RE: Ford Sierra 1.6 Laser | Spotted
Discussion
I've just been talking to a friend whose Ford/Vauxhall experience is all post 1995 so based on the Mondeo and the Vectra. They struggled to believe me when I say that Ford made absolute steaming s
ts of cars for 15+ years and Vauxhall absolutely smashed it through the 80s and 90s, given the complete reversal from the late 90s onwards.
These were crap cars from the off, with poor quality mechanicals, weak power outputs, noisy, poor riding, poor handling, and they all looked knackered by the time they were three years old. I drove a lot of mainstream cars that were around from the mid 90s onwards (so a lot of late 80s onwards dross) and besides the Fiesta, which was a good little car, they were all absolute crap.
Fortunately they almost all vanished before they were 10 years old - a Sierra was already getting to be a rare sight by 2000 despite the youngest being only 6 years old, a testament to what piles of crap they were.
I remember the first time I drove a Mondeo I couldn't believe that FORD made this car, FORD!!!!
This car needs to be preserved so people can drive it and howl with laughter that it was something made on the right side of the iron curtain that people actually bought. You drive one now and it's laugh out loud bad, but you drive a 405 or a Cav Mk2/3 or pretty much any of it's competitors and it just feels like a somewhat more st version of a modern car.
ts of cars for 15+ years and Vauxhall absolutely smashed it through the 80s and 90s, given the complete reversal from the late 90s onwards.These were crap cars from the off, with poor quality mechanicals, weak power outputs, noisy, poor riding, poor handling, and they all looked knackered by the time they were three years old. I drove a lot of mainstream cars that were around from the mid 90s onwards (so a lot of late 80s onwards dross) and besides the Fiesta, which was a good little car, they were all absolute crap.
Fortunately they almost all vanished before they were 10 years old - a Sierra was already getting to be a rare sight by 2000 despite the youngest being only 6 years old, a testament to what piles of crap they were.
I remember the first time I drove a Mondeo I couldn't believe that FORD made this car, FORD!!!!
This car needs to be preserved so people can drive it and howl with laughter that it was something made on the right side of the iron curtain that people actually bought. You drive one now and it's laugh out loud bad, but you drive a 405 or a Cav Mk2/3 or pretty much any of it's competitors and it just feels like a somewhat more s
t version of a modern car.Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 23 November 18:44
w824gb3 said:
The Sierra wasn't just a Cortina in drag. It had irs instead of a live axle. In the day the higher spec ones were much covetted. I had an 86 Cav at the time and was always proud that it's 1.6 had 90hp compared to the Ford's 75. That said the Cav was an unreliable heap that needed a new camshaft every 5 mins. I sold it and bought another Ford.
Yep. A good deal different. My gramp had a couple of sierras having previously swore he would never have one because the styling was so far removed from the cortina. CVH was ste (1.8). Pinto was ok if dated. As for the cavalier question iirc the top end on the SOHC Vauxhall lump liked to let you know it was there. I’m sure a few owners who knew there way round a tool box looked at hydraulic lifters with some scorn back in the day. After all if your Pinto was rattly then tighten up up the followers. dontlookdown said:
Besides, my Dad had an actual Mark 2 Cavalier in the mid 80s and that was still a better car than my mate's dad's Sierra. Even though I was still too young to drive either of them
My Dad had a Mk2 Cavalier 1.6. FWD was seen as a plus back then. It appeared to be about as fast as my cousin's Sierra 1.8 at the time (it was the heady days of the 80s. Did speed limits apply back then?)I drove the MK2 a few times (on L plates) before he swapped it for a Mk3 1.6 which, although quite comfortable, gadget-laden and refined, with its unleaded engine, was very sluggish in comparison and didn't handle very well.
stickleback123 said:
I've just been talking to a friend whose Ford/Vauxhall experience is all post 1995 so based on the Mondeo and the Vectra. They struggled to believe me when I say that Ford made absolute steaming sts of cars for 15+ years and Vauxhall absolutely smashed it through the 80s and 90s, given the complete reversal from the late 90s onwards.
These were crap cars from the off, with poor quality mechanicals, weak power outputs, noisy, poor riding, poor handling, and they all looked knackered by the time they were three years old. I drove a lot of mainstream cars from the mid 90s onwards and besides the Fiesta, which was a good little car, they were all absolute crap.
Fortunately they almost all vanished before they were 10 years old - a Sierra was already getting to be a rare sight by 2000 despite the youngest being only 6 years old, a testament to what piles of crap they were.
I remember the first time I drove a Mondeo I couldn't believe that FORD made this car, FORD!!!!
