Escort RS Cosworth (wet weather handling)...

[richard300]

I'm all for a bit of hooning about and side ways fun BUT, sometimes (now-a-days increasingly so) I find myself with the Mrs and the little one in the car and invariably the weather is terrible. And i just want to get to my destination at a reasonable turn of speed without fighting the car....

I Used to have a 320BHP Mitsubishi Evo V that was VERY good at this, but when it was dry and i was alone in the car, it was all a little un-inspirering!!

So my question is: If i don't want to go for some modern, very heavy understeering car where the ASC/DSC/ESP blah, blah, blah never truly switches itself off.
Is an Escort RS Cosworth (in a stage 1 state of tune)with freshly overhauled suspension and modern tyres going to be a good 'All weather' car, or is the 4wd system and chassis good for no more than squatting its rear end and inducing lurid oversteer at the first sign of brisk acceleration out of a bend?

My only experience of the RS Cosworth is (a friends) 2wd sapphire that was running 450BHP but couldn't live with my evo (even in the dry) as it just couldn't translate its power into forward movement at traffic lights, corners and round-a-bout's.......But i do like them.

[ge0rge]

After owning both escosse and EVO vi id take the evo as the cross country car for pace in every weather condition.

[spiritof'76]

Remembering that the Escort Cosworth chasis was develpoed in the 80's will tell you that it is quite old tech by modern standards......... but that doesn't mean it's inherently bad, just that it needs a little help from new developments to help it come more up to date.

The first thing to do cheaply is ditch the standard geometry settings at the front as this will be front wheels completely parallel which makes the front end very pointy........ add one degree of toe in each side and the car will run much straighter

If you can stomach some extra expense you can totally transform the car by spending £1k on an adjustable 6 degree Ahmed Bayjoo developed rear beam to the car......... on the standard rear beam when the rear squats under acceleration the weight all transfers onto the inner edge of rear tyre giving a huge reduction in traction, the modified rear beam sorts this out by virtue of revised geometry and rose joints etc......... best money you will spend on on Escort Cosworth in my opinion. You can get the beam from Harvey Gibbs SCS outfit in Peterborough amongst others

Uprate to poly bushes also if you haven't already. Oh, and ditch the stage 1 conversion for stage 3 as it's far superior

[richard300]

Thanks For the information....

Whilst i know that the Evo is the far superior car (in terms of grip/traction) I can't help but remember that when i bought my 'V GSR' it was £15,500 Admittedly that was 8 years ago and from a Mitsubishi main dealer. At the same time I remember seeing Escort Cosworths selling for £15,000. Now that evo would probably be worth about £4,000 whilst i bet the Cosworth would still be between £12,000-£15,000. The evo would have to go back to Brighton Mitsubishi every 4000 miles for a service, it ate clutches, but i think most of all (even in comparison with an Escort Cosworth)I'd just feel silly (now in my mid 30's with a family)driving around in an Evo V or VI, and i dont like the VII/VIII/IX's.

I like the thought of an Escort Cosworth because they seem to hold their value well, They are Retro cool, they can be subtly modified (and massivly tweaked, if thats your thing)And if they do respond well to chassis work and updates with modern components, then even better :-)