RE: Ford Fiesta XR2: Spotted

[aaron_2000]

blade7 said:

howardhughes said:

neil-1323bolts said:

This may well be true , but I would say from reading the comments , many people did have a real love for their cars years ago , warts and all . Things have definitely changed with modern cars seeming a lot more disposable , £300 a month for 2 years and give the thing back attitudes being the norm .

Very true indeed. Especially your last sentence. I couldn't figure out why I kept seeing kids driving round in 40k cars...It's all on the 'never never'

When I left school there were 7 or 8 big companies around my town where average kids could get a decent apprenticeship. Now nearly all of those firms have gone, and the local supermarkets are staffed by kids that probably don't want to be there. Figure in little chance of getting a mortgage, or a council place, and it's little wonder they chuck £300 a month at a decent car.

But unlike the XR2, 205 GTI, R5 GT etc, stuff like the Ibiza and the Merc A Class are in no way engaging or fun to drive, made even worse by the auto boxes they all seem to have. The moronic thing is that they all end up crashed, then they either claim through insurance and write them off, or they spend all their money cheaply repairing it. So now you've got some lease car with 0 character that's held together worse than most old cars.

Edited by aaron_2000 on Wednesday 6th March 12:14

[J4CKO]

DazzaSport said:

As mentioned in an earlier post. My XR2 had 135 HP.

When I got to the point of looking for a new car. I test drove the brand new Puma 1.7.

The salesman came out with me in the Puma and was giving it large about how quick it was. I pushed my foot to the floor and uttered it's not as quick as my XR2. He looked at me if I was mad. Until I told him that it's 'had some work'. When we got back to the dealership. I showed him under the bonnet of my XR2, he didn't have anything to say - I guess because he was sure he was going to lose the sale purely down to the fact the Puma wasn't quick enough.

He was right, I sat in the showroom with my missus... and just said to her - what's the point in buying the Puma if it is slower than my XR2? Hence we did not buy it.

Problem is, towards the mid / end of the 90's. Hot hatches had nearly dried up from manufacturers. Insurance premiums went up, performance and lairy looks softened. What hot hatches that were available just didn't look exciting enough. I mean - the Fiesta Si - FFS!

After that point, cars that I bought got heavier with bigger engines, etc. I've had V6's and V8's.

But, 2 years ago. I decided I wanted to relive the 'good old days', when cars had a usable amount of power - and a chuckable lightweight chassis. You can forget all of these overweight and overpowered German 'hyper hatches'. Not interested. Yes, they go like stink but most of them are utterly dull to drive at lower speeds.

Hence, bought a 2016 Suzuki Swift Sport (in 2016), and just recently - bought the new 2018 turbo Swift Sport. I'm more than happy. It's like being in my 20's all over again. Chuckable, lightweight cars with more than enough 'usable' performance (especially in the turbo).

The only bigger hot hatch I would consider right now is the latest Honda Civic Type-R. I've driven one of the old NA Type-R's (EP3). Not a turbo variant. I quite like the lairy looks of the new car. Maybe one day! LOL

Know what you mean, I like to nick my sons Fiesta ST and even quite like driving our C1, not sure I would swap my M135i for either on a permanent basis but the ST is very good fun and plenty fast enough, it works as a package, the BMW does but its an auto, it isnt as much of a drivers car but it really quick.

Secret is to have loads of cars for every occasion

[s m]

J4CKO said:

DazzaSport said:

As mentioned in an earlier post. My XR2 had 135 HP.

When I got to the point of looking for a new car. I test drove the brand new Puma 1.7.

The salesman came out with me in the Puma and was giving it large about how quick it was. I pushed my foot to the floor and uttered it's not as quick as my XR2. He looked at me if I was mad. Until I told him that it's 'had some work'. When we got back to the dealership. I showed him under the bonnet of my XR2, he didn't have anything to say - I guess because he was sure he was going to lose the sale purely down to the fact the Puma wasn't quick enough.

He was right, I sat in the showroom with my missus... and just said to her - what's the point in buying the Puma if it is slower than my XR2? Hence we did not buy it.

Problem is, towards the mid / end of the 90's. Hot hatches had nearly dried up from manufacturers. Insurance premiums went up, performance and lairy looks softened. What hot hatches that were available just didn't look exciting enough. I mean - the Fiesta Si - FFS!

After that point, cars that I bought got heavier with bigger engines, etc. I've had V6's and V8's.

But, 2 years ago. I decided I wanted to relive the 'good old days', when cars had a usable amount of power - and a chuckable lightweight chassis. You can forget all of these overweight and overpowered German 'hyper hatches'. Not interested. Yes, they go like stink but most of them are utterly dull to drive at lower speeds.

Hence, bought a 2016 Suzuki Swift Sport (in 2016), and just recently - bought the new 2018 turbo Swift Sport. I'm more than happy. It's like being in my 20's all over again. Chuckable, lightweight cars with more than enough 'usable' performance (especially in the turbo).

