Sporty XR4i dropped

Press, 14 March 1985, Page 33

Sporty XR4i dropped

Ford’s sporty Sierra XR4i has been dropped from the British model range just two years after its introduction in Britain and a year after its New Zealand introduction. The XR4i has not caught on in Britain in the fashion of the Capri, sales being only mediocre. However, it will continue to be sold in Germany. Only 9000 XR4i models have been sold in Britain since its debut early in 1983 and last year the car was offered by the main Ford dealers at substantially discounted prices. However, Ford of Britain is not abandoning a sporty Sierra model and it has come up with the new 2.OiS, a Sierra four-door saloon with 2-litre overhead camshaft engine and fuel injection which raises the power output from 78kW (105bhp) to 85.7 kW (115bhp). To give this car more sporty handling, much of the XR4i’s suspension layout has been used. There is the thicker 26mm front anti-roll bar and the addition of a 10mm bar at the rear, while variable-rate rear springs and gas-filled shock absorbers are employed. The 195/60 HRI4 tyres are a hangover from the XR4i also, although steel rather than alloy wheels are used on the new model.

Further, to take people’s minds off the ill-fated XR4i,

Ford has introduced the Sierra XR4 x 4, alias its four-wheel-drive version, which elevates Ford into the Audi Quattro class and upstages BMW, which is expected to introduce its all-wheel-drive version of the 3 Series car before the year is out. A drive train employing a Ferguson viscous coupling is employed. The same setup is used also in Ford’s RS 200 rally car. It provides a rear-biased torque split for the first time on a four-wheel-drive production car. Another coupling is integral with the rear axle differential. This system eliminates

the need for differential locks as employed in Audi’s Quattro range and, significantly, ABS (anti-skid braking system), which is optional, has been developed to the extent that it works full-time. In the Audi, ABS automatically disengages when the centre differential is locked. The car, which looks like a normal Sierra saloon, apart from its XR4 x 4 decal at the rear and a well-fitting spoiler immediately below the rear window, will go on sale in Britain in about two months. The price has yet io be announced.