RS'ted Development

On Test: Ford Focus RS (as appeared on www.mg.co.za)

We had a difficult first few days, the Focus RS and me. Fear was the factor. Tootling around town and the 'burbs was easy enough, but stamp on the throttle and the RS had me pushing beads in a matter seconds. Ja. A sphincter-clenching first couple of days...

In my defence, this was hardly surprising given both the car's reputation as the most potent production front-wheel-drive hatch ever made, and the words spoken by The Ford Guy when he handed me the keys. "This one's properly quick mate. Be careful. Do your self a favour and before you bullet around the corners, test its acceleration abilities in a straight line first."

Now this is an unusual thing for The Ford Guy -- or any guy from any of the car brands, for that matter -- to say. These people never hand over a car with an attached warning. I've been given keys to Aston Martins, Maseratis, and Audi R8s with little more in the way of parting words than "have fun!" Suddenly The Ford Guy is telling me to watch it? This car must be something.

God, you see, originally planned for a car's front wheels to do one thing -- steer. Back then, when He created the universe, He obviously had a helluva lot to do and hence keeping it simple was a priority. So … rear wheels were for the power … and the front for steering. And it all worked well enough. Then, some smart-arse engineers in the 1930s decided to transmit power through the front wheels. Which was an OK idea from a safety point of view. Suddenly there was a whole lot less uncontrolled sideways action as cars were being pulled through corners rather than pushed.

There's always a "but" though, isn't there …

God, being God, saw this "but" coming from a long way off. In this case the "but" is "but you can't transmit too much power through those front wheels". Asking them to both steer and lay down a gazillion kWs at the same time is one physics lesson too far. We've all seen the Top Gear episodes with Jeremy Clarkson gleefully inducing some or other Opel/Vauxhall Astra OPC to understeer its way off the track in a weather system of rubber smoke.

Torque steer demon
And that was the root of my fear … what would happen if I attempted a little Sarel v/d Merwe action through the corners with the RS's 224kW under foot? One doesn't a) want to write off a R487 000 test car, and b) die. Having experienced powerful FWD cars like the Mini Cooper S and the Renault Megane Sport, I know them to be inhabited by the torque steer demon -- a little fella who likes to yank the steering wheel in random directions when you put foot. Ford, of course, claimed to have exorcised this naughty imp from the RS thanks to its race-developed RevoKnuckle front suspension system and a very trick limited-slip diff. But still. That Ford Guy …

So for the first day and a half I drove the Focus RS in a decidedly conservative manner. Only when the car was pointing straight did I accelerate with any conviction, allowing the 2,5-litre, five-cylinder turbo to red-line its way up the freeway. This, by the way is the same Volvo-sourced engine you'll find in the Volvo C30 T5 and Focus ST. Well … sort of the same. This one has new pistons, intercooler and turbo -- all of which will propel the RS to a 100km/h in 5,9 secs and to a top end of a little more than 260km/h.

One has to remember that the RS is a pretty big car too. The Focus bodyshell -- even in three-door form -- is sizey and it's not exactly light either, weighing in at 1 860kg. The weight is partly the result of Ford's desire to give the car an up-market speccing. Inside you'll find leather Recaro seats, a powerful sound system with steering-mounted controls, Bluetooth, trip computer, dual zone climate control, power windows, park aid sensors and, for added safety, side curtain airbags to compliment the standard driver and passenger ones. All fancy, but heavy, stuff.

Wizardry
Funny thing happened at the end of day two, though. By carefully exploring the limits, I discovered all the RevoKnuckle/limited-slip diff wizardry actually works. There is torque steer, sure, but it's nothing dramatic and completely handle-able. Not elbow-leaning-on-the-window, one-hand-on-the-steering stuff, but with both hands on the wheel, you hardly notice any untoward attempts at directional change. Thanks to those beautifully purposeful, multi-spoked 19-inch mags and ultra-low profile shoes, the RS is endowed with massive levels of grip. And crucially, when they do let go, it's in a progressive and fairly catch-able way.

