The Ford Sierra is 30....

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

Lauched 30 years ago this month. I was at the '82 NEC to see it as well.

 

The originals with the flat wheeltrims still look incredibly modern.

[JohnDeere]

Back then it looked a bit too modern for many people, and was a bit too antique underneath for others. I remember sitting in one of the first in the Ford dealer with my dad in '82, as a nipper I remember being very impressed by the wraparound dash with all those warning lights. In the end dad bought a Cav instead, which was a much better car in pretty much every respect...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Cavalier had better engines for sure but they were a bit harsher riding and definitely noisier. The Sierra had rear trailing arms and was nothing like a Cortina underneath. It wasn't groundbreaking mechanically but it was up to date and they drove very well.

 

Thing is, the last Sierra I had was a Y plate 1.6GL with the 5 speed box. It would cruise comfortably at 85 and would average 30 odd mpg - are mid range cars that much better 30 years on?

[ashmicro]

Probably not, as they are so much heavier these days.

 

I always preferred the Montego to the Sierra. Not surprising coming from me!

[Negative Creep]

Compare it to the Cavalier, Bluebird, Carina etc that were on sale at the time and it really does look more advanced. I always preferred the looks of the mk.1 with the larger Ghia/XR4 headlights. Plus there is the quasi legendary base model with droopy mirrors and unpainted grille

[Morgan84]

Sierra;man and machine in perfect harmony

[RoadworkUK]

RIP to my Dads 2.0 Ghia, A794MEW. How regal I felt as a passenger, lording it up with my rear cigarette lighter, wood trim, adjustable headrests and centre arm rest, and how reassured Dad must have felt with his Graphic Information Module reporting vital signs from the myriad systems that made up the Sierra Ghia. God rest it and all the bits of zintek that he welded into the arches.

 

And bring back joystick balance control.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

For it's time it was as advanced as it needed to be. They always rode well although Ford softened the suspension up on the 87 facelift cars. In fact, nearly everthing Ford did to the Sierra spoilt it. The Emax nonsense, the dreaded I4 twin cam, the 1.8 CVH smoker and the shitetastic MT75 gearbox. All crap.

A Pinto with a well set up VV or 32/32 Weber plus a Type 9 is all you need. I had a 1987 1.6L Staffire E787HCK and I got rid of it after 4 months because it was so utterly dire to drive. It wouldn't pull a greased stick out of a Dog's arse and was still rubbish on fuel. I bought it at auction in 1990 for about £1800, sold it for £2000 and paid a grand for a really mint doom blue 1.6L which I think was A405NCR (A405 North Circular Road) - a vastly superior vehicle.

 

I had others as well. A 1983 1.6L (A914YGY) was my last and I weighed it in - damned fool because it was a solid Kraut built one and there was nothing wrong with it. It was just in the way, the MOT was out and I couldn't be arsed. Best one to drive was an utterly rotten black 2.0iS on a C plate, just went like a train and handled so well. I also bought an early facelift D plate 1.6L EState from Milton Keynes car auctions for £40 in 1007. Used it for two days to move house, drove it to the breakers and got £60 - it was very horrid though.

 

My old man had a 2.0GL as a company car back in the day, A708HFA. It did something like 125'000 miles in 2 years and had done almost 200'000 when it went to the auctions in 1987.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

(As a child) I once berated a complete stranger in a Sunderland car park for having a 2.0 GL while my dad had a 2.0 GLX.

 

Middling spec differences on company hatches was the middle class child's version of 'my dad could beat up your dad'.

[Negative Creep]

It's also sort of a special car for me, since it was launched a few weeks before i was born and was my favourite car as a child. My Dad had a couple through work, one of which being a blue estate with a car phone, which to me was space age technology. I remember trying to phone home one night but kept getting through to some random woman, since I didn't understand the concept of area codes. Later on I got myself a 1.8 LX estate in red (well, varying shades of pink) which took massive abuse yet utterly refused to go wrong in any way. The load area was massive, which proved useful at Uni where we'd squeeze about 1 of us in for a trip to KFC. Later I realised the MOT was out by several months, so took it for a test where it failed utterly on welding. I drove it to collect my next car, then straight to the scrappy. Ah, great times.

[Spiny Norman]

I had a Sierra once. The only Ford I've ever owned in nearly 30 years of driving, I had it a week and then it became the only car I've ever had a serious crash with in nearly 30 years of driving. I took that as a sign.....

Although old Granny said the xxx '666Y' registration meant it was doomed from the start - 'the Devil's car' etc....

[HillmanImp]

First car I ever drove on the road was an F reg Sierra Sapphire LX in Patching near Worthing. It was only about 4 years old at the time but the rear arches were rotten as fuck already.

