Gryphon
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 19, 2015
- Threads
- 16
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- 404
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- Location
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Vehicle(s)
- 2016 GT PP
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- #1
Yesterday, it was time for my 2016 Mustang GT to go in for its first oil change and service, and the good folks att Upplands Motor in Stockholm made sure I was well entertained while waiting for the work to be done, by giving me a little under an hour in a brand new Focus RS!
Exterior:
Starting from the outside of the car, the first thing that strikes you is the rake of the thing. Itās a wedge-shaped compact car with a deep and very functional-looking front splitter, and a high spoiler and raised rear end making for a very aggressive road stance. The Nitrous Blue paint job has a remarkable sparkling effect which photos donāt do justice. Little pinpricks of diamond glitter are strewn about the whole car giving it a very high-end look.
Coming around to the rear I noticed that the exhaust pipes have the look of an aftermarket system, with that thin sheet metal, about the same diameter as the Mustang, but with a much more aggressive look.
Interior:
Getting in the car, the first thing I noticed is that at 6ā1āā, I had a considerable blind spot in the B-pillar. Iām used to this from five door cars, but you grow truly accustomed to the freedom of a 2- or 3-door body style where your side view is uninterrupted. Man, what a difference 3 doors would have made to this whole car.
The interior feels cheapish, the plastics are rather bad and everything has a very ā1990s stereoā feel to it, with seemingly jagged edges and protruding features coming out of the dashboard. In comparison, the Mustangās cockpit feels both cleaner and more upscale as hard as that maybe to believe. The dials are impossibly busy, with demarkations sneezed out in all directions. The whole interior feels more Swatch, and less Omega. The blue stitchwork on the handbrake, shift gaiter, and steering wheel, however, is wonderful.
The Recaro seats, remarkably, actually didnāt offer me as much side support as I would have hoped. They look the part, but the back support bit is very flat and wide, so I found myself well penned in, but with too much room to move. The seat back is very thin and the whole seat flexes alarmingly if you just push it backward with your head. I didnāt expect this, but the Recaros in the Mustang feel much better.
The small diameter steering wheel fits beautifully in your hands. A better, more pronounced ā10 and 2ā would have been good, but the wheel feels joyful and connected, itās a real pleasure.
Driving impressions:
Starting the car it sounds very normal and understated, I remember my first impression being ā is this an RSā? Later on youāll find that this issue resolves itself easily with the exhaustās more sporty setting.
The clutch is extremely abrupt, and bites very hard, very fast. Throttle response is very direct, and the whole car feels tingly, very tight and ready. Coming from a rock-hard Mk1 Focus RS into a rather soft-sprung American cruiser, Iāve missed this feeling. The steering feels connected, too, unlike the Mustangās. Even if the varying amounts of assistance in the different driving modes are noticeable, the steering always feels tight and connected. Itās been a while since a steering rack talked to me like this. Itās lovely.
Over bumps and uneven road surfaces, the car is very bumpy in its two harder drive modes, but very floaty in its looser settings. There is a very apparent difference in suspension hardness and ride comfort which is good. Iād say that over the course of normal driving, the ideal point would be somewhere in the middle, because the hard setting means the car skips over bumps, and the soft setting means the car loses a lot of that lovely tightness.
Sadly, the RS suffers from the infuriating modern-day affliction of artificial exhaust cracks and pops on liftoff. The exhaust pops feel completely artificial and actually detract from the experience. The same carefully monitored, carefully produced pop, every time you lift the gas pedal. It feels like an afterthought, a sound effect, and has nothing to do with how much load the engine is under. Frankly, it made me furious.
Launch Control and acceleration
The computer display in the center dash is somewhat sluggish and doesnāt really lend itself to making adjustments on the move, since you find yourself never really knowing how many times you pressed that button before the computer catches up. It is, however, necessary to flip through some menus to access one of the carās best features: Launch Control.
