High-performance Cortina

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32879, 30 March 1972, Page 14

High-performance Cortina

Since it was first announced, the Cortina has grown in both size and performance. The latest Cortina 2000 GT undoubtedly gives the best combination of room, comfort and performance of any Cortina yet.

But at a retail price of $3947 the Cortina 2000 GT can no longer be regarded as in the same class as the Hillman Hunter, and somewhat above the Leyland 1100 s, as was once the case. In both price and size it is approaching the Triumph 2000, and it is in this light it must be judged. Basically, the 2000 GT is a fine, good-performing, comfortable car—but it is, if the test-car was a representative sample, let down by several irritating faults and design errors. Once the makers correct these faults, the car may reach the standard its basic concept deserves.

The 2000 GT is a very well-equipped car, and its specification includes all the usual extras (except, of course, radio and heated rear window) and some sound ideas in the lighting department. Under the bonnet, the dip-stick takes some finding, but other service Coints are accessible. The onnet must be held open with a prop, which is a nuisance. The boot is large, well-shaped, and must be opened with a key. Inside, the GT has highbacked reclining front seats which are probably the best in any car near this price-range. Rear-seat passengers have sufficient leg and knee-room, although the high seat-backs in front make the compartment feel claustrophobic at first.

Headroom front and rear is best described as marginal, and the driver has a particular problem with the steering-wheel: it comes far too close to the thighs. The driving position itself is first-class, but the small leather-bound wheel is slightly oval in shape, and even with slim people, brushes the top of the legs with every turn of more than a few degrees. It makes manoeuvring particularly difficult, and although forward visibility is good, the problem is compounded by poor rearwards visibility resulting from a combination of the high seat-backs (nonetheless very comfortable, and anyway rapidly becoming mandatory), by s6m DEAL

A 40 per cent interest in the Italian Carello carlighting and electrical equipment company has been sold to the British Lucas concern. The interest cost the Lucas company about s6m.

wide and solid rear quarters, and a boot-line which is out of sight of the driver.

The steering-wheel problem appears to be one which could easily be overcome by lowering the seats slightly (which would improve headroom as well) and raising the steeringwheel slightly: it could come up considerably without intruding on the line of vision of even short drivers.

The instrument layout is bad, particularly for what purports to be a highperformance car. The three dials in front of the driver house a large clock, the speedometer (with trip) and the tachometer. Although the clock and the speedometer are in clear view, the tachometer is almost completely blocked by the driver’s right hand and the wheel-rim. The other four gauges—for the usual functions—are mounted in small, deep-set "tunnels” in the vertical panel of the central console. In daylight, they are not only blocked by the driver’s left hand and the wheelrim, but they are too small to see easily, and their glasses reflect light from the side-windows so badly that they would be difficult to read even if they were bigger. In addition, the ash-tray for the front-seat occupants —which is out of reach of both of them—blocks off the driver’s view of the top two gauges when it is pulled out.

From a maker with Ford’s experience, this instrument placement is almost inexplicable.

The gear-change on the GT is outstandingly smooth, and slick, with first-class syncromesh and an ideallyplaced lever. But the lever is topped with a sharp-

edged leather knob that chafes the hand with extended use. Women, in particular, hate it. The stalk on the right of the steering-column works the feeble horn, dips the outstandingly good halogen headlights, flashes the lights, works the indicators, and works a sensible park-ing-light system: when the stalk is pushed to either indicator position with the ignition off, it illuminates the parking-lights on that side of the car. Another sensible idea is that the headlights are automatically turned off when the ignition key—combined with a steering-lock on the column—is moved to the “lock” position. It would not be possible to leave the Cortina locked up and with its headlights still on, busily flattening the battery. The pull-up handbrake protruding from the base of the small locker between the seats is well placed and works efficiently the car’s main brakes work well and are fade-free, and the pedals are well-placed. There is a foot-button to work the windscreen washers and the wiper simultaneously: a sensible idea. A hard push on the button works both washers and wipers, a light touch the wipers only. The fresh-air vents in the new Cortina are set in the dash directly in front of the driver and passenger, which is preferable to the end-of-dash location formerly used in that the air goes to the driver’s face, not on to his right hand only. But the vents in the test car had a very poor output, and were quite inadequate on a warm day. The Cortina’s performance is very good, as one would expect from a comparatively light car with an overhead - cam 2-litre engine. But the engine is not a particularly smooth one, and does not became really smooth until turning over at fairly high revs. The test car had a vibration period around the 60 m.p.h. mark in top. The unit is audibly unhappy at less than 10 m.p.h. in second, 18 m.p.h. in third, and 25 m.p.h. in top—even at 30 m.p.h. in top it sounds harsh on quite light acceleration. Against this basic lowspeed engine harshness must be set the excellence of the gearbox—-there is no need to slog around at low speed in high gears—and the high-speed smoothness of the unit, which will pull lustily to nearly 80 m.p.h. in third. Basically, the Cortina GT’S handling and roadholding are excellent, but again are marred by a fault which should not be difficult to cure. At anything over about 40 m.pji. the car has an unpleasant diagonal pitch-

ing motion over even moderate main-road bumps, and as speeds rise, one can see the nose of the car virtually transcribing an oval in the air as the pitching becomes more noticeable. Were it not for this pitching, the car would always feel very sure-footed. The steering is light and direct, with plenty of feel, and the leather-rim of the wheel never becomes sticky or slippery, unlike all plastic rims.

The finish of the testcar left something to be desired in paint, panel-edge finishing and visible welds, but interior trim was well executed. The door - fits were a vast improvement on earlier Cortinas of this model, but the bonnet flapped at anything over 20 m.p.h.—probably mainly a matter of adjustment.

The longer one drives the Cortina — and this test lasted several days and several hundred miles — the more one appreciates its undoubted qualities. But also, the more one regrets the small failings which, once corrected, could make it a very desirable car. It is tempting to say that the Mark II version should be outstanding. Specifications: engine. — Four cylinder, in line, overhead belt-driven camshaft, 1993 c.c., compression ratio 9.2 to 1: 112 b.h.p. at 6000 r.p.m., red line 6200 r.p.m., dual barrel downdraught carburettor. Transmission.—Cable-operated diaphragm-spring clutch, fourspeed all-syncromesh gearbox, central floor shift, (automatic trans, optional). Suspension. — Front, double wishbones and coU springs; rear, coil springs, live axle, and four-bar link. Brakes.—Servo assisted, discs front, drums rear. Central pullup handbrake. Dimensions. — 2205 lb kerb weight, wheelbase lOl.Sln, length 169.31 n. width 67.2 in, height 53.81 n, turning circle, 33.4 ft, fuel tank 11.9 fab (54 litres). Price and evoilaMllty. — *3947, six to eight weeks. (Test car made available by Ford Motor Company of New Zealand, Ltd.)