The 2016 Ford Focus RS: all-wheel drive, 2.3 liters, four cylinders, 350 horsepower, 350 pound-feet of torque... minus 100 Euros.
I’m currently testing the new Focus RS in Spain, and so far I’ve learned I must get better at decoding Bill Caswell’s hand signals. Caswell’s there testing the car too for some publication called Road & Track. He had his photographer hanging out the window shooting when I came up behind him in my RS.
Bill started waving for me to overtake him, but there was a sharp turn ahead so I stayed behind. When it got clear after the curve, he was still waving, but as it turned out, for something completely different.
The “Trafico” police happened to be up in the canyons because there was a motorcycle accident further down the road, and while I wasn’t speeding, crossing the line where I shouldn’t have meant they got to stop me for a $110 chat.
I thought a warning would be sufficient, but they insisted otherwise.
Unfortunately, I also had to listen to the ugly sound of their diesel Alfas for a good half hour before clearing my head with the pops and bangs of our entertaining Ford again. That’s because the cops’ credit card terminal was suffering from battery issues, and I refused to take the “Well, we can take you to a cash machine” option. Eff that. This is an EU country, not Armenia.
This is what we in the business call an occupational hazard.
Expect a full review of the new RS next week. We’ll hit the track tomorrow with our surprisingly quiet turbo hatchbacks, but after that, I might just need to get even with the world by putting just enough G&Ts on Ford’s bill.
With Caswell, you can easily hit $110 before last call. The bastard.
Photo credit: Máté Petrány/Jalopnik
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.