Escort Cosworth??

[Markallain]

I sold my Cossie to get the R. It was a difficult decision and in a way I regret it. It was in pretty much mint condition and had done 26K.

One of the things which began to annoy me is that certain parts are now unavailable. Keeping it in original condition became time consuming and expensive. Remember spending ages trying to replace the interior clock unit which often fail.

But I'd definately have one in my top ten garage without question

[FiftyPence]

It seems the Cosworth has 300bhp, is that right?

Thats more than the R and it had 4 wheel drive too, admittedly the R is a nice modern car which would give less reliability issues than a decade old Cosworth.

Edit Found it actually had approx 227bhp so i think you made the right choice to get the R

[Markallain]

Probably also worth pointing out there were two versions of the Cossie - large and small turbo.

I'm sure you'll agree Andy that bhp isn't the only consideration. IMHO the the R can't match the Cossie in certain areas.

Be interested to know what Moschops thinks when he comes along!

[activa]

[ QUOTE ]

Ever driven a GTIR?

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In all honesty,no!

However,the Celica GT4 gets raved about in the same way as the Sunny by certain minorities and is pretty much the same kind of machine(IMO).I test drove a few earlier this year to see what the fuss was about and I still can't.

It was a complete let down.Crap interior,quality,power delivery,handling,sound,steering,shall I go on?

If,and it's a big if,you can tell me the GTIR is a completely different beast in these departments then I'll reserve judgement 'til someone I know buys one and I get a drive.

It wasn't the driving experience that I was originally commenting on though,it was the fact they they look Chav and I still stand by that opinion.

I'm sure the Escort Cos(that this post was about in the first place)isn't the be all and end all in performance motoring,far from it,but I would deffo rather spend 15k on that than cut the corner and spend 5k on the Sunny!

[Cris]

We all have our own opinions. I would never buy a Escort Cos because I don't think that it is dynamically as good as a GTIR and it costs three times as much.

I like the looks of the GTIR. I also quite like the look of the Cossie (I'm keen on all of the rally reps to be honest). BUT I think that nothing shouts Chav more than a tarted up Escort. So many Escorts have been made into (bad) Cossie reps that it's impossible to drive past a burger drive though without seeing one. People have started copying the GTIR bonnet vent but the same is true on of the Cossie whale tail or the Scooby snorkle or the Evo vent.......

The reason for my post was to point out an under-rated car (only 70 sold in the UK). Until the world became aware of Skylines people though the idea of a performance Nissan as a joke (Z cars aside). I'd imagine that if they releasted an equivalent now for £20k odd they'd sell like hotcakes.

I'd quite like you to go and buy a Cossie. Then the price of GTIRs will be nice and cheap for when I buy my next one. You can maintian (what I see as being) the stupidly inflated value of Cossies. I wouldn't pay £10k for one, never mind £15k. I could get a very nice Skyline for that much.

Also depends which GT4 you drove. The ST205 is quite nice but too heavy. The earlier cars (ST185) I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Either version would be slower than a GTIR in a straight line too.

PS If you like the Ford Cossie thing can I suggest the Sierra Minker to you. Should be cheap as chips now and were seriously powerful for the time.

http://www.area51.org.uk/projectcar/minkerk1.htm

[activa]

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Also depends which GT4 you drove. The ST205 is quite nice but too heavy. The earlier cars (ST185) I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Either version would be slower than a GTIR in a straight line too.

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The Celicas I drove were the later model(95/96)which I seem to remember were advertised as ST205's but they have 240bhp if I'm not mistaken.Something to do with regulations(?)I seem to recall.

Anyway,without refering to book figures they can't be that much slower than the Sunny and if you read my post it wasn't just the performance that was a let down,it was basically everything about the car that was uninspiring.

I'm not so much of a Cossie fan as you may think but I do admire what Cosworth engineering have done with Fords right from the early days of the BDA MK.1 Escort.I don't think we can deny they are a serious tuning company and thats one of the reasons I think Escort Cossies have held their value so well.

[rhyds]

Cosworth even had a hand in sorting out the of lotus/ford twin cam, brilliant company

[Cris]

I'm sure that's exactly why Cossie's hold their value. Reputation is everything for second hand values. That's why RX-7s are dirt cheap and 968s are (relatively) very expensive.

I must admit that I'm not a big fan of the Pinto block in the Cossies though. Cosworth did some good work in sorting out the design, but it's still an old heavy engine. I think that the Minker engine is a Cosworth engine originally (like all the 2.9 V6s) as a side point.

Much prefer a nice SR20 myself (say SR20VE 20V or SR20VET) but I do hear good things about the later Zetecs and Duratecs.