RE: Ford Sierra 1.6 Laser | Spotted
Discussion
I had the last of these as my first car - 1991/J, facelift, also in silver, still with the wheezing 1.6 Pinto rather than the CVH that was being rolled out at the time. It was so basic, manual sunroof was about the only option - not even central locking. Learnt a lot with that car - far better than a tiny Fiesta and the same cost to insure. And RWD of course. Ended up being stripped for bits after a prang, shame because the shell had so little rust (c. 2007). I still have the front number plate in my garage.
Twoshoe said:
I had an almost identical one of these for a while as a stop-gap. It was about as interesting as porridge, and had a strange damp/musty smell that I could never diagnose, but it was very reliable iirc.
I had the heater matrix let go in my XR4x4...and that soaked all the footwell carpets with water. So maybe something similar had happened to the one you had?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 !
When they revised the Laser on a C plate you could have the 1.8 engine for the same money as the 1600……or even go for a 2-litreHe 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 !
cerb4.5lee said:
Twoshoe said:
I had an almost identical one of these for a while as a stop-gap. It was about as interesting as porridge, and had a strange damp/musty smell that I could never diagnose, but it was very reliable iirc.
I had the heater matrix let go in my XR4x4...and that soaked all the footwell carpets with water. So maybe something similar had happened to the one you had?One of the Sierras I had was a 1.8 Laser though it wasn't a 1.8 for very long, I swapped the horrible cvh engine for a tuned 2.8 v6 with the uprated v6 gearbox, fitted Spax adjustable suspension, big brakes from a Mondeo and polybushed the anti roll bars but left it looking fairly standard. It was a lot of fun that car, very tail happy, but fun. 
Twoshoe said:
cerb4.5lee said:
Twoshoe said:
I had an almost identical one of these for a while as a stop-gap. It was about as interesting as porridge, and had a strange damp/musty smell that I could never diagnose, but it was very reliable iirc.
I had the heater matrix let go in my XR4x4...and that soaked all the footwell carpets with water. So maybe something similar had happened to the one you had?njw1 said:
Twoshoe said:
cerb4.5lee said:
Twoshoe said:
I had an almost identical one of these for a while as a stop-gap. It was about as interesting as porridge, and had a strange damp/musty smell that I could never diagnose, but it was very reliable iirc.
I had the heater matrix let go in my XR4x4...and that soaked all the footwell carpets with water. So maybe something similar had happened to the one you had?I even got a different set of rear lights from a scrap yard...and they still did it! Plus I had water in the spare wheel well as well. I'm not quite sure why I love Fords so much to be fair!
I also had clutch cables snap on me left, right and centre too. Despite carrying over a lot of mechanical bits from the Cortina, the Sierra felt a much more modern car to drive.
Ford vastly improved the NVH characteristics, and despite the Pinto being a generally wheezy and rough old lump the Sierra was a comfy and quiet cruiser, with a decent ride.
I can't get too excited about a boggo 1.6 but it is still strangely appealing. You would want the 5 speed box though.
Ford vastly improved the NVH characteristics, and despite the Pinto being a generally wheezy and rough old lump the Sierra was a comfy and quiet cruiser, with a decent ride.
I can't get too excited about a boggo 1.6 but it is still strangely appealing. You would want the 5 speed box though.
Agent57 said:
Not sure why someone would import a LHD Sierra from Belgium in 2020?
My nerdometer clocked that there was no rear wiper either which IIRC a U.K. one would have.
Interesting but nothing more than a curiosity.
Probably because it was really cheap in Belgium and they think they can ride the wave of daft 'classic' car prices in the UK and make a few quid.My nerdometer clocked that there was no rear wiper either which IIRC a U.K. one would have.
Interesting but nothing more than a curiosity.
I personally always thought the Sierra was rubbish compared to the Mk2 Cav, having had mates with the former and I owned countless of the latter,
Very slightly impressive at the time, due to the 'revolutionary' styling...until you realised that it was basically just a Cortina underneath, including the dreadful pinto engine which sounded awful and struggled to go beyond 100k (especially with only 4 gears). Ah well those were the days I suppose.
Somehow they didn't rust quite as comprehensively as the Cortina did, but that really isn't saying much.
As others have said, amazing that Ford got away with churning out such garbage in that era.
Not much wrong with them these days however.
Somehow they didn't rust quite as comprehensively as the Cortina did, but that really isn't saying much.
As others have said, amazing that Ford got away with churning out such garbage in that era.