Set it, plant your foot on the gas, and the car will hold itself at about 5000 RPM (with a lovely rally car PAPAPAPAPAP), dump the clutch and the car just goes. Thereās no wheelspin, no struggle for grip, it just goes. The Launch control function is absolutely savage, period. The acceleration - and I know itās a cliche - literally hurts your neck muscles. The RS hooks up so well from a standing start that it is unbelievable.
Compared to the Mustang, which spins its wheels in first and second gear seemingly no matter how you modulate the power, I can understand that the RS is 0.1s quicker to 60. The way that car launches is the secret to its acceleration. From a standing start, this car is peerless in its price category. However, from about 5000 RPM and up you can feel that the V8 has more acceleration, more power. In the RS, the overboost function runs out of steam quite quickly, and found that onece off overboost, the car actually slows down considerably and doesn't feel nearly as fast. Thereās also a noticeable turbo lag - which some people may be detrimental - but it does feel like an old-school turbo. Put your foot down, wait for it, brace yourself.
In contrast, the Mustang feels like riding a wave of constant torque, and there is something extremely satisfying about planting your foot, and getting a predictable, immediate, response which washes over you and just doesn't stop all the way to redline.
Drift mode
Itās no secret that this carās selling point is the ādrift buttonā, or the driving mode which bears that name. Press the driving mode button until you see a sideways RS, and away you go!
Compared to track mode, drift mode feels very soft and loose, with light steering, just as you would expect, to lower grip levels and improve countersteering reaction time. Surprisingly, though, the car isn't as easy to provoke into a drift as you would think. It doesn't feel particularly rear wheel drive at all. Compared to the Mustang, which is easily provoked in any situation (and with the traction control in any setting), you really have to work hard to get the RS sideways, even in Drift mode. This is partially due to the frankly amazing levels of mechanical grip, and partially thanks to the fact that this car,if we're honest, feels rather front wheel drive. They can go on as much as they want about the drift setting, but the simple fact is that when provoked, this car understeers.
Once it does break sideways the feeling is problematic. It doesn't feel like natural oversteer which comes from power and weight transfer, rather it feels like a very artificial type of wheelspin and oversteer, which makes it different to any other car I've driven, but also somehow unsatisfying. It feels more like āhide understeer modeā than it feels like ādrift modeā.
The best way I can explain it is this. There was a video game I played when I was younger, that had a button for āwheelspinā. You pressed that button and in any situation you found yourself you would immediately get a burst of wheelspin. This is sort of what Drift mode felt like. It didn't really affect the handling of the car, or introduce any real slip angle (unless you REALLY tried). It didnāt even behave in an analog fashion once it did break loose. It just made the wheels spin a little, the car went a little sideways, and I didn't even have to countersteer as much as I thought I would. To me, this is like playing Guitar Hero and telling your friends you know how to play guitar. Call me crazy what does drift mode take the fun out of drifting?
Conclusions
Overall it's tough to gauge which one is better. The RS feels undeniably faster, tighter, and more responsive. It tingles and talks to you. It feels like my old Focus RS, like an Escort Cosworth, it has that RS magic. All of those, are qualities which are very desirable in a sports car. But where the RS feels utterly serious, the Mustang feels special in its own way. For lack of a better word, itās more fun. In fact pound for pound, itās probably one of the most immature and fun cars you can buy today.
The RS makes you grip the wheel, look out at the road with a steely gaze and say āIāve got this.ā The Mustang, makes you want to roll the window down and do donuts with your tongue hanging out of your mouth yelling āUSA!ā. Itās up to you which of those appeal more to you. But it is remarkable that out of those two, the light blue sparkly car with the gaudy interior and the popping exhaust feels like the grown-up. Thatās how much of a child the Mustang is.
The bottom line is, that the RS had to be cleverly engineered, with modes, pops and gimmicks, to put a wig on its serious haircut, and become a laugh rather than just a competent track weapon. The Mustang, never cut its hair in the first place. Itās still hanging out in the back of its van, listening to Zeppelin. And honestly, that sounds like a pretty cool place to be.
