1988 Ford Orion L review from UK and Ireland
"Unreliable, fast beast"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
I had three new engines because I drove the car like a maniac.
Two new lower control arms.
New carb, the 1.4 carb couldn't take the pressure of the XR2 engine so I up-rated it to an XR2 carb.
Whole new shocks all the way round.
New spax lowering springs, made it handle a treat.
New front pads and disc's.
New back shoes.
New head gasket, while it was being fitted I had the valves chopped to the bare minimum, and
Kent cams fitted.
General comments?
Apart from all the problems I loved this car because I could get 130MPH and 0-60 in 8 seconds. This beast could stay with any turbo, you should have seen the bloke in the RST along Southend pier when I steamed past and he couldn't respond.
MPG was crap, about 20 to the gallon but you don't get that speed without using a lot of fuel. But in the end all good things come to a end, I had a crash with a oncoming car on a country lane. It put me in hospital for 3 months with two broken legs.
Now I have a Fiesta Si, and am having a turbo conversion done on it. But to be honest I miss the Orion days.
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| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Year of manufacture | 1988 |
| First year of ownership | 1998 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2000 |
| Engine and transmission | XR2 1.6 Manual |
| Performance marks | 9 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 5 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 5 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 0 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 3 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 65000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 90000 miles |
| Date of Entry | 13th February, 2001 |