Sinking into the Ford Escort Cosworth’s soft, garishly decorated seats, the first thing you notice is that wing staring back at you in the rear-view mirror. It’s as dominating, as obstructive and as utterly brilliant as you always knew it would be. Not to labour the point, but they just don’t make wings like that anymore, at least not on hatchbacks. Even the Honda Civic Type R looks meek by comparison. And yet somehow the Escort’s proportions still work; it remains squat, tough and oh so desirable, a potent reminder of just how right the original design was. You might struggle to be as complimentary about the interior, which is unmistakably early-Nineties Ford in its look and feel. It even smells like an old Ford, transporting you back to a childhood squashed into the back seats with your brother and sister, elbows out in a bitter attempt to wrestle extra space. No doubt we’d have minded less if our old Escort had been a Cosworth, what with its white dials and dashtop-mounted boost gauge. This particular 41,000-mile car is part of Ford’s own heritage collection, and the first of the limited-edition run of 200 Monte Carlos to be built, 70 of which were right-hand drive. These went on sale in 1994 to mark Ford’s success on the Monte Carlo rally, with the upgrades over the standard Cosworth consisting of OZ Racing alloy wheels (how good do they look?!), those cloth sports seats and one of three paint colours. Being one of the earlier Escort Cosworths this particular car has the larger Garrett T35 turbo installed, which is known to have more lag but also more power than the later, smaller turbo cars. It helps the 2.0-litre engine to push out 227bhp and 224lb ft of torque, which by today’s standards doesn’t sound terribly special. Surely the Escort Cosworth isn’t going to disappoint, is it? THE DRIVE BUT HOW? Which is why the Escort Cosworth not only gets that bonkers (if bland sounding) engine, but also four-wheel drive with a rear-biased torque split. In theory this means you can perform heroic power slides, but not when it’s somebody else’s prized heritage car. Even so, you needn’t go crazy to realise what a fine handling machine this is, with a beautifully responsive front end and brakes that demonstrate excellent bite at the top of the pedal’s travel. It even rides pretty well once up to speed. AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS In the market for a used car? CarGurus makes it easy to find great deals from top-rated dealers. CarGurus compares price, detailed vehicle data and dealer reviews to give each used car a deal rating from great to overpriced, and sorts the best deals first. Find out more and begin your used car search at CarGurus The content above is for informational purposes only and should be independently verified. Please see our Terms of Use for more details. Driving the Legends: Ford Escort Cosworth posted first on http://www.cargurus.com/blog/ via Blogger Driving the Legends: Ford Escort Cosworth
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April 2018
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