Not much wrong with them these days however.
Agent57 said:
Not sure why someone would import a LHD Sierra from Belgium in 2020?
My nerdometer clocked that there was no rear wiper either which IIRC a U.K. one would have.
Interesting but nothing more than a curiosity.
Because they'd tried to flog it for stupid money in Belgium and had no luck - perhaps they thought we're more gullible over here...My nerdometer clocked that there was no rear wiper either which IIRC a U.K. one would have.
Interesting but nothing more than a curiosity.
acme said:
Puddenchucker said:
Not as futuristic as the concept:
Is that still on show at Beaulieu Motor Museum does anyone know, was for years?It may be more futuristic than the car that made it to production but it's remarkably similar. Take off the spats over the rear wheels and put some vents in the front bumper and it would be pretty much identical.
Bloke at work had a last-of-the-line K plate Sierra Azura.
It looked great. Think it had loads of kit too as they threw the kitchen sink at them to get rid of stock at cheap prices.
Think they brought the Laser tag back in G reg. for a while with a bit more kit to clear the decks before the final, final facelift.
https://www.sierralaserclinic.com/
....is nothing to do with cars
It looked great. Think it had loads of kit too as they threw the kitchen sink at them to get rid of stock at cheap prices.
Think they brought the Laser tag back in G reg. for a while with a bit more kit to clear the decks before the final, final facelift.
https://www.sierralaserclinic.com/
....is nothing to do with cars
We had a 1983 1.6L that cost us just more than that new. It was a good family car and lasted 10 years before being replaced with a 1.8 Sapphire GLX.
I remember commuting into York and parking in roughly the same spot each day, in the evening there was almost always a 1.3 3 door base model parked beside ours, that was the real budget end.
The Azure's were a special aimed at getting rid of engines that didn't meet the new emissions specs that came in in the early 90s. There was a grace period and Ford launched the Azure to shift them. I drove a few as hire cars (generally 1.8l), one day my boss queried why my hire car was a 1.8 and not a 1.6 (which my grade qualified me for . . my response was that they are all the same price.
I remember commuting into York and parking in roughly the same spot each day, in the evening there was almost always a 1.3 3 door base model parked beside ours, that was the real budget end.
The Azure's were a special aimed at getting rid of engines that didn't meet the new emissions specs that came in in the early 90s. There was a grace period and Ford launched the Azure to shift them. I drove a few as hire cars (generally 1.8l), one day my boss queried why my hire car was a 1.8 and not a 1.6 (which my grade qualified me for . . my response was that they are all the same price.
IJWS15 said:
The Azure's were a special aimed at getting rid of engines that didn't meet the new emissions specs that came in in the early 90s.
The Pinto had entirely disappeared from the line up towards the end of the Sierra's life, with the 1.6 in the end becoming a single point injected CVH lump, the same as the 1.8 had been for some time. The 2.0 Pinto had been ditched years previously for the DOHC (but still 8 valve) i4 unit. In the Sierra, the CVH was no more powerful than the equivalent capacity Pinto, certainly wasn't any more refined, and where the Pinto would eat its cam and followers with skimped servicing, the CVH would do it by default.
I always thought it was a shame that the neither the Scorpio's 24v V6 or the Escort RS2000's 16v i4 ever found their way into Sierras, as both were developments of engines that were fitted as standard, and therefore any re-engineering work would have been very minimal.
The dealership I worked for pre-registered its last Azura, a blue 1.6, on a K plate, which sat in the showroom for the best part of a year with a gradually reducing screen price until someone bought it for a little over half the price a poverty spec Mondeo would have cost. It needed to be cheap though, as it felt stodgy, crude, harsh and generally primitive alongside a Mondeo.
Edited by Limpet on Tuesday 23 November 14:48
Callum43 said:
It was a challenge visually when new . Time has not been kind subsequently. Less said about the mechanicals the better . Makes you realise how right Vauxhall/ Opel got the Cavalier.
Yup. Had a summer job in the early 90s at Hertz. Rented lots of Sierras (mostly 1.8 and 2.0) and Mk2 Cavaliers. The Cavalier was just a much better car - better to drive, more agile, light positive controls, eager engines. The 1.6 Cav felt faster than the 1.8 Sierra and the 2.0 Cav was really quite quick by the standards of the time. Even the twin cam 2.0 Ford engines were wheezy, although better than the remarkably terrible CVH. The top spec Sierras (Ghia X?) had a fairly plush interior and a lot of kit for the time but that was their only advantage. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff