1989 Ford Sierra cosworth from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have owned over 40 cars. Including Astra GTE 16v, RS Turbo, Renault 5 Turbo, Primera Egt, Celica GT4 and lately tried a Corsa with a 2.0 ltr 16v engine. Nothing comes close to the Sapphire Cosworth. I have previously owned 4 Cosworths and have recently purchased my current Sapphire Cosworth.

My Cosworth is running a phase 1 chip, running 270BHP. I have had Stage 2 and 3 Cosworths, but even the stage 1 would put a smile on anyone's face. My new Cosworth with a Phase 1 chip is good enough to be side by side with an Impreza P1 up to 4th gear, with the Cosworth having the edge in 5th. I can get similar performance from a £3000 Sapphire Cosworth, than one of my friends gets from their ultimate £22000 Impreza P1. (Their words)

I have not been truly impressed with any Impreza turbo, and I have driven a few. I think a slightly tuned 16v Astra GTE would see most of them off. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against the cars, I have been tempted a few times to buy one, but after a test drive there is no contest, for drivability and performance the Cosworth wins hands down.

After speaking to a few Impreza owners, they seem to use twice the amount of petrol than us Cosworth owners do. After a weekend of driving, my Impreza driving friends are seriously out of pocket.

Blown engines seem to be a very regular and expensive problem for Impreza owners, I know of at least six different cars recently that have had blown engines, they have had fewer than 70,000 miles on the clock and were under 6 years old. I hate to imagine what they will be like when they are 15 years old, like my Sapphire Cosworth. My Cosworth is still running the original turbo.

My car has undergone an engine rebuild at just under 100,000 miles and this should last me another 100, 000 miles. I can still walk into a Ford dealer and order a replacement part for my 15 year old car. Try doing that even in a 10 year old Impreza. The Subaru dealer would send you packing.

I do not think that there will ever be anything made that will ever come close to the Sapphire Cosworth. I will be holding onto this one.

I would give my eye teeth for a cossie. U lucky git!!!

I'm a big fan of the Sierra, but can;t be convinced with the Cossie. Fantastic on paper, but I have heard of people having them spending more time in the garage than on the road. I just get the impression the Cosworth YBT can have patchy reliability... as you say, your has been spot on.

I know a properly built YBT will be bulletproof, but they cost a fortune from reputable comapnies.

Rover V8 in a Sierra anyone? Same weight as the YBT (As its all aluminium), with 350bhp to be had from a tuned 4.2 litre. Shedloads of torque too!

The YB is as tough as old boots as long as it is either left standard or tuned properly, and correctly serviced. It's a true competition engine that was then adapted for road use, something that is almost unheard of in an "affordable" road car these days. It's also based on the bulletproof Ford Pinto engine which itself has decades of chequered motorsport and tuning history.

The YB's patchy reputation came about in the early 1990's as a result of fly-by-night tuning companies offering big bhp chip upgrades for ridiculously little cash (an extra 150 bhp could be had for less than £250 for example). What these chips did was simply wind up the boost and run the engine extra rich, both of which are potentially catastrophic for reliability and engine life unless they're very carefully done.

A factory standard, or properly modified Cosworth with a chip from a reputable company (and hence some proper R&D testing behind it), and sensible engine mods will do 100,000 miles plus before it needs any major attention. As long as the turbo is treated with a bit of consideration and the right oil and change intervals are used, these engines go on and on. Remember this engine has had huge success in touring cars, rallying and has even won the gruelling Bathurst round of the ATCC twice, in a class where the V8 rules the roost.

I've driven a factory standard Series 1 "whale tail" Cosworth with 144,000 miles. It hadn't been mollycoddled or cherished particularly, just serviced by a local Ford RS specialist exactly as per the schedule, and allowed to warm up before caning, and cool down before switching off. It went like an absolute rocket, sounded sweet (as sweet as a YB can anyway) and didn't feel tired in the slightest. Had also never let the owner down from new.

Hi I have got a cosworth ybb from a 1989 sapphire in an rs2000 MK1 escort it’s in stage one tune and the only mods to the engine are a chip (from chipped UK) and a -31 actuator. This car is very fast and will spin the wheels at over 70mph in 4th gear. I am a qualified mechanic and have driven lots of very fast turbo japanese cars, but my cossie ranks in the top if not at the top. I say GO COSWORTH!!! Any day.

