RE: Ford Fiesta XR2 | PH Auction Block
Discussion
I can see the appeal to someone who always wanted one back in the day but for whatever reason never had one. Now they have some disposable income it's time to tick that box, which is fair enough.
I was lucky enough to buy a MK2 Escort RS2000 in 1982 and replace it with a 2.8i Capri in 1984.
7 or 8 years ago a motor trader mate had a Capri that needed to go for some work so he insisted I drove it there, and I realised that in the 2000s it was nothing like as good as my daily BMW 325ti Compact.
I'm glad I got to enjoy cars like that in their era, but for me they are best left there!
I was lucky enough to buy a MK2 Escort RS2000 in 1982 and replace it with a 2.8i Capri in 1984.
7 or 8 years ago a motor trader mate had a Capri that needed to go for some work so he insisted I drove it there, and I realised that in the 2000s it was nothing like as good as my daily BMW 325ti Compact.
I'm glad I got to enjoy cars like that in their era, but for me they are best left there!
Mr Tidy said:
I'm glad I got to enjoy cars like that in their era, but for me they are best left there!
I can completely see where you're coming from with this as well. I absolutely loved the two Sierra 2.9 XR4x4's that I had years ago for sure, plus I was fortunate enough to drive Sapphire Cosworths quite regularly too. However I'd imagine that if I drove either of those today I'd be in a world of disappointment though. Or perhaps I'm just a bit too old and grumpy now in fairness.
cerb4.5lee said:
However I'd imagine that if I drove either of those today I'd be in a world of disappointment though. Or perhaps I'm just a bit too old and grumpy now in fairness.
I think that applies to a lot of stuff we lusted after years ago.I'm happy to leave a lot of this old stuff as fond memories to be honest.
sideways man said:
I had a xr2 in black exactly like this one,at one year old, to replace a mk2 RS2000 escort. Have to admit the xr handled way better than the RS, and was the best car I ever had for handbrake turns 
A few if us had RS2000s when we were younger and I do remember one of my mates getting a Mk2 XR2 - did get a quick drive in it round MOTEC - local handling/autotest track ( he got a blast in my RS in return - it was almost new and a fun little car but I still preferred the rwd fun of the Escort
I must admit I still enjoy driving stuff like this even compared to newer stuff but then I don’t expect it to drive like a modern car and I do like the tactility and lightness of it plus manual box and direct steering - but it’s not for everyone I know
A good mate that used to fish with me got one not long after he passed his test in his mid twenties. He insisted we take it when we went to fish a comp in North East England one weekend instead of my GTI as we usually did. He had it serviced before we went (he seemed to think a 260 mile round trip was some epic journey) and as part of the service it had an engine flush. All that appeared to do was loosen, but not remove, a few years sludge as it blew up on the A1 on the way down due to the oil pick up pipe getting blocked, though the thrashing it was getting at the time probably didn't help much.
I had already had a few goes in it as he wanted to see what it would do when he got it so we had a few summer evening runs in it,the understeer was pretty bad but everything it did bar the blown engine was pretty predictable and it was a fun drive. There was another bloke locally that had a properly sorted turbo technics one that he reckoned would indicate 145mph, that must have been a blast in a car that light.
I had already had a few goes in it as he wanted to see what it would do when he got it so we had a few summer evening runs in it,the understeer was pretty bad but everything it did bar the blown engine was pretty predictable and it was a fun drive. There was another bloke locally that had a properly sorted turbo technics one that he reckoned would indicate 145mph, that must have been a blast in a car that light.
Neil1323bolts said:
Just had a look on autotrader at xr2 , only 2 for sale one seller is asking 35k , that is quite ridiculous, I can’t believe anyone would even pay half that amount and I love an old XR .
People can and have paid £20k plus for them already Neil - the ones on Autotrader would have to be top notch to fetch £20k plus and I haven’t bothered to look ……Remember we’re in the era of £50k 205s and £40k Renault 5s etc not to mention £200k E30 BMWs and £400k Merc 190s
There’s always a cheaper one if you want one to drive or save your money and buy something cheaper, faster and much much betterer ….as multiple people on every thread about something older than 20 years old always tell us
I cut my driving teeth driving Fords. A Mk1 1.1L Fiesta V reg 1980.
