Focus RS Leaks Online Ahead of its Debut With AWD

2016 Ford Focus RS (Credit: © Ford)

The all-new Ford Focus RS has been one of the most hotly anticipated reveals of the New Year, and just moments before it made its official debut, the folks over at Evo went and spoiled it for everyone. That’s right, they obviously had access to embargoed material and accidentally clicked the “publish” button instead of “save” when typing up their article. As always, some eagle-eyed car junkies managed to snatch up as much information as possible and blast it all over the Web before Evo could pull down the article.

According to the report I read from AutoBlog, the article pretty much answered every question I had regarding the Focus RS, but left one big head-scratchers. This head-scratcher is the fact that Evo estimates the Focus RS’ output at just 250 horses, which I find rather low considering the 2.3-liter four-pot puts down 310 horses in the Mustang and the Focus ST delivers a meaty 252 horses. I believe that was either a typo or someone simply underestimating the hot hatch.

Now let’s talk about the good stuff. First, the Focus RS will indeed be all-wheel drive. What’s more, this system will feature brake-operated torque vectoring and it can send up to 70 percent of the power to the rear axle. If you’re still here after reading that and not getting ready to head to your local Ford dealer with a wad of cash to lob at an unsuspecting salesperson, I also want to let you know that it’ll hit 60 mph in less than five seconds, which would make it as quick as or quicker than the Golf R.

On top of all of this performance goodness, just look at the thing. It’s just begging to be flogged in a manner that no man should ever flog a car. Plus, Ford did a great job at not overdoing the body kit.

I’ll bring you all of the official details once Ford releases them, and until then, I’ll race you to the dealership!