The wait is finally over. The highly coveted, all-new Ford Focus RS is now arriving at dealerships across the U.S. and for Jackson Gilmore – the first customer to take delivery of his RS – news of the car’s arrival was so big he ditched work to get behind the wheel.
“Learning that [my Focus RS] was going to be on one of the first boats to the West Coast, it became real,” he said. “Out of the blue my dealership called me and they said ‘Hey, your RS is here, so I sent an email to my boss that said, ‘Hey, I ordered this car eight months ago, I’m taking a half day today,’ and I just kind of walked out of work. I just bounced right then.”
Gilmore might have been the first in the U.S. to slide into the driver’s seat as the owner of the new high-performance hatchback, but the Focus RS was no impulse buy. As soon as Focus RS rumors began swirling, Gilmore held off on purchasing a new car.
“Then they said they were going to make it, it’s going to be all-wheel drive, 300-plus horsepower, they’re going to bring it to the States – and I told my girlfriend, you know, that’s the car,” he said. “I’m going to buy that.”
He has good reason to be excited. Powered by a specially engineered version of Ford’s new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine, the new hot hatch pumps out a monstrous 350 horsepower, 350 pound-feet of torque achieved with 93-octane fuel and features a bevy of tricks up its sleeves in order to offer a premium driving experience, including four different drive modes.
By TestDriveNow for SouthFloridaReporter.com July 14, 2016
