RE: Ford Sierra XR4x4i 2.9i: Spotted

RE: Ford Sierra XR4x4i 2.9i: Spotted

Author
Discussion

jamiem555

750 posts

210 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
My Dad had two back in the day. A 2.8 then a 2.9 Ghia Estate. F117 SOO, ex Ford press car. Many happy memories blasting around the country following various rallies. I always admired the works Ford team chase cars of the same ilk, except they had full safety devices roll cages fitted and room for 3 mechanics and a load of spares.

rtz62

3,340 posts

154 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Be interested to see if someone on here buys it, and if the suggestion of horrendous rust in the recent MOTs is as bad, or worse, than it sounds.
Funny, I was only saying last week that my 2.8 4x4 had 150bhp iirc yet my everyday barge, a 2yr Old Skoda Octavia 2.0 tdi estate has the same power output.
Yet the 4x4 was considered a working mans fast family car back then. Evolution in motoring is bonkers, isn’t it?
I’d love to know what happened to my 4x4 twin turbo, I didn’t own it long and haven’t a clue, or a photo, to work from unfortunately (threw my box of photos after my then soon-to-be ex-wife as I showed her the door; huge mistake, the photos, not the ex-wife!)
No idea why but I preferred my 2.8 pre-facelift to my 2.9 later 4x4, despite the 2.8i having a clunkier gearbox (type 9 vs MT75 ?)

Section 8

541 posts

188 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
neil-1323bolts said:
some fancy exhast manifolds from fitz at TOP BOSS tuning any one remember them ?
I used to see him and his car quite a bit at shows/meets. I used to live fairly local to them. Great thread this for bringing memories back. smile
I think I remember that guy. I was coming through Derby one afternoon in the 90’s ( shows how vague I can’t even remember the year) when at the lights a blue Sierra pulled up along side. I was in my Series 2 RST tuned by TurboSystems and Castle Performance and I assumed this Sierra was just a wannabe Cossie.

I floored it and so did he and he was away but my little Escort held on to be very close behind when he eventually let off. I got a big smile and thumbs off him and a nod of the head in recognition.



Section 8

541 posts

188 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
neil-1323bolts said:
some fancy exhast manifolds from fitz at TOP BOSS tuning any one remember them ?
I used to see him and his car quite a bit at shows/meets. I used to live fairly local to them. Great thread this for bringing memories back. smile
I think I remember that guy. I was coming through Derby one afternoon in the 90’s ( shows how vague I can’t even remember the year) when at the lights a blue Sierra pulled up along side. I was in my Series 2 RST tuned by TurboSystems and Castle Performance and I assumed this Sierra was just a wannabe Cossie.

I floored it and so did he and he was away but my little Escort held on to be very close behind when he eventually let off. I got a big smile and thumbs off him and a nod of the head in recognition.




Edited by Section 8 on Saturday 24th February 21:18

cerb4.5lee

30,185 posts

179 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Section 8 said:
cerb4.5lee said:
neil-1323bolts said:
some fancy exhast manifolds from fitz at TOP BOSS tuning any one remember them ?
I used to see him and his car quite a bit at shows/meets. I used to live fairly local to them. Great thread this for bringing memories back. smile
I think I remember that guy. I was coming through Derby one afternoon in the 90’s ( shows how vague I can’t even remember the year) when at the lights a blue Sierra pulled up along side. I was in my Series 2 RST tuned by TurboSystems and Castle Performance and I assumed this Sierra was just a wannabe Cossie.

I floored it and so did he and he was away but my little Escort held on to be very close behind when he eventually let off. I got a big smile and thumbs off him and a nod of the head of blokish recognition.
biggrinthumbup

Phil Dicky

7,162 posts

262 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Section 8 said:
cerb4.5lee said:
neil-1323bolts said:
some fancy exhast manifolds from fitz at TOP BOSS tuning any one remember them ?
I used to see him and his car quite a bit at shows/meets. I used to live fairly local to them. Great thread this for bringing memories back. smile
I think I remember that guy. I was coming through Derby one afternoon in the 90’s ( shows how vague I can’t even remember the year) when at the lights a blue Sierra pulled up along side. I was in my Series 2 RST tuned by TurboSystems and Castle Performance and I assumed this Sierra was just a wannabe Cossie.

