I worked in a Ford dealer for 5 years. While i worked there my dad took his escort cossie in for MOT. It had failed the emissions test so the mechanic said hed take it a run. My dad phoned me 5 mins later to ask why his car had just passed him on the bypass at about 120mph.

I spoke to the service manager about what had happened. When he spoke to the technician who had road tested the car he said he had 'lost' the failed emissions slip so he could pass the mot and if i wanted to make a complaint against him he would 'find' it again and we wouldnt get our mot!

In my 5 years there i saw 4 old style RS's there. My dads esc cos, andy gallacher brought in an esc cos, a guy brought in a mk5 rs2000 and my old RS turbo. In every one of these cases there was ONE guy there that had a clue how to repair/work on these cars. He was old enough to have PDI'd my RST! Hes moved on to another garage now so there is noone at my local ford dealer that would have a clue. The old diagnostic system was used by the old technician on my dads car, but now hes gone id imagine theres not one other technician that would have a clue how to work it.

So my answer to the question of taking an RS to the dealers would be: New RS's (Focus RS's), Yes. Old RS's, No, go to a specialist.