RE: Ford Fiesta XR2: Spotted
Discussion
Fire99 said:
I remember these well. They were alright.. Back when I was a 'yoof!', the positives about these were they were relatively cheap to buy, were fairly reliable (simple) and were cheap and easy to repair.. Any garage could fix them. The other huge plus was compared to some of their peers, insurance was affordable.
At the same time cars like Renault 5 Turbo's, Peugeot 205 GTi's etc were much more expensive to buy (low mileage used cars) and insurance for a young lad was way out of budget. Also the Renault used to cause garages to suck their teeth "ooo that'll cost you mister if that breaks!"
The Golf GTi was always seen as a premium car in comparison. You were doing well for yourself if you were a young bloke with a GTi. (Super cool if you had a 16v, though some would argue about torque being better on the 8v... Ooo the impetulance of youth.
)
Personally, I thought the XR2 was a bit of a cheap hound and I rapidly moved on to better cars. It was what it was.. A warm hatch for the masses.. This is just a nostalgia trip.
I wasn’t in a position to buy brand new but for my 1st car it was either an AXGT or a Suzuki swift. At the same time cars like Renault 5 Turbo's, Peugeot 205 GTi's etc were much more expensive to buy (low mileage used cars) and insurance for a young lad was way out of budget. Also the Renault used to cause garages to suck their teeth "ooo that'll cost you mister if that breaks!"
The Golf GTi was always seen as a premium car in comparison. You were doing well for yourself if you were a young bloke with a GTi. (Super cool if you had a 16v, though some would argue about torque being better on the 8v... Ooo the impetulance of youth.
)Personally, I thought the XR2 was a bit of a cheap hound and I rapidly moved on to better cars. It was what it was.. A warm hatch for the masses.. This is just a nostalgia trip.
After that it was Golf GTi or 205 gti.
A fiesta was never on the radar. But Insuppose there were plenty of Ford fanatics who wanted one.
s m said:
Valve stem seals - pretty easy and cheap to do with the head in situ
piece of cake with the right tool those commenting about being wheezy and slow,
they were even back in the day they really needed some love to make them special
set of 40s,cam and 4 branch would see you with a healthy 125 bhp they really went well once switched to solid lifters and allowed to rev as well.
unfortunately my head was turned by xe powered novas and never another XR was had
I remember having these at the time and they were fun but nothing special, anyone paying £10k for the privilege of owning one now its nuts.
We had a turbo Technics one which was pretty good fun, probably only had about 125 bhp but was way more interesting to drive than a standard XR2, however the CVH engine in these was always a horrible thing.
I remember scrapping a silver C reg XR2 that came in as a part exchange, it was a one owner from new with FSH, it looked really nice from above but underneath it was totally rotten, there was nothing solid left to weld new floor sections to, and it would have only been about 12 years old, thats what the salt on the Scottish roads used to do to old Fords. I remember the tailagate and front scuttle panels used to rot through on the early Mk1 XR2's well before they were 10 yrs old. Rust rust and rust!
We had a turbo Technics one which was pretty good fun, probably only had about 125 bhp but was way more interesting to drive than a standard XR2, however the CVH engine in these was always a horrible thing.
I remember scrapping a silver C reg XR2 that came in as a part exchange, it was a one owner from new with FSH, it looked really nice from above but underneath it was totally rotten, there was nothing solid left to weld new floor sections to, and it would have only been about 12 years old, thats what the salt on the Scottish roads used to do to old Fords. I remember the tailagate and front scuttle panels used to rot through on the early Mk1 XR2's well before they were 10 yrs old. Rust rust and rust!
Downward said:
A fiesta was never on the radar. But Insuppose there were plenty of Ford fanatics who wanted one.
Me too. I had many Ford fanatic mates but The XR2's, 3's, 4's never did a thing for me..That said, I had a Turbo Technics tuned RS Turbo a few years later and that was hilarious, even if the interior was still crap (other than the fantastic Recaro seats), the handling was hit & miss and the engine was still a CVH, even if it was a fast one. (Was all about the midrange on that thing)
I had a Mk1, A404 JNF. Was my first decent car after having a succession of various 70s BL tat that were 2 a penny in the early 80s.
I loved the XR2. Over the next decade, I must've had 10 or so hot hatches of varying types, of which I think the Peugeot 309GTI was the pick of the bunch.
I loved the XR2. Over the next decade, I must've had 10 or so hot hatches of varying types, of which I think the Peugeot 309GTI was the pick of the bunch.
Fire99 said:
That said, I had a Turbo Technics tuned RS Turbo a few years later and that was hilarious, even if the interior was still crap (other than the fantastic Recaro seats), the handling was hit & miss and the engine was still a CVH, even if it was a fast one. (Was all about the midrange on that thing)
Jex said:
Had one in the early 90s. Got a boring company car so traded in my XR4x4 for an XR2 as a second car. Good fun, but not very refined. You didn't need a rev counter to let you know when to change gear - the nasty thrashing sounds from the engine were enough!
Yes, it was just as well as my rev counter didn’t work!Had one from late '89 to probably sometime around 98. Made out of biscuit tins and used to eat manifold gaskets for breakfast. Certainly wasn't the fastest of the era. My mother had a GTE 16v at the same time and that was in a totally different league but even with my ham fisted mechanical ability the CVH was pretty easy to work on.
Think I sold it for £100 by the time I was sick of it sat there doing nothing.
Think I sold it for £100 by the time I was sick of it sat there doing nothing.
Ah, the manager of the night club I worked at when I was 18 had a brand new one of these...used to let me take it for a spin, foot down with a bit of lock on and the thing just used to go straight on. He got caught nicking the cash out of the fag machine and was fired, Happy times...
The only version of the CVH which seemed really rough to me was the fuel injected n/a version. I drove the RS Turbo and various carbed models and they never seemed overly rattly like my Orion Ghia. It wasn't a great engine though and the boggo 1.1 litre Popular Plus was probably just as much fun to drive.
My brother had an Astra Mk2 1.6 GL which had a superb and much tougher engine that you could rev the guts out of, taking my CVH engine Orion past 4000rpm was a deeply unsettling experience.
My brother had an Astra Mk2 1.6 GL which had a superb and much tougher engine that you could rev the guts out of, taking my CVH engine Orion past 4000rpm was a deeply unsettling experience.
blade7 said:
30 years ago so did I, but the TT Capri Injection turbo I had before was much nicer to drive. Despite having owned lot of cars,that Capri and a black 1980 3.0s are 2 that I regretted selling.
Ahh memories.. I think my RS was around 25 years ago, so positively recently. Funny you should mention the Capri, I know the 2.8i was lauded as the better car, but there was something about the 3.0s that I liked more.. Both of those V6's had a very decent soundtrack..
Ultrafunkula said:
I had a D reg mk2 sounded better and was great fun to drive .
Back in those days cars had nice distinctive exhaust notes - you could tell when an XR2 was coming you didn’t need to look round you could just tell by the sound. Same for things like an Alfa sud/33 or mini or Beetle of Fiats - current regular cars all sound the same now.GTEYE said:
Not quick by today’s standards but remember back then a basic 950 Fiesta was a little over 40bhp, so these were quick in comparison and desirable to the target market...
The not very quick comments make me smile when you consider this is a 35-year old junior hot hatch0-60 in 8.7 seconds
Meanwhile on the front page today there's an article on the VW Up Gti, a junior hot hatch which manages the benchmark in 8.5 seconds
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