The 8 best Ford RS cars

Ford Capri RS3100

In the 1970s, Ford built two RS-badged Capris to homologate its European Touring Car Championship cars. The first was the German-built RS2600, all of which were left-hand-drive. When Ford needed to up its ante to compete with the BMW 3.0 CSL, it created the RS3100.

The new car rejected the smaller Cologne V6 engine for the Essex V6. It was rebored from 2,993cc to 3,098cc which allowed its racing counterpart to compete in the class for the largest-engined cars. Only 100 road cars were required for homologation, but Ford built 250 of them in its Halewood plant. This time, they were all right-hand-drive, and Jackie Stewart was roped in to help with publicity.

These days, the RS3100 is one of the less-remembered Ford RS cars. It was introduced just before the Capri Mk2, and Ford soon after withdrew from the ETCC. Still, with its hockey-stick styling, unsubtle big spoiler and four-spoke wheels, it ticks all the fast Ford boxes.

Mk2 Ford Escort RS2000

The Escort gave Ford the World Rally Championship Manufacturers’ Title in 1979, and Drivers’ Titles in ’79 for Björn Waldegård and in ’81 for Ari Vatanen. Yes, that was the RS1800, but the road-going RS1800 was the ultimate for the performance-Ford hungry punter.

The RS2000 was Ford’s answer, a less complicated and less expensive performance hero, but one that would do nothing less than put a smile on your face every time you drove it.

Its 2.0-litre overhead-cam Pinto engine, with 112PS (82kW), was good for 60mph in 8.9 seconds. And of course, the engine was at the front and the rear wheels did the driving, so it was quite happy to slip and slide whenever the mood took you.

Ford Focus RS Mk2

The Mk2 Focus was in a number of ways a bit of a token RS, being quite heavy, still without all-wheel-drive and linked only loosely to rallying. But it had a few aces in the hole. Namely, that glorious warbling 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine and a super-trick diff.

Even today the Ford Focus RS Mk2 is a loopy looking thing. Available as a three-door only, the RS had 300PS (221kW) compared to the ST’s 225PS (165kW), meaning 0-62mph came up in 5.9 seconds on the way to a top speed of 163mph.

Yes, all of that power went through the front wheels, but Ford had spent so much time getting the chassis and the differential just right that, while it enjoyed a camber-induced wander from time to time, it could get its power down and keep up with almost anything else on the road.

Those blistered arches, the gurning chin, enormous spoiler, barking barrel exhausts and a nice big diffuser conspired with the lime green paint to make the RS unmistakable a mile off. There really isn’t much to dislike, unless you like your performance cars a little more introverted.

Mk1 Ford Escort RS1600

Old is gold and the first Ford Escort RS, the RS1600, is worth its weight in it these days. And for good reason — its proper rallying heritage and the kind of delightful dynamics we so miss in the huge heavy cars of today. Launched in 1970, the RS1600 had a 1.6-litre engine, just like the Mexico, but instead of 86PS (63kW) it had a whopping 117PS (86kW). 

Keep in mind that the base Escort 1100 has a meagre 41PS (30kW), so this thing had some poke in its day. Rally success for the Escort made the speedy RS1600 an icon.

Ford Focus RS Mk1

The first Focus RS is a properly significant cart for the whole hot hatch genre. Arguably, it got the hyper hatch ball rolling, delivering a 212PS (156kW) to its front wheels via a very aggressive diff that made the Focus RS a properly gnarly, darty, animal. It’s also the only Focus RS with a bit of rallying heritage, too. 

The Focus RS WRC made its debut in 1999 as the replacement for the Escort RS Cosworth, and immediately set about giving Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru a bit of a headache. In just its third rally a certain Colin McRae took a win, and to prove it wasn’t a fluke McRae did the same thing in the following round, too.

The rest of the season might not have gone as planned but it put the Focus in front of a passionate motorsport audience, which in turn meant more sales of the regular Focus and the opportunity for Ford to take some of that rally tech and chuck it into a road car. 

This RS is the result. The performance credentials stand up to this day, getting from 0-60mph in 5.9 seconds. It paired that power and the mega diff with a wider front track, bigger brakes, better tyres and more sophisticated suspension. Just 4,501 were made over 13 months, all sold in Imperial Blue, of which 2,147 found themselves forever settled in the UK. See one today and it still looks just right.

Escort RS Cosworth

Ford lunged into the 1990s off the back of the turbo-nutter Sierra with an altogether more sophisticated approach: an Escort RS with 227PS (167kW) of 2.0-litre turbocharged Cosworth-fettled power and all-wheel-drive. The first Ford RS of the post-Group B World Rally Car era, it hit the ground running (and four-wheel drifting) in 1992.

Two Escort RS Cosworths came second and third in their first WRC event, the 1993 Monte Carlo Rally, no less. While Ford never won the Manufacturers’ Title with the Escort RS Cosworth, it brought ten WRC victories, and in national championships it stacked up numerous titles. It even made it onto the Formula 1 grid, albeit as a safety car for two events in 1992.

Ford RS 200

What a magnificent thing this mad Group B reject is. The Ford RS200 is perhaps the wildest RS Ford has created. Group B regulations were introduced into the WRC in 1982 and the rules were rather relaxed. The result, as we know, was some of the fastest rally cars ever.

The RS200 was a hideously complicated machine. The Cosworth 1.8-litre turbocharged engine was mid-mounted, while the gearbox was at the front and the car was, of course, four-wheel-drive. The body was made of fibreglass by Reliant and there was double-wishbone suspension all the way round with twin dampers at each corner.

In race trim the engine produced anything between 350PS (257kW) and 400PS (294kW), while the road dweller had a more modest 250PS (184kW). Well, modest until you remember it weighed less than 1,200kg. Unless Ford decides to build a road-going Fiesta WRC, the RS200 will forever be the Ford WRC wild child.

Sierra RS500 Cosworth

The Sierra RS500 Cosworth is the epitome of what a fast Ford should be: a beefed-up grocery-getter that’s too powerful for its own good, with proper racing heritage and a bad attitude to match Tyson Fury.

It barrelled into Group A World Touring Car racing half way through the 1987 season and deliberately spilled all the German’s pints (ignoring the fact it’s a bit German itself), by oversteering its way to four victories. In subsequent years it took the ETCC title, two ATCC titles, a DTM title, a BTCC title and numerous others. It was a proper monster and a proven winner.

On the road it deployed 225PS (165kW) to the rear wheels, pushed into the ground by a truly ridiculous spoiler (though not enough to stop what was a rampant skidder in its day). In fact, it wasn’t dissimilar in character to the current V8 Mustang. Mind you, only the South African Sierra XR8 got a V8. 

There of course were less extreme, more numerous versions other than the homologation special RS500, that only fortify the Cossie legend, along with the Escort Cosworth of the 1990s. This thing is the RS-badged Ford hero, of the highest order.