RE: Ford Sierra 1.6 Laser | Spotted

RE: Ford Sierra 1.6 Laser | Spotted

Author
Discussion

Six Potter

5,983 posts

213 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
Agent57 said:
Top of the range Sierras in RHD might have some nostalgic appeal.

The Sierra got better looking with each facelift.

The early low spec ones looked particularly naff with the grille.





As something retro and interesting to behold now I prefer the look of the earlier versions.

Limpet

6,309 posts

161 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
Petrolism said:
Someone with money to burn, please buy this and drive it to the crusher.
Not a collector's piece now, nor will it be in future. They were junk when new.
Good call. Otherwise someone will stick a gun to your head and force you to buy it, eh?

What a bizarre comment.

Track_Cit

537 posts

222 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
Limpet said:
Petrolism said:
Someone with money to burn, please buy this and drive it to the crusher.
Not a collector's piece now, nor will it be in future. They were junk when new.
Good call. Otherwise someone will stick a gun to your head and force you to buy it, eh?

What a bizarre comment.
I agree with him, it's an overpriced POS at £4k. Maybe £500 tops.

Limpet

6,309 posts

161 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
Track_Cit said:
Limpet said:
Petrolism said:
Someone with money to burn, please buy this and drive it to the crusher.
Not a collector's piece now, nor will it be in future. They were junk when new.
Good call. Otherwise someone will stick a gun to your head and force you to buy it, eh?

What a bizarre comment.
I agree with him, it's an overpriced POS at £4k. Maybe £500 tops.
That's not the same as saying it should be crushed though.

Track_Cit

537 posts

222 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
Limpet said:
Track_Cit said:
Limpet said:
Petrolism said:
Someone with money to burn, please buy this and drive it to the crusher.
Not a collector's piece now, nor will it be in future. They were junk when new.
Good call. Otherwise someone will stick a gun to your head and force you to buy it, eh?

What a bizarre comment.
I agree with him, it's an overpriced POS at £4k. Maybe £500 tops.
That's not the same as saying it should be crushed though.
Probably should be crushed too actually, it is likely to be more of a heavy polluter than modern cars and nobody got time for that. On that note it reminds me of those muppets who modify their sh*tbox diesels so they chuck out a load smoke and make a racket, those cars should be crushed too, preferebly with the owners still inside.

njw1

2,068 posts

111 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
Track_Cit said:
Probably should be crushed too actually, it is likely to be more of a heavy polluter than modern cars and nobody got time for that. On that note it reminds me of those muppets who modify their sh*tbox diesels so they chuck out a load smoke and make a racket, those cars should be crushed too, preferebly with the owners still inside.
I highly doubt it'll be a more heavy polluter than a modern car because it'll probably be barely used and wtf have smoky diesels got to do with an old Sierra?
All these negative comments, if this was an old Escort (which used the same engines and gearboxes as the Sierra) it probably wouldn't be praised high enough.
I thought everyone here was a fan of 'analogue' cars with a manual 'box and rwd and no driver aids..... winkbiggrin

w824gb3

257 posts

222 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
I'm old enough to remember these at launch and the faff ford made about the low cd factor. Then soon after tales of poor handling in crosswinds made ford fit the little ears behind the back doors to cure the issue. They started to get cred with the original xr4i complete with its chariots of fire theme tune tv advert. Then the Cossie and success in btcc. The later facelift cars when new were very quiet and refined for the day. I remember being very impressed when my mate took us from a drive in his dad's new 2.0GL in 88. When the Mondeo replaced it many reps were unhappy because it wasn't as comfortable.
Ford's low ball came with the MK3 fiesta and Mk5 escort. These were dire and the new zeta engines were not ready in time. Both were hastily re-engineered and when fitted with the late to the party 16v engines were actually very nice to drive. Ford learnt it's lesson. All subsequent models have been half decent to drive.