This car needs to be preserved so people can drive it and howl with laughter that it was something made on the right side of the iron curtain that people actually bought. You drive one now and it's laugh out loud bad, but you drive a 405 or a Cav Mk2/3 or pretty much any of it's competitors and it just feels like a somewhat more st version of a modern car.
I drove a friend's Sierra Sapphire in the late 90s. It must have been less than 10 years old, but was baggy and everything felt loose. Bloody awful. A Mondeo was VASTLY better.ts of cars for 15+ years and Vauxhall absolutely smashed it through the 80s and 90s, given the complete reversal from the late 90s onwards.These were crap cars from the off, with poor quality mechanicals, weak power outputs, noisy, poor riding, poor handling, and they all looked knackered by the time they were three years old. I drove a lot of mainstream cars from the mid 90s onwards and besides the Fiesta, which was a good little car, they were all absolute crap.
Fortunately they almost all vanished before they were 10 years old - a Sierra was already getting to be a rare sight by 2000 despite the youngest being only 6 years old, a testament to what piles of crap they were.
I remember the first time I drove a Mondeo I couldn't believe that FORD made this car, FORD!!!!
This car needs to be preserved so people can drive it and howl with laughter that it was something made on the right side of the iron curtain that people actually bought. You drive one now and it's laugh out loud bad, but you drive a 405 or a Cav Mk2/3 or pretty much any of it's competitors and it just feels like a somewhat more s
t version of a modern car.Edited by stickleback123 on Tuesday 23 November 18:37
MC Bodge said:
I drove a friend's Sierra Sapphire in the late 90s. It must have been less than 10 years old, but was baggy and everything felt loose. Bloody awful. A Mondeo was VASTLY better.
I can remember to this day my genuine and deep felt astonishment the first time I drove a Mondeo. It was a mid spec hire car with very few miles on the clock, and it was almost impossible to believe the same company who insulted the market with the likes of the Mk5 Escort and the Sierra could make a car like this.stickleback123 said:
MC Bodge said:
I drove a friend's Sierra Sapphire in the late 90s. It must have been less than 10 years old, but was baggy and everything felt loose. Bloody awful. A Mondeo was VASTLY better.
I can remember to this day my genuine and deep felt astonishment the first time I drove a Mondeo. It was a mid spec hire car with very few miles on the clock, and it was almost impossible to believe the same company who insulted the market with the likes of the Mk5 Escort and the Sierra could make a car like this.MC Bodge said:
stickleback123 said:
MC Bodge said:
I drove a friend's Sierra Sapphire in the late 90s. It must have been less than 10 years old, but was baggy and everything felt loose. Bloody awful. A Mondeo was VASTLY better.
I can remember to this day my genuine and deep felt astonishment the first time I drove a Mondeo. It was a mid spec hire car with very few miles on the clock, and it was almost impossible to believe the same company who insulted the market with the likes of the Mk5 Escort and the Sierra could make a car like this.Ford FINALLY started to, you know, engineer things.
davidc1 said:
I saw an A reg estate in white recently on the A21 bypass. A 2.3 ghia.with the double headlights and the pepperpots alloys.
Looked so tiny.
Cant be many of those left!
Any 2.3 Cortina or Sierra is a fantastic bit of kit. A mainstream car with a V6 Engine was always going to be a winner Looked so tiny.
Cant be many of those left!
stickleback123 said:
MC Bodge said:
I drove a friend's Sierra Sapphire in the late 90s. It must have been less than 10 years old, but was baggy and everything felt loose. Bloody awful. A Mondeo was VASTLY better.
I can remember to this day my genuine and deep felt astonishment the first time I drove a Mondeo. It was a mid spec hire car with very few miles on the clock, and it was almost impossible to believe the same company who insulted the market with the likes of the Mk5 Escort and the Sierra could make a car like this.I did eventually really fall for the Mondeo a few years later though, and I ran a couple as sheds(a 1994 model 1.8LX and a 2000 model V6 Ghia X). I absolutely loved the 3 years I had in the V6 Ghia X, and I used it as a shed to run alongside my Cerbera(anyone who uses a TVR as their only car needs their head looking at reliability wise for me!).
