Ford Focus RS with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 Tires

We have long admired RS Focuses from across the oceans, and now the formerly unattainable icon of Ford Performance is finally on our shores. In our hands, the new RS already has dominated a comparison test held in Europe against the Subaru WRX STI and the Volkswagen Golf R and has tackled the 24 turns of Virginia International Raceway in our annual Lightning Lap (where it turned a lap quicker than a V-8 Mustang achieved in 2015). But this is our first crack at the car on American roads—and the results were not quite what we expected. Only the most observant readers would notice that the biggest difference between the comparison-test car and the Lightning Lap car was the tires. Bone stock, the Focus RS comes from the factory on capable Michelin Pilot Super Sport radials. Like our Lightning Lap car, this example came with a $1990 wheel-and-tire package consisting of a specific 19-inch forged-aluminum wheel and as racy a tire as you can put on a street car, the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2. This is the same rubber worn by exotics worldwide. Fun fact: The Focus RS has the first square (non-staggered) fitment for the Cup 2 in the U.S.—a small win for diagonal tire rotation.

Purchased on their own, a set of Cup 2s would cost about $1500 installed and the delicate-looking, Y-spoke wheels command $1395, so the package is something of a deal. And the more aggressive rubber brings an instant, tangible increase in performance to the RS. Stopping from 70 mph takes 154 feet, which is only four feet shorter than a Super Sport–shod RS, but lateral acceleration jumps from just below 1.00 g to 1.04 g. It’s that kind of lateral grip that allows the Cup 2–equipped RS to lap VIR as quickly as it does. This RS’s accelerative performance—zero to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and a 13.4-second quarter-mile—is unchanged. There is no question that the RS is a feral beast, and on this ultrasticky rubber, it follows every last pavement crack, bump, and tar strip while the firm suspension keeps body roll in check. In the sterile lab of a well-groomed racetrack, this translates to a connection between car and driver that we dream of. VIEW 56 PHOTOS However, once you transition to Michigan’s far-from-perfect public roads, housebreaking the RS proves to be the frustrating stuff of a ride-and-handling engineer’s worst dreams. This RS vibrates like a paint shaker on two-lane roads; it borders on unlivable when respecting posted speed limits. Crank up the velocity to criminal levels, and the RS actually settles down a bit. The ride evens out and the steering stops favoring the road’s topographical features and starts to better hew to the driver’s desires. But it’s a lot to ask of a driver—say, his or her license—when a good car is at its best only when doubling the speed limit. The dampers are adjustable, but the stiffer of the two settings is seriously overdamped for public roads. This track weapon never feels settled, and neither do its white-knuckled passengers. Going with the base tire won’t fix the brutal ride on rough roads, but it will quell some of the tramlining.That sounds disappointing, we know. It’s a tough verdict for a car that otherwise has earned Rhodes Scholar–worthy marks in other situations. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine a much more pleasant experience on the smoother tarmac of Southern California, for instance.

Tires can make or break any car, but other vehicles wearing Cup 2s—even other Fords such as the Mustang Shelby GT350R—don’t have this duality, so we can’t put the blame entirely on the Michelins. If you plan to track your RS, the Cups 2s and Y-spoke wheels are a no-brainer. But if you plan to drive an RS every day, save the money. You won’t forgo any of the fun this car delivers with the standard Super Sports, and you’ll avoid making your passengers wish they’d taken an Uber.