No gtirs on pistonheads

[Makaveli_se7en]

I would love a 323, even if its the only car in existence with a worse reputation than the Pulsar for eating gearboxes. Had a look for one at the end of last year but the only one for sale in the country at the time needed too much work to make it reliable for my 400 mile a week commute.

Ended up getting an 8L Audi S3 (the original 1.8 turbo one), which is a lovely motor for the long motorway journies but feels slow and heavy compared the R. Maybe I'll have another look for one once I'm bored of the Audi

 

[keastygtir]

I quite fancied a s3 for a daily drive are they any good?

 

[lakeview]

323 gtr was a good car only thing I didn't like about the one I had was the interior.mazda re-developed the whole car but must have given up when I got to the interior it was nearly identical to the 1.6 turbo

 

[Makaveli_se7en]

Makes an ideal daily drive for me, its very comfy and the refinement is pretty good despite its age (mine is now a 14 year old car). My car has the optional Bose stereo and CD changer, climate control and heated Recaro's, so has all the toys I wanted. The performance is OK for a daily, mine is running a stage 2 map with a front mount, exhaust and induction kit which takes it to around 270-280bhp. It feels quick rather than fast (compared to a stripped 400bhp Pulsar) which isn't suprising with the amount of weight its lugging round. Handling wise is very typical Audi, very grippy and sure footed but a bit dull, when pushed it does start to get very understeery but this doesn't bother me too much as I don't push it that hard. In time I will replace all the bushes with poly ones as they look pretty tired and see how much that improves the handling. I'm also tempted to change the Haldex controller to make the power delivery more rear biased.

If you get one look at several, they're at the age where there's quite a few rough ones about, I bought an older one because the condition was spot on.

 

[Born Again]

the cavalier/calibra was a million times better than the cosworth

Can't say that I agree with that tbh. The YB is, in my opinion, a better lump with tuning in mind (although in standard trim the Vauxhall unit is more refined). The Vauxhall 4wd system is rubbish and extremely expensive to fix if (or rather, when) it goes wrong too.

 

[lakeview]

Cosworth engine may be better to tune but in standard form its a poor engine,simply too much turbo lag the sapphire is a little better but its still too laggy.id put the 4x4 sapphire cosworth as the worst handling performance car I've ever driven
Don't know how reliable the cavalier/calibra 4x4 is as I've only ever been in one,but know loads of sapphire 4x4 owners and every single one of them has had reliability issues

 

[red reading]

Yb engine is not really all that....just a pinto with a cosworth head. Now the millington version...mmmm nice.

 

[Mad]

I like fiat coupes, 20vt. Have had 3 now, loads of torque steer but quick and loads of fun

 

[Fast Guy]

Was it the calibras that had a problem with porous heads?
My mate had an 8v one for a while, I was surprised how close to the widscreen my head was when driving.

 

[Born Again]

Cosworth engine may be better to tune but in standard form its a poor engine,simply too much turbo lag the sapphire is a little better but its still too laggy.id put the 4x4 sapphire cosworth as the worst handling performance car I've ever driven

It needs sharpening up with better suspension bushes, but then Fords are famous for using poor quality bushings.
It shimmys a little and is less than precise for sure.....but if it really is the worst handling performance car you've ever driven then you can't have driven many. Try a series two RS Turbo Escort for example.
Couldn't agree more about lag, but then there are reasons for that. The VX lump appeared around 4 years after the YB, and that's a loooong time in engine development. The lag is a result of two main problems. 1) Boost control/management weren't exactly sophisticated back then and 2) the car was built for motorsport and as such it needed to retain the same type of turbo that the production version left the line with.

Don't know how reliable the cavalier/calibra 4x4 is as I've only ever been in one,but know loads of sapphire 4x4 owners and every single one of them has had reliability issues

Those Vauxhall transfer boxes are an absolute nightmare and can barely deal with the power of the standard car. There are a LOT of 4wd Cavalier/Calibra turbos that are now 2wd due to silly repair costs. I seem to remember that owners were less than impressed that they had to replace all four tyres whenever one or two were worn near the legal limit.

