RE: Ford Escort RS Cosworth: PH Used Buying Guide

RE: Ford Escort RS Cosworth: PH Used Buying Guide

Author
Discussion

SimboRS

214 posts

97 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
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myhandle said:
There is no mention I can find about the Motorsport edition, which was designed to be converted into a rally car and was lighter with no sunroof and other changes. I think they were all white. How would you value a low miles Motorsport car which was never modified into a rally car? 120k?
What information are you looking for?
It’s impossible to value a car Without seeing it and it’s relevant paperwork/history. There’s a few different “motorsport” versions though, sometimes these are confused with “standard” editions.

rallycross

12,744 posts

236 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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SimboRS said:
Theyre called aero delete models
A lot of the Italian market escort cossies had that option.
I've bought a few Cosworths in Italy and brought them back to the UK, in the late 90's they were worth nothing in italy. The nice thing about the italian cosworths were they had aircon which was not available in the UK (and they had no rust compared to uk cars).



markcoznottz

7,155 posts

223 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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Olivera said:
epom said:
Strong engine ? Really? I was under the impression that they weren't the most reliable?
The basic block and cylinder heads are extremely strong, hence there are loads of engine builders (Mountune, Julian Godfrey etc) that will build you a big power version to this day.

The typical 30 year old bodged wiring loom, dodgy map, fiddled with fuel pressure regulator, dodgy fuel pump wiring, poor maintenance etc are the real cause of most reliability problems.
Agreed. Fundamentally bomb proof engine, very simple and easy to work on pure cosworth engineering. Ironically, most of the upgraded stuff people tried to sell you back in the day, wasn't needed, the market was almost too keen to have you bolt things on. The 4x4 spec engine was a beauty, almost 80% new over the original motor in the 86 cars. On green injectors the '92 spec engine would do 350 bhp easily. That's with just a boost increase. Pity the box wasn't the best. A lot of the upgraded engines, or parts from these later 4x4 engines, found there way into the earlier 2wd cars.

PorkRind

3,053 posts

204 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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Always used tk berate these for not having ac, I learnt in this document the lux variety has it. Still vald I bought my evo over these when I did, far easier to tune.

sortedcossie

539 posts

127 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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A lot of the engine unreliability comes from poor maintenance and barry boy type mods. As said earlier, my standard one has never had the head or gearbox off - 75k on the original clutch.

Gearboxes are weak, but it's not the BHP that kills them it's the torque. Mapping has come a long way since, but it wasn't unknown to have a huge boost/torque spike at 3,500 rpm which would put 2nd and 3rd gears under too much load.

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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SimboRS said:
Theyre called aero delete models and also came without the front lower splitter and hockey sticks, they weren’t really that popular in the UK, although there are quite a few cars like that. mainly designed for the Swiss market where the large upper rear whale tail was illegal without specific mods.



Not as standout as the Red Baron special edition though


rouflab

18 posts

94 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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In 1990 I bought a Brand New RS2000 the one with the bulges in the bonnet, I kept it for 18 months. What a piece of rubbish was never out of the Dealership with problem after problem. Mechanicals to Electrics to other things. I treated it like a baby was never thrashed,,Was never as glad to get rid of a car in my life. RS Cosworth probably alright if you dont drive it or use it. I would have no faith in owning one unless I had a full wallet to get ongoing work done on it to keep it going. BTW the first RS2000 I had to return it within 3 weeks as there were many problems from new, the second one was no different. Those days I was able to reject the first one.

BricktopST205

885 posts

133 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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Berkut666 said:
As with most on here I massively lusted after one of these, even up until the last few years. However it would only be for the looks, the conversations and the joy of owning it. I worked in the motor trade in my early 20's (about 20 years ago now.....) at a Mitsubishi Dealer and had the chance to drive a few. They were very average as a driving experience even then especially when compared to my own Integra Type R or the large amount of Evo 5/6/7 we use to see.

I get that some classic cars are appreciating in value but I honestly cant get away from the fact that if I got one, I would basically be paying such vast sums of money for what is essential a shortened Sierra in a skirt.

I love them, I really do. But I would rather spend £20K on an Evo for the performance/conversations then the rest of the £75K on a classic I could feel I was justified in and felt extra special.

That said, there is a lovely one on ebay at the moment without the Whale Tail....

search Ex Concours Ford Escort RS Cosworth Lux - Aero Delete Model - 11K Miles




Edited by Berkut666 on Thursday 20th December 14:58
You could save a cool 20K and get a Celica GT-Four which ironically was more expensive that the escos in period and also way more advanced tech wise. It also dominated the Ford in WRC!. Such a strange world we live in sometimes!

alorotom

11,907 posts

186 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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SimboRS said:
Unless it’s been painted, Moonstone blue wasn’t a colour option on the Escort Cosworth.


