RideLust

This video has it all: the forbidden fruit Ford Focus RS500, German technicians in jump suits, an assembly line cleaner than your kitchen and a funky 1970’s porn soundtrack. Not good enough? How about just enough footage of completed Focus RS 500s being tested to remind you of what we’re missing on these shores.

In case you’ve forgotten, the Ford Focus RS500 is a limited edition (of 500, of course) version of the Focus RS. It features a turbocharged 2.5 liter Duratec motor, good for 345 horsepower and 340 ft-lbs of torque, driving its 3,234 pound mass. It will hit 60 miles per hour in 5.4 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 165 miles per hour. As you’d expect from a special edition, it comes in one color: matte metallic black, which is created by applying a special 3M foil film over the car’s Panther Black base coat.

Maybe it’s sour grapes because we never had the opportunity to buy them here, but that’s a lot of horsepower to send to the front wheels. Even the Mazdaspeed 3 had too much torque steer for my liking, and that only makes 263 horsepower. Besides, I just don’t see enough Americans willing to pony up $51,500 for a really fast and well built hatchback. Good thing, then, that the entire production sold out almost as soon as the car was announced.