I floored it and so did he and he was away but my little Escort held on to be very close behind when he eventually let off. I got a big smile and thumbs off him and a nod of the head in recognition.
f

Castle Performance....took my Fiesta RS Turbo there for a chip and exhaust...bet they're long gone !!

neil-1323bolts

1,078 posts

105 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Section 8 said:
I think I remember that guy. I was coming through Derby one afternoon in the 90’s ( shows how vague I can’t even remember the year) when at the lights a blue Sierra pulled up along side. I was in my Series 2 RST tuned by TurboSystems and Castle Performance and I assumed this Sierra was just a wannabe Cossie.

I floored it and so did he and he was away but my little Escort held on to be very close behind when he eventually let off. I got a big smile and thumbs off him and a nod of the head in recognition.
fitz Sierra was definitely blue I have stacks of fast ford and performance ford mags couple featuring his car and cars he had modified , I think it ended up as a twin turbo effort don't know how much bhp , would guess over 350 maybe around the 400 about the same as a RS focus now

aaron_2000

5,407 posts

82 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Phil Dicky said:
Section 8 said:
cerb4.5lee said:
neil-1323bolts said:
some fancy exhast manifolds from fitz at TOP BOSS tuning any one remember them ?
I used to see him and his car quite a bit at shows/meets. I used to live fairly local to them. Great thread this for bringing memories back. smile
I think I remember that guy. I was coming through Derby one afternoon in the 90’s ( shows how vague I can’t even remember the year) when at the lights a blue Sierra pulled up along side. I was in my Series 2 RST tuned by TurboSystems and Castle Performance and I assumed this Sierra was just a wannabe Cossie.

I floored it and so did he and he was away but my little Escort held on to be very close behind when he eventually let off. I got a big smile and thumbs off him and a nod of the head in recognition.
f

Castle Performance....took my Fiesta RS Turbo there for a chip and exhaust...bet they're long gone !!
Still around. What was the price difference between an XR4x4 and a Cossie? Surely in the 90's when the Cossie was horrible to insure, it would've been cheaper to tune the XR?

https://www.castleperformance.co.uk/

Dollyman1850

6,316 posts

249 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
V88Dicky said:
Leech (the builders) houses and a 'BB' reg prefix. That's got to be in the North East? smile
Yep. hehe

GM182

1,263 posts

224 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
I remember going to the Alps for a skiing holiday with my father in what must have been a 2.8 as it was the original shape. It went very well. I remember him taking me out in Morzine down a steep, snow slushy hill to demonstrate the ABS. I must have been about 14 at the time and him telling me that one day all cars would have this system.

He must have kept it quite a while as I remember some of my first practice driving with him turning 17 was in that car too. I think he passed it on to someone else in the company after a few years who ran it up to 120,000 miles and then he bought it back cheap about the time I was learning. It was stolen and recovered in the period as well.

It was white - so 80s.

V88Dicky

7,302 posts

182 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Dollyman1850 said:
Yep. hehe
thumbup

Section 8

541 posts

188 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all




[/quote]f

Castle Performance....took my Fiesta RS Turbo there for a chip and exhaust...bet they're long gone !!

[/quote]

They are indeed. Apparently dodgy dealings so I heard.Not sure if that other Castle Performance is anything to do with them.I took my Fiesta RST there too as well as the Escort. The Superchip was about the size of my current mobile phone smile I remember Eyoin Clark saying I was mad because I wanted more power even though he had it spinning in 3rd on a test run. Those were the days

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Mr Tidy said:
If I had a garage I'd love one of those (but maybe not this one in view of what has been said)!

I had 2 Capri Injections back in the 80s, and a Sierra Sapphire GLSi in the early 90s, so this is from my era!

Did loads of tracks day with a mate's XR4i in the 90s too - it was the only car that never broke!

In fact same mate recently bought a black XR4i - but it cost a fair bit more than this!
My old XR4 was a black one too.