By day three I was plugged in. Corners required an early-but-purposeful-turn-in to get the optimal front-wheel drive tow through the apex. It was a fine line though. Late-but-purposeful-turn-in, for example, was very bad and the portal to Understeer World, but get it right and the RS slingshots through the twisty like … well … a slingshot. There was the odd moment or two when the car nipped me on the arse to remind me my name was not, in fact, Sarel, but on the whole I discovered it to be an eminently drivable super-hatch. It's a hooligan, make no mistake, wearing the black roof spoiler like a hoodie, but learn its habits and the misunderstood youth persona dissipates. Turns out hooligans know how to have a good time.

Ja, nearly R500k is a lot for a hatch, and it pitches it right up against the sublime handling Scooby Impreza WRX STi, but in the automotive scheme of things, this fast, this lux, and this amount of fun normally costs a lot more.

"Lovely little car innit?" said The Ford Guy when I handed back the keys. Dead right. I was even beginning to like that pearlescent lime green paint job.

Vital stats: Ford Focus RS
Price R487 900
Engine 2500cc five-cylinder turbo
Power 224kW at 6500rpm
Gearbox 6-speed manual
Torque 440Nm from 2300-4500rpm
0-100km/h (claimed) 5,9 seconds
Top Speed (claimed) 263km/h
Fuel Consumption 9,4/100km (claimed combined)
Service Plan 5 year/90 000km
Roadside Assistance three year/unlimited km
Comprehensive Warranty four year/120 000km

WHO’S BEEN A BAD VOLVO?

On test… Volvo C30 T5 R-Design

Let's play the word-association game.

I say “Volvo”. You say......“safety!” Of course you did. It’s practically involuntary. And given their history of innovations in automotive safety, hardly surprising too. For decades now, Swedes in white lab coats have been beavering away inventing stuff like three-point safety belts and side-curtain airbags, not to mention providing long-term job security for a legion of crash-test dummies.

These days though, someone has clearly been adding a little Absolut the morning coffee. In a very un-Volvo frame of mind, Olav and his mates have thrown caution to the wind and created a genuine hot hatch. The car in question is part of Volvo’s new face-lifted C30 range of which the T5 R-Design heads up these svelte lookers. It’s not often a mid-life nip ‘n tuck alters a car as much as what’s been achieved with the C30. Thanks mainly to a re-profiled front end, the entire C30 range has been transformed from a pretty car into a far more macho beast. What before was a Cool In The City run around for young urban women, now looks a lot more like a street racer for the blokes.

Especially when you add the R-design body kit package. Lowered side sills, a rear spoiler, a lower front chin and racy 5-spoke, 19 inch alloys push the boat out even further, deep into “I kick yøur böttom at da røbot” territory.

The car has the chops to back all this up as well. The T5 still has the 5-pot turbo motor shared with the Ford Focus ST, and in the Volvo it pushes out 169Kw with 320Nm of torque. Forced induction is the vogue these days and as with most new-gen turbo engines, the T5’s is a wonderfully versatile motor that will provide sufficient low-down torque to go along with the impressive top end. It’s no deep throated V8, but there’s also something special about that high-pitched turbo whine – especially when exercising one’s rev limiter rights up and down the 6-speed manual gearbox.

What you’re going to like the most is the way this baby handles. Volvo have done a Volvo and basically created a car that feels taut and sharp, yet without the ability to bite you on the arse should you over cook it. Thanks to the R-Design’s tweaked “sports chassis” you can take it to the limit where, in a calm Scandi accent, the chassis’ feedback will then tell you to take it easy… unless of course you’re wearing a dark-visored, white, full-face crash helmet and are rumoured to carry an emergency koeksister in your cubby hole. Then it says nothing. Price: R335 600.

To The Point Jhb launch

... and here's the one in Jhb

22 November

Exclusive Books

Mandela Square

6pm for 6:30pm

If you're in Jhb and want a signed copy...

To The Point Book Launch

We'll be having exclusive launches at... ja... Exclusive Books.

The Cape Town Invite

8 November

Exclusive Books, Cavendish Square, Claremont

6pm for 6:30pm

Herschelle will be there

(and me)

Open to all so please feel free to pop by...

The Durban Invite

(looks a helluva lot like the CT invite)

15 November

Exclusive Books, The Pavillion, Westville

6pm for 6:30pm

Herschelle will be there

(and me)

Open to all, so please feel free to pop by.

Fresh Ink

My old skool half sleeve is just about finished. Another visit to the peerless Manuela Gray at Wildfire in Long st today saw the addition of a pair of swallows and a star.

One more session and I reckon it’s done. For this sleeve anyway…..

