It’s been a couple of years since I sold my vintage 1971 Fiat Spider, and from time to time, I wonder if I have it in me to buy and enjoy one more manual transmission car. That sends me down a rabbit hole looking for a cheap CarMax unicorn stick shift (does anyone call them that anymore?) that, in my fantasy world, would be an extra car I could tool around Northern Virginia, but wouldn’t be my only car I’d have to shift up and down the highway on road trips. There’s a blog post in my head comparing a bunch of CarMax manual-transmission cars (how about a Genesis? An Audi? Even a Jaguar?!), but that will inevitably delay this post indefinitely. So let’s just go with one. I’m going to open with a 2016 Ford Focus RS. CarMax has over 80,000 cars in its nationwide inventory today, and this is the only Focus RS. BTW – my first “hot hatch” is at the bottom of this post.
Starting with the unremarkable, the Focus RS’s cockpit doesn’t have much going on. Seat heaters. Bluetooth. Sony sound system. Some nasty stains on the driver’s seat I don’t really want to know about. The same infotainment stack that was in my daughter’s 2015 Ford Escape. Fairly unremarkable.
What makes this car interesting, as opposed to unremarkable, is all things performance and enthusiast-related – a six-speed manual transmission, AWD, and 2.3 turbo four that makes a staggering 350 horsepower. The only four bangers that made more in this era are the Mercedes GLA/CLA 45s with 375. The Ford Focus RS screams to 60 mph in about 4.6 seconds, not far off of pretty much all of my CarMax unicorns: my 2004 Mercedes S55, 2008 Porsche 911, 2010 Mercedes S600, and 2013 BMW M3 – all of which cost me more than this Focus RS.
The 2016 Ford Focus is faster than a comparable Volkswagen Golf R, and yet admittedly not as refined. The Focus was more performance-oriented than the Golf. It sold new for about $37,000. Nine years later, it’s only lost a third of its value. What other manual transmission enthusiast cars could you get from CarMax for this price? How about a Genesis G70? A Mustang GT? A Fiat 124 Spider? All interesting cars, and only the Mustang is as quick. If you want a hot hatch, this is the one. You’ll be alone at Cars and Coffee.
You can find this 2016 Ford Focus RS on its way here to Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s had six owners, but no accidents. And below this photo is my first sort of hot hatch that I’ve never forgotten, after 40 years.
Stock No: 27839125 VIN: WF0DP3TH5G4117993
My 1977 Ford Fiesta. With a 1.6-liter Kent four cylinder, the basis for Formula Ford motor racing way back when, and a whole lotta fun for a used car. Paid $1,500 for this in 1984 and commuted to work in it. Sometimes, I got air vaulting over roads in Montgomery County, Maryland. It’s the German Ford Fiesta. Not the South Korean one of later years. My joy driving this car makes me want to own some modern version of it, hence my enthusiasm for the Ford Focus RS.