RE: My First Car: Ford Escort XR3i
Discussion
I had an XR3i when I was eighteen, 13yrs ago.
The bonnet popped opened doing 70 on the mway causing damage to the roof, scuttle panel and obviously the bonnet was fecked.
Got that fixed and the front wheel collapsed away from the hub? still not sure what caused that.
Got that fixed and the gearbox gave up.
Got a reconditioned unit. Loads of other stuff like new starter motor, fuel leaks, new shock absorber.
Tried to sell it to my mate and he poked a key through the boot floor.
In the end I sold it to my ex girls new man and he wrote it off a week later which was a lucky escape really.
The bonnet popped opened doing 70 on the mway causing damage to the roof, scuttle panel and obviously the bonnet was fecked.
Got that fixed and the front wheel collapsed away from the hub? still not sure what caused that.
Got that fixed and the gearbox gave up.
Got a reconditioned unit. Loads of other stuff like new starter motor, fuel leaks, new shock absorber.
Tried to sell it to my mate and he poked a key through the boot floor.
In the end I sold it to my ex girls new man and he wrote it off a week later which was a lucky escape really.
Back street fixes are always going to end it tears...poor car. 
A neighbour 20 years ago had an XR3, which whilst being quite cool in our road never looked quite right to me. Suspension was to high for a start.
When they brought the XR3i out, well, that was the kiddie indeed.
Unfortunately i had to do with a Ford Cortina MkV in 1989. I say unfortunately but being a 2L it used to shift very nicely, helped along by a K&N filter and Ashley big bore exhaust.
Anyway, back to the 'Escort' point. By the time i was 20 i hankered for a 3i, but they were still quite expensive and ins was fairly high, so i didn't get one.
Nope, in for a penny, in for a pound i thought, so...I got a white S2 Escort RS Turbo instead.
Now that was a car to be seen in in 1990-91. 
Did mean i had to sell my soul to the devil himself to afford it though.
I looked good though, and that was all important when you were 20.
F79 TEL...where are you now?
A neighbour 20 years ago had an XR3, which whilst being quite cool in our road never looked quite right to me. Suspension was to high for a start.
When they brought the XR3i out, well, that was the kiddie indeed.
Unfortunately i had to do with a Ford Cortina MkV in 1989. I say unfortunately but being a 2L it used to shift very nicely, helped along by a K&N filter and Ashley big bore exhaust.
Anyway, back to the 'Escort' point. By the time i was 20 i hankered for a 3i, but they were still quite expensive and ins was fairly high, so i didn't get one.
Nope, in for a penny, in for a pound i thought, so...I got a white S2 Escort RS Turbo instead.
Now that was a car to be seen in in 1990-91. Did mean i had to sell my soul to the devil himself to afford it though.I looked good though, and that was all important when you were 20.
F79 TEL...where are you now?
I wanted one at 17, (1991), neighbour had a C reg in white for sale... phoned around for insurance... "HOW MUCH??" maybe it was the SL1 postcode and Slough at the time...
So, my first car was a Fiat. I didn't realise it at the time, but I should of loved it, cherished it, made it feel warm and cozy every night.. It was a 131 twin cam 2 door! Bought with tax and test for the princely sum of £60 from someone my mum worked with because the fuel guage didn't work....!!
It lasted 5 months before it started to overheat... was replaced by a Rover 3500 SD1... Maybe the XR3i wouldn't of been a cool car then, but I would still have one now.
So, my first car was a Fiat. I didn't realise it at the time, but I should of loved it, cherished it, made it feel warm and cozy every night.. It was a 131 twin cam 2 door! Bought with tax and test for the princely sum of £60 from someone my mum worked with because the fuel guage didn't work....!!
It lasted 5 months before it started to overheat... was replaced by a Rover 3500 SD1... Maybe the XR3i wouldn't of been a cool car then, but I would still have one now.
tombstone said:
...It was a 131 twin cam 2 door!...
Fab! Was it the 98bhp Supermirafiori 1600 TC?! This was my first ever car - and loved it bits! Those plush, comfortable Alcantara seats and that Civicesque gearstick!...EDIT: Oh hold on, just seen '2-door'? What variant was this then? Not the awesome WRCesque, wide-arched 'Racing' version surely?
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 26th November 16:51
Growing up in london you had a choice, MK1 GTI or xr3i. More often than not it would be an XR3i as they were cheaper to buy than a golf.
Throughout my teens all my mates owned some sort of variant of a mk3 or 4 escort- blimey if you had an rs turbo you were some sort of god!.
I had an xr3 van (well a 1.6 van in sunburst red with cloverleaf alloys and recaro front seats) it did nothing but overheat!!.
