1989 Ford Sierra XR4X4 review from UK and Ireland

It eats exhausts and they are not cheap.

Three exhausts in 60,00 miles.

The tires last well, but I don't corner too fast, but it pays to get quality makes. It needs a lot of balancing though to keep things shudder free.

The braking system was replaced due to the rear calipers seizing and the front disks had worn to the limits.

The heated front windscreen elements failed quite early on leaving just the passenger side working, which is not very useful on a misty day.

It had new brake and fuel pipes at 9 years due to corrosion.

The inbuilt arial in the rear screen also packed up quickly and the high cost of repair resulted in a normal arial being fitted in the rear wing.

The V6 2.9 engine has been very good except for rocker gaskets which decided to leak and make the car smell of oil all the time.

Its had three batteries in its life.

A partial rewire was needed after the fuse box caught fire when the dip relay packed up. I would have thought that the fuse would blow, but no.

The rear drive shafts had to be re-lubricated after they started to clunk which was a simple and cheap job.

Recent faults have been the failure of the passenger side window motor.

The gear box has a very noisy baring which vibrates through the steering wheel over 3500 rpm. this started at about 60,000 miles, but has not got any worse. The repair quote was very high, so it was not done.

It has an occasional misfire which the local Ford dealer could not cure.

The indicator switch will smoke now and then when you indicate left.

Rust made its face known, with new sills and floor patching at 11 years old.

A combination of rust, paintwork "scab", leaking petrol tank and a host of niggling faults has resulted in the car being scrapped at 13 years old. I could not justify spending any more money on it, as its reliability was so bad, I was scared to go anywhere in it.

The car is great fun and very fast.

The handling is superb and you can throw it round islands at high speeds.

The brakes are good and the anit lock effective.

Comfort is poor as the seats make my back hurt and the car is rather rough over poor roads.