1993 Ford Escort RS Cosworth 4x4 Lux review from UK and Ireland

TCA bush split at 50k.

Breather hose at 65k.

No other faults.

Fantastic car.

The car has had some work done by BBR in Brackley and now sports a dyno proven 320 bhp (and 345 lb/ft of torque), but with far greater driveability than standard. That said, turbo lag is still quite pronounced because of the bucket-sized Garrett hybrid turbo. When "on boost", it is a missile, and covers the 0-60 sprint in around 4.8 seconds.

The great thing about the Escort Cosworth is it needs no other modifications for this kind of power increase. The chassis and brakes cope admirably, and are more than up to the job for fast road use. It's obvious within a mile of driving a standard Cosworth that all components on the car were designed with a lot more power in mind. This really is a detuned rally car.

The rear-drive biased 4x4 system gives astonishing grip, and when it does let go it remains very controllable and exploitable. It's actually a very compliant car, and there's a bit of roll in hard cornering, but I find this preferable to the rock hard, flat cornering Subarus and Evo's as it provides additional feedback. The body roll is not intrusive, but noticeable after a drive in more modern machinery. The steering is probably better than any other power assisted system on any car at any price with bags of feel and perfect gearing.

It's a relaxing long distance car too, with the typically excellent Recaros supporting in all the right places, a typically excellent Ford driving position (they rarely get this wrong) and superb build quality. It's a little known fact that the Escort Cosworths were actually hand built by Karmann in Germany, with hand built engines shipped from Cosworth in the UK. This is something even prestige badged rivals cannot claim. Despite the dated Escort dash, it's a pleasant car to be in. Motorway stability is first class thanks to the "positive downforce" aero equipment, again a first on a production road car. Whatever you think of the picnic tray on the rear end, it performs a valuable function.

An amazingly complete and fabulous drivers car with knockout performance and an involvement to the driving experience that few modern rivals at any price can match. The used values tell you all you need to know.