I sold my Cobb Tuned STi in 2012 and have missed it ever since. Missed the AWD badly (we get torrential downpours here in the Spring and Winter, occasional ice/snow), power, and of course, manual.
I'm a hatch guy (k9/schutzhund training) due to their versatility and they are my favorite bodystyle. You lose nothing next to a sedan in terms of acceleration, handling, braking, and gain functionality. This is my 16th 4 wheeler purchase, and 10 have been hatches.
10 hatches, 2 trucks, 1 drop top (S2k of course), 2 sedans (neither made it past a year, hate/loathe them), and a wannabe Jeep in the mid 90's (Suzuki Sidekick). Over time, we all get older, and figure out what we like and what we don't.

My lease is up in 2 months on my DD so for the past year I've been test driving, kicking tires, analyzing, over-analyzing, soul searching as I'm tired of buying shit just to turn around and get rid of it 2-3 years later. Those days are over for me. Permanent purchases or I just need to keep leasing, period. Over the past year I thought about it a lot, even if I buy CPO or slightly used, and skip a chunk of depreciation, I still lose tax $, financing/interest costs, title costs, and then there is stuff like tint, console/storage, all weather mats, anything and everything you spend money on. So I decided, buy something you'll keep, or keep leasing the cheapest pos you can (no vehicle ego here) that has a bumper to bumper warranty.

I had looked at RS's and Shelby's all of 2016. Ford would not deal on either car, insisting on ADM, and best case scenario, MSRP. I guess I'm cheap because I have never paid sticker on anything. Closest I ever got was a 2002 RSX Type S, which I only got $500 off sticker because I got one of the first ones in my metro. So I ruled both out, as I'm not paying ADM, nor sticker, and didn't care much for the Ford dealer experience and the attitude. You'd think they were selling Ferraris. Also kicked around the Golf R, but I had bought a JSW TDi a few years ago. I didn't have any bad experiences with it, well one dash light that just ended up being a faulty glow plug sensor/harness or something, that took two dealer trips to clear permanently. The Vdub dealer is 5 minutes away from the house and it was a rather minor inconvenience and it didn't impede driving, starting, or anything. VW and German cars don't feel right to me, because everything I've owned has been Japanese, save the single VW and this new RS. VW refused, locally, to budge a penny off MSRP on a R, so I left. This was a few months ago. I don't know if it's the VW controls, the materials, or what, it just never felt like home. I sold my JSW TDI 6MT a few years ago before the dieselgate scandal.

So I was all set to buy Honda's new Ridgeline. I owned the first gen, like the new version, and the problematic first year issues they have/had or starting to disappear. Worked on an invoice deal (took me a year to get that) locally, as they had been going for MSRP. All of a sudden I stumbled on a pretty good deal on a RS, and negotiated it down some more and ended up getting a FW, RS2, moonroof car for 3k off sticker or $1400 under invoice. Did all negotiating on the car without seeing it. Dealer picked me up (country deal, out in the sticks), I test drove it, loved it, wrote a large check, and left with it. Didn't even do my credit union paperwork until the following day.

First stop was at Speedshield, in Addison TX http://www.speedshieldusa.com/
I had them put nano tint all around, and also put the clear nano on the windshield for heat rejection. I can't recommend this shop enough if you are in the DFW area.
They do mostly high end cars, and hand cut Suntek Clearbra film. They aren't the cheapest, but you will not find better work in the area. They are the leader here so I didn't want anyone else touching it.
Ended up doing full front clearbra, rockers, head/fog lights, hatch shelf, door cups, partial roof, fuel door, got a lot done. Benny and the boys hooked it up and you can't even tell the film is on there unless you are looking for it. Impeccable work and can't recommend them enough. Also did a partial de-badge for me.



Next stop was Cobb to install a pedal spacer and my Rally Armor mud flaps.






Got home from Cobb and my weathertech mats and cargo tray were waiting on the porch so I put those on.






Did some test fitting of my dog crate to determine what length bungess/tie downs I needed to secure to the hatch tie downs.



Also discovered that the rear seat pans fold up, and becomes useful if you remove the rear headrests.




Final shot of the car. Just haven't had time to take good pics in the day. Been too busy.





