I got a chance to drive a 16 Focus RS (OEM MPSS) on track this past weekend at a local track day and compare it against my 2017 M2 (OEM contis). Starting with the Focus RS...the car is fantastic and honestly made me smile a lot more while driving it on track. I was underwhelmed when I test drove the RS on the street but on the track it was incredible, I could not stop laughing at how entertaining it was. It's pretty loose on turn in and takes a lot of steering input but it will slide and then claw for grip to rocket out of the corner. It's a car you can drive with the throttle as much as the steering wheel and the thing pivots when you throw it in the corner and lift on the throttle to aim the nose. I owned a R35 GT-R and 2016 STI never honestly felt the AWD working the way it did in the Focus. You could feel the power being shifted around from wheel to wheel to help the car rotate and shove it out of the corner. The rear drive unit setup AWD is pretty cool.

The acceleration felt pretty similar to the M2 but it had a lot more corner exit grip especially on tight corners. The Focus also felt stiffer to me in track mode, you can see how much my helmet go pro mount is bouncing.

The M2 was really great to drive as well even on the sub par Continental street tires that came on it. I would say the M2 is more precise, less dramatic and sadly less entertaining overall. If ,you like a tidy driving style on track you'd love the M2, the turn in is the best I've ever felt on a stock BMW M car, no push unless you really over cooked corner entry but overall just a bit too clinical with no oh sh*t moments. The torque coming out of corners was good as well but the car did not have the raw grip of the Focus RS in the tight hairpins. The seats do not hold you in that well compared to the Focus stock Recaros but I prefer the shifter and clutch in the M2. The M2 could definitely use an exhaust on the track, it's hard to hear the engine while heel toe downshifting. The RS pops and burbles and you can hear the engine more prominently stock.

For a daily driver I'd pick the M2 (unless you need the space) but for a track car the RS was honestly more fun (but not necessarily better). I did NOT expect that at all. Two very different cars that achieve similar things in different ways.

Here's some footage of both. Enjoy

 

Cool review, Joseph. What were the lap times between the two cars? Wondering how close they are.

 

Thanks. I didn't get a chance to put the lap timer in the RS but the M2 was a 1:08.4 pretty consistently. Trevor told me Adam Poland (pro PWC driver) ran a 1:06 in the Focus RS which is a pretty nuts lap time on the 1.3 since it's on MPSS not Sport cup 2's and is stock. I think the M2 has another second in it bone stock, I'm a little rusty on the 1.3. Based on my butt dyno on that track the RS would always be faster with equal tires and mods.

 

very nice! That sounds about right. Both great cars, but I'd rather own the M2 personally. More of a total package IMO.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I agree, the M2 is a better car all around and it should be for 10K+ more money but if I had test driven that RS on the track before I bought the M2 my bank account might have a little more cash in it today. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.

 

When I picked my M2 up at the performance center they were running the continentals on the cars. The instructors said that the PSS are good for a couple seconds over the continentals on their short track. Luckily mine came with the PSS tires.

 

What were lap times at the PCD track? 2 seconds is a pretty big difference for two street tires in almost the same category. No doubt the MPSS are faster but I'll be running 285 slicks on my M2 soon.

 

wrong thread sorry