Yb engine is not really all that....just a pinto with a cosworth head. Now the millington version...mmmm nice.

You're dead right about the YB in that it's way too tall, way too heavy and as refined as a badgers bum cheeks.
As with most performance Fords, they should be looked at as a starting point and not a finished product as it takes the enthusiastic owner to spend a few quid and turn the car into the one it should've been when it left the line.

That said, with this forum in mind it's fair to point out that the above description could also apply to the Pulsar/Sunny.

 

[red reading]

Never herd of porus heads on the red top16v coscast vauxhall lump, had one in a calibra myself, 177bhp on a standard car with a manifold and filter...used to go of the speedo too...lol, they were good engines even had Mahle forged pistons in them from the factory. And as dan f says fiat 20v is a good engine too

 

[fubar andy]

Fords are crap...end of :thumb:

 

[lakeview]

I'd hardly class the rs turbo as a performance car.i realised how bad the sapphire 4x4 handled after driving one back to back with a Subaru legacy the Subaru did every thing 15-20 mph faster than the sapphire

 

[Born Again]

I'd hardly class the rs turbo as a performance car.i realised how bad the sapphire 4x4 handled after driving one back to back with a Subaru legacy the Subaru did every thing 15-20 mph faster than the sapphire

How old was the car when you drove it?
The rubbers were poor when new and got progressively worse as they got older.

 

[red reading]

Ford...Fix Or Repair Daily, best car I had for fun was a pug 205 gti 1.9..... What a brill car.

 

[Born Again]

Ford...Fix Or Repair Daily, best car I had for fun was a pug 205 gti 1.9..... What a brill car.

We can all do that, lol.
Nissan: Now In Some Sh*tty Automobile Nightmare

BTW the 1.6 pug is a way better drive than the 1.9.....and the 309 GTi was better than both of them.

 

[lakeview]

Think from memory both cars were 1991 cars ford had about done 30,000 and legacy had about 110,000
Turned out the legacy was an rs model I ended up buying it.dont think the problems with the ford had anything to do with worm out parts ect as It handled the same as all the other 4x4 cosworth I've driven just that the legacy was a vastly superior car

 

[Makaveli_se7en]

That said, with this forum in mind it's fair to point out that the above description could also apply to the Pulsar/Sunny.

Don't agree with that in the context of the engine, the SR20DET is decades ahead of the Pinto 16v edition. It took Ford to steal the Duratec from Mazda 20 years later to come up with a comparable engine. In typical Ford development the Zetec-E was a glorified CVH with 16v head and was dreadful and they hung onto that until the series 1 Focus RS.

I like Fords and have had several RS's, but I got fed up with fighting the poor engineering and rust. The only way I would go back to a Ford would be a Escort Cosworth, just to fulfill the childhood fantasy.

 

[red reading]

We can all do that, lol.
Nissan: Now In Some Sh*tty Automobile Nightmare

BTW the 1.6 pug is a way better drive than the 1.9.....and the 309 GTi was better than both of them.

well I drove all three and found I got on best with the 205 1.9, lift off over steer and enough power to slide the front at will too......you just had to drive the 1.9 with more care than the 1.6.

 

[red reading]

Don't agree with that in the context of the engine, the SR20DET is decades ahead of the Pinto 16v edition. It took Ford to steal the Duratec from Mazda 20 years later to come up with a comparable engine. In typical Ford development the Zetec-E was a glorified CVH with 16v head and was dreadful and they hung onto that until the series 1 Focus RS.

I like Fords and have had several RS's, but I got fed up with fighting the poor engineering and rust. The only way I would go back to a Ford would be a Escort Cosworth, just to fulfill the childhood fantasy.

so just to reaffirm it......ford are shit!