RE: Ford Fiesta RS Turbo: Spotted
Discussion
Agent XXX said:
Bizarrely, mine was the one that Clarkson and the other two idiots blew up in their piece on 80s/90s hot hatches.
A much cooler end to it than being broken for parts I guess. Had the clocks rolled over on it or was it just clocked when they got their hands on it? Always wondered that. I bought one that was 2 years old at the time, biggest mistake ever, frosty mornings would induce a very severe boost cut, that after a few of them would shear an engine mounting, which were the same as a 950cc Fiesta.
If driven more the 50 mins on a steady throttle opening, ie motorway driven, would require a ignition on / off at the top of the slip road, so that it would forget what it had just been doing, otherwise that's all it wanted to do.
If the heated screen was used at all, within a week it needed a new alternator, it needed 5 in less than a year, luckily the were changed foc, as they were always in there 12 months warranty.
Use to break rear anti roll bar brackets for fun, which were no more than hydraulic pipe p clips.
I used public transport more in the ownership of it than I have in the rest of my car ownership years.
Only plus side when I sold it, I had 2 buyers out bidding each other on my driveway, so not all bad.
I was in the trade (at a Ford dealership) in 1993/4, and used to really enjoy driving thes when they came in as P/X, although they were incredibly coarse and crude feeling, even by the standards of the time. Went well though, and the aftermarket tuning industry could turn them into proper rockets.
I remember the unassisted steering and torque steer being quite a challenge.
I suspect it would be pretty horrible to drive by modern standards, and pretty underwhelming performance- wise.
I remember the unassisted steering and torque steer being quite a challenge.
I suspect it would be pretty horrible to drive by modern standards, and pretty underwhelming performance- wise.
Limpet said:
I suspect it would be pretty horrible to drive by modern standards, and pretty underwhelming performance- wise.
Anything from that era would be pretty underwhelming performance-wise by that marker.This was a fast to a ton as Clio Williams, CRX V-Tec, Astra GTE 16v, Renault 5GTT,
Top layer of 1990 hot hatch performance and a fair bit quicker than a 205 1.9 to 3 figure speeds
s m said:
Anything from that era would be pretty underwhelming performance-wise by that marker.
This was a fast to a ton as Clio Williams, CRX V-Tec, Astra GTE 16v, Renault 5GTT,
Top layer of 1990 hot hatch performance and a fair bit quicker than a 205 1.9 to 3 figure speeds
nothing that chipping them couldnt fix.This was a fast to a ton as Clio Williams, CRX V-Tec, Astra GTE 16v, Renault 5GTT,
Top layer of 1990 hot hatch performance and a fair bit quicker than a 205 1.9 to 3 figure speeds
never had a fiesta but had an escort turbo with the wick turned up and a 285T2 cam along with a few other bits and pieces. ended up somewhere north of 200 bhp and was for the time fantastic fun.
although not quite as fun as a 2l 16v Nova
friend of mine has a C20LET in his Nova, now that thing was stupidly quickGlasgowrob said:
nothing that chipping them couldnt fix.
never had a fiesta but had an escort turbo with the wick turned up and a 285T2 cam along with a few other bits and pieces. ended up somewhere north of 200 bhp and was for the time fantastic fun.
A friend of mine used to have a Escort RS Turbo running around 240bhp, I still think to this day that its the quickest car I've ever been in...it was mental! never had a fiesta but had an escort turbo with the wick turned up and a 285T2 cam along with a few other bits and pieces. ended up somewhere north of 200 bhp and was for the time fantastic fun.
I remember racing a RX7 off the lights in it...he even missed a gearchange...yet we still sailed past him!
I've certainly never been in or owned anything that felt as quick as that did. howardhughes said:
I had a Fiat MK2 Uno Turbo, as my first hot hatch but always wanted a Fiesta RS Turbo.
As with anything like that it comes down to money and what I could afford at the time
There are plenty of people out there in their late forties who would have aspired to one of these when they were new, but couldn't afford to buy or insure one. Some of these people now have a few £££ burning a hole in their pocket.As with anything like that it comes down to money and what I could afford at the time
I follow KGF Classics on Instagram. They sell quite a few fast Fords, always low mileage and top prices. Whenever they post a handover photo, it's always a guy in his 40s or 50s.