Hay now, Hay now, now.

I've just written a feature for the Red Bulletin on the Red Bull Boxcart race, held this year in Soweto. Here's the sidebar from the 6-page feature that'll appear in the November issue...

"For insight into what it’s like to pilot a boxcart down the Diepkloof hill, our Red Bulletin writer donned a helmet, hopped into Red Bull’s own boxcart, and started rolling…

As it often does, received advice offered conflicting opinions. “Don’t bother braking for the chicane,” said a colleague who’d helped set up the course. “You don’t build up all that much speed and, with go-kart tyres on our boxcart, you’ll have enough grip to get through the corners.”

“No, I’m definitely going to brake,” said Charlie Repsold of the ultra-quick Try-Hard R team. “If your cart is quick, you’ll build up way more speed than you can handle in the , even if you have thin bicycling tyres like ours, which are best for this kind of job.

So… brake-and-use-go-kart-tyres versus don’t-brake-and-bicycle-tyres-are-the-way-to-go. Someone was right.

The debate still ping-ponged under my helmet as the Red Bull crew gave the boxcart an enthusiastic shove off. The first half of the course – the long downhill – was the key to a fast time. It was here that having tyres with little rolling resistance offered huge time bonuses… the only problem being could one carry that speed through the three-corner chicane at the end of it?

There was time to ponder this, head tucked down low on the long straight. Just enough time to make the wrong decision, as it turned out. With a soundless “braking is for girls” rippling across my lips, I stayed off the pedal and…. well it went reasonably well for the first corner, got a little sketchy through Turn Two, and then all turned into a shower of yellow straw at Turn Three. Carrying way too much speed than the wide profile go-kart tyres could handle, the boxcart understeered straight off through the hay bales.

Fortunately the impact absorption of the hay and the generous run-off area meant the only thing bruised was pride.

Brakes 1, Steve 0.

SWIFT & SWIFTER

On test… Suzuki Swift Sport

Who doesn’t like having fun. Hands up. (Ok, besides the North Koreans.) No-one, right? As long as it’s legal and no-one gets hurt, having fun is just about the best thing there is. A no-brainer it would seem.

Thing is, a lot of people actually forget this. Especially people who make cars. An obsession with technological advancement can blind them into making cars that are super safe or super quick or super easy to drive. Nice. But bladdy boring.

Fortunately Osuma Suzuki, the 80-year old chairman of the Suzuki corporation is not one of those people. Unfortunately we’ve no record of the actual conversation between the Osumster and his design team, but we’re pretty sure his brief for the Swift went something like this:

“Dude-sans. Make it simple, make it cheap, but most of all, make it flippin’ fun to drive. Cool?”

“Hai!” they all said, and went about producing this gem of a little car. Indeed it won the “Most Fun” award in the 2006 Japanese Car of the Year competition. Seriously. They have a “Most Fun” category in Japan.

Over the last couple you will have noticed the four-door version of this little Jap hatch buzzing around SA roads quietly building a reputation as an affordable car that was, well, a helluva lot of fun to drive. Its 1.5-litre motor was not the punchiest, but it provided just enough voomah to power the Swift’s superb chassis. And its fairly understated styling – especially for a Japanese car – was a welcome oasis of serenity among the creases, scallops and flashes of faux chrome sported by most of its competitors.

Just to make sure the party continues, Suzuki have now introduced a limited run (100 only) of their three-door Swift sport model in this country. A new 1-6-litre motor puts out 92kW (as opposed to the Swift’s usual 74kW) and the chassis has a couple of tweaks to go with the bigger biceps. The suspension has been stiffened and now comes with more responsive gas-filled shocks, the steering’s been recalibrated to be just that bit sharper, and 17-inch alloys provided the necessary grip and street cred.

In terms of performance, it’s not quite up there with the Mini Cooper S’s of the world, but the Swift Sport’s performance is nonetheless more than snappy enough for a jaunt to the fun-o-sphere and back. It’s a revvy little bugger that gets particularly shirty above 5000rpm, egging you on to use the upper echelons of its rev range to your heart’s content. At R199 900 it’s not particularly cheap, but the same price as its obvious rival, the 98kW Renault Twingo RS. It could do with a sixth gear for highway cruising, but that’s probably the only fault one could point out.

All in all, a lekker little chorrie.