Focus RS (mk2) - how loud are they?

[UTH]

I assume a fair few people on here might have one?

I'm possibly in the market for upgrading our old Mini (damn ULEZ!) and have been thinking of a Fiesta ST, but then I'm finding my mind wandering to a Focus RS.....who knows if I'll convince myself to do it, but the more ticks in the right boxes I can get, the more chance my brain has haha

Main worry is that I'll be using it to drop the kid off at the child minder which involves parking on a small dead end road at 745am every week day.....I could probably do without being heard a mile off and pissing off the 5 houses that are on that small road. Wouldn't take long for angry residents to take issue I imagine.

So, anyone with first hand experience, can I sneak up quietly, or will I be hated in minutes?

[Fuzzarr]

I think you'll be ok if it's on a standard exhaust and intake

[twing]

I ran one for a while before delivering it (it had a few issues). Had standard exhaust and wasn't overly loud at all driving sensibly. Didn't even pop and bang excessively on full chat. Great fun and apart from a MK1 would definitely be my choice.

[UTH]

Fuzzarr said:

I think you'll be ok if it's on a standard exhaust and intake

Great, thought that might be the case, although would I be right in saying that finding a standard one is tricky (just looks like the sort of car that would always be modified) or are they often just left alone?

(Of course I'd need to see/hear in person before buying, but just thought no point in even thinking about it if noise was always going to be a problem)

[Jamescrs]

Standard ones are fine but you will be lucky to find a standard one now without paying silly money. There was a big market and following for modifying these cars and probably still is.

I'm sure even if you bought one with a loud exhaust though you could buy something like a Moltek resonated exhaust which is pretty close to standard sound wise.

[UTH]

Jamescrs said:

Standard ones are fine but you will be lucky to find a standard one now without paying silly money. There was a big market and following for modifying these cars and probably still is.

I'm sure even if you bought one with a loud exhaust though you could buy something like a Moltek resonated exhaust which is pretty close to standard sound wise.

Good to know.

From the ones I've seen advertised, 7 out of 9 are supposedly totally standard....which does surprise me as they do seem like cars that would be modified.

Eg: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310213...

[sherman]

They are loud enough that the childminder will be able to tell when you are coming down the road.
A mk2 is only euro 4 though so may not stay ULEZ compliant for too long.
A mk3.5 is Euro 6 compliant

Eg, https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310253...

[UTH]

sherman said:

They are loud enough that the childminder will be able to tell when you are coming down the road.
A mk2 is only euro 4 though so may not stay ULEZ compliant for too long.
A mk3.5 is Euro 6 compliant

Eg, https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310253...

Hmmmmm, didn’t really think about them changing the bloody ULEZ rules.
Surely can’t happen for a couple of years?

[AlexRS2782]

UTH said:

...From the ones I've seen advertised, 7 out of 9 are supposedly totally standard....which does surprise me as they do seem like cars that would be modified...

Unfortunately there will be a few like that - take your time and view carefully. From my time in the Ford / RS scene i've seen quite a few RS (Mk1 & 2) advertised as "standard" or "lightly modified" when they've been anything but. If you can get a history of any previous reg numbers it's always worth searching them and see what it finds. There have been a few Mk2's sold over the last few years advertised with just an exhaust, filter & a map, but some of them have had the engines on 400/450+ with bigger turbos, meth, etc, before being significantly detuned before being flogged via a trade in / auction.

[Escort Si-130]

sherman said:

They are loud enough that the childminder will be able to tell when you are coming down the road.
A mk2 is only euro 4 though so may not stay ULEZ compliant for too long.
A mk3.5 is Euro 6 compliant

Eg, https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310253...

NONSENSE. They are not that loud as standard at all. One of the reasons a lot of people changed the exhaust as some say they are too quiet unless you really floor it.
As for ULEZ well they are compliant, trouble is any future ULEZ may not include other petrol or diesels and be zero emission only. Easiest eay they would make more money out of people in the name of the environment.