But come track day, Iāll look longingly at the guy in the RS, knowing that as much as Iām having a laugh, he is going faster than I am.
Itās a good year to be a Ford fan.
Exterior:
Starting from the outside of the car, the first thing that strikes you is the rake of the thing. Itās a wedge-shaped compact car with a deep and very functional-looking front splitter, and a high spoiler and raised rear end making for a very aggressive road stance. The Nitrous Blue paint job has a remarkable sparkling effect which photos donāt do justice. Little pinpricks of diamond glitter are strewn about the whole car giving it a very high-end look.
Coming around to the rear I noticed that the exhaust pipes have the look of an aftermarket system, with that thin sheet metal, about the same diameter as the Mustang, but with a much more aggressive look.
Interior:
Getting in the car, the first thing I noticed is that at 6ā1āā, I had a considerable blind spot in the B-pillar. Iām used to this from five door cars, but you grow truly accustomed to the freedom of a 2- or 3-door body style where your side view is uninterrupted. Man, what a difference 3 doors would have made to this whole car.
The interior feels cheapish, the plastics are rather bad and everything has a very ā1990s stereoā feel to it, with seemingly jagged edges and protruding features coming out of the dashboard. In comparison, the Mustangās cockpit feels both cleaner and more upscale as hard as that maybe to believe. The dials are impossibly busy, with demarkations sneezed out in all directions. The whole interior feels more Swatch, and less Omega. The blue stitchwork on the handbrake, shift gaiter, and steering wheel, however, is wonderful.
The Recaro seats, remarkably, actually didnāt offer me as much side support as I would have hoped. They look the part, but the back support bit is very flat and wide, so I found myself well penned in, but with too much room to move. The seat back is very thin and the whole seat flexes alarmingly if you just push it backward with your head. I didnāt expect this, but the Recaros in the Mustang feel much better.
The small diameter steering wheel fits beautifully in your hands. A better, more pronounced ā10 and 2ā would have been good, but the wheel feels joyful and connected, itās a real pleasure.
Driving impressions:
Starting the car it sounds very normal and understated, I remember my first impression being ā is this an RSā? Later on youāll find that this issue resolves itself easily with the exhaustās more sporty setting.
The clutch is extremely abrupt, and bites very hard, very fast. Throttle response is very direct, and the whole car feels tingly, very tight and ready. Coming from a rock-hard Mk1 Focus RS into a rather soft-sprung American cruiser, Iāve missed this feeling. The steering feels connected, too, unlike the Mustangās. Even if the varying amounts of assistance in the different driving modes are noticeable, the steering always feels tight and connected. Itās been a while since a steering rack talked to me like this. Itās lovely.
Over bumps and uneven road surfaces, the car is very bumpy in its two harder drive modes, but very floaty in its looser settings. There is a very apparent difference in suspension hardness and ride comfort which is good. Iād say that over the course of normal driving, the ideal point would be somewhere in the middle, because the hard setting means the car skips over bumps, and the soft setting means the car loses a lot of that lovely tightness.
Sadly, the RS suffers from the infuriating modern-day affliction of artificial exhaust cracks and pops on liftoff. The exhaust pops feel completely artificial and actually detract from the experience. The same carefully monitored, carefully produced pop, every time you lift the gas pedal. It feels like an afterthought, a sound effect, and has nothing to do with how much load the engine is under. Frankly, it made me furious.
Launch Control and acceleration
The computer display in the center dash is somewhat sluggish and doesnāt really lend itself to making adjustments on the move, since you find yourself never really knowing how many times you pressed that button before the computer catches up. It is, however, necessary to flip through some menus to access one of the carās best features: Launch Control.
Set it, plant your foot on the gas, and the car will hold itself at about 5000 RPM (with a lovely rally car PAPAPAPAPAP), dump the clutch and the car just goes. Thereās no wheelspin, no struggle for grip, it just goes. The Launch control function is absolutely savage, period. The acceleration - and I know itās a cliche - literally hurts your neck muscles. The RS hooks up so well from a standing start that it is unbelievable.
