An updated ,more expensive rival bites the dust in an Evo  review :

 

http://www.evo.co.uk/mercedes/a45-amg

Edited 7 March, 201610 yr by vrskeith

For 'lack of involvement', often they might as well write 'lack of a clutch pedal'

because having to use your left leg to push it in is probably the only thing you are not getting with a A45 / CLA45 AMG.

For 'lack of involvement', often they might as well write 'lack of a clutch pedal'

because having to use your left leg to push it in is probably the only thing you are not getting with a A45 / CLA45 AMG.

Involvement is more a property of a car to engage a driver in the process of driving by interaction. Steering feel and feedback, response to throttle inputs, the reaction and interaction of these, the ability of the car to change its balance or cornering stance in response to driver inputs and the way it communicates these subtleties, these are the things that define a great car. There are plenty of very fast cars, but they can be pretty sterile to drive, something the MB 45 series seems to have always been criticised for.

You have to ask those that own and drive them really if they find lack of involvement in their day to day driving and if they are getting shot of them because of it for something more involved that Road Testers and Reviewers prefer.

Are owners the critics or just those that borrow them for a short period of time?

Edited 7 March, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

You have to ask those that own and drive them really if they find lack of involvement in their day to day driving and if they are getting shot of them because of it for something more involved that Road Testers and Reviewers prefer.

Are owners the critics or just those that borrow them for a short period of time?

 

 

I love my vRS for a whole number of reasons even if in stock form it is one of the worst handling super minis you can have. If you ask me, its owner, I would say it is even driver involving, but what I define as involving means something much more personal and different than the usual perception of driver involvement. So it doesn't really matter if their owners love them. They are actually living with them so there's a lot to like about pretty much every modern sports car out there (there are hardly any bad cars in 2016). Their opinions will be based on what they get back from the car as a complete package. In fact, the majority of owners of even such cars as Golf R, Audi S3/RS3, A45, Cupra etc. will almost never ever drive them to the level that the gifts of a perfectly set up (or not) chassis or differential or suspension or gearbox or engine will become apparent. Throw 10 average drivers inside any of the aforementioned cars and 9/10 will reply: "This car is fantastic, handles great, sounds great, I'd have one yesterday" no matter which one they drove. It takes a lot of driving of such special cars and at least up to a certain level (which usually means track racing) to be able to tell all those subtle (or greater) differences. (Some of the) journalists are able to tell so because this is what they do actually. They drive all sorts of sports cars on a weekly basis, for years, so their awareness for all those things that make a car really stand out is well trained. In fact, it's good that they only spent little time inside every different car they evaluate because like that you can notice these differences immediately before becoming accustomed to the car and your judgement getting subjective.

 

In the end, not everybody cares of getting the most involving car anyway. Decisions will be based on aesthetics, price, maintenance cost and even other factors before involvement. It's just good to know which one is the most "driver's car"  for the few that really rate this as their primary requirement.

I like this article, there are plenty similar that have been written over the years.

http://caradvice.com.au/296577/the-truth-about-automotive-journalism

Well, fast can mean a lot of things that might not necessarily violate speed limits given that there's no horizontal or lateral acceleration limits yet... I don't drive in the UK so I don't know if there is a speed camera on every single piece of road as you say. In the 4 central european countries I've been driving over the last 5 years though, sports cars drivers were usually willing to go slightly above the limits if conditions allowed to, without ever becoming extreme or endangering other people's lives. In fact the situations closest to end up in a terrible accident that I've witnessed were not down to exceeding limits but plain stupidity at maybe less than 40mph.

 

So then if it is as heavily monitored, and you're not willing to risk going any faster than allowed there's only one big question that comes to mind? Why have you bought such a car in the first place which is more expensive to acquire, run, maintain and insure? Isn't it just mad? Why should anyone buy it? What re we doing here?  What's left other than maybe showing it off to the neighbor? And can that alone justify such an expense over the long run, I doubt it. Not that I have any intention of how one spends his hard-earned, just curious.

Interesting....

 

In the UK. it's still hard to "show-off" a Skoda to anyone, unless they are clued-up car people......

 

Driving hard on a twisty road used to be fun, but either the posted limits or the sheer amount of traffic has removed the "fun" factor.

Very different when I started driving, but that was back in '65......

 

Yes, UK roads are often "heavily monitored" with cameras rather than traffic police, especially in the South East of the country, which is where we reside.

There are some good "driving roads" in the UK, as seen in magazine road tests, etc. but mostly too far away to explore.

 

I've never checked, but I'd imagine the nearest Autobahn is less than 250 driving miles from South Essex, if that's true then theres no need to drive to

North Wales or Scotland to enjoy a spirited drive!

 

As for why we chose "fast" cars, they are more relaxed at our limited cruising speeds, the acceleration capabilities can be enjoyed quite often & we just don't like / want any small, economical & sensible cars in our lives. 

 

Since we are now in our late '60's, we haven't got that long to live &/or enjoy driving, so we may as well spend the kids inheritance on "nice" cars, but without pushing them beyond our limits. 