AC43

11,484 posts

208 months

Wednesday 24th November 2021
quotequote all
njw1 said:
Track_Cit said:
Probably should be crushed too actually, it is likely to be more of a heavy polluter than modern cars and nobody got time for that. On that note it reminds me of those muppets who modify their sh*tbox diesels so they chuck out a load smoke and make a racket, those cars should be crushed too, preferebly with the owners still inside.
I highly doubt it'll be a more heavy polluter than a modern car because it'll probably be barely used and wtf have smoky diesels got to do with an old Sierra?
All these negative comments, if this was an old Escort (which used the same engines and gearboxes as the Sierra) it probably wouldn't be praised high enough.
I thought everyone here was a fan of 'analogue' cars with a manual 'box and rwd and no driver aids..... winkbiggrin
Oh God, don't start on the Escorts.

People round me were obsessed by them because they saw Escorts in the RAC rally.

Shame they had a different engine, suspension, rear axle, shell, brakes, wheels, tyres etc etc etc from the road car.

Apart from maybe the one with an actual proper twin cam (in a Ford!), the road ones were really not very good at all.

coppice

8,605 posts

144 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
Heresy - but true. I had a couple of Mk 1s , a van and a GT. The van handled better than the GT... They were fine , fantastic gearchanges and far better ergonomics than most BL stuff. But in that category, the Chevette - just the normal 1300 job - was far nicer , the Golf (1100 or 1500 , no GTi then ) much more modern (great engine , hewn from solid feel , kart like handling but awful brakes ) and the Alfasud was on an entirely different level. Better brakes, ride, handling , grip , revvy and tuneful flat four , and 5 gears in many models .

s m

23,223 posts

203 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
w824gb3 said:
I'm old enough to remember these at launch and the faff ford made about the low cd factor. Then soon after tales of poor handling in crosswinds made ford fit the little ears behind the back doors to cure the issue. They started to get cred with the original xr4i complete with its chariots of fire theme tune tv advert. Then the Cossie and success in btcc. The later facelift cars when new were very quiet and refined for the day.
Neil Kinnock, the opposition leader, had an accident that was blamed on crosswind instability
The XR4i didn’t suffer from the issue as the twin spoiler provided a suitable ‘departure point’ for the airflow over the car that was lacking in the original cooking models until the ‘rabbit ear rubbers’

smilo996

2,787 posts

170 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
Augustus Windsock said:
Er I may be wrong of course but weren’t they made in Germany (Cologne?) as well for Europe?
I had a mate at work who only used to buy ones made in one of the locations (can’t remember which tbh) as they seemed to be built better and resisted the onset of ferrous oxide better (he was an engineer before becoming a cop so o bow to his greater knowledge…)
Indeed they were produced in Cologne. Also called the Ford Taunus for the Continent.

smilo996

2,787 posts

170 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
That engine looks very lonely in there. Fawd's embrionic first thoughts about a world car.
The mechanicals were all a bit ancient and preferrred the interior of the Cavalier tbh.
Had a Power Engineering XR4*4. Quite a giggle and in red it looked okay.

cerb4.5lee

30,560 posts

180 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
smilo996 said:
Had a Power Engineering XR4*4. Quite a giggle and in red it looked okay.
I'm always liked the XR4x4 in red too, and I used to see a red one quite a lot when I had mine.

renmure

4,242 posts

224 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
I was a student when the Sierra first appeared and wasn't much into cars back then. My main recollection was simply how different it looked compared to most other things at the time. Don't know if I'd say it looked futuristic but certainly different.

njw1

2,068 posts

111 months

Thursday 25th November 2021
quotequote all
smilo996 said:
Augustus Windsock said:
Er I may be wrong of course but weren’t they made in Germany (Cologne?) as well for Europe?
I had a mate at work who only used to buy ones made in one of the locations (can’t remember which tbh) as they seemed to be built better and resisted the onset of ferrous oxide better (he was an engineer before becoming a cop so o bow to his greater knowledge…)
Indeed they were produced in Cologne. Also called the Ford Taunus for the Continent.
I had a couple of British made XR4i's and they were rotten as pears, the later Colonge built ones I had were relatively rust free at the same age.

