1985 Ford Sierra XR4i review from UK and Ireland

Bought off E-bay for £680 with full MoT and required front bushes, tracking and balancing as the car shook terribly on drive home from Scotland.

Apart from that, nothing.

Fantastic car. £800 all in with a full MoT. No, rust (on a bright hite B-reg) and excellent condition.

Last year I got rid of my imaculate MkIII XR3i as the electrics and gearbox were terrible and bought a Rover Coupe 2.0 Turbo. The Rover was great and very powerful, but I missed the fun handling of the XR. The 3i was slightly underpowered and I was told the Sierra was better and had RWD, so opted for one on my classic insurance.

Fantastic car all round. Not great for the 0-60 sprint, but the shear pull from the torquey engine in any gear when you floor it makes it much more fun than my 200bhp turbo. Handling is generally excellent with the right amount of power to do controlled sliding in the dry. However, don't push it whatsoever in the wet otherwise you'll be facing where you just came from. The electrics and build quality are excellent when compared with the Escort (I think the Sierra's were built in Germany), and at 125k the engine is very sound, as is the original gearbox. This and the XR3i rate as the best two of the 14 cars I've owned and I would reccommend the Sierra to anyone with and XR3i - although I'm still not quite sure which was the best car as both have many merits.

Not great on the fuel (50miles to £10 at 80p/litre) but a saint compared to my Rover 3500 V8 (and much faster)!