Crashed it into a ditch 3 weeks after passing my test.
Repaired it.
Blew the engine up running it without oil after cracking the sump thinking I was a rally driver down a bumpy country lane.
Put a reconditioned engine it in.
Crashed it again showing off to some girls.
Then it was nicked.
2nd Fiesta. A Mk2 1.4S (Rare as hens teeth now).
Took me about 3 months to roll it. I learned that night what lift off over steer was.
Write off.
They were fun cars back then. And even with uprated engine, suspension and brakes, they would obviously improved the car.
But in doing that, haven't they taken some of the lure of these old bangers?
If you buy one, you want it to have the ridiculous understeer. And the snap lift off over steer in the wet.
Improving on the rubbish-ness of the original kinda ruins the whole car for me.
Keep it standard!
As for the guide price. Well. You know what they say about a fool and his money......
Crashed it into a ditch 3 weeks after passing my test.
Repaired it.
Blew the engine up running it without oil after cracking the sump thinking I was a rally driver down a bumpy country lane.
Put a reconditioned engine it in.
Crashed it again showing off to some girls.
Then it was nicked.
2nd Fiesta. A Mk2 1.4S (Rare as hens teeth now).
Took me about 3 months to roll it. I learned that night what lift off over steer was.
Write off.
They were fun cars back then. And even with uprated engine, suspension and brakes, they would obviously improved the car.
But in doing that, haven't they taken some of the lure of these old bangers?
If you buy one, you want it to have the ridiculous understeer. And the snap lift off over steer in the wet.
Improving on the rubbish-ness of the original kinda ruins the whole car for me.
Keep it standard!
As for the guide price. Well. You know what they say about a fool and his money......
Black examples didn’t have all that sliver nonsense on the sills and rocker panels.
Lighter colours (such as red) had contrasting black sills.
How many people commenting they are crap actually drove or lived with one
Back in the day ?
My mate had one and it always felt nippy and fun.
It was 2-3 seconds quicker to 60 than the average family saloon at the time.
Sophisticated no, fun yes.
Lighter colours (such as red) had contrasting black sills.
How many people commenting they are crap actually drove or lived with one
Back in the day ?
My mate had one and it always felt nippy and fun.
It was 2-3 seconds quicker to 60 than the average family saloon at the time.
Sophisticated no, fun yes.
That looks lovely have not seen a mk1 xr2 for a very long time .
We had a Y reg silver XR2 I remember it being fun to drive for only 85 bhp and 4 speed it went well for the time until it got stolen and burnt out.
The mk2 xr2 had more power (95 bhp) and 5 gears but the cvh engine was not much fun to Rev. These cars all rusted away so quickly a mk1 fiesta did well to last ten years on Scottish roads they just rotted away from the salt.
We had a Y reg silver XR2 I remember it being fun to drive for only 85 bhp and 4 speed it went well for the time until it got stolen and burnt out.
The mk2 xr2 had more power (95 bhp) and 5 gears but the cvh engine was not much fun to Rev. These cars all rusted away so quickly a mk1 fiesta did well to last ten years on Scottish roads they just rotted away from the salt.
J4CKO said:
Horsebox Man said:
J4CKO said:
Firebobby said:
Why would you? Back in the day they were, course, noisy, slow, and rotted like a pear in an abandoned orchard! Today they're good only for those who own a pair of the most rose tinted of glasses. Move on please.
Nostalgia, memories ?Objectively it will be crap, but it looks great and will still be noisy, course, slow but fun.
And it looks great.
My memories are mainly around valeting one for a lady locally, the lovely Fiona, I was smitten with the car, but also her, she was a stunner but I only ever got to bath the car being a spotty herbert of about 15.
Drove a coupel of these and they were fun, same engine as my 1969 Capri that I had as my first car, so the engine was quite old even then, the MK2 was a bit better to drive I remember, used to work for a car dealers so we got loads of them through, they were typically showing some rust after 5 years.
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