Road power only went up from 204 to 224bhp, but race trim soared from 350 to 550bhp. Spoilers increased downforce and the rear suspension allowed more adjustability. Overfuelling is equally dangerous, commonly caused by sub-standard ‘uprating’ chips: it dilutes the oil, causing rapid engine wear. It cannot be over-stressed how important is thorough maintenance by someone who really knows Cossies: be wary of buying a car that has no evidence of such care.

A word about the chassis : it is plastic, and from what I’ve heard it will stay like that, but the car is almost a roller. On my 4 examples, I have some rolling better than others. I can’t tell what will happen with models in production (mines are final samples), but I believe it will stay like that, which is a compromise admissible from my point of view. Oh, and the interior is also treated well, with this kind of tartan interior, with details up to the doors ! December 1982 –Sierra XR4i available, featuring 150bhp 2.8-litre Cologne V6 engine, sports styling with double rear spoiler and unusual three-door bodywork with split rear side windows. I figured we had more cars than we could deal with anyway, so I swapped both the BMW and the Rolls-Royce for the Cosworth, transferred Dad’s private numberplate onto it, and had a long think about how I was going to break the news to my parents. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2012) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Cossies are no longer supercars for the working man. Today you need a mortgage to buy a three-door and balls the size of melons to drive one as it’s intended.Could YOU claim pension credit? Claims have spiked as bills soar, so what are the rules - and why might you get refused?

I will make a very precise focus of the car, because it’s a really anticipated model, that deserves all interest. Three-doors had four-pot front brake callipers as standard, but they’re prone to seizing against the 283mm ventilated discs; the symptoms are heavy juddering or pulling to one side. Vibrations felt through the brake pedal and steering wheel are most likely due to warped/contaminated front discs and/or pads – Cossies consume them pretty regularly – but could also come from broken suspension components.

Sierra headlinings are prone to sagging (and can be repaired relatively cheaply), as are rear parcel shelves (which cost a bomb); a Cosworth should have a single-piece shelf with a plastic storage box (designed for a non-standard first aid kit). H e was to own the car for 29 years up until earlier this year and was very diligent when it came to keeping records. There are ten service references in the original service book - at 1,499 miles (08.06.88), 6,771 miles (15.01.89), 10,328 miles (23.05.90), 28,532 miles (08.11.92), 29,632 miles (13.07.98), 31,277 miles (04.06.11), 31,823 miles (14.05.12), 32,889 miles (01.04.15) and at 35,580 miles (17/12/2021). To add further reassurance, 14 MOT Certificates are present dating from April 1992 at 26,128 miles through to the most recent at 35,589 miles and valid through till December 2022 with ‘ N o advisories ’ . Furthermore, 21 tax receipts found in the history file tell us that the car was SOR N ’ d in 1 992, and again in 2004 all the way through to 2013. These periods off the road related to the owners personal circumstances, however, he was able to enjoy ‘54’ from 2013 up until the point of its sale early this year. Rust is a serious Sierra problem, but by now most three-door Cossies have been restored or in need of very little work. But don’t take it for granted; even a low-mileage or renovated car requires a thorough inspection. The road cars also got a speed-bump-scraping front splitter and huge cooling ducts to modulate the temperature of both the brakes and the engine. As shown on the odometer here, the Sierra Cossie RS500 has covered just 5,192. That works out at an average of 144 miles each year since new in 1987

In January 1990 the third generation Sierra RS Cosworth was launched, this time with four wheel drive. As early as 1987, Mike Moreton and Ford Motorsport had been talking about a four-wheel drive Sierra RS Cosworth that could make Ford competitive in the World Rally Championship. The Ferguson MT75 gearbox that was considered an essential part of the project wasn't available until late 1989 however. The Sierra Cosworth was also pressed into service as a rally car, and saw some success. After the abolition of the Group B formula in the World Rally Championship at the end of 1986, manufacturers had to turn to Group A cars and Ford, like most others, found itself without a fully suitable car. The Cosworth was very powerful but, with only rear-wheel-drive, lost out to the four-wheel-drive Lancias and Mazdas on loose-surface events, while the four-wheel-drive XR4x4 had an excellent chassis but an elderly engine producing only around 230bhp, at least 80 less than the Lancia. For the 1987 season the team ran both, using the XR4x4 on loose surfaces and the Cosworth on tarmac, but the XR4x4's power disadvantage was too great and from 1988 the team concentrated on the Cosworth alone, and continued to use it until the arrival of the Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 in 1990.

The Cosworth powerplant was ripe for modification and in full racing spec could be upped to massive 400bhp. They’d come home much earlier than I’d expected, unannounced, and were absolutely furious with me. They got over it though. Eventually.