RE: PH Heroes: Ford Escort RS Cosworth

[Froomee]

I love these. I think they represented the end of an era for ford in general something that they have since failed to replicate even with the recent crop of hot hatches.

They have huge tuning potential( I think 330bhp is easily achieveable reliably),light weight and 4wd and would beat most hot hatches even today........ There used to be one that was converted to rwd with 400bhp+ in the Enfield which was ridiculously fast. Maybe I'll brave it and buy one in the near future 10/10 imo

[Froomee]

I love these. I think they represented the end of an era for ford in general something that they have since failed to replicate even with the recent crop of hot hatches.

They have huge tuning potential( I think 330bhp is easily achieveable reliably),light weight and 4wd and would beat most hot hatches even today........ There used to be one that was converted to rwd with 400bhp+ in the Enfield which was ridiculously fast. Maybe I'll brave it and buy one in the near future 10/10 imo

[steelej]

epom said:

I love the Escort Cossie, afraid of the reliablilty though..

I had one for 14 years, had it from new and thinking back on it the only problem I had with it was a sensor went bad that made it run a little rough, apart from that it was totally reliable. Sold it 2 years ago with 96000 miles on it and it's still going strong with it's new owner.

I sold it because I didn't have enough space to keep it after getting an F430, even with a Ferrari in it's parking space I still miss it. Loved that car

John.

[KP]

Want.... The car that got me into cars. Clean, unabused ones must be worth a bit?

[BEP]

s m said:

dave stew said:

s m said:

Went on sale to public in about May '92 so on a J-plate

Yes, they were J plates and it was Sept 92. One car was J997 BPU and J990 BPU. Got the magazine at home!

22nd May 1992 was the on-sale date over here hence the first cars on J-plates. K-reg was 1st Aug 1992

Tell us about the 2 litre rwd version you drove

I remember Nat day 1992, Delecour and Louise Aitken-walker doing demo laps.....also remember the RWD cosworth, CCC magazine did a feature on it, Blue in colour...sure Ford crushed the car after though???

PS...my Cosworth is for sale in classified...lol

[Adz The Rat]

Porkie said:

Nope. Thats the newer style.

He means these ones.




cars on 18' 'Montes' now I think?

I think Andy just tried the Monte rims on to see how they looked, that was taken before I took the pics of it on Rondells.

He still has the MO's too, I think they may be on his Sapphire now.

I need to do some pics of that too.

[Ritchie335is]

Is it just me, or does the 3 door have a much nicer, driver orientated dash/cockpit.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3209284.htm

A bit like an E30 BMW, it just looks like it would be a sharper driving experience.
I have never driven an Escort Cosworth but have driven plenty Sierra Cosworths and looking at that big Fisherprice rubber steering wheel in the Escort just brings back horrible memories of rubbery gearshifts and horrible wonky pedals of old Mk5/6 Escorts. Clutch ratchets *shudder*.
Why is the shift meant to be so bad in these? It was like a rifle bolt in Sierras IIRC, 2WDs anyway.

[J4CKO]

The three door is the one that is hard wired into my brain to love whatever, Moonstone blue and standard looking, was never quite as struck on the Escort or the Sapphire, one thing for these, buy a good one and keep it nice you will probably make money, I know people trot out the fact it is a Sierra underneath, thats because it is, a Sapphire Cosworth 4wd pretty much with an Escort shell, dont know why anyone would see this as a negative if they ever drove an actual early nineties cooking Escort, they were utter turd !

There is now a hardcore of 30 to 50 odd year old blokes after them as they couldn't afford one when new.

[s m]

BEP said:

s m said:

dave stew said:

s m said:

Went on sale to public in about May '92 so on a J-plate

Yes, they were J plates and it was Sept 92. One car was J997 BPU and J990 BPU. Got the magazine at home!

22nd May 1992 was the on-sale date over here hence the first cars on J-plates. K-reg was 1st Aug 1992

Tell us about the 2 litre rwd version you drove

I remember Nat day 1992, Delecour and Louise Aitken-walker doing demo laps.....also remember the RWD cosworth, CCC magazine did a feature on it, Blue in colour...sure Ford crushed the car after though???