 

DC

You have to ask those that own and drive them really if they find lack of involvement in their day to day driving and if they are getting shot of them because of it for something more involved that Road Testers and Reviewers prefer.

Are owners the critics or just those that borrow them for a short period of time?

The only person I know that owned an AMG 45 chopped it in after six months and bought a GT86, which he still has nearly two years later.

Also, a truly great chassis will be involving at modest speeds and loads. Get a drive in a basic Fiesta.

Someone that can chop in a A45 AMG after 6 months has plenty of money, or maybe not enough money!.

The GT86 / BRZ was something i very much looked forward to being launched and i got drives as early as possible.

I liked them as Automatics while the road testers who mostly got Autos for early reviews were keener on the manuals.

They were flavour of the year. A road testers favourite.

Just not a buyers favourite which made them available all over as Demonstrators failed to sell.

They are a lot of car available for not lots of money.

 

I would love a GT86 or my choice a BRZ Auto today, they are lots of fun on a snowy icy morning.

Full of character.

Autocar    twin - test Focus RS v Golf R.

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/ford-focus-rs-versus-volkswagen-golf-r-twin-test

 

Guess Evo will be doing their Bedford Aerodrome test once Ford UK start providing UK  press cars.

So how much of an advantage are the Ford / Michelin  developed Cup2  over the Bridgestone run of the mill, used on  this  R in this test, in assisting the New 4x4 system?

On Topic Hopefully.

Tyres & tyre choice for the New Focus RS will be a personal thing for many just like with all performance cars, 

based maybe on Location Location Location and how the car is used.

3 Sets of Wheel tyres might be an idea for Track & All Seasons use.

(Then a Low Trolley jack & a few Wheel / Tyres sets to take with you to the Drift Track / Oval.)

Edited 8 March, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

Carmagazine track test video :http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/ford/video-2016-ford-focus-rs-track-test/

Mich Pilot SuperSports aren't unique/exclusive to the Focus RS by any means. The M135i has them as standard, for example. Many other very high performance cars use them as OE fittment. They are an absolutely epic tyre, by far and away the best tyre I've had on a car.

Cup 2's are another step up again but better for track use rather than the road apparently.

MPSS are being discontinued soon though apparently and will be replaced by the Pilot Sport 4....

 

I meant to add to this a little while ago. From an article I read, Michelin are still making the MPSS for OE fitments, so hopefully I should be OK and if they are fitted to the RS, then it should be OK too

I wonder how quick the rears need replacing, with over enthusiastic  drift mode use.

 

Have any Focus RS appeared yet in UK, since the hold up in production / delivery, of showroom / demo cars?

 

Actual 1st Customer cars are a little bit later, if I recall Boss' recent delivery update.

We need a sweep stake on how soon one gets stolen after they start being delivered to customers.

 

My prediction is one being stolen from a dealership even before they are delivered.

 

I wonder if Ford Have Trackers Installed already and they just need activated, or if they are going to be downloading information from the cars down the line, and from Demonstrators.

My prediction is then being written off left right and centre, pushing insurance through the roof.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

Haven't seen this article before.http://jalopnik.com/the-2016-ford-focus-rs-is-god-in-hatchback-form-1754930368

Edited 15 March, 201610 yr by vrskeith

A great article that covers so much detail.

They are building the Focus RS, but they are all being held pending whatever quality checks and upgrade is required and they are currently doing.

This has to be done before Ford release then to the general public to hoon about in.

As of yesterday not a single production car had been "gate released" for transport to a dealer.

 

There are a couple of pre-production cars doing the rounds, spending a few days at each dealer that qualifies for a visit, but no dealer demos or customer cars have arrived yet.

Ford have spent so much on Developing the car over such a long time, and making 8 Videos on the 'Rebirth of an Icon'.

You would think by now Episode 9 would be released, 

'How we got it wrong and are working on it ans sorry to those waiting on further news.'

'Just a little longer'.

Ford have spent so much on Developing the car over such a long time, and making 8 Videos on the 'Rebirth of an Icon'.

You would think by now Episode 9 would be released, 

'How we got it wrong and are working on it ans sorry to those waiting on further news.'

'Just a little longer'.

 

Lol you're being harsh George. But on a serious note, reliability is something yet to be proven for the new Focus RS. There were two of them in that Jalopnik review that shut down on track, engine and AWD issues iirc, and something about that Twinster system being already close to its limits. Childhood sicknesses maybe but it means you'd still have to wait a good year I'd say before confidently going for one. Plus my nearest Ford dealer had no idea about actual build dates whatsoever so this isn't really a car that's available right now for people looking to change. One of the reasons I crossed it out my list.

Saw another one out testing around Dunton today. Looked good in the blue!

Thought all the testing had been done , with the 7/8 Ford hyped video released over the last 8 months. Perhaps the Journos launch drives on road and track ,have exposed some hitherto undiscovered weaknesses.

UK deliveries to dealers and Customers still pending.

Hopefully fully resolved before UK and World Customers get their "drifting" hands on them.

Edited 28 March, 201610 yr by vrskeith

Is it all go on the builds now then.?

http://focusrs.org

 

I just can not be bothered reading other forums the style & format is just so difficult compared to Briskoda IMO.