1993 Ford Granada Scorpio review from UK and Ireland

Various electrical maladies.

Chewed up tyres despite tracking being checked and realigned twice.

Throttle position sensor (twice in six months)

Catalytic converter.

Lambda Sensor.

TDC sensor.

Immobiliser after it randomly prevented the engine starting, usually after filling up with petrol (which you did a lot at 18mpg).

Cooling Fan.

Erratic stereo, CD player swallowed discs and would not regurgitate them again.

Various electrical problems caused by the fuse boxes being right in the path of rainwater coming off the front screen (clever design)

Trim was pretty low rent and the door trims especially were cheap and nasty, though lots of gear on board in terms of twiddly bits. Most of the interior bits worked, though I'd have swapped them for reliable engine management instead!

I bought this car as it had only done 60000 miles and had 2 owners. Within a week the car started playing up, idle speed went down to 500 rpm.

Fortunately I have a friend who runs a garage with electronic diagnostic gear. I ended up using this a lot with this car.

Having replaced the throttle sensor, I ran the car for almost 2 weeks without fault before the lambda sensor packed up...

This pattern continued for the next 5 months, as various electrical sensors packed in, suffered bad connections, or replacements failed too!

The garage handily has a scrapped model which has suffered terminal meltdown of the electrical system which I managed to salvage some parts from (like the fan that on my car failed after a couple of months)

Meanwhile the front tyres wore out in 4000 miles despite 2 lots of tracking, the stereo went mental and finally the cat expired, blocking the exhaust and turning the performance into somthing akin to that of a milkfloat with a flat battery.

After 6 months of hassle, I sold the car on with a big sigh of relief. I think it ran properly for about 1 month of that.

Good points, comfy, well equipped, roomy, nice looking car (before the horrible bug eyed model later on!) and quite quick when it was working properly. Nice noise from the V6. Lots of lazy torque and a smooth ride.

Bad points - appalling electrical problems, lousy build quality, 18-22mpg

even at 70mph with the (clunky) cruise control on. Habit of locking me out of the car at random, or in, or letting me in, but not starting (in the end I removed the immobiliser and joined up the wires).

I previously had an '85 Mk2 Granada Ghia X. Sorry Ford, but the old model was a definate improvement! At least it was reliable, probably as it had a carb and no sensors. Gas mileage was about the same despite being a carbed 2.8 and 3 speed auto. Progress? I don't think so...