 

Cant really remember the driving experience TBH, I was shitting myself too much.

[messerschmitt owner]

Another car that is 30 this year is the Citroen BX! I'd rather have one of them.

[Formula Autos]

The Sierra has always been an object of lust in my eyes.

 

This could be because when I was a nipper this beauty occasionally appeared in the local Ford dealer's showroom (CG Ford). When it wasn't off being rallied, or being fixed up, obviously.

This was the first rally Sierra, pre-dating the Cosworth by a year or two.

 

I had occasion to view it close-up on many occasions, as my Dad was frequently taking his Maestro back in there for repair and picking up a courtesy car. He'd bought an early (A plate) Maestro which was a few months old from them, and the auto-choke never worked properly. I kept nagging him to buy a Sierra instead.

[ProgRocker]

Only in recent years have Sierras appealed to me. I certainly wouldn't say no to a mark 1 Sierra Ghia auto with a 2.3 V6 lump - or a later Sapphire 2000E (I tend to prefer luxury spec to performance spec).

 

How regal I felt as a passenger, lording it up with my rear cigarette lighter

 

Smoking from an early age then? Yep, those Ghia spec Fords make you feel quite special.

[oman5]

My J reg 1.6 lx was a decent enough car, well equipped and comfy but a 1.6 pinto felt undergunned in that size of bodyshell.

The G reg 2.3 diesel sapphire was a comical machine. as in you can't believe somebody would make something so dire. performance was pretty awful, I don't know the exact 0-60 but it was laughable. you soon learnt not to try overtaking anything going up a hill. not all that economical either, only about 40-42 mpg. however i kept it for years because it was totally reliable and not at all rusty. ideal poverty spec shite.

[wuvvum]

I have to say I'm coming to rather like my Sierra, despite it being a Badermatic - at the moment it's looking more and more like a keeper. Still wish I'd kept my 1.6 base for a bit longer though. I had no idea what it was at the time - I thought the grey grille was a replacement that nobody had bothered to paint.

[Mike D]

My only Sierra experience was with my '83 XR4i, I'd wanted one since I was 12 and I watched one hoon it out a side street next to the cinema, smoking the hides and warbling its V6.. boyhood swoon! Sadly, it found mine, although a minter, to be slow, and it had the worst brakes of any car i've owned. Still would though!!

 

[Pete-M]

I've had a few Sierras.

 

Worst of all was a beige 2.3 Ghia auto on a Y plate. Gutless engine combined with a hopelessly knackered auto box didn't help.

Next was an A plate 3 door in predictable Cossie replica spec. Other than the 2.0 EFi Pinto lump, everything else seemed to be genuine Cosworth on that. Hmm.

Then a C plate Mk1 XR4x4, which I quite liked.

Then I ended up with a C plate 2.0iS which wasn't bad at all.

A succession of XR4x4s followed, all V6 and for some reason all white (and I hate white cars). I got through four or five of those over a couple of years.

 

Then my beloved Sapphire Cosworth. Bloody good car that, it did everything I want a car to do, and did it all well. If it had been fitted with leather and A/C I'd probably have kept it for good and been able to avoid splurging too much wonga buying loads of different cars over the years.

 

Last one I had was a Mk2 4x4 2.9 Ghia estate. Twin turbocharged by Turbo Technics from new. Went like stink, handled rather well thanks to the Konis, and wasn't too evil on fuel - it'd do 30 on a run driven reasonably gently. I didn't drive it very gently. I used to commute to Chester in it and it often did the run in under half an hour. Not bad for a 28 mile run without using the motorway...

 

The boggo spec ones are dull as ditchwater. Uninspiring to drive, not much fun to chuck about and not that special to be in. Minimum spec for me to enjoy 'em is probably 2.0iS, Ghias were quite nice inside, but 4x4 is the way to go for road ones if you're not considering a mental 500 bhp Cosworth jobbie.

[Morgan84]

Mines a 92 Ghia DOHC auto estate in diamond white,which is fully colour coded as the last ones were;never been welded and has wheel arches ! It's my favorite of all my cars,and gets waxed almost as many times as it gets filled up with fuel - bit thirsty !

[Lord Sterling]

The only Sierra I had was identical to this:

 

 

F230TAR

 

I got it for free, a 2.0 Sapphire Ghia. Brilliant car that came just in time for my first office job at Goodyear-Dunlop, was a laugh to just put your foot down and speed pass other drivers on the Aston Expressway with relative ease. Sadly it started to develop faults, first fault was me trying to bang in a stereo, I managed to knock out the central locking, then as my job came to an end the engine started to overheat badly, I had no money (job was really short) the tax/Insurance/MOT came to an end and the engine was on its way out, the only option I had left was to drive to the scrappy, I took the wheels off as a keepsake I still have them too.

