Proudly presenting my 400th car

[wuvvum]

I've just got home from picking up this beauty, which has the dubious honour of being the 400th car I've owned.

 

 

Sorry about the crap photo - it was taken in the slightly less than picturesque surroundings of a Texaco forecourt in Wickford, but darkness was starting to fall so I thought I'd get a snap while I could.

 

As you can see, it's a Sierra estate. It's actually an H reg 2.0i Ghia auto. Being a late-ish Ghia with several option boxes ticked, it's quite well specced as Sierras go - electric windows all round, electric mirrors, front fogs, ABS, aircon (needs gas), transmission oil cooler (GR9 4 towing), and those funky little rubber bulbs to inflate the lumbar support in the front seats. Still only a manual sunroof though (which tilts up OK, but seemed a little reluctant to slide, so I didn't force it).

 

It drove home fine, although the engine (twin cam rather than Pinto) is in dire need of a service and tune-up. Still rolled along happily enough at A12 speeds though, and didn't do too badly on pez either. It's been a long while since I drove a Sierra, so I'd forgotten what they were like - they do feel slightly old-fashioned next to a Mondeo, but I actually prefer the way they drive. The auto 'box isn't too bad either, and is quite sensibly geared, although kickdown isn't the most responsive I've come across (from my limited experience with older Ford autos this seems to be something of a character trait).

 

It isn't perfect - apart from the need for a service, it does have odd bits of rust on the body, and the radio doesn't seem to do much - but it's not a bad old thing overall and I think with a wash and polish it should clean up quite well. It's got test to the end of January too. I'll take some more pictures over the weekend once I've had a chance to clean it up a bit, but for now I'm enjoying being an OMG RWD OSF owner for the first time in a while.

[Negative Creep]

As you can see, it's a Sierra estate.

 

 

Due to the picture size, I can't

[RobT]

Nice! That's pretty much the same car (estate and Ghia) that I wanted to buy last year, but I strugged to find anything decent for sub-£800, hence buying the BX for half the money instead.

 

Be interesting to see how you get on with it Dave. Is the auto box a bit ponderous in those?

[wuvvum]

The autobox isn't too bad - like I say, kickdown isn't the best (it's happy enough to shift down one gear, but if you want it to drop two ratios you have to use the stick), but under normal driving conditions changes are snappy enough, and shift points seem quite well chosen - there weren't many times when it felt like it was in the wrong gear.

 

Ooh, ooh, ooh, I forgot to mention it has headlight wipers, which both work . And it was a heck of a lot less than £800...

[RobT]

I did see some cheap ones advertised, but not like that one with all the trimmings. Good colour too

 

How much then? Go on, tell us..!

[garycox]

I like that, looks good! It reminds me of the Carlton of Rust.

 

I think I still prefer the Carlton though, that was an ace drive (admittedly I've not driven a Sierra).

[Burnside]

Good luck with you new set of wheels. Haven't seen an estate in a while round my way. Always liked Sierras but for some reason have never owned one yet. Three of my family have owned Sierras when I was a kid though. A MK1 Y reg 2.0 Sierra hatch got smashed up 3 times! But it survied them all. A E reg Sierra 1.8L Sapphire that was a company car that towed alot of caravans as he was a salesmen for a new an used dealer. An the best one was my Grandads old company car. A G reg 2.0 Sierra LX hatch went 3 times round the clock remenber it have a proper brick in car telephone too.

[Lord Sterling]

These Sierras are geat. I used to have an 89' 2.0 Ghia saloon, it was a manual. Not driven a sierra auto though I'd imagine its not far off the Granada which I have driven in auto form (though that was a 2.9)

[wuvvum]

This is my fourth Sierra but my first estate. I had two 1.8 hatchbacks - one a late Pinto, the other an early CVH - neither of which I really did much with. The only one I ever really drove any distance in before this one was the A-reg 1.6 base (complete with dangly mirrors) that I owned in 2001 - pretty much the complete opposite end of the Sierra scale. So it's nice to have a go in a posh one.

 

It's not dissimilar to the Carlton to drive - the Carlton was more refined and had a more solid feel to it, but the Sierra feels more "chuckable" - both are pretty enjoyable in their separate ways, and certainly more fun IMHO than a Mondeo / Insignia.

 

It was pretty cheap for a T&T'd Sierra - the seller had undersold it if anything, putting too much emphasis on the bad points (including a "scratch on the OSF wing" which I assumed would be a fugging great scrape but in fact is about 3" long) and not listing all the extras the car has, or the fact that it has a towbar. Still, I ain't complainin'... The poor chap has replaced it with a Xsara Picasso, which has already started giving him grief.

[Split_Pin]

Good grief, I've only owned 1% of your number of cars!

When I saw it I hoped it would have the pump-up seats option! I remember my schoolfriend's dad had a very similar Ghia estate in metallic green J768vfs and we all thought the seats were brilliant!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Top purchaseage, as always!

 

The DOHC engine is somewhat prone to OMG HGF if neglected. I'd be changing the coolant for peace of mind, unless of course you've got any history that indicates it's been done recently.

[trigger]

Trigger approves of this purchase.

 

[peter9000uk]

Thought that was my old one until you mentioned auto and H reg! mine was manual & K reg with colour coded bumpers. Great car and very reasonable on fuel too. I sold it with 160k on it and never had a wiff of HGF. It is now living out its days on a shoot in Hampshire somewhere

[nigel bickle]

Ace. A vanishing breed.

 

Keeper or seller?

[cort16]

Good work wuvvzles although you really should have bought the Sierra then your Rover 400 for extra 400th car points.

[bigstraight6]

Good save Wuv's, that's a much nicer spec than the Sierra Ghia estate I briefly owned about 17 years ago, that was an 'A' reg 2.3 auto which was a hopeless device, it used both fuel and engine oil at alarming rates

[wuvvum]

Well I drove the old crate into work today, and apart from the idle being a bit irregular it ran just peachy, with no signs of overheatage or other misbehaviour. I ran it through a cheap Tesco car wash on the way home, and it looks like it'll clean up pretty well - it's never going to be concourse, but it'll be a good ten yard car. As an added bonus, having driven it in bright sunlight for the first time I am pleased to report that it has the Quickclear heated front screen fitted. I'm going to have to wait for some damp weather to see if any of it works, or if it'll be like my old Mondeo which had three working wires, two of them on the passenger side.

 

I'm going to run a bottle of Redex through it to start with, then next weekend I'll treat it to a new set of plugs and see whether that improves the running. It's still perfectly useable as it is though - a bit tappety, but then it wouldn't be an old Ford if it wasn't. It's overdue an oil change, too, which might help quieten things down. Anyone know what grade of oil twin cams are supposed to take?

[Shep Shepherd]

Looks like you've bagged yourself a nice car there

[purplebargeken]

Fab buy! I bought a Y Crystal Green 1.6L hatch in 1986, geewhizz did it fly for a 1.6. ELV 76Y - probably scrap now. The load space was huge. It was slightly wandery in high winds but other than that is was bloody good.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Oil wise, I don't think they're very sensitive. I seem to remember (but I may be wrong) 10w-30 was recommended. Would probably go with 10w-40.

 

The head gasket thing is by no means ubiquitous- seems to only happen as a result of chronic neglect and/or abuse. Chances are you'll be fine.

[oldford]

Nice to see another Sierra on the site.