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
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.