Please talk to me about XR3i's.

[forddeliveryboy]

NorfolkNWeigh probably has captured the essence of the XR3 best. It summed up the paper-thin ostentation of the greedy 80s, the appeal for the low grade criminal who didn't have the balls to be honest about his profession and wanted to be seen as above-board, performance which represented the UK economy, a total lack of integrity, the denial of everything which had gone before, the dressing up of totally useless and mindless as somehow half-respectable (and charging for full respectability) - it summed up the demise of both the country and its motor industry.

 

Dodgy style and optimism were both XR3 qualities, 'don't give a shit attitude' I'm not convinced of. I've never met a more 'I care a boat load' bunch of young people who owned XR3s, to the point they'd threaten to kill you if you dared suggest it wasn't perfection. Say the same to a Golf GTi owner and he would have lit another Malboro Light and offered to buy your girlfriend for the night, an Astra GTE owner would have ignored you and attempted another 145mph speed run with his mates, a 205 driver would have checked his hair then used a lot of silly clever language and produced a filofax of magazine quotes, the Maestro owner would have set his wife into a reasonable discussion with you and the Visa guy would not have been there, instead out enjoying life.

 

As a tool, it was utterly, utterly awful - grip like a bastard maybe in the right situation (but not grip reliably - some drivers wouldn't have been too concerned to have killed the girl round the corner on her bicycle) but the same would be said of an Anglia with a big engine, stiff springs, fat arbs and wide tyres.

 

As a bit of social history it's probably worth more than its market value - I'd buy one with all the wrong bumpers, accident damage, acres of filler and so on. I'd save thousands, and anything else would be a fake.

[Pete-M]

What a large amount of utter toss to attach to a car.

 

The 3i was comparatively affordable when it was new. It looked great, didn't cost much to run, was cheap to service and Ford dealers were offering deals all over the place. You could buy a new XR3i with electric tinted windows, sunroof, central locking, alloy wheels and a half decent four speaker stereo for the price of a totally basic Golf GTi which had none of the above as standard. The 3i wasn't much slower had a funky exhaust note and looked great next to a Golf. So they sold by the dozen. You could pick up a new 3i for 80% of the cost of a decent spec Golf. Ok the Golf is better but the Escort made you feel like you'd got a decent car for a bargain price. If you wanted a proper hot hatch you'd buy the RS1600i, but that was a couple of grand more and sought after by those with a penchant for a five finger discount. More fun than an 8v GTi and it looked cool on its low profile tyres and lower suspension.

 

I REALLY don't get this whole "certain types of people are the only ones to own a certain type of car" mindset. Yes, sometimes there are cars that attract idiots, but 99.999999% of cars suffer from this. It's just at different times and in different places.

 

Most of the 1990s the car most likely to be seen crashed around Merseyside was the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v 5 door. They were the car thieves weapon of choice. Loads of power, atrocious handling, five doors made them useful for getaways and bad drivers often being chased by the Dibble meant they'd often be spotted buried into walls and lamp posts. That's why there aren't any left. The scallies didn't really bother with Golfs or 3is as they weren't quick enough to shake off a 24v Senator in a straight line. RS Turbos were likely to be nicked and 5 GT Turbos were too fragile. 205s are too small and prone to lift off oversteer.

 

The XR3i (mk3) wasn't a bad car.

 

All the steroid laden drug dealers around Liverpool had E30 M3s, Saab 900 T16 Carlssons and Golf VR6s by the early 90s. There was a smattering of K plate Prelude VTEC jobs and the occasional Golf GTi 16v.

 

Nowadays they're very likely to be driving Audi RS4s, AMG C63s, Jaguar XFRs Volvo T5s and BMW GT or X5s.

 

That doesn't make me want an XFR less, because by the time I'm willing to spend my own money on one they'll be owned by a different type of owner. I'd only buy one of the above when they're 12-15 years old and a few grand. By then the drug dealers are all driving something completely different.

 

It's like the early BMW X5. Where they only appeared to have been possible to buy new on production a huge bag of badly cut Charlie to your BMW dealer instead of cash, now they're owned by people who actually know how the indicators work and are all furious that the gearboxes keep exploding. But they're different people.

 

20 years ago If you saw a Volvo estate it was probably doing 100 mph in the fast lane of the M5 heading for an antique fair in Cheltenham. Now they're all heading up the M74 being driven by a Jesus replica with a bus fetish. An MX5 is unlikely to be owned by a Chelsea hairdresser now, but you'll see one at every bloody track day or drift meet.

