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Escort Cosworth??


steve09
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They have a big following amongst the "RS" crowd, but because of that prices seem ludicrously high to me (like £15K for J reg cars!)

If you really really want one then fine, and I'm sure they're fun, but I'd rather have a newer M3 Coupe, or even an RS Focus if I were desperate for an RS Ford.

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You can eat a picnic off that spoiler though, a practical consideration often overlooked

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But they haven't all got that.IIRC Ford dropped them on the later model.

I tell you one thing the Cossie Escort excels in,standing starts.Now I know that isn't exactly a consideration when buying a car but never have I seen a car that can launch off the line as quick as one of those.That includes Subs/Inters and other 4WD equivalents.

Ford got something very right with that drivetrain.

Whether you love or hate them,one thing is for sure,it'll be damn cheap motoring as they are one car that is almost depreciation proof now!

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I've got to say that personally I love them and one would definitely be in the garage following a lottery win! For an in depth opinion from personal experience you need Wayne (Moschops) who owned an absolute stunner in the ice blue colour with only about 10k on the clock IIRC!!

He's a top bloke and I'm sure will be happy to give you some pointers if you pm him 169144-ok.gif

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I tell you one thing the Cossie Escort excels in,standing starts.Now I know that isn't exactly a consideration when buying a car but never have I seen a car that can launch off the line as quick as one of those.That includes Subs/Inters and other 4WD equivalents.

Ford got something very right with that drivetrain.

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I thing the R32 is quicker 0-30 IIRC 169144-ok.gif

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I tell you one thing the Cossie Escort excels in,standing starts.Now I know that isn't exactly a consideration when buying a car but never have I seen a car that can launch off the line as quick as one of those.That includes Subs/Inters and other 4WD equivalents.

Ford got something very right with that drivetrain.

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I thing the R32 is quicker 0-30 IIRC

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Well, remember, it was/is based on 1980's technology. Tyres and drivetrains have made significant strides since then

I never liked them though. Just me.

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I tell you one thing the Cossie Escort excels in,standing starts...

...never have I seen a car that can launch off the line as quick as one of those.That includes Subs/Inters and other 4WD equivalents.

Ford got something very right with that drivetrain.

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I thing the R32 is quicker 0-30 IIRC

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Well, remember, it was/is based on 1980's technology. Tyres and drivetrains have made significant strides since then

I never liked them though. Just me.

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Hmm, lets try something contemporary then...

How about say, a Nissan Sunny GTiR? Figures here. Sorry about the quality, but you should be able to spot that the GTiR enjoys something of a performance advantage away from the line compared to the Cossie, or for that matter any of its contemporaries.

Note also that the Cossie was unable to complete some of the other tests because it "refused to pull cleanly to give these figures", and that it runs on 16" 225s while the Sunny has 14" 195s as standard. Obviously Nissan got something right with their ATTESA drivetrain jump.gif

Personally, I'd rather spend £5k on a nicely sorted 300bhp GTiR and do something else with the remaing £10k (plus the saving on insurance). No, the GTiR doesn't have the same image as a Cossie, but then perhaps that's a good thing unless you intend to spend your evenings parked up in the local MacDonalds. FIREdevil.gif

(And for the record, yes, I am biased! I own a mildly tuned Z32 300ZX and my brother a stock GTiR. Informal testing (on private roads, naturally) reveals that I can only out-accelerate him above 90mph when aerodynamics become a significant factor.)

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Personally, I'd rather spend £5k on a nicely sorted 300bhp GTiR and do something else with the remaing £10k (plus the saving on insurance). No, the GTiR doesn't have the same image as a Cossie, but then perhaps that's a good thing unless you intend to spend your evenings parked up in the local MacDonalds.

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Firstly,I don't deny that the GTIR is good off the line,or the R32 for that matter.

What I was getting at,is that I've seen Escorts modded to big power and then get launched of the line like a catapault,whereas Skylines/Subs/Inters that I've seen running big power seem to get bogged down quite badly.The Ford doesn't,hence my comments. 169144-ok.gif

As for spending 5k on a GTIR,it would have to be £500 and even then it would be at the bottom of the list.How you can think that the Escort Cossie is the type of car that's parked at Maccy D's(very rare that Chavs get hold of these) but the Sunny/Pulsar has some kind of top drawer image I'm not quite sure. confused.gif

If ever a hatch shouted "Chav" it's one of those abominations.Stupid oversized spoiler on the roof,ridiculous bonnet bulge that needs to be there for the intercooler 'cos Nissan saw fit to put it on top of the engine(Doh!),the blandest interior I've ever seen and as you say,14" rims! Pure class! sekret.gif

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How you can think that the Escort Cossie is the type of car that's parked at Maccy D's(very rare that Chavs get hold of these) but the Sunny/Pulsar has some kind of top drawer image I'm not quite sure. confused.gif

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Unfortuneately more people with the burberry hats are buying them. Still think that the number of Cossie look RSTs et al outnumber them at the burger joint.

