Nothing while I've owned it. Previous owner/importer had the engine overhauled Jan 1999 just for maintenance & he went back to the UK for a holiday to acquire hoses, gaskets etc. A couple of parts are hard to get but some bits are shared with Australian models. Some fear that if anything major stops the car, not many people will know what it is let alone how to fix it!!!
Virtually a one off car in Australia. One of the last ones built. Has leather, air, last model upgrades. Absolutely brilliant car that is an unknown quantity to WRX & Evo owner's. They won't come near me.
Fantastic on winding roads, wet days & trips interstate. Absolutely loved this car ever since they were first released in the UK. Never thought I'd own one but you have to be lucky in life sometimes.
I agree that the Sierra Cosworth is one of the best Fords ever built. Great handling and power. But I prefer the much smaller Escort Cosworth. Using the same engine and gearbox as the Sierra, being remarkably lighter, the Escort is more aggressive during overtaking and acceleration. However I love both, the Sierra for its handling and the Escort for its aggressivity.
N.P.
The Escort Cosworth is 200lb's heavier than the 2wd Sierra Cosworth and a little heavier than the sierra cos 4x4, this is due to the materials used in the interior and the fact the Escort Cossie body shell is built like a panzer tank. From my experience, the Escort has to knock out 250bhp before it can convincingly beat a 2wd Sapphire Cosworth, I know because I built the bloody things!!!!!!
The Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 runs optimumly in stage 2 330bhp guise, with the standard T3 Turbo Unit dump valve, S/S exhaust and green injectors fitted.
Forget larger turbo's and intercoolers, samco's, air filters, etc. These ultimately only add to lag and take away the drivability aspect. I used mine on a daily basis, and after 20,000 miles of running at 22psi of boost pressure, nothing went wrong. The car pulled like a train to 165mph, and was significantly quicker than an Impreza P1. I ran it on Mobil 1 synthetic oil and 98 octane super unleaded.
The Escort Cossie is a less aerodynamic version of the Sapphire Cossie and was best in T25 turbo guise for the road, with stage one tune for increased performance. 280bhp was the maximum for the Ford Engine management and turbo to cope with. T4 turbo versions, with magnetti marelli engine mangement, can exceed 500bhp.These are too laggy for road use. A T35 is also too laggy from my experience.
Too much power also detracts from the on limit finesse of the 4wd transmission, as do larger wheels. Leon James Y.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed 
is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site