GTP Cool Wall: 1981-1983 Ford Fiesta XR2

  • Thread starter Thread starter White & Nerdy
  • 130 comments
  • 12,254 views

1981-1983 Ford Fiesta XR2

  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
Not my absolute favourite 80s hot hatch, but a completely original one in good condition would certainly get my attention. Cool.
 
Tyger
1.4? :confused:
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Maybe he's getting this?
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:lol:
 
SniperRed3
They make 1.4 mk1 capris and 1.2 as well didn't you know?
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I don't think they did, what is your source? Some used the Ford Taunus V4 engine, which is quite an unusual configuration. Perhaps you are thinking of that? Otherwise, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 etc. but not 1.2 or 1.4 as far as I know (unless you mean the Consul Capri which was a different car, or yeah the Zakspeed Capri above!)

Anyway, this is kinda off-topic :)
 
Kent
Not sure why people are calling this a fast Ford- it wasnt fast in any way.
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It could do mid 9s 0-60mph runs at a time when the V8 Ferrari was doing mid 7s. For a £5k car, compared to the £50k Ferrari.

The modern equivalent would be spending £17k on a Fiesta that can do 0-60mph in 4.1s (the V8 Ferrari costs £170k and does it in 3.3s).

I'd say it was pretty brisk for its time.
 
Boring to look at, underwhelming power figures, probably crappy handling, ugly configuration, typically rust buckets, eh just nothing cool about this car for me. Just look at it. Nothing cool. Plus its a rip off car. Nothing is more uncool than that. Seriously uncool.
 
Slash
Boring to look at, underwhelming power figures, probably crappy handling, ugly configuration, typically rust buckets, eh just nothing cool about this car for me. Just look at it. Nothing cool. Plus its a rip off car. Nothing is more uncool than that. Seriously uncool.
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Wow.
 
Slash
Boring to look at, underwhelming power figures, probably crappy handling, ugly configuration, typically rust buckets, eh just nothing cool about this car for me. Just look at it. Nothing cool. Plus its a rip off car. Nothing is more uncool than that. Seriously uncool.
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Doubling the number of cylinders presumably fixes all of the above "issues", right?
 
Wiegert
Doubling the number of cylinders presumably fixes all of the above "issues", right?
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No. It doesn't change that fact that its an ugly little thing with I bet probably pretty poor build quality.

Liquid
Honestly, what do you know about European Fords?
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Its pretty self explanatory. I can't imagine them being any better than what they were putting out here at the time.
 
Well it sure looks like they put effort into this one. /sarcasm


It might not be a bad car to daily drive. But its not cool no matter how you look at it. Its like a Camry. Good commuter, incredibly uncool car.
 
Slash
It might not be a bad car to daily drive. But its not cool no matter how you look at it. Its like a Camry. Good commuter, incredibly uncool car.
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Oh my god. This is the stupidest comment I have read in a long time.

You think a Ford Fiesta is a commuter car? You're comparing it to a Toyota Camry?

Comparing a Fiesta to a Camry is like comparing a Corvette to a Buick Le Sabre. It's chalk & cheese.
 
Quick Fords are usually pretty cool, but it just doesn't look that remarkable. A perfectly original one in great condition would probably be cool still, but otherwise, it'll just look like an old hatchback and be meh, despite how special it is.

Yeah, ok, I'm going to give it a cool. Borderline for me though.

Soda01
Looks pretty similar to me.
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To be fair, that was a pretty conservative era for automotive styling. Everyone in each segment copied each other's basic shapes:

red-jpg.139974


Slash
Boring to look at, underwhelming power figures, probably crappy handling, ugly configuration, typically rust buckets, eh just nothing cool about this car for me. Just look at it. Nothing cool. Plus its a rip off car. Nothing is more uncool than that. Seriously uncool.
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But Ford?!? :confused:

It probably handles pretty well, and it's build quality probably isn't any worse than other Ford offerings around the world from the same era.
 
I was able to drive mine from London to Devon with no water and very little oil!
 
This is one of those hilarious to drive cars. Every day you walk up to it and get in, you'll have a smile on your face.

Even funnier with a slightly more powerful engine (Xr3) fitted.

Cool.
 