Mini Review: The car has exceeded expectations. The handling and chassis are phenom. Chassis/suspension lets you feel every pavement surface change, solid connection and feel of the pavement underneath you.
The torque vectoring GKN twinster system in the rear is the real deal. It will put power to the outside wheel in a corner and I'm having to relearn how to drive. Feels very much like 4 wheel steering, something akin to the Mitsu GT4 of the 90's. What happens is the torque vectoring kicks in, in a corner, and you over rotate. I don't mean drift, I mean you are cranking the wheel on throttle only to discover you have turned the wheel too much, so it's taken some time to adjust. The steering, electronically assisted, is excellent. It's an excellent application and no complaints. Brembos provide plenty of stopping power. Suspension is stiff, but exactly what I wanted. The optional track setting on the dampers is too stiff, and would only be beneficial on a track surface, and it'd have to be smooth, so out of the tracks we have in TX, COTA is the only circuit that comes to mind. TWS, Eagles Canyon, and Cresson, no way, just use the normal suspension mode. Throttle mapping is good, but I'm only 300 miles in and breaking/running it in, but the mapping is excellent, torque/Hp down low is more than adequate, but I'll know more once the break-in map Ford puts on these expires at 800-1000 miles. I don't even mind that Ford does this as it kind of saves me a bit. So far, lots of accel/decel, constant gear changes, so I don't let the RPM's sit in one place. Everyone has their own break in methods and I tend to not let the RPM's set any single place, no cruise, and partial throttle only until I approach 1k on the ODO.

We have two tollways here locally that have excellent pavement. I tested high speed stability one late Saturday night, and was probably doing 105-110 MPH when my V1 went off (not hardwired in yet). I nailed the brakes instantly, and by the time I'm below the speed limit, I look to my right and see a State Trooper in his Tahoe. My front bumper didn't go past his rear left tire. He must have saw me coming in his rearview mirror, then switched on his radar as I got closer, so he could shoot me. But I slowed to 60MPH before I reached his driver side window. He threw the lights on, all of them, and after some initial panic I said to myself "meh, it's worth it". After about 10 seconds of side by side driving, he turned them off, then I slotted in behind him at pedestrian speed. No pull over, no ticket, and I'm sure he was debating it, but nothing he can do as he didn't get a chance to shoot me. He had only prepped so when I went past him he could nail me but that never happened. New car, long drought of no performance car in the garage, sorry I had to




The Recaros, after some initial acclimation, are excellent. I hated them last year when I got to kick tires and sit in it. And you climb into this car due to them. The side bolsters on the seat pan are massive, and with large rockers, well it's an adjustment. Once in, seats are comfortable, firmly hold you in place (you do not move, at all). With the RS2 package the drivers Recaro is power, so you have fore/aft, up/down, and lumbar adjustment.
I'm 6'2" and it's comfortable, although nobody, not even a child, could sit behind me in the rear seat. Clutch is great, light, gear engagements are solid. I only put the pedal spacer in because it was recommended for easier heel/toe.

Sync 3 is actually a great hu/infotainment unit. Menus are easy to navigate. Has apple carplay, android auto, I've tested that, but mostly just use the bluetooth. The 10 speaker Sony audio system is decent for stock. Has a sony amp and 6" woofer in the trunk. I will want to modify it some but for now it's good and surprising for a stock system. Steering wheel controls and wiper/turn signal controls, cruise, etc, all are intuitive and logically laid out. Oil temp, boost gauge, and oil pressure gauges are easy to see. Some complain they are cheap looking but I like them, simple analog gauges is all I need and I'm happy these gauges are there. My previous Subaru days, you'd have to ghetto hook them up on the A pillar or get some dash mounted bs. Love the steering wheel, the flat bottom, shape, everything. Best wheel I've had so far in a car.








Complaints are limited to the lack of spare tire, a growing trend that I don't care for. Below the hatch floor is a foam tray with sony amp, woofer, and fix a flat setup. There is room for a doughnut, jack, and tools there, so I'm waiting for either Ford or aftermarket to solve this. No spare = local driving only, and I very much want to correct this. That's literally my only complaint. I would say the seats, but like others told me, they break in, and at the same time you get used to them. They were right, I was wrong. I like the seats and seating position now.

Car handling wise, is a bit better than the EVO and heaps better than my 2008 STI hatchback. Corners flat, handling is phenomenal, and performance stiff, but not overly so in the normal suspension mode. If Ohlins comes out with some electronically controlled coilvers that interface with the Ford control, they will be bought. What else...comfort access is trick, just a fob. HID headlights are great as are the Fog lights. Excellent forward visibility from the drivers seat. Nice touch is the small blind spot mirrors integrated into the side mirrors. Seats are made of an Alcantara type material they call Miko-Dinamica. Very similar to the Alcantara of my STI.
Seats are heated, as are the mirrors (when the rear glass heater is turned on), and it has a heated steering wheel. I have one of those in my current DD, and I like it so much I prefer it over heated seats. Give me that heated wheel and I don't even run the seat heaters. One other nice little touch that I found, is all 4 windows have one touch up/down. I mean how many manus cheap out on this? It's just a switch, cheap. And I know it's small thing, but in TX, when you have to park out in the sun, in mid July, at 102 degrees and 80+% humidity, it's nice to one touch and get all the windows down fast until the A/C is cranking cold air.

