At $20,000, Is A Focus RS From Ford's Performance Racing School A Good Deal?

For years, Ford Performance Racing School has put Blue Oval owners on track at Charlotte Motor Speedway and other venues. When a school car finishes its tour, it usually finds a new home, and that is now the case for the Focus RS fleet. A leaked email shared on Reddit by r/FocusRS and picked up by outlets like Ford Authority says the school is selling its entire RS fleet, with multiple commenters citing a $20,000 ask. 

At that price, a well documented school RS can make sense. It undercuts many current used-market listings, so long as service records and a clean inspection back up the upkeep. That is enticing against a new-in-2018 MSRP of $41,995, though buyers should always keep in mind that these are track-used, instructor-maintained cars with conditions that likely vary from example to example. 

Beyond that, the U.S. run lasted only from 2016 to 2018, so clean examples are not exactly common. So, all of that leads to the only question that matters — what does this price actually get you?

On paper, the RS makes 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet from a turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost inline-4. Power goes to all four wheels through a six-speed manual with dynamic torque vectoring doing the smart work in corners. It also came with launch control, a driver-selectable sport suspension, Recaro buckets, forged alloys, and Michelin Pilot Sports. The school cars wore multi-point bars and other safety gear for class duty, a plus for track use, and something to factor into any inspection.

Whether $20,000 is a deal depends on how these cars stack up to the open market and how they were kept. Current listings show many Focus RS examples trading in the low to mid $20,000s, often with 65,000 to 100,000 miles. Listings do fall near $20,000, but that price is usually only seen once the mileage has rolled well past 100,000. 

A school car likely saw fewer cold starts and more properly warmed sessions, and it should have lived on a strict maintenance schedule with fresh fluids, pads, and tires. The flip side is obvious – heavy braking, hot laps, and the occasional curb kiss. That tension, disciplined service versus hard use, is the real question a buyer has to answer. It's also worth remembering that Ford has done this before. The school sold its Mustangs after the Mach 1 Track Attack program, which makes this RS sale read more like routine housekeeping than a red flag. 

Several years off the market has not dulled the RS's appeal. The car is shockingly usable even as it thrills on a back road, and recent debates around $21,000 examples right here on Jalopnik show how strong demand remains. Of course, shoppers should also remember the well-documented head gasket and smoke issues that hit some early cars. 

Ford's Customer Satisfaction Program 17B32 addressed coolant entering the combustion chamber (typically white exhaust smoke or unexplained coolant loss) and provided free inspection, head-gasket replacement, and cylinder-head replacement if required, regardless of mileage at the time. On any used RS, verify by VIN that 17B32 is closed, and ask for the dealer repair invoice confirming the work. Then do a cold-start check and a compression/leak-down to confirm sealing integrity.

Ultimately, $20,000 can be a smart buy if the individual car checks out. Bench it against today's market data above, then assume track-car wear even if the sticker looks sweet: measure rotor thickness and check for overheating, feel for hub/bearing play, test clutch bite and flywheel chatter, scan for misfire counters under load, and sample engine and diff fluid for metal. For ex-school cars, confirm any school hardware (roll bar, harnesses) and whether it's bolt-in and reversible for registration and resale. 

If the service file is complete, 17B32 is documented, and a pre-purchase inspection is clean, a well-maintained school RS at $20k is competitive. If records are thin or fatigue is obvious, the same money finds a civilian RS with gentler miles. Either way, once word spreads, these cars will not sit.