Off for 10 days in the Canaries - soak up some rays! (Don't forget 10th April is first Motogp race...
Off for 10 days in the Canaries - soak up some rays! (Don't forget 10th April is first Motogp race. Watch Rossi & co. dooking it out). I will return........................ ......
Member since:22.02.2005
Reviews:13
Members who trust:8
I bought a ten-year old Orion Ghia 1.6 in 1996, after many years of hatchback ownership. Obviously, it was a second car as I could not risk having a Ford as my one and only vehicle.
The car felt good, solid and comfortable so I bought the Orion (60,000 on the clock) for £750.
The problems I inherited with the car were a non-functioning electric window switch (cured with a dose of WD40) and some ancient and rock-hard front tyres, which scared the life out of me the first time I stood on the brakes.The front wheels locked solid sending the car screeching down the road in a cloud of smoke. It was either get some new tyres or look around for a decent life insurance policy - the tyres won the day.
The car turned out to be reliable, except in the area of early morning and, occasionally, hot starting. I did develop various start-up rituals that helped a bit although I can't remember now what these were. Anyway, these usually vary from Ford to Ford and each car must be individually set up.
I did about 70,000 miles in the car and barely touched the engine, which used a little bit of oil (around about a litre per 1,500 miles). The only engine job I did was to remove and clean out one of the hydraulic tappets which had sometimes rattled .
The gearbox was a good unit for Ford but needed to be replaced at 90,000 miles and I did the clutch at the same time (these were relatively cheap to replace).
I've already mentioned the brakes and these were extremely powerful and really needed ABS to tame them.
Generally, the handling was reasonable enough but over-enthusiastic driving could get the Orion's suspension tied up in knots. I've heard plenty of reports of accidents where the suspension has wound up on fast bumpy roads and then let go like a recoiling rubber band, in fact, I was a passenger in an Orion when the driver completely lost control in this way, nearly putting us into a blooming great oak tree. I survived (just) to warn people not to indulge in Orion racing. If they really must, then, when the thing inevitably goes into jelly mode, just leave everything as it is and, in particular, do not touch the brakes. The car will always sort itself out although a little extra throttle can help.
The Orion suspension, however, is good at soaking up bumps for passenger comfort. Furthermore, the seats are wide and deep, giving a level of comfort normally reserved for limos. The luxurious front headrests can also be angled forward and down to support your neck on long journeys but, obviously, at the risk of breaking your neck in a smash. As I recall the footwell was fairly capacious as was the boot. The Orion has a spacious passenger compartment and rear seat passengers should find themselves with adequate legroom.
Overall, reliability is good on these cars, except for the above-mentioned starting problem. Owners should be aware, nonetheless, that older examples (and they're all old now) can suffer corrosion of the front cross member, which carries the steering gear. This is very difficult to spot and many an Orion has passed its MOT only for the driver to find the steering wheel spinning round and round in his / her hands without the road-wheels actually turning due to the cross member and steering having dropped off! Major problem!!
Spares are cheap for the Orion and they're easy to work on so running costs are inevitably low. Fuel consumption is reasonable and 40 plus mpg should be possible on a motorway. A twin-choke Weber was always the recommended carburrettor for this car.
Now comes the hard bit - should I recommend this car. I'd like to say 'yes' but knowing how old they are now and the high probability of the steering gear departing the chassis, then I must say an emphatic 'no' and, consequently, recommend that all remaining vehicles be scrapped - for safety's sake!
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Mar 2nd, 2005
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