My mate had an escort van complete with bodykit, bonnet scoop, one piece tailgate and leopard skin shag pile in the back. We blew that up racing on the M4 when he missed 4th and put it into second - BOOOOM! rod through the block nice.
We used to install 2 x 12" proplus subs and a philips da600 amp with some crappy mids and tweets and thump round the neighbourhood annoying , well, just about everyone. I still attribute my slight deafness in my left ear to being in the passenger seat of my mates xr3 with a tweeter mounted on the b pillar right next to my ear. Silly Boy!!.
I seem to remember fitting 205 gti 1.9 wheels to a lot of the kids cars (god only knows where they came from but they used to turn up with a set a week!)
Does anyone remember the warrior kit that could be bought for an escort??, my mate had one which prestige car audio built complete with 12 x 15" subs in the back (no back seats just one enromus boot build). He chainsawed their boot build out and re-installed the back seats - shame really as when it was loaded up with ice it used to make bottles fall off the shelf in the off licence!
Happy days......
Throughout my teens all my mates owned some sort of variant of a mk3 or 4 escort- blimey if you had an rs turbo you were some sort of god!.
I had an xr3 van (well a 1.6 van in sunburst red with cloverleaf alloys and recaro front seats) it did nothing but overheat!!.
My mate had an escort van complete with bodykit, bonnet scoop, one piece tailgate and leopard skin shag pile in the back. We blew that up racing on the M4 when he missed 4th and put it into second - BOOOOM! rod through the block nice.
We used to install 2 x 12" proplus subs and a philips da600 amp with some crappy mids and tweets and thump round the neighbourhood annoying , well, just about everyone. I still attribute my slight deafness in my left ear to being in the passenger seat of my mates xr3 with a tweeter mounted on the b pillar right next to my ear. Silly Boy!!.
I seem to remember fitting 205 gti 1.9 wheels to a lot of the kids cars (god only knows where they came from but they used to turn up with a set a week!)
Does anyone remember the warrior kit that could be bought for an escort??, my mate had one which prestige car audio built complete with 12 x 15" subs in the back (no back seats just one enromus boot build). He chainsawed their boot build out and re-installed the back seats - shame really as when it was loaded up with ice it used to make bottles fall off the shelf in the off licence!
Happy days......
A friend of mine had the misfortune of getting in the back of an escort van once (tut tut) that didn't have any rear seats. It was only when the driver floored the accelerator that he announced the van had just been fitted with an XR3i engine. Cue spin dryer style rolling around the back of an Escort van all the way home...
I quite simply love XR3's!
I was lucky enough to start kart racing when I was 13 as my dad fancied a go as well. We did a few seasons but got fed up of being wet and cold and it was getting to expensive to keep up with the top guys so we looked round for some cheap tin top racing, it was then we came across the XR Challenge. So at 16 (1999) I learned how to drive in a race prepared XR3i round 3 sisters in Wigan (my driving instructor later on when I came to do my proper test couldnt understand why pushing and feeding was so difficult for me!). Anyway the first race prep'd XR3i we had was a MK3 with MK4 bumpers, it was white, with pink wheels and had a massive cougar on the bonnet due to the sponsorship the previous owner had, had. The 3i's were fantastic to race, leda suspension, semi slick (yoko A5039's I think) tyres and no engine mods, racing was very close and great fun.
I always remember doing a track day at Anglessey as the new regulations allowed us to fit LSD's so we needed to do some testing. The amount of cars I left for dead that day was unreal, Subaru's, hot hatches etc etc. In particular one guy in an Impreza would not let me past (trackday etiquet and all that), I was welded to his bumper on the bends then he'd pull away on the straights only for me to be right with him again at the next bend. In the end he let me past but only after the passenger gave me the 2 fingered salute! The amount of people that were spectating that came over asking what turbo I was running was so funny, they couldnt believe a 96bhp XR3 could be so quick!
I've promised myself another one one day, as a track day toy, bloody mortgage gets in the way though now!
I was lucky enough to start kart racing when I was 13 as my dad fancied a go as well. We did a few seasons but got fed up of being wet and cold and it was getting to expensive to keep up with the top guys so we looked round for some cheap tin top racing, it was then we came across the XR Challenge. So at 16 (1999) I learned how to drive in a race prepared XR3i round 3 sisters in Wigan (my driving instructor later on when I came to do my proper test couldnt understand why pushing and feeding was so difficult for me!). Anyway the first race prep'd XR3i we had was a MK3 with MK4 bumpers, it was white, with pink wheels and had a massive cougar on the bonnet due to the sponsorship the previous owner had, had. The 3i's were fantastic to race, leda suspension, semi slick (yoko A5039's I think) tyres and no engine mods, racing was very close and great fun.