[/ QUOTE ]If ever a hatch shouted "Chav" it's one of those abominations.Stupid oversized spoiler on the roof,ridiculous bonnet bulge that needs to be there for the intercooler 'cos Nissan saw fit to put it on top of the engine(Doh!),the blandest interior I've ever seen and as you say,14" rims! Pure class! sekret.gif

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Can't see how a GTIR would be seen as having a "silly spolier" compared to a Cossie. Bland interior likewise. The other parts of the "styling" are there to homologate the car for competition use. Perhaps you think that the Intergrale's flared arches are nasty or the bonnet vents on the Escrote.

Top mounts are not as crazy as they seem. They are one of the reasons why the GTIRs don't have massive lag like the 'big turbo' Cossies yet still make more power.

Each to their own.

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Well if top mounted intercoolers are so good why are so many GTIR owners getting front mounted items fitted instead?

The reason being "heat soak",which top mounts suffer badly and front mounts don't suffer at all.

And Intergrale arches look lovely just like everything else about those cars.

Finally,what exactly was the Sunny homoligated for?

The Sunny Cup! tongue.gif

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I think I'm banging my head against the wall on this one, but just in case anyone still reading isn't a Cossie fan I'll persevere. Flush.gif

I know that the Escort Cossie has a very strong following, hence the massive difference in secondhand value between them and GTiRs. I therefore accept that advancing a GTiR as an alternative to a Cossie is likely to result in derision.

What I'm trying to get at is: why buy a rally rep? Because of its beautiful looks? No. Because of the image? I hope not. Because it gets down the road more effectively than almost anything else at any price? Maybe.

So, if the Cossie look is what you're after then why not start with an Escort 1.3LX and barry it up like the Maccy Ds crew? If you judge a car by its ability then buy a GTiR, save a packet and enjoy your driving (and beating the occasional Cossie).

I've met and chatted with several Cossie owners. All but one had spent large sums of money modifying their cars. None of them, as far as I could ascertain, were in the habit of actually using them regularly. None of them talked about inspirational drives they had enjoyed. None of them had competed in or even track day'd their car. In ten years of attending Le Mans I don't think I've seen a single Escort Cosworth down there or on the way to/from. This is very much at odds with what I have seen and heard of GTiR owners.

Given all of the above, I'm therefore not quite sure where the undeniably high opinion of Cossies comes from. Equally, I don't really understand why people who talk so highly of them wouldn't give a GTiR a second look.

It can't be the GTiR's spoiler because in the ridiculousness stakes the early Escort and Sierra Cosworths were in another league. I can assure you that the GTiR's top-mount intercooler works just fine when you're zipping down a B-road (or rally stage); heat-soak is only an issue if you've spent the past half hour creeping down the high street or parked up in Maccy Ds. As for the 14" wheels, well Nissan was expecting the rally team to immediately ditch them in favour of something suitable for the purpose the car was to be put to, along with the interior.

Is it because the GTiR is 'only' a Nissan? Or because it is made by the Japanese? I ask the second question because the Celica GT-Four seems to be equally underrated, and I think I'm right in saying that the Celica has enjoyed greater WRC success than the Escort Cosworth.

I don't expect to be able to change anyone's mind. I accept that I'm in the minority in genuinely preferring GTiRs. I'm just trying to understand why people rate Cossies so highly. confused.gifconfused.gifconfused.gif

As for cars bogging down off the line, in my admittedly limited experience (mostly video footage of Santa Pod and the like) I don't think that Cossies are any better or worse than any other 4WD car. I would expect a big power Cossie to be more laggy than an equivalent Scooby or Skyline because its powerplant is based on a much older design of engine, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I haven't seen anyone try to do a full-on standing start in an Intergrale, possibly because it would be likely to convert its transmission to swarf.

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Well if top mounted intercoolers are so good why are so many GTIR owners getting front mounted items fitted instead?

The reason being "heat soak",which top mounts suffer badly and front mounts don't suffer at all.

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Seems to work alright on the Subaru Impreza.....

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Well if top mounted intercoolers are so good why are so many GTIR owners getting front mounted items fitted instead?

The reason being "heat soak",which top mounts suffer badly and front mounts don't suffer at all.

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FMICs do suffer from heat soak, just not as badly as TMICs. People fit front mounts becuase they think they look good or becuase they are tuning the car so want a massive intercooler which won't fit under the bonnet.

Subaru has TMIC on all of their range even the STI PPP models. I'm not a big Subaru fan so don't pretend they are best cars in the world but there is a reason for them to do so.

I never experianced heatsoak in my GTIR. But then again I don't go ragging round town centres traffic light racing so perhaps for me it was never an issue.

[/ QUOTE ]And Intergrale arches look lovely just like everything else about those cars.

Finally,what exactly was the Sunny homoligated for?

The Sunny Cup! tongue.gif

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Erm the World Rally Championship. Only ran for about a year before Nissan ran out of money though. Did better in privateer hands though with Gregoire De Mevius winning the 1992 GpN World Championship. There was another I think later though can't remember it.

Ever driven a GTIR?

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