 

There are only two car stereotypes that are always correct: anyone who buys a Corsa really should have chosen better, and anyone who drives a modern Rover is keeping one eye on the temperature gauge.

[Richard]

I have a book of car/driver caricatures from 1982 that I uploaded some of a while back https://www.flickr.com/photos/30854514@N08/sets/72157643498052145/ It does include the XR3i but I haven't uploaded it yet. IIRC its reg was OYK80X, so you can imagine the kind of review it gets. I'll look it out and do the XR3i one later.

[dave21478]

I bought an Xr3i a couple of months ago.

 

Dissappointed.

 

In the 90's I had a couple of Orions - a 1.4GL and a 1.6GL - I loved those cars and have many fond memories of them. One of the not so great memories was massively excessive wheelspin that would make the front start bouncing kind of like axle tramp. Aside from that, they were great. I never owned an XR as the insurance was too high back then.

 

Anyway, in January I spied a nice white mkIV xr3i in the classified ads at a decent price and not too far away from me. I went round and had a look. I didnt really get a chance to test drive it due to some mechanical issues, but the bodywork was straight, rust-free and original. I trailered it home and got to work.

First job was the valve stem seals. It smoked like a fucked old diesel locomotive. I rummaged my old Sykes Pickavant tool out of the bottom of the tool box which allows you to change them in situ and got to work - an easy job that I have done many times before. Then I spent out on new shocks all round, new strut top mounts, now ball joints and new track rod ends, as it was weaving all over the place and clunking badly. This tightened up the handling and the last touch was to replace the 4 cheapo tyres with a set of Uniroyal Rainsports - a tyre I really can not recommend highly enough and use on most of my cars.

 

All done, it passed the CT (French MOT) no problem and I razzed around in it for a week. After 4 or 5 days the only conclusion I could make was that it had all been a futile waste of time and money. Its not a BAD car as such, and this was probably a pretty decent example, but it just didnt live up to my memories and what I WANTED it to be like. Not fast - not by a long way. A spirited drive would initially feel like great fun until I checked the mirrors and saw a bored looking guy in a Scenic keeping up without really trying. I was left frustrated, being out-dragged on motorways away from the toll booths by pretty much everyone.

 

On the plus side - it looked great. also, the driving position is fantastic. I dnt know if its my imagination or if I am a bit distorted or something but I find most modern cars to be "squint" somehow, with seat, wheel and pedal never quite lined up right, leaving me sitting at an angle, not quite facing forward, but the Ford was great. Low, comfy and everything within reach.

 

I just never bonded with it and sold it it on after a fortnight. I pretty much broke even on it, so no loss apart from my time. Perhaps I should have stored it in the barn and dig it out in ten years time for PHAT PROFIT, YO ? 

 

All in all......meh. Something about never meeting your heroes.

[Station]

Pete the five door GTE was very rare, I've only seen one for sale in the past ten years. I don't think anyone wanted one tbh. The SRi was five door though (with 8v engine - 1987 GTE's had the 16v (and pre had the 8v)).

VW were notoriously stingey on extras - did the gti even have electric windows? I had pretty much electric everything on my LSi which was three up from bottom spec!

[cort16]

You have to enjoy them in context of today as a quite a entertaining old car. The kind of person who drove them when new is irrelevant .

[Pillock]

VW didn't do extras, really. 90% of MK2 GTIs have analogue windows. I don't think any of them had electric mirrors, just the little mushroom things.

 

Even the early Mk3s had only front electric windows, this is now a £16k car in the mid 90s.

[scruff]

Not on the interwebz Cort... 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Pete the five door GTE was very rare, I've only seen one for sale in the past ten years. I don't think anyone wanted one tbh. The SRi was five door though.

VW were notoriously stingey on extras - did the gti even have electric windows? I had pretty much electric everything on my LSi which was three up from bottom spec!

The XR3i wasn't that well equipped, by 1985 even the iconic Cloverleaf alloys were extra, although it was very rare to see one on steels. I wanted the steel wheels because I'd read they were half an inch wider,but the lease company couldn't find one. Mine had a sunroof but no electric windows or central locking. It did have a great,for the time, stereo though . Most Golfs were specced up with extras because the people buying them weren't usually on a budget.

Mine was the same monthly amount on a full maintenance lease as a 1.6 GL Cavalier or Sierra, a Golf was the same as a 316 or CDi Cavalier.

[EssDeeWon]

This thread reminds me my aunt and uncle had a red MK3 C reg XR3i in the 80s, those egg poacher alloys and that big squidgy boot spoiler. It was replaced with a white Capri 2.8 Inj, oh to be an Essex kid in the 80s

[alfetta]

I had a Fiesta XR2 back in the early 90's - quite a rorty little thing. 0-60 was 8.7 seconds (early cars) firm ride but handled pretty nice.

 

 

Also had a 1.4L, actually even with 75bhp the L was pretty rapid racing novas and the like. Brakes were shit on low end fiestas though!

[forddeliveryboy]

I had a Fiesta XR2 back in the early 90's - quite a rorty little thing. 0-60 was 8.7 seconds (early cars) firm ride but handled pretty nice.

 

 

Also had a 1.4L, actually even with 75bhp the L was pretty rapid racing novas and the like. Brakes were shit on low end fiestas though!

 

All this talk of 80s Fords brings back memories of many longish drives in them. The XR2 (2nd gen Fester) was a lot nicer than the XR2i which followed - this was a bit rough and charmless in comparison. The original was also somehow characterful, friendly and fun, typical big engine in a small car feel. The carb could be heard at times, the second choke came in with a kick as the revs went through the mid 3s.

 

The 1.4S felt to be set up a little more sportingly (or was it just the spots and stripes?) than a standard 1400. I seem to think the Ghia was similarly tuned up a little. I found it as fast or faster than an XR2 once off the bigger roads and definitely more fun, since you had to work a little to extract all its performance, which the chassis just about coped with. I bet those white wheel trims are rare things today, the steel-wearing XR3s used something very similar.

 

[twosmoke300]

I do love the mk2 xr2. They sounded nice and had a cool steering wheel

[laser wheels]

Thanks for all the input, chaps! I've actually gone as far as to get some insurance quotes as that was always going to be the first hurdle. Best so far is £147 fully comp - about £60 cheaper than my Sierra! How times have changed, eh?

[laser wheels]

Nice low miler but more than I would be willing to spend right now, but what gets me is the 'one "gentleman" owner' - he could have been a cad and a bounder of the highest order for all they know!

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-FORD-ESCORT-XR3-I-ONE-GENTLEMAN-OWNED-FROM-NEW-ONLY-52-000-MILES-SUPERB-/121313403227?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item1c3ed7a15b

[laser wheels]

This one looks nice but no idea what the reserve is. Did they actually come with the lattice style wheels from the factory as I see a lot of them with these on, and I also have to say I think I prefer the black spoiler over the body-coloured one as it provides a nice contrast and breaks things up nicely.

 

 

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-escort-xr3i-not-rs-sierra-xr2-/151271733432?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item23387f78b8

[EssDeeWon]

@black G reg.

 

Someones nicked the spot lights but the brackets are there, plus one mud flat which would really bug me but suggests its had some bodywork, maybe new wings at some point. 

 

Scanning the BLOCK CAPITALS it appears the service history is just a letter from the owner, who was not any ordinary guy, but a qualified engineer which makes this car much better, obviously. 

 

 

I PURCHASED THIS WITH THE INTENTION OF STORING IT AWAY AS AN INVESTMENT MY STORAGE FACILITY HAS TAKEN AWAY

Yeah of course it was never ever ever ever your intention of a quick turn around and sum quick profit eh!!

[EssDeeWon]

This one looks nice but no idea what the reserve is. Did they actually come with the lattice style wheels from the factory as I see a lot of them with these on, and I also have to say I think I prefer the black spoiler over the body-coloured one as it provides a nice contrast and breaks things up nicely.

 

Yes, the 90 spec cars did come with the lattice style wheels

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Another 'driving position' complaint from me on these cars. They looks quite appealing but I feel like I am sat in a bucket when I'm driving them, sat too low relative to the bottom of the windows. Never driven an XR3 but had a shot in an RS turbo '90 spec' with swish recaros and i felt like a bit of a flange.

[EssDeeWon]

Here is an example of a 1989 G reg in 88' spec

 

Note the below dogleg alloys & 88 front bumper from the 90 specs above for sale. Often I see 88 spec cars with 90 spec front bumpers on, which means only one thing 99.98464% of the time

 

[EssDeeWon]

here is a better pic of an 88 spec

 

 

and a 90 spec

[Pete-M]

Another thing to remember is that XR3is got slower and slower as the years went by. An early mk3 '3i would allegedly do 0-60 in 8.4 seconds. Then they got a lot slower in about 87-88 when the same sprint took over 9 seconds until the 90 facelift ones which were bordering on 10.

 

Ford engineered a huge flat spot into the EEC IV management system on around an E plate in order to wangle them through mpg tests. GM pulled the same trick with the family II ecu in Astra 1.8s. Back everything right off so when you're cruising at 56 or 75 they're great on fuel. Makes them shit to drive. The 90 facelift cars had longer gearing so they're slow. Really slow. RS Turbos suffered from the same idiocy. That's why the Ford folk tend to prefer the S1 Turbo.

 

Also. Never buy a D reg XR3i. Ford obviously got a deal on a load of ex-Alfasud steel that year.

 

Station: There used to be quite a few GTE 16v 5 Dr Astras, but they all got smashed up by thieves. The SRi tended to be shunned but would do if there wasn't a GTE 5dr or Golf GTi 16v about.

[Junkman]

And then, there is this.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1993-K-ROVER-214i-16v-MK1-CABRIOLET-CONVERTIBLE-VERY-RARE-ONLY-39-IN-UK-/201043588948

 

Bye, bye, Escort!

 

 

Oopsy, the temp gauge just went into the red...

[Pillock]

90-spec had "nostrils" in the front bumper at the bottom corners, and a more intregrated overrider/grille thing going off.

Also the rear spoiler on a 90 had the droopy ends hanging over rather than it stopping at the supports.

 

I think many 90 cars had lattice wheels, but it also became popular with a few sporty cars to fit wheeltrims - the XR3i often had white wheeltrims, similar (the same?) as the Sierra GLSi towards the end of its run. I'm told this was due to a sudden leap in insurance costs, and trying to make the car cheaper to repair as inevitably it'd be found in a forest on bricks.

[Pillock]

'89, solid and tested with a three-figure BIN. Some dodgy colour-coding going off but it'd be quite satisfying to turn it back to standard, and it's all just trim.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-escort-xr3i-f-reg-very-solid-/251495176061?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a8e47d77d

 

[philsford]

A  mk4 XR3i is grim, don't get me wrong I am ford through and through but there is nothing to make me want a mk4 XR3i. Save a bit more cash and buy a S2 turbo. Much better in the perfomace stakes as there are few running standard performance even if they look standard they are probably 150hp. Better seats better looking bonnet and finished with side skirts which seem to suit the colour coded theme. Only problem really is they are going up in price at an alarming rate so get one brought before they are S1 money.

If perormance is not on the agenda I would go for mk3 ghia which I think look great when tidy.

[Pete-M]

I have to admit the last of the Mk4 RS Turbos are a lovely looking thing in the right colour.

 

Nice seats too. The optional Teves ABS system was a pile of wank though.

[philsford]

Yes loose the abs and they are better, its not hard to remove either. I have used cosworth discs with st24 calipers before which is good upgrade which fits under the 15" rs turbo wheels.

[trigger]

I drove my mate's RS2000 powered Orion today, It's the first time in years that I've driven a fast Ford, The RST Recaros were comfy, it's got a race clutch so i stalled it at first as it's very sharp with a low biting point and the suspension has been dropped right down so it crashed and banged over every bump but man it sounded good when I opened it up.

 

I still couldn't live with a car like that though, I'd be happy enough with a nice Mk3 Escort 1.6 Ghia like Retrogeezers.

[Pete-M]

The Mk5 RS2000 was a great bit of kit. Very under rated because it looked pretty standard. It's the one fwd Escort I enjoyed, other than my totally hopeless but occasionally bloody quick RS1600i Turbo. That had a 240 bhp turbo technics lump which completely overwhelmed the chassis to such an extent it was a right laugh. It wasn't good but it had plenty of poke that was mainly unusable. Looked great and had probably my favorite seats of anything I've ever owned.

 

Despite the immensely harsh koni suspension and quickly shredded Yokohama tyres it was really only any good on wide a roads as it really want any good at going in a straight line. If it wasn't torque steering it'd be jumping from lane to lane anyway. It did, however, spit humongous flames from the exhaust on the over run, and massively incompetent chassis can be a laugh.