Mainly body rot was the problem, the boot floor suffering badly in this respect.
Passenger window mechanism broke.
And then the engine went bang. Hardly suprising, the 1300 kent was too small for the size of car.
This was a fairly rare in the uk 1300 base spec 2-door cortina, below even the L model in specification, so the first owner must have been a right tightwad. one of the most basic cars I have ever driven. however it served the purpose as cheap transport for a while.
Performance wasnt too bad up to about 30 mph, but after that the lack of torque and the weight of the body started to show. Ford had lowered the gearing substantially to allow the little engine to get moving, this sadly meant that motorways were a noisy, thrashy affair even only doing 70 with economy rarely bettering 30mpg.Put into perspective, my previous car was a morris Ital 1300, which would have run rings around the cortina in performance and economy.
As basic A to B transport, it was fine with very few reliability issues, but not a good representative of the cortina range in general.
I can't imagine the Ital was any better as it's a similarly sized car with a slightly less powerful engine.
Walking is preferable to a Morris Ital. Probably the worst car ever made, or close to.
My neighbour had one that had rust bubbles coming through when it was four days old! Total junk!
The Ital was a great car in one important respect- it was CHEAP. the official manufacturer's data if you check confirms the Ital is faster, its also smaller and lighter than a cortina. The A+ plus engine produces more power than the kent, has better carburation and breathing.
Max speed- Cortina 1.3- 85 mph
Ital 1.3- 97 mph.
These are both true, I have owned both cars. OK, the Ital had its valves bouncing flat out, but it would do that speed.
MPG= Cortina 1.3, 30 mpg average. Ital 1.3 38-40 mpg average.
I always find people are very quick to knock cars they don't like, even when they have not so much as SAT in one.
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