1998 Ford Scorpio Cosworth Ultima Estate review from UK and Ireland

Gearbox failure at 103000 and radiator at 105000 (both covered by my warranty).

The Hans Christian-Andersen quote is relevant because, let's face it, the car IS most definitely an ugly duckling. Goodness knows what Ford were thinking of when they designed the front end (I am spared the awful chrome on the back as mine is an estate) but their grand design clearly came off the rails somewhere. This particular one is one of the last of them which "benefited" from a face lift giving it even MORE bulbous headlights and lashings of extra chrome. Lovely!

Having said all that, however, there are a couple of advantages to its looks.

1) It looks like nothing else on earth (except a vauge resemblence to the equally hideous Mercedes E Class of today) which means that you will never loose it in a car park.

2) The bizarre looks does give it a certain amount of class.

3) It makes the car a very cheap buy second-hand.

And most importantly:

4) You cannot actually see the front end of this car when you are driving it.

It really is a shame about the looks however, because in every other possible respect this car is superb.

Let's start with the cabin - and once you have got used the fake wood trim in quantities not normally seen outside Rovers - it really is a thing of beauty. You sit on a leather seat that's practically an armchair with heating and electric controls (electric controls that are extended to both front seats). Everything adjusts fully for the perfect driving condition (reach and rake steering wheel, electrochromatic mirror that can be dimmed automatically or manually, climate control with thousands of settings, the list just goes on and on).

Then there's the stereo, not the most important part of a car, but I like my music while I'm driving and it drives me to distraction that the standard fitted stereos in most cars are so awful. Well the Ford 7000 unit (radio casette with a CD changer in the boot) provided here sounds fantastic - it is the only standard stereo I have not ripped out within a week of buying the car. Ever.

What else can we say about the inside of this lovely car - it has all the toys and even the rear seats are magnificently comfortable - oh yes, the boot. It's huge. Bigger than most Volvos. You press the electric release on your keyfob and open up an Aladdin's cave of space. There's a load cover if you need it and if you don't it lifts straight out. Leave the back seats in place and you can sit five adults, all their luggage and a month's shopping, put them you'll get a wardrobe in there (and I don't just mean the contents, I mean the furniture as well). And then when you do fill it up with crates of wine and luggage though you would expect it to then crash around every pot hole, it doesn't. Some clever gizmo in the rear suspension works out how much you've got in there and raises the car accordingly.

All these eulogies and we haven't even turned the car on yet. Well when you do you might wonder if you had because it's very quiet in the cabin. If you have the stereo on you might not hear the engine at all unless you gun it.

There are two buttons by the selector, one says "E" and the other says "S."

E, laughably, stands for economy (about 25mpg - well, what were you expecting?). Drive the car around like that and you can hustle it through city traffic with no bother at all, despite it's size. The power steering is very light and whilst it does move if you floor the accelerator, it doesn't quite seem to suit this mode, far better for slouching around back lanes and city streets.

Press "S" however and everything changes. There steering firms up, the car squats down, the 208bhp Cosworth engine starts to make a growl that you will hear inside the cockpit. Now you can do the autobahn trial at 110mph and still have enough power and acceleration to overtake - even uphill with a full load.

You can do 0-60 in nine and bit (and this is a 2 tonne automatic estate that costs under three grand to buy now and only twenty-something when new). The electronics will blow the whistle at 136 on the estate (saloon is slightly faster) but even in Germany you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere that you ever could reach that speed.

Handling is perfection itself. This car has a huge advantage over it's little brother the mondeo and that is that it's rear wheel drive. No torque steer at all and you can steer it with a finger in "E" if you are so inclined.

So get over the unorthodox appearance and when you see one of these coming with the discreet "24v" badges (the word 'Cosworth' appears on the engine block, but nowhere on the outside) then do the right thing and salute the driver for what is actually a very good choice of car.