Top 7 Cars Adorned With An RS Badge

RS – generally a moniker for ‘rally sport’ or ‘racing sport’ – is a badge that should not be taken lightly on any car. With Ford, Audi and Porsche using it to christen its most hardcore, racing-focussed road cars, an RS badge should be treated with much respect considering its history in homologation and track cars. So sit back and take a look over some of the greatest machinery to ever bestow the public roads under the banner of the RS badge.

Ford RS200

There are a multitude of homologated road cars from the 1980s, and none more spectacular than those from the Group B rallying scene. Lancia, Audi and Peugeot all produced some of the greatest road cars ever made through their respective rally programmes, with Ford swiftly following suit in 1984 with the RS200.

200 of the road-going rally cars had to be built to coincide with the rallying regulations, so Ford produced that exact number of the mid-engined, four-wheel drive rockets. With a short wheelbase and double-wishbone suspension, the RS200 was an unbelievably agile beast on the forest tracks of Scandinavia and the dusty hillsides of Portugal, using a turbocharged 1.8-litre Cosworth unit.

In racing tune the little Ford was capable of up to 450bhp in a car weighing a smidgen over a tonne, but the road cars had to settle with 250bhp. Unfortunately, the RS200 was involved in a fatal accident in Portugal that hammered the final nail in the coffin for the insane Group B rally era. This was quite the blow for the Ford engineers as the plan was to create an RS200 ‘Evo’ with up to 815bhp. What could have been…

Audi RS2

This was Audi’s first RS vehicle, so considering the now-familiar RS family it has spawned over the years, we owe this five-cylinder beast a tonne of respect. A joint venture between Audi and Porsche, the RS2 Avant was based off the Audi 80 Avant but employed a Porsche-derived turbocharged 2.2-litre 20V inline five-cylinder. Coupled with a six-speed manual ‘box, the RS2 developed 311bhp thanks to a little Porsche engine tinkering which included a larger turbocharger, intercooler and high-flow fuel injectors.

Bespoke camshafts, a new induction system and a sports exhaust system pulled the RS2 even further away from its docile platform and cemented it as a true 90s performance legend. Built in the same factory as the Porsche 959 supercar, the RS2 spawned the super estate genre by getting to 60mph in just 4.8 seconds and carrying on to a comfortable 166mph. Only 180 right-hand drive cars were built, making the value of these estates uncomfortably high in this age of stratospheric classic car prices.

Chevrolet Camaro RS LT

330bhp from a 3.6-litre V6 gives this $35,000 slice of ‘Murica genuine sports car credentials. Managing the sprint to 60mph in 5.1 seconds, the LT also utilises a much lighter front end than its V8 SS cousin, making its back-road abilities a little more European than people assume.

With a six-speed manual transmission and some all-aluminium suspension components, this Camaro has put many V6 Mustangs to the sword and – in most road tests – has come out the victor. Although the RS side of the car is merely a trim package to hark back to Camaros of old, the LT is still a performance bargain that’s not to be sniffed at.

Porsche 911 991 GT3 RS

Considering the legendary status that the 997 GT3 RS almost immediately took on, the latest version had no room for error on release in 2015. Taking the widebody kit from the 911 Turbo and ramping the standard 3.8-litre flat six to an NA 4.0-litre, the 991 RS engine pumps out 500bhp with a ridiculous 8700rpm redline.

Bringing the Porsche road car back to its motorsport routes, the GT3 RS is a welcome hardcore break from the sometimes poser-esque Turbos and Carrera cabriolets. It is essentially the closest you can get to a full GT3 racing car without having full harnesses and slick tyres and will tear apart any race circuit you desire in a crescendo of tyre-squealing grip and flat-six roar. The 991 moved the GT3 RS away from the spiky, oversteering days of the 997 4.0, so whether you see that as a plus or not is down to your trackday preferences.

Jaguar XKR-S GT

£135,000 for a Jag XK may have seemed like a horrendous financial blunder at the time, but this hardcore track-biased sports coupe essentially opened the door for the SVR generation of Jags as soon as the F-Type took over. A seriously aggressive body kit with bonnet vents, a small front splitter and an audacious rear wing made the XKR-S GT a far cry from the heavy sports car once constrained to the golf club car park.

The supercharged 5.0-litre V8 was good for 542bhp, and when coupled with a complete stripping-out of the unnecessary back seats to be exchanged for a roll cage, the GT demanded a premium for what was a seriously capable track car. Managing a Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time of 7 minutes 40 seconds, the pumped-up XK was up there with the early first-generation R35 GTRs due to 145kg of downforce solely from its pronounced rear wing.

Ford Focus RS500

Channeling 345bhp through the front-wheels was always going to be a big ask from the drivetrain of the MkII Focus, but this slightly-tinkered special edition model of the hot hatch is about as desirable as a hatchback can get. With a limited run of just 500 cars, the matte black RS500 produced 45bhp more than the standard Focus RS of the time through a little ECU tweaking and an improved induction package. With similar power to the MkIII RS, the RS500 screams its way to an 8000rpm limit using a 2.5-litre inline-five powertrain.

Although the RS500 didn’t come with a drift mode, the super hatch is already gaining classic car status with values on the rise.

Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R

Supposedly one of the greatest front-wheel drive chassis ever, the 275 Trophy has become the heartthrob of many trackday-goers since its launch in 2015. Carrying on Renault’s penchant for producing hot hatches that can punch well above their own weight, the 275 has taken on many supercars in ‘Car of the Year’ tests and – in certain climates and road layouts – has come out the victor.

Using a turbocharged 2.0-litre inline-four with 271bhp, the Megane can get from 0-60mph in 6.0 seconds, with a beautifully engineering LSD included in the mix to set the Trophy apart from its other FWD rivals. This Renault even held the FWD Nürburgring record at 7 minutes 54 seconds but has now been superseded by the current crop of hyper hatches packing considerably more power. CT Editor Matt Robinson put the Megane up against the Subaru WRX STI, with the French car only losing out due to its track-based suspension that was just too extreme for the road. Despite this, the Megane held up dynamically to one of the most-coveted Japanese icons in the automotive world.

There are numerous other RS cars out there, with a multitude coming from Audi like its recent super-killing TT RS which has made loyal R8 buyers think twice.

Classics like the Sierra RS Cosworth also spring to mind, which paved the way for Ford’s foray into serious performance vehicles with its hugely tuneable Cosworth powertrain. Although the placement of an ‘R’ badge has been overused in the industry, I feel that RS and GTR have their own special place within the car community that means they are saved for truly special variants of a family of cars. The RS club is an elite one, and long may it continue.