moment.
And as much as an M140i Motech Edition us tempting it's just not big enough. With my driving position the rear legroom is about enough for a 10 year old.

Still looking though and may end up in a Cupra ST dependant on spec.

RS is running a Litchfield tune at the moment.
It goes well, looks good but the Kia Sportage GT I had earlier in the week felt better quality !!!!
That's really what I struggle with when you consider the £££ wrapped up in it.

And it goes in for a new steering rack on Monday.

In 11 months it's had :
New parcel shelf clips
New Recaro seat cover due to wear @ 3000 miles
New ventilation vent surround (cracked)
New head gasket
New steering rack

Scott do you feel the rs was rushed through? It's not good seeing how much they where new. And yours will have been a cherished one hate to think what a normal one would be like.

That’s a pain Scott. I remember you saying it had a knock.

In its first 18 months mines been fine apart from the HG recall.

I agree though, they do lack a bit of quality in the cabin. I still love the way it drives though and although it’s taken me a while, I am completely settled with it now. Having the mountune pack put on has made it what it should have been in the first place.

Like the scoob, they are very sure footed, a point I realised only today when I drove my dads 200bhp polo gti. A cracking little car and suprisingly quick in DSG form, but it felt like it could throw you into a hedge any minute.