As said, the engine was a tough old thing, reliable too and compared to an Essex V6 liked to be revved
It was also the slipperiest Sierra through the air, the aero combined with the reasonably light weight, meant on a long motorway trip you could see into the mid 30s - one of the car mags was surprised at how economical they were for a 5-seater nigh on 3-litre V6 - although round town they would munch the fuel. Would have been good if they'd put the later Cosworth V6 in them


njw1

2,053 posts

110 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
Both of my XR4i's were black, most of the XR4i's I've seen seem to have been black and A reg for some reason? Saying that, I saw a red one yesterday, completely rotted out on someones drives parked behind a similarly rotted out 2.8i Capri, what a f'kin waste.... frown

Agent57

1,631 posts

153 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
njw1 said:
Both of my XR4i's were black, most of the XR4i's I've seen seem to have been black and A reg for some reason? frown
It only came out halfway through 'Y' reg and was replaced by the XR4x4 during 'B' reg so law of probability suggests most are 'A' reg.

I quite like the unique 3 door styling with the extra pillar. Rover did something similar with the 200 3 door.

Dollyman1850

6,316 posts

249 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
jamiem555 said:
My Dad had two back in the day. A 2.8 then a 2.9 Ghia Estate. F117 SOO, ex Ford press car. Many happy memories blasting around the country following various rallies. I always admired the works Ford team chase cars of the same ilk, except they had full safety devices roll cages fitted and room for 3 mechanics and a load of spares.
Thats Interesting. SOO and BOO. Mine was the ex Edinburgh motorshow car with BOO in its reg number. Never found any press shots of it though which would be nice to find.. It was Fully Loaded and had everything from the extras catalogue, Later from memory we lost 5th Gear and ended up swapping an MT75 box and 2.9 flywheel into the car. I wish I could buy it back but doubtless long gone.

N.

Dollyman1850

6,316 posts

249 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
rtz62 said:
Be interested to see if someone on here buys it, and if the suggestion of horrendous rust in the recent MOTs is as bad, or worse, than it sounds.
Funny, I was only saying last week that my 2.8 4x4 had 150bhp iirc yet my everyday barge, a 2yr Old Skoda Octavia 2.0 tdi estate has the same power output.
Yet the 4x4 was considered a working mans fast family car back then. Evolution in motoring is bonkers, isn’t it?
I’d love to know what happened to my 4x4 twin turbo, I didn’t own it long and haven’t a clue, or a photo, to work from unfortunately (threw my box of photos after my then soon-to-be ex-wife as I showed her the door; huge mistake, the photos, not the ex-wife!)
No idea why but I preferred my 2.8 pre-facelift to my 2.9 later 4x4, despite the 2.8i having a clunkier gearbox (type 9 vs MT75 ?)
People are getting sillier and PCP deals are pushing mid level company car prices skywards in comparison to 20 years ago... I paid 13k for a 1.8D fiesta diesel mistral in 1995, equivalent car today probably about 12k.. so much cheaper relatively.. Compare that to A4 Audi's, 3 Series Bee emm's Mondeo.s and Vectras and Passatts which have increased massively ??

Dollyman1850

6,316 posts

249 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
Agent57 said:
It only came out halfway through 'Y' reg and was replaced by the XR4x4 during 'B' reg so law of probability suggests most are 'A' reg.

I quite like the unique 3 door styling with the extra pillar. Rover did something similar with the 200 3 door.
I seem to remember the XR4i to be only available in Black or Red, perhaps white??
N.


Agent57

1,631 posts

153 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
I might have to dig some old brochures out. Those plates sound familiar.

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
Dollyman1850 said:
Agent57 said:
It only came out halfway through 'Y' reg and was replaced by the XR4x4 during 'B' reg so law of probability suggests most are 'A' reg.

I quite like the unique 3 door styling with the extra pillar. Rover did something similar with the 200 3 door.
I seem to remember the XR4i to be only available in Black or Red, perhaps white??
N.
Plus Strato Silver and Caspian Blue in metallic as well