I'm very happy with the car. It's my first domestic purchase, and even a JDM nut like myself, had to finally admit that Ford Performance and GM/Chevrolet are making "the" affordable performance cars right now. Me buying a domestic, well 10 years ago I would have said you were on crack. Pride of ownership is something I like to have so I stopped by the hat shop and just had to
Don't care if it's a bit cheesy. I'm just that happy to have a performance car again, especially in my preferred AWD/Hatch bodystyle. My car was built in Saarlouis, Germany near the French border, but it's still a Ford





Car has exceeded my expectations in every single area, and the AWD setup, is the real deal. I can't speak to the HP/TQ in the upper tach yet but the handling, cornering, and AWDrivetrain are everything the journos and owners has said it is. No hype. The applause and kudos the industry has given the car is well deserved.
Someone asked me something to the effect of "But it's a Focus?" As I mentioned previously, I have no vehicle ego. I've never bought a car based on image and never will. The EVO is a Lancer, the STI an Impreza, and so on. I'm just glad that Ford finally brought a RS to our shores. 1969 to 2016 is a long wait. And I'm happy it's awd, and a trick new awd system to boot. If it was FWD I would not be interested. I also like cars that only car people know. Most people not into cars like us enthusiasts will see it, pass it off as just another economy hatchback on the road, and I'm all for that.

Will do some bolts on and tune later on. There is a lot of development going right now and they are already pushing close to 400 whp and 450 ft lbs, with aftermarket IC, intake, charge pipes,and tuning. I'm not interested in peak numbers, just increased power under the curve so I'm gonna watch and see where the reliability line gets drawn in the sand. For now, quite pleased. Hope Ford and buying domestic is a pleasant ownership experience.

McLaren, Grand Sport and Mas photos from SpeedShieldUSA below. They are the preferred choice for doing high end cars here...love going up there and seeing trick vehicles.

 

Great writeup - sounds like you prefer this over a Ridgeline. Big surprise.

Congrats and enjoy it - let us know what you think once you pass break-in and really get to drive it.

 

Nice ride and write-up! How is the ride - how would you compare it to other cars? And if you don't mind me asking, how much was the clear bra? Been thinking about it, but it's spendy.

I agree, the domestics are killing it right now in performance cars. I followed a GT350 yesterday... the want was strong.

Oh also, that's awesome that it has a break-in throttle mapping that disappears after the break-in period!

 

The only fair comparison to other cars would be the STI, and the RS is stiffer, suspension wise, and better in every area. Braking is probably about the same (both cars Brembo equipped), but handling/cornering, no comparison. I like this chassis much better, and feel more connected to the road. The RS is a smaller car also, which I like. But in the STi's defense, it is a dated platform that sorely needs to be updated. They also took the hatch away, and they lost me there. And the f'in EJ is still in it and I refuse to buy another.

My want for a GT350 is strong also, and I will probably buy one, someday, for weekend duty, but not until the market cools on them, which will be a bit. I came awfully close to buying one. I found a CPO, with low miles in my preferred option setup. That Ford dealer wouldn't budge a nickel, and it was used. The refusal to even negotiate on it whatsoever left a bad taste in my mouth. And to be honest, I've got some rather expensive home renovations going on currently, and at this point in time of my life too much car in terms of price due to home expenditures. The house is really pissing me off but it's necessary and it gets priority even at the expense of my passion/hobby. In hindsight I should have bought 5 acres in the country and built a metal structure with at least 4 bays/garage slots, and built a 1000-1500 sq ft living space inside. But I hate commuting more than anything on this Earth. If I had a long commute I'd probably be in jail right now. That, and the hatchback, AWD/Turbo body/engine/drivetrain is just my #1. I love RWD vehicles too, but for a DD AWD owns. The all weather capability is confidence inspiring. And the drivetrain on this RS spins the rears faster than the fronts so you get the best of both worlds. One of our members here got some COTA track time in one and posted a youtube clip. Maybe he'll chime in and provide some better comparisons than I could.

