Ford Sierra XR4i......30 years on.

[BrownBottle]

Great write up, stuff like this really makes this forum worth visiting.

Only Sierra I ever owned was a Sapphire 1.8LX, it was very comfortable had great seats and I liked the dash with the raised centre console. I used to love when it snowed because I spent my journey sideways.

[aeropilot]

I can rememeber a few of us from our local group of the AVO OC as well as the local group of the RS OC taking some Escort and Capri RS's down to the local RS dealer for a launch day/press day for the XR4i.

Was it really 30 years ago...


It's nice that your one has an Essex reg as well

[alfettagtv2000]

Have fond memories of my 2.0DOHC, fun to drive and surprisingly nippy. (racing a calibra!)

Of course the cav engines were far superior to ancient ford lumps..

[petrolsniffer]

My dad had three sierras over the course of 10 years in the 90's/2000's

Have fond mememorys of them really comfy,decent stereo the joystick balence thing was fun to play with.

Probally the only car's i've been able to sleep in.

Used to wash them for him I may or may not of started them and hit the limiter

[The Black Flash]

A lot of the dead ones will be living on as the underpinnings of kit cars.

[richb77]

I am ashamed to say i wrote one off.

White B reg one. Loved it. Comfy, fast and i was the envy of my fiesta 1100 pop driving mates.

I would love another but WOW. they are pricey now (probably not helped by idiots like myself crashing them all too often)

[rfoster]

Enjoyed that write up, brought back some great memories from my youth! Many thanks.

[george123]

my dad had an early graphite grey one, same as the OP's. A966GLH....still remember it ! He eventually traded it in for a 2nd hand Renault Alpine GTA turbo in 1988....

have to say I've looked at a few GTAs recently....still a great looking car.

Can't say the same about the XR4i !

[conkerman]

GTA 365Y.

1.6 Bog basic, with droopy mirrors and no elephant ears.

Owned for 3 years (50k miles) until terminal rust took it away.

Found myself looking at XR4is but it would have to live outside and it would kill it.

[irish boy]

Had 2 xr4i's, the second one was a minter bought from a retired customer of mine with 28k miles for £3k.

Found it interesting at the time that it was equal acceleration to an e46 320d sport from junction to high motorway speeds.

[k-ink]

Aside from a black higly modified R500 I once saw, I have never liked the Sierra. It is not exactly pleasing to the eye, inside or out. In contrast I have a soft spot for loads of other old Fords: mk1 fiesta, capri mk3, escort mk1 etc.

[Fire99]

Not a universal opinion but I think the Capri has aged better in the aesthetics department.

[Carfolio]

I like the Sierra. We had a 2.0 and a 2.3 V6 in our family at times, and a 3.0 litre Sapphire too. Here in SA we had the XR6 (and XR8!) as well. The XR6 had the 2994cc V6 from the old Capris. The XR8 had the 302 cu in Mustang V8 with all of 225 or so BHP at the time.

[seeby]

iva cosworth said:

TallPaul said:

There's a Cardinal red one looking a bit forlorn on the North Circular in London, opposite Brentford Ikea, it used to share a drive with an equally dejected Peugeot 505GTi. The house looks like its being developed now and the Peugeot has gone I wonder how long before the Sierra goes...

I drove past there a few weeks ago and i THINK the XR4i has also gone.

I was going clockwise so couldn't get a clear look.

It's not Brentford BTW,it's Brent Park

I passed this one today. Its parked next door to the house that's being renovated. Facing the road and looking FG filthy !

[T66ORA]

Thanks for the replies.
I have found some of the old prototype drawings for your viewing







And this one dated June 1980, the same time as the Probe III Concept was shown to Ford hiarchery.Note the rear spoiler a similar one found its way onto the back of a Turbo Technics converted XR4 in 1984/5.

Edited by T66ORA on Monday 11th March 18:54

[T66ORA]

For those of you interested in the Turbo Conversions, i will do a write up on the Janspeed and Turbo Technics conversions, including performance figs, later on.

[43034]

T66ORA said:

For those of you interested in the Turbo Conversions, i will do a write up on the Janspeed and Turbo Technics conversions, including performance figs, later on.

Please do! Would make for a decent read

[s m]

T66ORA said:

For those of you interested in the Turbo Conversions, i will do a write up on the Janspeed and Turbo Technics conversions, including performance figs, later on.

I've got some of the original test articles on the Turbo ones if you're interested and want me to scan them in chap?

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

I had an '88 2.0i Ghia Auto. The kick down would almost rip your head off - it was a great car.

I also borrowed the company P100 every so often...coolest pickup ever (back in the day).

[T66ORA]

s m said:

I've got some of the original test articles on the Turbo ones if you're interested and want me to scan them in chap?

What ones have you got?
I have Autocar, Fast lane, Whatcar, mags covering the TT 200,
Motor TT 230,
Motor,CCC,Motor Sport,on Janspeed

Plus XR4x4T boring stuff

If you have anything different i would like a copy cheers.