Focus RS plus – the Loder1899

The Focus RS by Loder1899

We finally got round to doing a review of the Focus RS last week and came away deeply impressed. The thought of 300bhp through the front wheels seemed like a barking mad idea, but Ford had managed to pull off the seemingly impossible with the adoption of their clever RevoKnuckle system, which tames the torque steer if not completely eradicating it.

We did note that it seemed as if the system was good enough to take even more horses than the RS produces, which you can now find out for yourself if you opt for the tuned Focus RS revealed by German tuner Loder1899 (catchy little name).

The Loder1899 RS manages to coax an extra 45bhp out of the 2.5 litre, 5 pot Ford by fitting stainless steel Y-pipe exhaust and upgraded air filter. This releases the extra horses but makes the RS even more throaty sounding. The suspension gets dropped by 1.4″ and Loder1899 throw in a set of 20″ ‘Vertigo Viginti’ alloys.

What the suspension drop will do to the handling of the RS – which is superb in standard spec – is unknown, and how the RevoKnuckle works with 15% more horses is debatable.

I’m all for coaxing more power and handling out of any car. But the Focus RS is just so well set up as stock I wonder of this is a step too far. There’s also no suggestion of what this makeover costs, but we’re betting it’s a fair bit more than the chipped Focus RS by Graham Goode Racing that costs just £430.

By Cars UK