1989 Ford Sierra cosworth from UK and Ireland - Comments

I don't believe you about your 580bhp cossie. If you're going to make such a bold statement like that, put some proof on youtube or something.

I believe him with his claim of 580bhp as its nothing out of the ordinary nowadays with cosworths currently reaching 750bhp...I have owned Imprezas and Skylines after cosworths a few years ago, but they are boring and have no charm, so recently purchased another sapphire and uprated to 440bhp.

Imprezas are boring and have no charm?? Cossies are beasts, the same as Imprezas, Skylines, Evos etc, but I think Imprezas have the most character, with their deep grunty sounding flat four; almost every other car, fast or not, has a boring inline configuration.

Cosworths hold there money, Scoobys...um, lets check ebay on what we can get for £2,000...another Scoob anyone?!

Fact is most Scoob and Cossie owners are always going to have a little war going on.

The original write up had said how a GTE 16v can keep up with a UK spec Scoob, then someone else had slated him for this remark. Well I have driven many of the cars listed in this little debate, and yes a tuned GTE 16v will keep with a UK spec Scooby. They are standard at 156bhp, manifold and exhaust with air filter and chip take them to 170bhp...by the way a MK2 Astra GTE 16v weighs 14kg less than a Cit' Saxo!

Cossies hold their value because Ford stopped making them a long time ago. Just because something is rare, doesn't make it better as a car. Impreza's last; I don't think I've ever seen a rusty one, and they are getting on for 15 years now. And the UK spec Impreza is no slower than a standard saph cossie. I don't think the GTE will keep up with either; ha ha!

The Cosworth remains the only one you can safely get more than a 100 bhp increase out of on standard internals.

It says something for the Sierra Cosworth, when new performance cars are still using them as the benchmark! My sapphire is now set up to 440bhp as above, and it will take a 500bhp + Evo, Skyline or Impreza to keep up with it, at a far greater cost than the £3000 it cost me for parts to go from 204bhp to 440 bhp ;-) As for the Astra GTE keeping up with an Impreza or Cosworth... don't make me laugh!

I have read all the above comments and am a Cossie fan! I must say in regards to the GTE, um, a standard 8v, no chance! A good 16v GTE with some slight mods will keep with a UK Scooby. GTE Valvers (not the 8 valve) are very very fast cars. Cosworth designed the engine on the 16v's. I have seen some at Santa Pod do 0-60 in the 6's, same as UK Scoobys pulling 60mph in the 6's. A standard GTE 16v does 0-60 in 7.2 and onto a top speed of 138mph.

There are no scoobies that do 60 in the 6's, the very worse is 5.9 from a UK wagon WRX. The standard 225 WRX saloon does 60 in 5.5 seconds. The astra'a are a lot lighter than the impreza or cossie's at 1000 kg vs 1400 for WRX and about 1250 for the cossie, but slights modds?? I think it would need at least a hefty set of cams. Whats the 0-100 mph time for the GTE? The scooby and cossie are around 16 seconds.

Spec for a UK standard Scoob...

2.2.1 Standard Cars

One of the main reasons for anyone buying the Impreza is the absolutely stunning levels of performance it offers for the money. For the 4 door saloon, Subaru claim 6.4 seconds for the 0-62 mph (100 km/h) sprint, and a maximum speed of 143.5 mph (97/98 models). The figures for the five door hatchback are 6.5 seconds and 142 mph respectively. All of this from a standard car costing around £21,000 on the road!

BTW... A GTE 16v does 0-100mph in 18.8 seconds. 0-60 6.9 seconds, top speed... touch under 140mph. MPG around 34 on a run and 29 around town. All this for under 1k!

I'm not sure about the 0-100 mph for the GTE, but I am sure the 0-60 is not in the 6's. The 0-60 for the GTE is 7.3 always has been, and I am very sure the 0-60 mph for the UK spec impreza WRX is 5.6 for the 03 onwards and 5.4 for the 06/07. And you can pick up a japanese import WRX (260 bhp) for about £3k 0-60 4.9 seconds on about an L reg, old, but still newer than a GTE, and it won't be rusty.

The GTE 16v was clocked at 6.9 seconds to 60 by What Car back in 1987. It is an incredibly quick car, let down badly by appalling traction off the line.

It is no Scooby or Cosworth though.

It sure was! It then went on to a registered top speed of 137mph. I've owned many GTE's and now a Saph Cossie. Cossie is fantastic, although a bit juicy! I liked my old GTE 16v for showing up these kids in their VTS Saxo's and Golf GTI MK1 and 2's; even the 16v Golf GTI MK2 was not as quick as the GTE 16v. It is a shame the GTE suffers so badly from tin worm. Anyway, long live the legendary Sierra Cosworth! Maybe one day I will be able to get an RS500!

For all those who slated the gte 16 valve here is a list of all the cars my mildly tuned 20 year old example has beaten in a good old fashioned drag race:

MGZS 180

Civic type R

BMW 330ci

Clio 172.

As well of many other luke warm modern hatches.

Long live the gte!!!

I'm sure that the RS Cosworth is a quicker car than the Impreza WRX. The Escort Cosworth in its day was the quickest car of its class. The Cosworth was still being made a year after the Impreza WRX was released.