38911

764 posts

151 months

Friday 26th November 2021
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
3795mpower said:
Happy memories of my Dad’s repmobiles,
He had a string of these through the mid 80’s to early 90’s

As a young boy I would always have my head buried in a car
Brochure and we would always have fun correcting the salesmen
On their car specs !

I can tell you that a U.K spec Laser had a sunroof, rear wiper
And 5 speed box, so this truly is poverty spec at its peak !
I used to love looking through Ford brochures back then. I was quite shocked to see this one without a sunroof and a 5 speed box as well. I always thought that the Laser models did have a bit more kit over the bare bones spec cars.
Nope. In 1986 even the 2.0 Sierra was a 4 speeder. And in the UK the Laser didn’t have a sunroof as standard back then. Not even the GL had a sunroof!

cerb4.5lee

30,560 posts

180 months

Friday 26th November 2021
quotequote all
38911 said:
cerb4.5lee said:
3795mpower said:
Happy memories of my Dad’s repmobiles,
He had a string of these through the mid 80’s to early 90’s

As a young boy I would always have my head buried in a car
Brochure and we would always have fun correcting the salesmen
On their car specs !

I can tell you that a U.K spec Laser had a sunroof, rear wiper
And 5 speed box, so this truly is poverty spec at its peak !
I used to love looking through Ford brochures back then. I was quite shocked to see this one without a sunroof and a 5 speed box as well. I always thought that the Laser models did have a bit more kit over the bare bones spec cars.
Nope. In 1986 even the 2.0 Sierra was a 4 speeder. And in the UK the Laser didn’t have a sunroof as standard back then. Not even the GL had a sunroof!
It is mad because I remember my Dad's 1982(X reg) XR3 having a 5 speed box, so I thought that by 1986 a Sierra would've a 5 speed too to be fair.

Limpet

6,309 posts

161 months

Friday 26th November 2021
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
It is mad because I remember my Dad's 1982(X reg) XR3 having a 5 speed box, so I thought that by 1986 a Sierra would've a 5 speed too to be fair.
The 5 speed box was an option on a lot of the pre-facelift Sierras. It was also a straight swap with breakers yard bits if you were handy with the spanners.

I had a very early (83 Y plate) 1.6L which had a 5 speed box. No idea if it was converted or supplied like that from the factory.

Some years before that, my dad had owned a 1984 2.0 GL that had a 4 speed box.

cerb4.5lee

30,560 posts

180 months

Friday 26th November 2021
quotequote all
Limpet said:
The 5 speed box was an option on a lot of the pre-facelift Sierras. It was also a straight swap with breakers yard bits if you were handy with the spanners.

I had a very early (83 Y plate) 1.6L which had a 5 speed box. No idea if it was converted or supplied like that from the factory.

Some years before that, my dad had owned a 1984 2.0 GL that had a 4 speed box.
Thanks for this. thumbup

This thread certainly brings a lot of nostalgia back for me.


s m

23,223 posts

203 months

Friday 26th November 2021
quotequote all
38911 said:
cerb4.5lee said:
3795mpower said:
Happy memories of my Dad’s repmobiles,
He had a string of these through the mid 80’s to early 90’s

As a young boy I would always have my head buried in a car
Brochure and we would always have fun correcting the salesmen
On their car specs !

I can tell you that a U.K spec Laser had a sunroof, rear wiper
And 5 speed box, so this truly is poverty spec at its peak !
I used to love looking through Ford brochures back then. I was quite shocked to see this one without a sunroof and a 5 speed box as well. I always thought that the Laser models did have a bit more kit over the bare bones spec cars.
Nope. In 1986 even the 2.0 Sierra was a 4 speeder. And in the UK the Laser didn’t have a sunroof as standard back then. Not even the GL had a sunroof!
Not quite factually correct if you’re talking about UK models in ‘86

Initially the 2-litre models came with 4 ( standard ) or 5 speed ( option ) manuals. By 1986 ( some time before actually ) a 5-speeder was standard on a 2 litre - you could only get a 4-speeder on a 1.3 or 1.6 or 1.8 ( 5-speeder option on 1.6 and 1.8 )
Early C-plate GLs in 85 had the option of a sunroof, early 86 the sunroof became standard on a GL