WHAT A DIFF-ERENCE!
Jamie spends a couple of days at mountune HQ while the RS is kitted out with the highly-acclaimed Quaife ATB…
This month has seen one of the biggest upgrades yet fitted to the RS – a Quaife ATB. The debate rages on as to whether the Mk3 should have come with one from the factory like the previous RS versions of the Focus, but leaving that aside for a second, the only thing that really matters is getting one in your car. It really doesn’t matter if Ford fitted it at the factory, or mountune or one of their approved dealers added it at a later date, the key thing is to get it done!
You can see just what’s involved with installing a Quaife ATB over on page 134, so I won’t go over the fitting process here, instead I’ll tell you what it’s like…
Having driven plenty of cars with Quaife ATBs before (some factory-fitted like the Mk1 and Mk2 Focus RS, and some retrofitted like the Mk7 Fiesta ST and various Focus STs) I thought I knew all about what was to come from having one fitted to my Mk3 Focus RS. But one thing I’ve never done before is drive my own car – one that I’ve owned for nearly two years and therefore am very familiar with – with the standard OE differential one day, and then drive the same car with a Quaife ATB fitted the next day. And this back-to-back comparison really does highlight the difference!
You can’t exactly accuse the Mk3 RS of feeling ‘lazy’ behind wheel, but compared the ATB-equipped car, the OE RS actually does… And that encourages you to push on a little bit harder to see what rewards the ATB really serves up. And that, that is where the car comes alive!
The front end in particular just goes where you point it. It’s actually a bit of an odd sensation at first, and to be honest it actually threw me a bit – I never realised just how much the front end had a tendency to understeer and wash-out when powering through a corner before. Now, with the ATB working away to ensure the power is pulling you through the corner and not trying to push you off it, you can get on the throttle much sooner – and keep on it.
But be warned, it’s addictive. Like anything, you’ll enjoy this new-found grip but you’ll want to find its limits. And that means you’ll find yourself unnecessarily stamping on the throttle mid corner (or even before the apex) just to see if you can try and catch the diff out!
It’s brilliant. If you own a Mk3 RS and don’t have an ATB in, go and get one fitted as soon as you can – it will transform the car!
While the ATB install may be a huge, complicated, and expensive job, another upgrade that also makes a massive difference to how the RS drives is the mountune quick shifter. It’s one of those simple upgrades that make a huge difference. It doesn’t matter if you’re popping to the shops or on track, you’ll always need to change gear and therefore will always reap the rewards. Fitting is a piece of cake (full fitting feature coming soon) and at £159 it won’t break the bank.
I’ve already clocked up over 600 miles since having the ATB diff fitted and it’s been excellent so far, but I’ll report back again once I’ve put in some serious mileage to and from shows over the coming weeks