1985 Ford Capri Special review from UK and Ireland

Heater fan never worked- a real pain when the screen was misted up.

I had to put a gearbox in the car when I bought it from my best friend - £150 for a 5 speed. These are known to be weaker than the 4 speeders.

The reason for the low reliability score is the fact that it simply refused to start on more than one occasion, even though no fault could be found.

Let's shoot down a few 2.8i myths shall we? For such a quick car the brakes were barely adequate, even with vented discs and braided hoses. It was noisy, crashy and the ease with which it went sideways in the wet was lethal. Some owners will tell you it's fun - not when you're driving home after work at 2am in London and you just want to get home.

Sure it was quick, especially in it's day, but you've really got to wind it up - not much flexibility at all. And you pay the price at the pumps - I never saw more than 20mpg. The Mk2 Escort RS2000 I owned afterwards was much better, laser sharp throttle response and gearchange unlike the Capri.

Despite being a Dagenham dustbin, the parts are not cheap - if you bend it (and you will with that sloppy back end...) the panels are stupid money. As are the interiors, as all the boys want the bits for their 1.6 L's. Fast Fords of a certain age seem to be seriously inflated in value, considering their lack of sophistication and limited abilities, and the plain fact they are Fords, not Alfa's or BMW's.

Despite this, these cars will always have their fans, and not without reason. They are the epitome of the muscular cheap coupe in terms of styling and image. For a lot of people, that is enough.