I am 27. Grew up in England. Went to school in France. Ride BMX, run 3 cars, enjoy history & video g...
I am 27. Grew up in England. Went to school in France. Ride BMX, run 3 cars, enjoy history & video games. Collect toys and rant and rave at everything which I don't like! Free & single.
Member since:19.01.2005
Reviews:21
Again, surprised to see that I could write a review for such a old car, I couldn't resist it. I own one of these and just want to share with you what I think about it.
You can't just pop down to your local Ford dealer and ask for one of these. No doubt they would laugh in your face. A Ford Focus ST yes, Escort RSI no!
The escort! Books have been written about this car, column inch in newspapers alone add to the importance of the 'scort. From the everyday run about that your granddad had to the World Rally, Touring Car, competition thrashing winners of the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and even still today. The Escort is 'probably' the only car to boast such a heritage.
The RS1600i is up there with others such as the RS2000 and Cosworth. Built in Germany by Ford this unique motor set a new standard when it was released.
What you get is a 3 door coupe, mk3 escort (1980 +). It came in a range of colours including white, red, black and dark blue/grey. Made up from the Ford parts bin with special parts unique to this car. Of the 8000+ (not 5000) built, most of them have be thrashed, trashed and become baked bean cans. The few which still use the public roads are becoming a rare breed.
The car is a 1600 injected CVH unit (1.6l) producing 115bhp. It has a unique coil system to get the sparks jumping about in the right places and a unique exhaust pipe to get rid of the gases.
Up front it has a unique alloy front suspension set up which is adjustable in everyway which makes this car such a wonderful road going front wheel drive machine. I won't bore you with the specs.
Inside is a shark grey interior which is none to unpleasant and a set of Ford RS front driver and front passenger semi - bucket sets to hug you in those fast corners. Plenty of buttons for that added extra driving refinement and at the time you where lucky to get a passenger mirror.
My car is 23 years old and purrs like the day it came out of the show roam. I have spent a far bit of money doing mine up. I found mine in a barn with most of the parts in the boot.
Parts are available but at cost. Parts are becoming more and more scarce and expensive. Ford no longer supply most of the parts, so its down to scouring local ads, Ebay, breakers yards and specialist magazines if anything does go pop. Saying that most of the consumable parts such as brakes, cam belts, struts etc.. can still be purchased from major motor manufactures who stock excellent replacements (Koni, K&N, Piper, Kent, Ashley etc..)
As a car it runs like its on rails. Fast and efficient motoring from Ford. It has never let me down and like my XR2, I have never put a spanner on it since repaired.
It can be quite a noisy ride on long motorway trips. By the time I was at Nordhausen in Germany I had to stop after + 12 hour drive.
Like Caneal, in her review, the grin on your face when you turn the key is the reason why you drive such a car. Often people tell me that they are not a fan of the front wheel drive versions and that the Mk3 does look very 80's. This does not put me off! What do these people drive? Modern cars with no character and most of them have never been faster that 70 mph. (When you have driven an RSI at full tilt on a German motorway as far as you can before having to fill it up with fuel, it would be impossible to comprehend)
In a nutshell this car is for the enthusiast and a person who has a deep pocket to keep it on the road. I have unfortunately had to put my car into storage due to the price of fuel and insurance.
Like any Escort, it was built for a purpose. To escort you to and from your destination. The Escort does it with ease and comfort. Plenty of boot space, head room, leg room for the rear passengers. The RS1600i, however, has limited access to the passenger seats due to the front seat design but that is the only issue I have found when carting my friends around.
Pictures of Ford Escort RS1600i
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Really good review, and interesting. My son has an Escort, not one of these though, and it's been very reliable even though it's getting on a bit. Glad you enjoy yours! Gill :~)
dempsey_review 29.01.2006 23:05
great review, the old cars are the best, dempsey :-)
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Jan 29th, 2006
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