1987 Merkur XR4Ti from North America - Comments

The automatics were dimmed down because their transmissions couldn't handle the power. Their chips were different.

Automatics: 140HP

Whereas...

Standards: 175HP @ 5000rpm with 200lbs/tq @ 3000rpm.

I LOVE THESE CARS. They're amazing!

Um guys 4 cyl cars from the eighties that will do over 120mph, vw scirocco 16v, and dude with the hyundai um 2002? shut the phu up we talking bout 80's babies.

Here in Europe we had the fabulous Sierra RS Cosworth which was based on the same car as the XR4Ti. It was a 2 litre four cylinder DOHC 16v engine with a Garrett T3 turbo making 204 horsepower stock, and over 300 with a simple chip change. The engine's "natural" power output is 300 horsepower and was detuned for insurance and legal reasons. Many owners put it back to how it should be.

As tuning knowledge and fuelling technology has developed, there are now road legal "Cossies" (as we affectionately call them) running 650+ horsepower still from just 1993cc. Later versions had 4wd and were doing twice what the Impreza WRX now does, but 15 years ago.

My XR4TI is great and really part of the family. Dad bought him originally in 1985 in Colorado Springs, ran it for 4 years up to about 59K and gave it to my little brother as a High School graduation gift. My bro then went to Columbia University in NY and over 4 years put about another 5K on her, and I bought it from him in 1993 at 64K.

She was totaled in 1998 in Pueblo CO and taken to the junkyard ready to be scrapped into a heap of metal, when my Dad called and asked me to see if they would take $200.00 bucks for it. They did and this was after I received $2800.00 in insurance money for it.

Dad was in Iowa at the time and flew down from Waverly IA to pick it up and drive it back about 750 miles with the passenger side completely crushed in and window missing. Basically the car had been claimed as totaled due to the ramming it took from the 1995 Lincoln Continental that came out of nowhere to harpoon my Merk like a stuck whale.

What is amazing about this car, is that dad said the car, though beaten and battered without an alignment, drove without shakes and as straight as an arrow. The steering on these cars is amazing and comparable to all German automobiles. He then replaced a couple of my Merkurs parts with the ones he wanted to replace on his 1989 Merkur XR4TI (Yes, dad bought another one, and though he doesn't still own one, has a picture of one hanging in his office next to his favorite President, Ronald Reagan). We then parked the old 1985 in a barn for about 2 1/2 years and turned it over to my auto body cousin in Minneapolis to bring her back to life. And life was breathed back into her and she now resides back here in Colorado where she belongs.

She's gotten older, but still loves the challenge of racing up mountain passes and leaving 30,40,50K cars behind as the turbo sucks in and spits out exhaust to fuel her motor. I do have a love affair with this car and almost feel its part of the family. I hope to pass it on to my son someday and he just turned 6. I hope you enjoyed this story. It's my story about a Merkur that almost wasn't, but came back to live another day.

I stumbled across these comments and had to add my own. Way back in 1985, I bought a new red Merkur XR4Ti. My car had an automatic transmission. I really liked that car. I drove it regularly for 16 years. When I finally gave it away, I had 140K miles on it. I loved the turbo kick and it was enough to offset the high repair bills. I managed to get 90K miles out of the first turbo charger. I was charging up a hill in West Virginia when the turbo over boost alarm went off. The alarm got my attention and I lowered my speed. Several days later the bad news included a cracked exhaust manifold. It was an expensive repair, but I gladly paid up. As my car got older, cooling issues kept coming up. Some of those hoses near the turbo were darned expensive. I've had some pretty good cars since, and I own a couple of good Mercedes now. But none of my other cars have been quite as exciting as the Merkur. RIP Xr4Ti.

I always liked these cars, but I can understand why Ford stopped importing them. Currency exchange rates were just an excuse, but Ford had the Mustang SVO, Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, Probe Turbo and Taurus SHO.

Ford thought the Merkur would compete against Volvo, Audi, SAAB, BMW and Mercedes in sales, but they lost more sales to other Ford products. The SHO even ended up being faster than the Merkur and the other European and Japanese competition. The top speed, cornering G's, 0-60 and quarter mile times of the Merkur were similar to the other turbo cars, Mazda MX6/Ford Probe Turbo, Volvo 740/940 Turbo, Audi 5000/ 100/200 turbo's, SAAB 900 and 9000 turbo's and Chrysler's Turbo cars.

They put in softer springs for the North American market that allowed too much body roll, and like other powerful rear wheel drive Ford products these cars had a reputation of spinning out in wet weather. And winter driving was so bad that a lot of owners just bought another car for winter and garaged the Merkur. That's great for buyers in the rust belt when you can find a low miles car that's not rusted out.

The engines, turbo's and automatic transmissions didn't stand up to abuse or lack of routine maintenance like the old V8 cars people of the time were used to. I still see cheap Merkurs.

I too had a 1985 Merkur Xr4ti. Bought right out of college. Very fast and unique car. Hated to part with it, but had a number of issues that the technicians at Mercury could not repair. Took them the car three times on the same repair and never was fixed correctly. Loved the car... looking to find one to restore in the near future.