1984 Ford Granada Ghia X review from UK and Ireland

90,000 miles: Transmission (C3 box) needed a rebuild immediately due to water ingress from radiator. This was a good bargaining point when I bought the car. No further problems with transmission.

90,000 miles: Front brake discs were also very worn, but several new sets (OEM) juddered badly under heavy braking, despite meticulous care during fitting and gentle driving. The cure was to have them machined ON THE HUB by a local Rolls Royce engineer with a Pro-cut lathe.

100,000 miles: Prop shaft rubber doughnut broke up. There was still some vibration after replacement, but renewing the prop centre bearing and fitting spacer shims cured it.

115,000 miles: Fuel pickup filter INSIDE the tank caved in and blocked the pipe, causing the vehicle to falter and cut out on the motorway (going uphill in lane 3 of the Dartford Bridge of all places!). This is clearly a very stupid and irresponsible piece of design. My advice: If you've not done so already, drop the tank and lose that filter ASAP - this one strikes without warning! Fuel injected models are not affected as the filter is external to the tank.

Air conditioning works fine on the current R134a, but does need regular top-ups - potentially expensive!

There have been several other minor faults with the car, mostly run-of-the-mill (too many to list here) but nothing too difficult to fix.

These are generally durable cars which can easily achieve high mileages given some care and attention. There are very few other vehicles which can match the comfort of a Mk2 Granada and that's a fact.

Note that European Granadas are completely different from the US Granada/Monarch/Versailles versions.

Handling, performance and roadholding are all good for a car of this size and weight. Fit Gabriel gas shocks for ultimate smoothness.

Electrical systems rarely give problems, but there are some well-hidden relays to watch out for. Front window motors can fail due to corroded connectors or sieze up altogether.

The Colgne V6 engines do need regular top-end adjustment to keep them running quietly, but this is not difficult. Regular oil changes are imperative.

The exterior paintwork holds up very well - my car has no visible rust, but was treated with Ziebart when new. '77 - '81 models are more rust-prone.

The interior fabric is unbelievably hard-wearing with negligible fading due to sunlight. The leather on Ghia X Executive models can crack easily. Door and window rubbers can deteriorate and let in noise and water.