From what I've read about the car it had pretty good performance for it's day and even by today's standards 9 seconds 0-60 isn't exactly slow. Also to put it in perspective an 82 Mustang GT took 8 seconds to hit 60. It was also very lightweight, a little over 1,800lbs, so it didn't need gobs of power to be a performance package. There's absolutely nothing to suggest this car was bad in the 80's, it's not even bad by today's standards.

===

I went with Cool, it's an 80's that isn't outlandish or overly "80's", plus it has rally lights and rally lights are always cool.
 
Liquid
Oh my god. This is the stupidest comment I have read in a long time.

You think a Ford Fiesta is a commuter car? You're comparing it to a Toyota Camry?

Comparing a Fiesta to a Camry is like comparing a Corvette to a Buick Le Sabre. It's chalk & cheese.
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Yeah I do actually. Regardless of how quick it is or not, its nothing more than a commuter car to me. Nothing cool about it, it's an ugly, bland boring hatchback that does absolutely nothing for me.

Crash
But Ford?!? :confused:

It probably handles pretty well, and it's build quality probably isn't any worse than other Ford offerings around the world from the same era.
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Like I've said before, I don't like all Fords and this is one of those ones I despise.


The only thing this car has got going for it is gas mileage.


Joey D
Also to put it in perspective an 82 Mustang GT took 8 seconds to hit 60.
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Gotta love those crapbox debored 302 to 255 V8's. Disgrace to the Windsor name.
 
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That compact is not a commuter car because that compact is the hot model. The base model is also not a commuter car. In 1982 you would not drive an XR2 to commute with. You simply wouldn't.

You are entitled to your justification of your vote but your reasoning shows a serious ignorance of European cars, the history of European cars and European car culture.
 
@Slash I get that you dislike the way it looks. But does than mean you need to make bets and presumptions on how well you think it performs based on a 5 second glance? There's a stong odour of ignorance emanating from some of your recent posts.

And that's before we even get onto you lumping the XR2 as a commuter car in the same vein as an executive saloon.
 
Liquid
That compact is not a commuter car because that compact is the hot model. The base model is also not a commuter car. In 1982 you would not drive an XR2 to commute with. You simply wouldn't.

You are entitled to your justification of your vote but your reasoning shows a serious ignorance of European cars, the history of European cars and European car culture.
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Hot model doesn't mean anything to me. That's like saying you can't drive a Mustang GT as a commuter car because it's the hot model of a 4 banger car.

Azure Flare
Further proving your unbelievably narrow view on cars.
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Oh well. So be it. :/

Wiegert
@Slash I get that you dislike the way it looks. But does than mean you need to make bets and presumptionson how well you think it performs based on a 5 second glance? There's a strong odour of ignorance emanating from some of your recent posts.

And that's before we even get onto you labelling the XR2 as a commuter car in the same vein as an executive beige saloon.
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I would love nothing more than to get in it and rip around in it. But I'm sticking to my guns on this one until that day comes and I get proven otherwise. I don't doubt that it can be a great car and fun to tear up the asphalt in, but otherwise like I said it does nothing for me.

I don't really find anything interesting about it. It's just another bland hatchback to me.
 
Sigh, it saddens me how narrow is the view of some people in here. Excuse us, the rest of the world, for believing cars don't need V8 engines with cartoonishly heavy and oversized bodywork. We must be all mad for thinking 80HP is sufficient in a car that weighs under a ton and we must be all ignorants for thinking FF can be nice to drive...
 
Although 80 HP is kinda weak, a hot hatch isn't just all about speed.
 
Slash
But I'm sticking to my guns on this one until that day comes and I get proven otherwise.
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You got proven otherwise before you even commented that it has "underwhelming power figures, probably crappy handling, ugly configuration".
Famine
It could do mid 9s 0-60mph runs at a time when the V8 Ferrari was doing mid 7s. For a £5k car, compared to the £50k Ferrari.

The modern equivalent would be spending £17k on a Fiesta that can do 0-60mph in 4.1s (the V8 Ferrari costs £170k and does it in 3.3s).

I'd say it was pretty brisk for its time.
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UK Fords>US Fords. That's how it was for a long time until they pulled their head out of their butts & realized Americans wanted what Ford was producing in the UK.
 

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