When we left off, Ford of Europe was riding high. The top three cars sold in the UK were the Escort, Sierra and Fiesta. The Sierra RS Cosworth and RS500 were the cars to own. But there were dark clouds on the RS horizon. What happened to the RS brand in the 90s and beyond, and did those cars live up to those amazing cars from the 70s and 80s?
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19:25 Nothing sums up the mess that was Ford's 'Edge styling' like the awful collection of unrelated shapes and lines inside and outside of the Focus… 🤢🤮
I love all RS Ford.
The last RS is branded a "lemon" …maybe they should have stuck with the European branch building them, and left the Mustang engine with the Yanks?
Reading through the comments, the 3rd wing is already being debated about but I’m wondering regardless of if it was supposed to happen or not, if people liked it when wheeler dealers made it on the cossie they refreshed? I personally thought it looked awful so glad they stuck with 2 wings. I’m not critiquing Ants work as he is a brilliant mechanic and fabricator but that 3rd wing is a big nope from me.
Those numbers are nice for the size car but I cannot understand how anyone thinks those things look good.
That 2016 RS just didn't sell, where as the golf r was and still is seen everywhere. Also, ford won't make an rs'able model . They don't really make any cars anymore
Literally listened to an interview with the escort cosworth designer that it was supposed to have 3 spoilers so strange you say it was never the case. Maybe he's telling different stories to different people. Interesting though someone did actually add a third spoiler to one and it genuinely improved the dynamics which leads me to believe it was true that it was originally intended to have 3
ron Weasley's dad drove a focus! who knew
Frank Stephenson, the actual designer says Escort Cosworth was originally intended to have 3 rear wing sections (at least from a design perspective)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFTepo8MzHY&ab_channel=FrankStephenson
Says it was removed due to cost, but I suspect aero effectiveness and weight were probably more to blame…
I don't think any American would care if a V6 rental mustang got beat by anything. A v6 mustang is a punchline in search of a joke.
I remember a friend who was maybe 30 ish years old with full no claims bonus being quoted £15,000 for third party only insurance on an Escort Cossie in the late 90's….
He bought an Audi instead.! 😂
Just a few years ago Ford Focus owners were laughing at Toyota Auris and Corolla buyers because of their hybrid engines and CVT transmission now they don't even buy a Focus anymore because it only comes with a ridiculous 1.0l fake hybrid engine. That's why Fiesta and Focus don't sale well anymore, because of the lack of proper engines
Three-piece wing?
Let’s ask it’s designer…
https://youtu.be/kFTepo8MzHY
I'm only a minute into this, but I think Fords big problem was the death of the turbo in the 90s thanks to thefts and joyriders in the late 80s
All the hot hatches went for NA engines. Escort and Fiesta RS went for NA. Renault 5 Turbo went NA. Sierra replaced with mild, fwd NA Mondeo. Escort RS Cosworth was too expensive for the target audience.
I sas sat watching them saying thw cossie wasn't successful, well no, not in sales on its own but it was a pin up, a thing that made people still love ford in to the 90s, it made them sell yhe meh Escort that came about at the same time. It did more for the brand, that's the profit not the sales of the ar itself. 20k for insurance and 19 for the car 🤣
You missed that the 2.3 mazda mps engine and the 3&6 models were used as tests for the fRS as a fwd and awd, the 2.3 ecoboost is basically the same as the 2.3 found in the mazda mps’s but with some development changes.
Focus, best car in the world at the time? get off the crack brother. you gotta get out more often
Most of the people who want these special RS models and other cars like that can't afford them. If car prices were lower, they would sell more sporty cars.
As an American, I'm jealous of the great cars Europeans got. Now everything is built to sell everywhere. But when each country was building cars for their own people and not worrying about the rest of the world. Cars were so much better. I'm not a fan of world cars. And definitely not a fan of modern vehicles. Can't even call them cars anymore. They're mostly garbage crossovers. I would love to be able to get an older British car in British spec. It would be strange to get used to driving on the other side of the car, and road
But it would be worth it for an authentic British car
Seeing the difference in how Ford cars are seen from Europeans vs us in the US is just crazy.
If its not a truck, body on frame SUV, or Mustang most Fords are laughing stocks. The Japanese made much better products it seems in a general sense. And I guess Ford agreed as they killed all cars.
The last cars they offered here had their reputations shot because of reliability issues. To be fair many of their suvs and trucks suffered the same issues. Ford just has a very dodgy reputation here for most part.
I guess killing of cars has worked for them. The new Maverick seems popular. The Bronco came back.
The poorly named Bronco Sport seems real cool. Just sad it will never get its own legacy sharing a name with a more popular car. Same applies to the Mach E.
Without cars here they can just focus on what really sales and put more effort into those.
I saw the ~2001 Focus in the thumbnail a day ago and thought about clicking but couldn't do it, but now that the thumbnail is a 90s Escort RS, well, here I am.
With the mustang Mach e 1400, I can see that becoming a trickle down to a puma as a hybrid RS model.
Why Ford never patent RS name? Audi also has RS6 and such models.
Could you do the Mustang story too?
I hope there wont be a suv RS.
Vw type r ????
I thought you already forgot this part ll
So the episode of wheeler dealers is wrong as the bloke who met ant said the third wing and even showed a drawing
Ah the SVT looked better & it had a higher redline on the engine then the RS did
Nit pick.
1987 WRC was not Group B.
So, the Lancia you showed isn’t the correct one 😜
Great video !!
Are you interested in doing a story on mazda 323f lantis?
What a genuinely beautiful car the Escort Cosworth is.
At weeller dealers they had once a escort rs cosworth where they fitted a 3e wing they*marc brewwer) told there that the designer wanted it with 3 rear wings,
Still claims it was "wrong car for the time", but it cost as much as an M3? No mate, you are delusional, M3 E36 is a better car.