Clearbra work...I don't know what to tell you there. Geographical price differences are real. They won't even be the same shop to shop local, nor will the quality of the work. You have to find the real shop and weed it out from all the hackjob joints around. Pricereally depends on what all you want done.
Partial hood, fenders, full bumper and mirrors, is a lot different than what I did, full frontal () with partial roof, rockers, headlights, foglights, etc. You can go minimal or maximum. The ballahs roll up in their GT3 or GT4 and say "Clearbra the whole f'in thing". Unfortunately, I don't make that kind of $ or I'd do it too. In my S2000, I had a landcape truck carrying landscape rocks (small, sharp) fly out of a bed and pepper it one day on the highway. I was steaming willie beaman. Pissed is putting it mildly. Knew for sure front bumper/hood repaint was gonna be necessary. Took it to the shop I had it done at, went to the waiting room. Owner comes in and says "come take a look". And I was expecting to be saying mf'in f'er f f f f, etc. Lo and behold, not a single mark on my paint, nor a chip in the bodywork, nothing. He cut the damaged film off, replaced it, blew the torch on it, done. The film didn't look as good prior (I did not want to pay to have the entire thing redone) but only a close eye could see the new lines of the removed/replaced pieces. That single incident proved the film out to me and anything I care about, will get it applied. I have the entire fronts of my motorcycles, and partial lowers with clearbra film on them. Bug guts and what not, you still need to clean them off but you don't have to be in the hurry you would if it was just paint. It's worth every dime of the high cost (that film is expensive, and it's very highly skilled labor to handcut it and not cut your car/paint). So low end $1200-1500, high end you could be looking at 3k, whole car 4-5k. Depends on the shop, type of film, if they hand cut or use kits. I couldn't clearbra a damn thing myself, but I know what to look for and who to trust. Speedshield here in DFW is the #1 shop, and if you ever go by there you know why. Some of the cars I've seen in that place are just unreal.

 

Love it! I've been a big fan of these cars and have followed them for quite some time. I'm going to be in the market for something by year's end or early next year. While I'm leaning towards the Civic Type-R, I think it would be unwise for me to rule out the RS just yet. Congratulations!

 

One of my fears is someone backs into me or cuts me off - would insurance pay to re-clear it? The cost is so high that I almost feel like a quality respray after a while would be cheaper. Guess it depends on how long you plan to keep the car, but another issue with that is how long the bra lasts. I dunno, still on the fence, but thanks for the info.

 

The newer materials don't fade in sunlight the way they used to (at least not within 3 years, the way they used to). However, that hot Texas sun will still be worse than, say, Portland...and it'll fade eventually. On darker cars, not a problem. On lighter cars, it does show after a while.

Also, if you notify your insurance company of the "modification", they'll adjust your premiums to cover the cost of replacing that (or else tell you they won't cover it). Better safe than sorry!

 

That's what keeps me on the fence (my car is white). Over time, the car will either look less than ideal from fading, different texture, and cut lines (bra) or rock chips (no bra). The cost of a respray is roughly the same as a quality clear bra, but of course the cost of the bra is up front while a respray is up to you. So to me, it's hard to know if it will really be worth the substantial cost. Also, what if I end up wanting to sell the car sooner than I thought, or the car gets totaled? All of that money spent is out the window.

That's why so far I've been taking my chances. I have 46k miles and only ~3 very minor chips, so minor that I haven't bothered to get touch-up (they're all on the plastic bumper). My commute involves maybe 3 miles on the highway and we mostly use my wife's car for weekend errands because it gets far better gas mileage. If I was driving 20k/yr in Texas, I might feel differently.

 

True, and why with white you clear the whole front end. Other colors you can do partials. White = whole front.
I'm anal retentive about long term stuff so it's worth it to me to keep my vehicles free from rock chips.
When I sold my STI (clearbra also) I didn't have a single scratch, dent, or nick on the paint. And Subaru paint is horribly thin and weak.
S2k, story is above. Film saved my arse and my car from a repaint. All it takes one set of rocks, debris, etc.
I've backed in before, made a mistake, and hit, film saved my bacon. Not my first car to do this on, and it pays for itself long term.
Resale value is higher when paint is mint. Might have to find the right buyer but they'll pay more if they understand clearbra.
Having it on there is an asset. If you horse trade a whole lot and never keep anything, dunno. But the film paid for itself on my STI and S2000 sales.
Worth it to some of us, others maybe not. When I'm spending what I did on the car, protecting it is worth it to me.
It has saved my bikes from insect/rocks beatings out in the country every year.
Some will buy a 50, 60, or 100k or more car then bark at dropping $1500 to protect it. I don't understand that but like I said, each to their own.

 

Nice review. Glad to hear you like it, they are great cars.

I had a VR4 3000GT and they push like pigs and their all wheel steering systems are nothing compared to the RS' diff and torque vectoring.