Motoring Ford’s seductive speedster

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 30

Motoring

Ford’s seductive speedster

By

PETER GREENSLADE

Ford New Zealand, Ltd, already the handler of the country’s top-selling New Zealand-assembled cars, is poised to paste the living daylights out of the established European exotica that inhabit some of the garages in New Zealand’s “nicer” suburbs.

Over the next two months, the company will begin taking delivery of the 210km/h (130 m.p.h.) Sierra XR4i close-coupled fourseater coupe, which will be available to people who can produce about $42,000 pretty smartly.

The key phrase in any XR4i deal will have to be “pretty smartly,” because these cars will not spend much time gathering dust in Ford dealers’ showrooms while they wait for owners, if my brief meeting with this sleek biplane-spoilered coupe counts for anything. For starters, it has it all over the Mazda RX7 and the more costly Porsche 924 for passenger and luggage space, and would show those most acceptable speedsters a clean pair of rear wheels with not much more than an exhaust snort. It is also as docile as a tranquillised kitten meandering about the city, so it is an ideal car to use for a shopping spree. But a word of warning. The XR4i is more seductive than any Mata Hari. A colleague was happily bowling along Auckland’s Southern Motorway at what he thought was a highly illegal 120km/h until his companion considered it prudent to mention that the speedometer actually read in miles and not kilometres an hour!

The aforesaid colleague promptly slowed down before going into profound shock and handing over the helm to a now exultant companion. The XR4i is said to be a direct development of Ford’s Probe 111 concept car, which was unveiled at

the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1981. Probe in was developed from the basic Sierra saloon shape, allegedly to explore the limits of aerodynamic efficiency. Basically, the XR4i conforms to the shape of the Sierra saloon — hence its roominess — but its coefficient of drag is 0.32, compared with the 0.34 of the Sierra station waggon which is now being assembled by Ford at its Seaview, Lower Hutt, plant. Whereas the run-of-the-mill Sierras are powered by the old series of Cortina engines, albeit slightly improved, the XR4i harbours a bonnet full of 112 kW (150 b.h.p.) 2.8-litre V 6 Bosch KJetronic fuel-injected engine, which drives through one of the slickest fivespeed manual gearboxes I have used over the last year or so.

All the urge that extremely willing V 6 produces makes it imperative that the XR4i be shod with ultrawide, low-profile tyres — steel-belted radial-play 195/60 VRl4s are the standard ware — and their very size has an adverse effect on drag. However, the biplane rear spoiler and polycarbonate lower body side mouldings help maintain,

laminar airflow down the sides of the car and guide the air unobstructed past the wheels. Hence the exceptionally good drag coefficient.

The V 6 engine delivers its 150 b.h.p. at 5700 r.p.m. and, even better, displays its 216 NM (1601b/ft) of maximum torque at 3800 r.p.m. This means an XR4i owner has a car that will reach the legal speed limit from rest in 7s. And, mind you, it will accomplish that without mind-boggling dexterity on the driver’s part or a tortured screech from those 60 series tyres. This is a very highly civilised — one could almost say placid — fourseater with a sufficiently wide back seat to carry three adults easily. Suspension , is independent all round, that at the front being by McPherson struts and at the rear by semitrailing arms, coil springs and an anti-roll bar.

This system seems to allow for an inordinately large amount of vertical wheel travel for, at speed, it irons out very significant irregularities in the road surface, but there is very little apparent body roll in fast cornering, although at times the car does seem to wallow.

As befits a car with the XR4i’s performance potential, ventilated disc brakes are used in front, while the rear drums are of greater

The XR4i has a very strong sporting appeal and so it might come as a surprise to learn that although it is a two-door car with a high-lifting tailgate it has the same basic bodyshell as the Sierra saloon. Thus, it has precisely the same amount of interior space as the Sierra that Sir Robert Muldoon uses as' his personal car. It has the same large luggage boot and a folddown rear seat with a 60/40 split backrest to permit carriage of awkward loads. Interior furnishings are of a high standard, goodquality fabrics being employed. Recaro sports seats afford extra lateral support and offer lumbar adjustment as well as a good range of fore and aft travel. The driver’s seat is also height adjustable — a useful feature because the bonnet falls away quite sharply on all Sierras and, for shorter drivers, who experience difficulty in judging the dimensions of the cars they handle, it is always reassuring to see the front corners, if needs be.

The analogue instruments are clearly displayed in a deep panel and include a tachometer. The various gauges are supplemented by a graphic information module which warns the driver if either the doors or the tailgate are left ajar and also indicates certain mechanical malfunctions.

A small diameter, softfeel two-spoke sports steering wheel is a nice finishing touch.

As well as being equipped with an overhead console containing map-reading lamps, the XR4i has electrically heated and adjustable exterior mirrors, and an

electric tailgate release. The tailgate has a relatively low sill and comprises mainly the rear window, the range of vision through which is not obscured by the biplane spoiler. With its very plain front end, which is relieved to some extent by the flushfitting glasses covering the paired headlamps, and the rather unusual threewindow treatment, the XR4i has a starkly dramatic appearance rather than the sporty good looks of the earlier rakish Ford Capri 2.8 i, for example.

All the same it could not be mistaken for other than a sporting car. What is more, it is a sporting car of uncommonly wide appeal, not only because it performs so well but also because it stands head and shoulders above others of the genre because of its generous passenger and baggage-carrying capacity. In short, the Sierra XR4i is a car among cars that will most likely be snapped ,up by those fortunate car buffs who can afford the asking price.