I've heard all this talk and stuff, but for the life of me, I've never seen one...I don't think they exist. LOL
I looked em up on evilbay, and I'm not so impressed with the looks, are these things supposed to be fast, and handle good?
I'm not puppies' on em by any means, so don't crucify me, but the appearance doesn't pull MY trigger...:D
They're a european Ford, marketed here as a Merkur. Same engine as the Turbo Coupe, but with independent rear and an entirely different chassis. I seem to remember they had a different 5-speed tranny and not a T-5 as well - reverse was left, then up instead of right, then down. They didn't sell well (they were very expensive), which is probably why you haven't seen one.
They're odd looking, but I'd do one. In fact I almost bought one once, but bought an '87 T-Bird sport instead.
Not trying to be an ass man just use google, anyway here is a pic.
A US-spec Ford Sierra.
They didn't sell well because they were foisted off in the L/M dealers who had no idea what to do with them or their big brother the Scorpio. Half the guys at the dealerships couldn't even pr0nounce the name right. They should have done very well, and if they had any kind of support from Ford they might have.
They used the same 2.3T found in every other Ford 2.3T. They were non-intercooled and were 175hp manual and 145hp auto. The manual trans was a T-9. Aside from some shortcomings in the suspension tune (WAAAAYYYYY too soft) and the electrical gremlins that pop up they are very solid platforms.
I could go on....what other questions do you have? I've had two XRs (just sold the '86 5spd) and still have the Scorpio. I really like the Scorpio. I'll like it even better with the 5 spd and the 2.9TT that will be going into it eventually. I may get another XR in the future, but mine was just sitting, so I sold it to someone who wanted to do something with it now.
Here is a link to a video clip from a recent Sportcar Revolution that had a track test of one..
http://www.3-xr.com/files/SCR.mpg..it's a big file...so beware...about 4+ mins of video. The host server is fast though.
XR4Ti yummy
Yeah one of my buds in auto tech has two, one that he drives the other for parts. I like these cars because you dont see much of em, last time i was counting i counted about 13 XR4Ti's that still ran here in toledo.
Ive seen an actual Ford Sierra at the track as well as an XR or two. Some XR's in the junkyard. Havent actually seen one on the street though, even in toledo.
There is a seirra cosworth in an auto musiem in Sarasota.
In my eyes they are an '80's version of the Pinto. So ugly, but sooo cool.
In my eyes they took a mustang and an escort and made them one. kinda sporty but not to much. A buddy of mine had one back in 94' it was pretty fast.
imagine if we got the focus RS right now in the states, they called it something dumb and dumped it into a Lincoln dealership.. that is the xr4ti, cept it was based on a euro car, but made for the american audience. Ford was just too far ahead of the "import craze" in the 80's and didn't market this car or the SVO properly so they had short struggling little lives.
Well thats the thing the Focus Rs is not an american looking focus, its the mk3 body which is like a wider wheel based model and the body panels are different in small ways. And anyway as far as i know the focus was a ford of europe design in the first place but i may be wrong
My uncle bought one brand new in '86 and drove it 'till it got totaled in '92. To this day it is still his favorite car.
i've kinda always wanted one, but they are like 3800 lbs because of the IRS.
2920 lbs :)
http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtech/magarticles/mxspec.php
The ONLY way an XR4 weighs 3800# is if you have 2 400# fat chicks in the back seat........
And that would cure your drinking problem REAL FAST....
I had a '88 with the C3 automatic. Was a fun little car, especially with the boost at 18-20 psi, but IMHO can't begin to compare to a TC...
my father currently has a 85 XR4Ti fully optioned i think minus the heated seats. needs a bit of work but it has been driven and its wicked. we only payed about 200-300 for it. has been driven on backroads up to 130-140 mph and handles fairly well