A cheap, fairly reliable workhorse
Interior trim very shoddy and fragile, though this had been rectified with a later model I owned.
Leaking rocker box cover (inexpensive and easy to fix.)
This car served me well and was reliable.
Cheap to run and maintain.
Relatively comfortable even for a very tall person like myself.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 7th January, 2002
Not much, I service it myself as I am a student and can't afford a dealer. The only thing is that it may be a bit heavy on alternators, probably due to the high revving 4-spd gearbox (I've replaced 2 so far). I've just replaced the rear driveshafts and wheel bearings, front suspension rubbers and had the front disks skimmed.
My car has just done 250 000Km, it was possibly the first Sierra 1600 to come to South Africa, all the parts are still marked Ford England, later models had Ford South Africa markings on certain locally made parts.The car has been in my family since it was purchased. It is overall a cheap to run student's car, and is very handy to take on camping trips with the fold down seats at the back - not like the other Beetles, Minis and other small student's cars.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 8th February, 1998
Headlamps needed replacing (both sides had cracked lenses and water penetration - expensive!). Brake discs needed replacing, rear drums needed re-lining.
No major problems otherwise. In spite of the awful ford auto-choke it usually starts... which is unusual for a ford.
Comfy old barge. The 2.0 Pinto engine is still reasonably light on oil (with 120K miles behind it) but still runs like a bag of hammers. You don't rev it if you can avoid it. The 4-speed box is as dreadful as most big-Ford boxes, but still has synchro on all gears.
Seats have held up well - no collapsed springs. Apart from the awful fuel consumption (25-30 mpg, typically) running costs have been low. All the electical bells & whistles still work, amazingly. No apparent leaks.
Conclusion: a cheap (450 UKP) comfy barge. Poor handling but a reasonable ride. Heavy steering (no PAS) but it'll do well enough for a year or two.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 8th December, 1997