Compared to the Mustang, which spins its wheels in first and second gear seemingly no matter how you modulate the power, I can understand that the RS is 0.1s quicker to 60. The way that car launches is the secret to its acceleration. From a standing start, this car is peerless in its price category. However, from about 5000 RPM and up you can feel that the V8 has more acceleration, more power. In the RS, the overboost function runs out of steam quite quickly, and found that onece off overboost, the car actually slows down considerably and doesn't feel nearly as fast. Thereās also a noticeable turbo lag - which some people may be detrimental - but it does feel like an old-school turbo. Put your foot down, wait for it, brace yourself.
In contrast, the Mustang feels like riding a wave of constant torque, and there is something extremely satisfying about planting your foot, and getting a predictable, immediate, response which washes over you and just doesn't stop all the way to redline.
Drift mode
Itās no secret that this carās selling point is the ādrift buttonā, or the driving mode which bears that name. Press the driving mode button until you see a sideways RS, and away you go!
Compared to track mode, drift mode feels very soft and loose, with light steering, just as you would expect, to lower grip levels and improve countersteering reaction time. Surprisingly, though, the car isn't as easy to provoke into a drift as you would think. It doesn't feel particularly rear wheel drive at all. Compared to the Mustang, which is easily provoked in any situation (and with the traction control in any setting), you really have to work hard to get the RS sideways, even in Drift mode. This is partially due to the frankly amazing levels of mechanical grip, and partially thanks to the fact that this car,if we're honest, feels rather front wheel drive. They can go on as much as they want about the drift setting, but the simple fact is that when provoked, this car understeers.
Once it does break sideways the feeling is problematic. It doesn't feel like natural oversteer which comes from power and weight transfer, rather it feels like a very artificial type of wheelspin and oversteer, which makes it different to any other car I've driven, but also somehow unsatisfying. It feels more like āhide understeer modeā than it feels like ādrift modeā.
The best way I can explain it is this. There was a video game I played when I was younger, that had a button for āwheelspinā. You pressed that button and in any situation you found yourself you would immediately get a burst of wheelspin. This is sort of what Drift mode felt like. It didn't really affect the handling of the car, or introduce any real slip angle (unless you REALLY tried). It didnāt even behave in an analog fashion once it did break loose. It just made the wheels spin a little, the car went a little sideways, and I didn't even have to countersteer as much as I thought I would. To me, this is like playing Guitar Hero and telling your friends you know how to play guitar. Call me crazy what does drift mode take the fun out of drifting?
Conclusions
Overall it's tough to gauge which one is better. The RS feels undeniably faster, tighter, and more responsive. It tingles and talks to you. It feels like my old Focus RS, like an Escort Cosworth, it has that RS magic. All of those, are qualities which are very desirable in a sports car. But where the RS feels utterly serious, the Mustang feels special in its own way. For lack of a better word, itās more fun. In fact pound for pound, itās probably one of the most immature and fun cars you can buy today.
The RS makes you grip the wheel, look out at the road with a steely gaze and say āIāve got this.ā The Mustang, makes you want to roll the window down and do donuts with your tongue hanging out of your mouth yelling āUSA!ā. Itās up to you which of those appeal more to you. But it is remarkable that out of those two, the light blue sparkly car with the gaudy interior and the popping exhaust feels like the grown-up. Thatās how much of a child the Mustang is.
The bottom line is, that the RS had to be cleverly engineered, with modes, pops and gimmicks, to put a wig on its serious haircut, and become a laugh rather than just a competent track weapon. The Mustang, never cut its hair in the first place. Itās still hanging out in the back of its van, listening to Zeppelin. And honestly, that sounds like a pretty cool place to be.
But come track day, Iāll look longingly at the guy in the RS, knowing that as much as Iām having a laugh, he is going faster than I am.
Itās a good year to be a Ford fan.
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