The Downside To Being Stateside //

The ford Focus is not exactly a performance car in our opinion. Though the SVT edition did provide a bit more then the base model, we have ridden in a few, and pound for pound you would have better spent your dollars on an imported Japanese hatch. So why is it then, that the Europeans see the more lively side of the Ford Focus? Why are we left with high MPG, four door variants and mild mannered two doors? The 2009 Focus RS is what we are talking about, and we are simply a bit peeved that we cannot get our hands on one. If this thing came across the pond, people would go crazy. A front bumper laden with air intakes feed the Focus RS, a low stance and aggressive lines scream "rally me!" A turbocharged five cylinder powerplant puts nearly 300bhp to the front wheels! So what have we done to garner such fate, to be left in the cold, putting about in our Focus SE’s? The cold hand of fate dates back much farther than the Focus, Cosworth itself has been in the business of making go-fast Fords for quite sometime, and US buyers have been absent of such options. So for 2009 things appear much as they did in years past, Europeans terrorizing the countryside in turbo powered Foci, while stateside buyers mail-order tid bits in hopes to confuse the passer by into thinking they have some one-off Focus import. A sad ending to an even sadder tale. Look for the official 2009 RS at this years London Motor Show in July // 06.11.2008