 

I neither had the intelligence, courage, knowledge, money or space to keep it. I wish I did. It was heartbreaking to hear from Sis_Sterling that herself and Ma_Sterling passed the breakers and saw my car piled high up

 

I'd have one in a flash again, though it must be an early Sapphire Ghia. Anyone got a garage to rent?

[trigger]

Daddy Trig bought a E reg Sapphire 1.8 GLX back in 1989, it was radiant red with the full RS bodykit, man did i love that car, sadly it nearly killed us all one day on the way to Cambridge to see family where the dealer didn't extend the exhaust past the rear skirt kit and it filled the car with carbon monoxide and gassed us all and made us pass out in a layby.

 

Dad soon got shot of it as mum decided she hated it, I was gutted, But i still love Sierra's and would have another one tomorrow.

 

Here have a photo of me aged 10 looking very camp standing beside one we borrowed of my grandad (he owned a Vauxhall dealership in Ruthin, North Wales and lent us it after dad sold another one of his cars just before the holiday for some reason).

 

Wales Ford Sierra 1990 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

The Sierra is ace. It's a while since I've driven one (an XR4x4 which I very much wanted) but I'd like to see how it compares with the Bluebird and BX.

 

My dad had a Sapphire very briefly as a company car, but later had J530CNP, a 1.8LX for much longer. In fact, it replaced his Montego estate and so became the second car of his that I was able to blag on occasion. I remember getting the back end out in Birmingham City Centre and it generally being a very pleasant motor to tool about in. In fact, I started working for my dad's company while he owned that and as an 18-year old, I'd regularly be trawling around the country in it. I must have done a fair few miles in that car.

 

I actually preferred it to the head gaffer's Mondeo - a remarkable machine that tolerated absolute neglect until the crankshaft snapped at 330,000 miles.

[Bren]

I had and XR4i - not the 3 door V6 but the special edition from 1989/90 with the I4 twink engine.

 

Paid £125 for it in 2003 because the timing chain was knackered - when running it sounded like a machine gun and on inspection the slack chain had wore a groove in the head. The chain was ok, the tensioner was no longer doing it's job, and the guides were all in bits at the bottom of the timing cover.

 

£75 on bits from Polar ford and it was quiet again. I only had the car 3 months because a complete twat drove into the back of it, I also fitted a new petrol tank and radiator - by now it was a very good car, the only welding it had been subjected to was at the rear of the sills.

 

I can't complain - the insurance coughed up £975 for it.

[Bren]

Having had experience of the sierra / montego and cavalier I'd say the cav was the most competent but a bit dull to drive - the petrol engines were pretty powerful for their time. The montego was roomy, economical and a pleasant place to be when bits were'nt falling off - sometimes I used to think I could hear my dad's montego fizzing when it rained.

 

The sierra was my favourite in terms of drive, just let down by engines that were behind the quality of their competitors.

[Cavcraft]

Sadly no pictures but had a MEGA rough 2.3D estate that I accidentally forgot to mention to they buyer it was completely shagged. Others (that I recall) include a very tidy black twin cam hatchback, the later type with smoked rear lights and a metallic green 1.8LX (again later one) that was possibly the only Sierra 1.8 in Cheshire that didn't smoke like a forest fire. Between those somewhere were a a 1.6L saloon (early Mk2 or whatever they were called) that was pretty dismal and a couple of others as well. I did quite like the Sierra but they just never had the same appeal as the Cortina to me.

[scruff]

No sierra memories for me - but we did have a turbo diesel P100 for a bit when I was a kid. Remember it felt like a real luxury motor compared to the Cortina-shape P100 it replaced!

[fordperv]

I have always had a soft spot for the jelly mold, my dad taught me car control in his 1990 radiant red hatch when I was 12, he used to pay me for cleaning and polishing it and as a bonus I got to move it around, then when I came to the age of holding a licence I bought an e reg 1.6 hatch to play about with, then on others day 2001 my dad bought me a mk1 3 door as its the sierra I lusted after but couldnt find a solid one, she was a 1.6 base with drop down mirrors and 13" steels I stupidly modified this car into cossie replica I still have this car it currently runs a 2.2 pinto on bike carbs, I have had around 20 sierras over the years ranging from 1.6s to an xr4x4, I also currently have a 92 saph god and the Mrs has a 3 door project,

[face]

I remember being over at a mates house back in 84, he lived in a big place up a long drive. We watch his dad arrive from the dealers with his spanking new black XR4i. At 12 years old it was the coolest car I had seen

[jonny69]

Wow, 30 years old! I was sat behind a black stock as a box early Cosworth yesterday. Just needed red Texaco stickers and it would have been ready to take to Brands