bagwell

I found this comparison on another board and figured I would share. Car and Driver just published a comparison between the Focus RS, the Golf R and the Subaru STI.

They tested all of them in France and all of them were manuals (no DSG for the VW).

C&D's rankings:


#1 Focus RS
#2 Golf R
#3 STI


Cliff notes:

-Focus RS isn't quite as quick as some were speculating for having a claimed 350hp... as a matter of fact, the manual Golf R tied it for the highest 1/4 mile trap speed at 105mph despite being rated at only 292hp. The Golf R is lighter than the FoRS by about ~150 lbs, but the extra 58hp should have translated into a higher trap speed in my book. The FoRS only trapped 1mph higher than the STI (104mph) despite having a nearly identical curb weight and extra claimed 45hp. It'll be interesting to see what kind of numbers the FoRS is actually putting down on a dyno.

-As per C&D: STI was the most raw car. Golf R was the nicest and easiest to live with. Focus RS was rated somewhere between the 2 and seemed to be the most fun/exciting.

-Golf R is the lightest car here by a decent margin (150+ lbs).

-Judging by the rolling start (5-60mph) test and the top gear acceleration tests, the Focus RS and Golf R seem to have motors that are much more flexible that the STI's old EJ25 (read: less turbo lag).

Stats:

Focus RS:
0-30mph= 1.5
0-60mph= 4.6
0-100mph= 12.2
0-110= 14.4
¼ mile= 13.4@105mph
5-60= 5.7
Top Gear 30-50= 7.6
Top Gear 50-70= 6.0
Top Speed= 165
Braking 70-0= 158 ft
Skidpad= 0.98g
Slalom= 43.6mph
Curb Weight= 3459 lbs

STI:

0-30mph= 1.4
0-60mph= 4.7
0-100mph= 12.0
0-110= 16.0
¼ mile= 13.4@104mph
5-60= 6.7
Top Gear 30-50= 10.8
Top Gear 50-70= 7.8
Top Speed= 159
Braking 70-0= 159 ft
Skidpad= 0.90g
Slalom= 42.4mph
Curb Weight= 3456 lbs

Golf R:

0-30mph= 1.5
0-60mph= 5.1
0-100mph= 11.8
0-110= 15.3
¼ mile= 13.6@105mph
5-60= 6.1
Top Gear 30-50= 7.3
Top Gear 50-70= 5.9
Top Speed= 153mph
Braking 70-0= 153
Skidpad= 0.95g
Slalom= 43.5mph
Curb Weight= 3292 lbs

Just figured I would share.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

The STI really showed its age. It's a shame Subaru fell out of love with this model

Golf R showing you can still do more with less

Focus RS, end result was a little closer than initial paper specs would suggest, but still a great win by Ford

bagwell

yep, very sad showing for the STI considering nothing -cept for the EVO- could touch it); looooong overdue for a HP bump + a little better interior(?)