The only bigger hot hatch I would consider right now is the latest Honda Civic Type-R. I've driven one of the old NA Type-R's (EP3). Not a turbo variant. I quite like the lairy looks of the new car. Maybe one day! LOL

Know what you mean, I like to nick my sons Fiesta ST and even quite like driving our C1, not sure I would swap my M135i for either on a permanent basis but the ST is very good fun and plenty fast enough, it works as a package, the BMW does but its an auto, it isnt as much of a drivers car but it really quick.

Secret is to have loads of cars for every occasion

Same as back then
They were just fun small cars

This is back in the mid 80s and we were at the local autotest



My RS2000 cost me around 2k to buy but one of our friends fancied something new and for a smudge under 6k he was in a brand new shiny black XR2.
One of those RS2000s was traded in for a second hand RS1800 a few months later - £5k back then from Young’s down south

Edited by s m on Wednesday 6th March 18:02

[JamesD74]

I had one of these back in 93. F544 SMK if my memory is correct. Loved it and only moved it on when insurance became affordable for a Mk2 Escort RS Turbo E828 MRU. Good times.

[komakino]

Had a Supersport, then a rare 'A' spec RS1600i, after turning a Mark 2 XR2 down. I made the right choice, but these were a great little car in their day if looked after. Little to go wrong, though a slightly bouncy ride.

[cybertrophic]

greenarrow said:

AC43 said:

Gojira said:

J4CKO said:

Totally missing the point saying they werent very good, it didnt matter as it was the eighties and most cars were, objectively, crap.

This...

Yep it is a steaming pile compared to -any- modern motor, but compared to the old BL rubbish I was driving at the time ( a ten-year-old Maxi!), it was deeply amazing

would I buy it now? No way, but I can understand exactly why someone would pay the asking price for it

I drove one when my DD was either a Sud or a 33 and was pleasantly surprised. Up to that point the only Fords I'd tried were Mk 3 & Mk 4 Cortina's a couple of pretty dire Capris whose engineering was pretty much 1960's.

To my surprise the XR2 was actually quite fun to bomb about in. I guess ford had begun to look forward at that point and as a result weren't so far off the pace any more.

Indeed its funny how extreme people's views are on these old Fords. Either rose tinted spectacles at the one end or over critical at the other. The fact is that none of the XR fords from this era ever topped their class. Sorry they didn't. I've still got many of the old road tests from back then. The XR3 always came second to the Golf GTI and the XR2 Mk2 was comprehensively beaten by the 205 GTI and the R5 GT Turbo.

However, they were no where near as bad as people make out either. In the late 90s I bought a brand new Punto 1.2 16 valve Sporting. It only had 86 BHP but was pretty useful on a backroad. Frequently on my way home from work, which involved a blast down a winding Dorset bumpy back road I would encounter a then 11-12 year old XR2 and honestly, I couldn't shake him off, despite going pretty much as fast as I dared on a narrow bumpy back road. Sure he had a bit more straight line speed, but the XR2 was pretty handy on a narrow bumpy back road.

I'd love one of these now tbh, if they weren't so expensive. Back to basics motoring, light kerbweight, sensible sized wheels and reasonable ride quality. In fact cars like this show where modern cars are lacking a sense of every day fun, quite honestly.

Edited by greenarrow on Sunday 3rd March 15:39

Edited by greenarrow on Sunday 3rd March 15:43

Totally agree. A young lad got a second- (or third-, fourth- or fifth-) hand RS turbo because they couldn’t afford a Cossie, they got an old XR3i if they couldn’t afford an RS Turbo and they got an XR2 if they could stretch to an escort xr3.

None of them were ever the best in class for power, handling or “specialness”, but they stood out against a sea of Fiesta Populars and mini metros, appealed as cheap fun motoring and were a fiddle to work on.

Competition was a Golf GTi (so expensive to buy and insure that only *actual* yuppies could get one on the road under the age of 30), a Renault 5 (quick, nimble, unreliable and built like a wet Gaulloise packet), the Peugeot 205gti (great car, pricey to buy, very expensive to insure and parts a nightmare from France)...or what? No one ever wanted an Astra, aside from as a wreck to nick the 16v engine out of. What else could a teen reasonably lust after in terms of a car to pull birds at the local cinema complex car park back in the late 80s/early 90s? A Maestro Turbo?

Of course, in the pantheon of great classic cars, no Ford this side of a Cosworth, an RS200 or a GT40 really tops any table, but in terms of what was attainable to the masses and therefore desirable to many, a “fast” Ford hatchback had pull. Of course, as the Japanese started to dominate WRC with their celicas, then Lancer Evolutions and Imprezas, even the mythical Japanese exotica started to filter in, but I’d say until about 1995, these were the blue collar heroes that could hang on to far priced stuff on a back road.

[RammyMP]

Found an old photo of mine after a lapse of concentration!