Ford's Focus RS officially rated at 350 horsepower

When Ford unveiled the all-new Focus RS hot hatchback at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, it pegged the power output at impressive 315 horsepower. Having had many months to tune and refine the car's turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, Ford engineers have now certified it to produce 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque. And all of that power will be routed to all four wheels through a sophisticated all-wheel drive system. Hot hatch indeed.

Perhaps better yet, the manual gearbox-only RS will be idiot-proof. Well, kind of. The car's auto start-stop system stops the engine at traffic lights and automatically restarts it when the clutch pedal is engaged — to save precious fuel by keeping the engine off when it might otherwise be idling. It also now works to prevent stalling with a system called "stall recovery." Read more...