Interesting post on Whirlpool regarding the RS. Not especially moddable - unless you want all the extra torque through the front wheels only.

Is the RS going to be a predominantly FWD car on the road? It seems the rear wheels will only be engaged when the front loses grip.

It appears that this is dynamic and changes based on numerous parameters. Even on the straight, small changes can cause power to be sent rearwards.

The link below might have already been posted but it's an excellent read on the limitations of the GKN AWD system in the RS. This was a QA session by a drivetrain engineer from GKN who was on the RS project.

AWD Questions

The key takeaways are:

- The PTU (power takeoff unit) at the front always spins the propshaft going to the RDU (rear drive unit) at the back
- The RDU and clutchpacks are a single unit with both clutchpacks calibrated to each other at the factory to ensure their clutch lockup across the range is the same. Otherwise your car will pull to one side.
- You cannot service or open the RDU without ruining the calibration. Replacement required sending it back to GKN.
- The clutch packs do not work on percentages (obviously) unlike what Ford marketing tells you about 70% to rear then 100% to each wheel.
- The clutch packs simply have a torque bypass value after which point they will fail to lock up.
- EDIT: The clutch packs are already almost at their maximum torque transfer values in stock form.
- As the prop shaft is always spinning, if both clutch packs lock up then each wheel gets only ½ of the total torque sent to the rear RDU
- If one side locks up, it will get all of the torque sent to the RDU.
- If you modify the engine and increase torque, the amount of torque sent to the rear wheel(s) itself will NOT increase due to above limitation, ie the clutch packs have a set maximum amount of torque they are able to transfer.
- The RDU is designed for the life of the car, 10 years.

In short, upping engine power will not cause any more power to be sent to the rear wheels. The car will behave more FWD as that power will be delivered to the front wheels (ie you will be affecting the torque balance).

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Gone from Sushi to Arborio..... and back to Sushi plus Old-School Grits

^^^ That dont sound good if thats how it all works.

Lucky I don't intend upping the engine power then!

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No Subarus currently owned

I would say for the time being but if it makes no difference to what is output at the wheels then no point really anyway

I have already read about what you describe and it is interesting!
I'm still sold on it though. I don't think I've read a negative review yet.
The car is designed to withstand 30 minutes of track work without fade, which for a hack like me is plenty.
Most cars have some issues/limitations when modding begins, we only need to look at the 2.5l in the Rex's which struggle much past a tune and exhaust.
I truly think (it's a big call i know), i will be leaving my RS stock. It appears to be pretty damn good as is ☺👍

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2017 Ford Focus RS
MY11 STI - SOLD

Agreed Dom...it is a great package...my MkII RS is completely stock (apart from rear muffler) and is a fantastic car to drive....plenty of power, loads of torque (way more than an STI) and imo handles better than an STI (we are talking stock cars here). There is no doubt however that tuning houses in the UK (eg Mountune, GGR, Pumaspeed etc will come up with something for the new RS pretty quickly.....

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No Subarus currently owned

Ford Focus RS vs the rivals | Top Gear

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No Subarus currently owned

What worries me about the new RS (and I am an RS fan as I had a Mk2 before the STI) is that rear diff..

Designed for a Land Rover Evoque and clutch based. Great in the evoque but by Fords own admissions when the car is used on the track the4 rear diff oil is going to have to be changed very regularly (500km IIRC) I cannot lay my hands on the document right now where this was stated.

Although to be fair to Ford they were saying that drift mode (still not sure why you want this) is for track only, so they are saying they will warrant the car for track use.

I just hope the rear diff can cope with the pressure.

I guess it's lucky I'm not a hoon!!

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No Subarus currently owned

I hear there's some good events at the RAC that would be useful to people learning to drive cars.... Especially for those that don't believe they're a hoon.

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