Edited by SimboRS on Thursday 20th December 22:49
Apologies it must be Auralis blue then, I get the 2 confused with them being nearly identical and my ford RS days being what feels like an age ago - pretty sure it was a factory paint smile

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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alorotom said:
SimboRS said:
Unless it’s been painted, Moonstone blue wasn’t a colour option on the Escort Cosworth.


Edited by SimboRS on Thursday 20th December 22:49
Apologies it must be Auralis blue then, I get the 2 confused with them being nearly identical and my ford RS days being what feels like an age ago - pretty sure it was a factory paint smile
That is a similar colour - there was also Moondust Silver ...but that was a silver rather than blue.

Used to see pretty much every variant down at SVM - now it's all GTRs!

SimboRS

214 posts

97 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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alorotom said:
Apologies it must be Auralis blue then, I get the 2 confused with them being nearly identical and my ford RS days being what feels like an age ago - pretty sure it was a factory paint smile
Aye mate, auralis blue looks very much like moonstone, cracking colour tbh.
There were 4 blues,auralis, imperial, Pacifica and petrol, which are very similar to each other

SimboRS

214 posts

97 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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s m said:
Remember the original concept.....


That wasn’t the original concept, it was an idea that floated briefly during production and was quickly shelved.

epom

11,396 posts

160 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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bozzy. said:
JMF894 said:
Looking back now that rear spoiler really is laughable. Couldn't you spec it without? Can't recall ever seeing one without.
You could, but wouldn’t that be like specking Scarlett Johannson without a vagina?
FFS biggrin Thanks for that, now everyone in the office knows I'm doing nothing.

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Friday 21st December 2018
quotequote all
SimboRS said:
s m said:
Remember the original concept.....


That wasn’t the original concept, it was an idea that floated briefly during production and was quickly shelved.
Well, the original designer of the rear wing arrangement, Frank Stephenson, wanted to do a triple wing as an homage to the Red Baron's plane. The idea was stymied by the project accountants and that particular pic was a representation of how the wing might have looked if it had made it into production. It was done for Wheeler Dealers US show with Frank's input and tested at Darko Technologies

See here at 9:30 into the interview for some more info

https://www.formtrends.com/full-chat-mclaren-frank...




aaron_2000

5,407 posts

82 months

Friday 21st December 2018
quotequote all
rouflab said:
In 1990 I bought a Brand New RS2000 the one with the bulges in the bonnet, I kept it for 18 months. What a piece of rubbish was never out of the Dealership with problem after problem. Mechanicals to Electrics to other things. I treated it like a baby was never thrashed,,Was never as glad to get rid of a car in my life. RS Cosworth probably alright if you dont drive it or use it. I would have no faith in owning one unless I had a full wallet to get ongoing work done on it to keep it going. BTW the first RS2000 I had to return it within 3 weeks as there were many problems from new, the second one was no different. Those days I was able to reject the first one.
How is that relevant to the Cosworth?

legless

1,686 posts

139 months

Friday 21st December 2018
quotequote all
rouflab said:
In 1990 I bought a Brand New RS2000 the one with the bulges in the bonnet
No you didn't. Not in 1990 anyway.

Anyhow, given that the only things the Cosworth shares with the RS2000 are some lights, a dashboard and a few body panels, it's not really relevant is it?

Murcielago_Boy

1,995 posts

238 months

Friday 21st December 2018
quotequote all
You have no idea how much I loved this car. Still do.
Went out in one which had 500bhp and it was absolutely insane. I mean it delivered around 10 bhp all the way up to 5000rpm and then suddenly delivered all 500bhp at 5001rpm!

Love the chavtastic looks.

Still intending to buy one one day alongside an E30 M3.

sortedcossie

539 posts

127 months

Friday 21st December 2018
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AGAR said:
I've seen your car on the escort cosworth forum, always looks well presented.

stuarthat

1,047 posts

217 months

Friday 21st December 2018
quotequote all
legless said:
rouflab said:
In 1990 I bought a Brand New RS2000 the one with the bulges in the bonnet
No you didn't. Not in 1990 anyway.

Anyhow, given that the only things the Cosworth shares with the RS2000 are some lights, a dashboard and a few body panels, it's not really relevant is it?
https://goo.gl/images/drZMne

AGAR

404 posts

207 months

Friday 21st December 2018
quotequote all
Murcielago_Boy said:
You have no idea how much I loved this car. Still do.
Went out in one which had 500bhp and it was absolutely insane. I mean it delivered around 10 bhp all the way up to 5000rpm and then suddenly delivered all 500bhp at 5001rpm!
That perfectly sums up what I was trying to get across before.