Edited by cerb4.5lee on Tuesday 23 November 20:41
MC Bodge said:
dontlookdown said:
Besides, my Dad had an actual Mark 2 Cavalier in the mid 80s and that was still a better car than my mate's dad's Sierra. Even though I was still too young to drive either of them
My Dad had a Mk2 Cavalier 1.6. FWD was seen as a plus back then. It appeared to be about as fast as my cousin's Sierra 1.8 at the time (it was the heady days of the 80s. Did speed limits apply back then?)I drove the MK2 a few times (on L plates) before he swapped it for a Mk3 1.6 which, although quite comfortable, gadget-laden and refined, with its unleaded engine, was very sluggish in comparison and didn't handle very well.
And the Sierra's I drove? Yuk, it was amazing how then the Mondeo came along and made the Mk3 Cavalier seem utterly dull, Ford just utterly reversed everything with the Mondeo and Focus.
w824gb3 said:
The Sierra wasn't just a Cortina in drag. It had irs instead of a live axle. In the day the higher spec ones were much covetted. I had an 86 Cav at the time and was always proud that it's 1.6 had 90hp compared to the Ford's 75. That said the Cav was an unreliable heap that needed a new camshaft every 5 mins. I sold it and bought another Ford.
Yep, independent rear suspension on the Sierra (vs a torsion beam on the Cavalier) and the Sierra had a completely different front suspension set up to the Cortina, and better brakes, it was only engines and gearboxes that got carried over and those gearboxes had a superb shift quality, much better than anything modern imo. I always preferred the Vauxhall engines as they were more revvy and willing but preferred the rear drive handling of the Sierra as all the Cavaliers I drove didn't seem to do handling, just lots of understeer.
stickleback123 said:
MC Bodge said:
I drove a friend's Sierra Sapphire in the late 90s. It must have been less than 10 years old, but was baggy and everything felt loose. Bloody awful. A Mondeo was VASTLY better.
I can remember to this day my genuine and deep felt astonishment the first time I drove a Mondeo. It was a mid spec hire car with very few miles on the clock, and it was almost impossible to believe the same company who insulted the market with the likes of the Mk5 Escort and the Sierra could make a car like this.My first RWD car at 18 in the late 90's was a Sierra 2.0iS (D400ART) which at the time i thought was the dogs as most of my mates were all pottering about in sub 1600cc fwd hatches and it was sideways at any given opportunity till it threw a rod out the block a few months later so it was replaced with a 1.6GL which was dog slow in comparison.
A few other Sierras passed through my hands in my early 20's, a 2.0i Sapphire Ghia in both pinto and DOHC, Sapphire 2.0 GLSi with the DOHC, a late 2.0 LX hatch with the carb fed DOHC and I was horrible to that car. People say the pinto was the better engine but in I found the twin cam could take some serious abuse.
After selling the late twin cam Sapphire Ghia which was a low mileage mint car I bought my first BMW E30, a 325i manual with an LSD and recaros when I was 22 that was a revelation so much so that I still own a similar spec car to this day.
A few other Sierras passed through my hands in my early 20's, a 2.0i Sapphire Ghia in both pinto and DOHC, Sapphire 2.0 GLSi with the DOHC, a late 2.0 LX hatch with the carb fed DOHC and I was horrible to that car. People say the pinto was the better engine but in I found the twin cam could take some serious abuse.
After selling the late twin cam Sapphire Ghia which was a low mileage mint car I bought my first BMW E30, a 325i manual with an LSD and recaros when I was 22 that was a revelation so much so that I still own a similar spec car to this day.
My old man had a 1.6 Ghia from the front looks just the same as this left hooker model in the UK Even the L had a rear wash wipe think only the base 1.3 didn't come with 1 ,my oldmans got smacked up the arse in Leeds town centre by a council wagon car was a Wright off ,6 months or so later house phone goes a bloke on the phone has looked up our name in the phone directory and asks the old man if milege is genuine etc as it's very low for 5 or 6 years old car dad says ( milege is genuine I only do so many miles a day etc but I had the car written off earlier in the year it was a Wright mess so my insurance paid me out) chap on the phone had just bought it funnily enough few months later I see it parked outside Wakefield express offices , over the next few years it was often scene by members of the family.
My Dad had a 1.6L as a company car...even then I didn't think it was great.
Engine was unrefined
Gear change notchy
Real poverty spec ( I guess to be expected as a humble L vs the GL / Ghia etc.) - the material on the seats was rough, no rear headrests or armrest, windy windows, manual mirrors
Later he got a Rover 214SLi and it felt like an Merc S class in comparison!
Engine was unrefined
Gear change notchy
Real poverty spec ( I guess to be expected as a humble L vs the GL / Ghia etc.) - the material on the seats was rough, no rear headrests or armrest, windy windows, manual mirrors
Later he got a Rover 214SLi and it felt like an Merc S class in comparison!
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