Why?

They may make a lot of power, but they look like a shed, and they weigh to much.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the comment above, the Ford Cosworths are some of the most successful competition cars, powered by one of the most successful competition engines, designed and built by the most successful race engine builder ever.

If you care about looks over all that, what are you doing on a car enthusiast's forum? Go and pose down the High Street in your MR2 or something.

That cosworth review does sound daft, fictional and incredably bias'd, there is no way a slightly tuned GTE 16v will match even a uk scoob, its in a different class. The cossie is only just in the scooby class, people seem to bash scoobs because their popular. Yes I own a scoob, a uk wrx ppp and it's a beast, just today pushed a porche cayman s (300 bhp) up to 120mph before having to slow down. My old K reg scoob used to leave sapthire cossie's. Stop scooby bashing and accept them as superior machines. Oh and my old K reg never let me down, and I drove it hard.

Well I have had a scoob and some off beat japanese stuff like 300zx tt and a 650 bhp skiline, but I have to say since I have owned my sapphire now for around six months its been the best car yet yes a little retro, but that's what I like and yes as per some of the comments above a old shed yes it maybe if your 12 years old, but its cool too me as it was when I was 12 so I have recently also been round brands on a track day

i would like to see a 18 year old japanese car get as much attention as I did on the day with people wondering what was under the bonnet?

Yes still high on insurance for its age OK OK I admit I did think at some point that there would be a high chance of somthing going wrong, but no it was excellent I drove it 200 miles there gave it death all day and drove it back can't even say some of my other cars did that well before!

Anyway I love it and that's all I worry about I have grown out of hanging around mc d's with all the little girls these guys don't know how lucky they are I had to buy my first car myself and I was never on my mums insurance!

The cosworth has been proven and proven again

and can chase of a lot of new fast cars and will be far more fun round a track bet people will say the same about sklines too in another 10 years just wait and see.

Scoobies litter the free ads for two grand upwards. Cossies are rare, exclusive and were classics the second they went out of production. 4 grand + for any straight Cossie, or 10+ for an Escort.

Who "lusts" after a series 1 Scooby? Nobody, hence 2 grand to you sir.

Probably because they're still making Imprezas, they have been extremely successful. Just because somethings rare it doesn't make it better, I spent £14000 on a 1 year old Impreza, I could have got a highly tuned fair condition done up to the top cossie for that, but I don't like cossie's, end of.

Well that's your choice, and fair play to you. I wouldn't personally spend 14k on something that's going to be next to worthless in five years time, but then I didn't so fair enough.

My mint, factory standard 91 Sapphire 4x4 would be whipped in any scenario by your Scooby (probably), but the Cosworth's mechanical feeling steering and gearchange, and rear biased 4x4 system make it just as much of a driving tool, without considering that it's a bone fide classic.

But at the end of the day, none of it matters. Just as you don't like Cosworths, I don't like Imprezas (apart from the exhaust note), end of. Variety is the spice of life and all that. We'll never agree on this.

For what it's worth though, I think the Evo 9 FQ-340 I drove a few weeks back is a noticeably better car than both of them.

Well I wasnt thinking about its future value when I bought it, I bought it cos I like make and model, but imprezas are easy to keep up together with endless spare parts (ie: they're still making imprezas) and the fact they all come with heavy rust proofing, I've never seen a rusty impreza. So I think it will be worth a little more than you say in 5 years. as for the evo, again personal choice, but if your judging it on power, I don't think there was ever a cossie or scooby that came with 345bhp out of the box. (WR1 closest with 316 I think)

The power was very impressive on the Evo, but it was the handling that blew me away. Neither Impreza or Cossie are exactly shabby, but the active 4wd on the Evo is astonishing.

My gran could powerslide this car!!

I'm an old timer now 60, I bought my coz in 1987 love it and still have it I'm not a mechanic, but I can do a bit, elecs and body work I can't do but have somehow lost the enthusiasm to keep it up to scratch "D" reg white 49000 miles parked up for last 3 yrs needs tender love and attn no mech probs eng/box trans etc only probs front wing outer

I need help on how to fix it or will sell to coz fan for fair price.

I have a 1989 cossie running 580bhp, and I can assure you it would leave any Impreza or Evo in its dust. The cossie engine can be so finely tuned if it is done properly. I wouldn't have anything else.