Fast Ford prices seem mental to me, but if the people who buy them are enjoying the cars and having fun reliving the glory days of their youth, then good luck to them!
aaron_2000 said:
A much cooler end to it than being broken for parts I guess. Had the clocks rolled over on it or was it just clocked when they got their hands on it? Always wondered that.
It was on about 60k when I sold it and that was many years ago so probably rolled over. It was 5 years old when I bought it and had covered 15,000 miles 
I had a 93 K reg XR2i with the 1800 Zetec engine in and loved it.
It was my first fast car after a series of sheds so felt great.
The only issues I had really were it used to tramline quite badly, no ABS so it used to lock the brakes, and the starter motor used to stick occasionally.
I sold it after a year and really regretted it.
It was my first fast car after a series of sheds so felt great.
The only issues I had really were it used to tramline quite badly, no ABS so it used to lock the brakes, and the starter motor used to stick occasionally.
I sold it after a year and really regretted it.
I had a van with the turbo running gear in it. With equal length driveshafts from the diesel, the torque steer was reduced massively, but you still couldn't drive it in anger till 3rd gear. Running a redneck mix of components it was plenty fast enough in a raw sort of way but not sure I would want another one now.
LARK F1 GTR said:
The petrol cap rust on these was a joke! (well it was for all Mk3's) I don't really ever remember seeing one without tons of rust! Despite that I was quite fond of them.
Funnily enough I’ve owned four mk3 fiestas( RS1800 and three vans-the diesel vans were absolutely bulletproof and got thrashed daily !!)and not one of them had any rust by the filler cap.They were all L and m reg though -ford must have addressed the issue on the later models
Yeah they must have addressed the problem, water used to get into the inside of the panels around the cap causing it to rust inside outwards. I've seen some real messes over the years, sometimes on otherwise pretty mint examples.
I know that they put a flap on later models (I guess yours have that ?) where as they only had the filler cap on early ones.
I know that they put a flap on later models (I guess yours have that ?) where as they only had the filler cap on early ones.
I had a black j plate 1992 one, it was only 4 years old at the time and imaculate. I remember the rock hard ride and torque steer well, along with it needing front ball joints like they were service items. Strangely it needed several door locks, not through people screwing them but the barrel's in the chubb locks kept falling apart.
Despite that it was a great car to drive, big downside was you couldnt go anywhere without someone tailgating you, trying to get you to race
Ahhh good memories
Despite that it was a great car to drive, big downside was you couldnt go anywhere without someone tailgating you, trying to get you to race
Ahhh good memories
s m said:
Limpet said:
I suspect it would be pretty horrible to drive by modern standards, and pretty underwhelming performance- wise.
Anything from that era would be pretty underwhelming performance-wise by that marker.This was a fast to a ton as Clio Williams, CRX V-Tec, Astra GTE 16v, Renault 5GTT,
Top layer of 1990 hot hatch performance and a fair bit quicker than a 205 1.9 to 3 figure speeds
The 0-60 figure was hampered by the fact that 2nd gear only ran to 56 MPH. The Astra GTE and, 205 GTI 1.9 did 60 in 2nd gear.......
greenarrow said:
s m said:
Limpet said:
I suspect it would be pretty horrible to drive by modern standards, and pretty underwhelming performance- wise.
Anything from that era would be pretty underwhelming performance-wise by that marker.This was a fast to a ton as Clio Williams, CRX V-Tec, Astra GTE 16v, Renault 5GTT,
Top layer of 1990 hot hatch performance and a fair bit quicker than a 205 1.9 to 3 figure speeds
The 0-60 figure was hampered by the fact that 2nd gear only ran to 56 MPH. The Astra GTE and, 205 GTI 1.9 did 60 in 2nd gear.......
Even standard ones were about as fast as anything till the 16V Astra and Maestro Turbo ( pretty rare ) arrived on the scene
deltashad said:
15k.... not in a hurry to sell then
Just like the 50/60/70K Deltas it’ll need the right buyer as you will know as an Integrale fan and may well sit around for a fair while like many of those cars doThey’ve obviously seen that one sell for 16k a while back and thought they’ll try it too!
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