PS...my Cosworth is for sale in classified...lol

The blue one in CCC was the Cosworth FB V6 rwd car though wasn't it? It was just a one-off but the marketing people were worried it wouldn't sell ....... so the idea was canned.

I was interested in the 2 litre rwd version that 'dave stew' said he drove. They showed it in Autocar once but I don't know anyone who's driven it

[DJRC]

Still looks st.
Still doesnt have any decent pedigree having got its arse handed to it.

It was and always will be a steaming pile of cack.

[A.J.M]

Love it! Imperial blue with black leather interior big turbo model is my dream one day.

Yes it's an old car, yes it has a dodgy image and yes compaired to an evo or scoob it may not be the better car.

But, that engine is one of the easiest to gain huge power from. 350bhp can be gained from a stage 3 tune at about £1500. The gearbox needs care at that level but can be rebuilt to take much more.

The standard figures are 0-62 in 5.7 seconds with a 140mph top speed, 144 without the rear spoiler.
The bodykit was the first to deal proper downforce at speed.

I will have one day, it will be modified and it will likely stay with me for years.

[sparks_E39]

I like them but would rather spend £15k on an E30 M3.

[stevenr]

DJRC said:

Still looks st.
Still doesnt have any decent pedigree having got its arse handed to it.

It was and always will be a steaming pile of cack.

Do you have a problem with your eyesight?

[s m]

KP said:

Want.... The car that got me into cars. Clean, unabused ones must be worth a bit?

Still seem to fetch good money if you look in the classifieds ( although it doesn't say whether the seller got the asking price ).

[Hellbound]

You can get a mint-ish Evo 6 for about £7k, which is arguably the better drivers car all round and an all time great.

BUT...it just doesn't have that pang of nostalgia for some of us, for better or worse.

[RWD cossie wil]

I have thought numerous times about selling my Escort Cosworth, but I just can't bring myself to do it. People who are comparing them to Evos are missing the point completely!

[Kong]

I never used to be into cars when I was a kid, yet I still used to lust after the Cosworth owned by my mates mother. K reg in blue, even I knew it was special.

Shame her then partner decided to crash it into the side of a Land Rover and killed the old bloke driving

[300bhp/ton]

Symbolica said:

300bhp/ton said:

ITruly can't see the appeal of any Escort of this era, no matter what engine it had.

To be fair it isn't an Escort underneath.

Not sure being Sierra underneath and Escort looks and interior are plus points though.

As I say I can respect them, but I can't really see the desirability of one over a superior TME Evo VI or a WRX STI VI Type R.

[R5PNY]

Always lusted after one of these. I remember a guy at work had one but lived in a dodgy part of Manchester. The poor bloke had to leave it parked in the warehouse at work and drive home in a knackered old banger. That's dedication, he only got to drive it a lunch time!

[300bhp/ton]

Escort Si-130 said:

Not suprised with a comment like that from you. There is more to a car than high BHP figures or bhp per tonne st, which doesnt mean much these days anymore. Aerodynamics play a far bigger role in what the car would perform like.

This is a true HERO, 10 out of 10 for me.

eh?

Where did I say anything about high bhp?

I don't particularly love it, because I don't think the Escort was a very nice looking car inside or out, and this gen of Escort was pretty dire in terms of image.

It wasn't a very successful rally car either IMO, exactly how many Manufacturers titles did it take? Or even how many Grp A rally wins compared to the competition at the time.


It was also built partly on the cheap using viscous diffs where as an Evo or GT-Four used a Torsen.

220hp was nothing to shout about either in factory trim. As at the time an Impreza STI made 240hp.


It's not a bad car, I just fail to see why it's hailed as so great, when it was actually so mediocre.

And another thing I find funny. Loads complain about bling and chavvy styling on new cars, yet the Cossie takes both of these to extremes and most of the self same people seem to love that styling on the Ford. ???