I always remember doing a track day at Anglessey as the new regulations allowed us to fit LSD's so we needed to do some testing. The amount of cars I left for dead that day was unreal, Subaru's, hot hatches etc etc. In particular one guy in an Impreza would not let me past (trackday etiquet and all that), I was welded to his bumper on the bends then he'd pull away on the straights only for me to be right with him again at the next bend. In the end he let me past but only after the passenger gave me the 2 fingered salute! The amount of people that were spectating that came over asking what turbo I was running was so funny, they couldnt believe a 96bhp XR3 could be so quick!
I've promised myself another one one day, as a track day toy, bloody mortgage gets in the way though now!
Oli S said:
A friend of mine had the misfortune of getting in the back of an escort van once (tut tut) that didn't have any rear seats. It was only when the driver floored the accelerator that he announced the van had just been fitted with an XR3i engine. Cue spin dryer style rolling around the back of an Escort van all the way home...
i thought you were gonna say he went bundling out the back doors! - that'd been a better story loltastyturbo said:
Oli S said:
A friend of mine had the misfortune of getting in the back of an escort van once (tut tut) that didn't have any rear seats. It was only when the driver floored the accelerator that he announced the van had just been fitted with an XR3i engine. Cue spin dryer style rolling around the back of an Escort van all the way home...
i thought you were gonna say he went bundling out the back doors! - that'd been a better story lol
joz8968 said:
tombstone said:
...It was a 131 twin cam 2 door!...
Fab! Was it the 98bhp Supermirafiori 1600 TC?! This was my first ever car - and loved it bits! Those plush, comfortable Alcantara seats and that Civicesque gearstick!...EDIT: Oh hold on, just seen '2-door'? What variant was this then? Not the awesome WRCesque, wide-arched 'Racing' version surely?
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 26th November 10:52
saw another 2 door in purple in Reading a few years later.. didn't think 2 doors were 'rare'??
tombstone said:
well, it was 2 litre on logbook, twin carbs, in white... brown velour style seats, hung its arse out on pretty much every roundabout on way to college..
saw another 2 door in purple in Reading a few years later.. didn't think 2 doors were 'rare'??
Probably my bad. I didn't realise they did 2 door cooking models, that's all.saw another 2 door in purple in Reading a few years later.. didn't think 2 doors were 'rare'??
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 26th November 16:52
joz8968 said:
tombstone said:
well, it was 2 litre on logbook, twin carbs, in white... brown velour style seats, hung its arse out on pretty much every roundabout on way to college..
saw another 2 door in purple in Reading a few years later.. didn't think 2 doors were 'rare'??
Probably my bad. I didn't realise they did 2 door cooking models, that's all.saw another 2 door in purple in Reading a few years later.. didn't think 2 doors were 'rare'??
Edited by joz8968 on Wednesday 26th November 16:52
Back to XR3i's anyway, Someone mentioned their's used to overheat constantly. Mine did too, I remember being constantly paranoid about getting caught in traffic or spending too much time looking for a parking space in multi-story carparks etc. If I did I had to switch the heater on max. and I always had to catch it early to stop the temperature guage rising. It was difficult trying to explain to my then girlfriend why I did it whilst still trying to look cool.
I was a Ford main dealer car mechanical from 1988 to 1991 and regualy serviced Mk3 and Mk4. Even back then C/D plate Mk4 were rusting away. I could only afford a W plate 1.3 Basic (plastic seats, leaking sunroof, no clock!), but it slowly turned into a XR3i look alike!!! Always throught the Mk3 handled better than a Mk4. RS Turbo Fiesta's were a bit scary through!
Between my brother and myself, we had 3 XR3i's, a Y reg, A reg and B reg. Can't remember any serious problems with any of them (apart from my brother writing off the Y reg. That was the quickest of the three too). I always remember them feeling pretty quick. Would love to have a go in one now to see how they compare against modern stuff. Very few around for sale these days - only tend to see scruffy cabriolets for sale.
I absolutely adored XR's! and had a few...such fond memories!
I had a white mk3 '3i cab for my second car - C597 LFR she met a nasty end but was repaired and I would love to find her again. I have also had..blue mk2 xr2, white mk2 xr2, blacvck mk2 xr2, tow tone grey mk4 3i cab, caspian blue RS1600i which I still regret selling, a white S1 RST with cossie leather that was a shed...
Now I have an 82 911sc but am now reminiscing I am not so sure it is as much fun as these were!
I had a white mk3 '3i cab for my second car - C597 LFR she met a nasty end but was repaired and I would love to find her again. I have also had..blue mk2 xr2, white mk2 xr2, blacvck mk2 xr2, tow tone grey mk4 3i cab, caspian blue RS1600i which I still regret selling, a white S1 RST with cossie leather that was a shed...
Now I have an 82 911sc but am now reminiscing I am not so sure it is as much fun as these were!
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