1981 FORD ESCORT XR3 - early 4 speed - best of the bunch?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video I get he chance to show you and drive a very early 4 speed Ford Escort Xr3. This was where fords XR adventure started! by what made them so popular??
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#fordescortxr3, #xr3review, #xr3driven,
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Defo needs the original orange indicator lenses. I drove a black Y-reg 4-speed XR3 around Scotland in 1990 aged 17. It was fab. Great raspy exhaust.
No the orange indicators are hideous and I didn’t rate the early xr3 they were much improved when they made the xr3i and cloverleaf wheels are bad And not do not suit it at all
That’s the first thing I said to myself.
Back in the very early 80’s, I must have been 7-8 at the time. My PE teacher, Mr Kirkham had an XR3. The lads at school would gather round it on break and look in the windows and marvel at the buttons and ogle at the clover alloys and spoiler. 3 of us had a sports event at a stadium and he took us in the car. It was like living a dream. Up to then my experience of cars was my mum and dad’s Viva! It was THE car that made me love cars to this day. I had 4 XR3i’s and an RS Turbo myself. Flawed but loveable things.
They were call cloverleaf alloys in my day
I/we knew these as pepperpot alloys🤔
I had a black one CAG77X. I called these wheels telephone dials where I lived in York
@@NH-bz9jv Pepperpots were on early Capri 2.8's.
@@levelcrossing150 indeed & XR2.
They had the nickname “ poached eggs “ alloys.
Nice to see you reviewing this. Thanks very much. Spats are original fitment, these wheels were referred to as cloverleaf (Porsches had teledials), that's the wiper delay not instrument dimmer. The exhaust sounds like it's blowing maybe, the engine should be quieter than that.
That wasn’t an instrument dimmer! That’s for new cars. It was a windscreen wiper intermittent speed adjuster.
I remember the rattling parcel shelf !! 😂😂
I still love these the same as i did 30 year ago.
Circular knob on the right side of dash is variable wiper delay. That one's also been lowered and had the later 3i suspension as they sat very high with alot of camber on the front from factory . A 90 spec EFI is a world apart from the original car mind- even if they had a mere 10hp more, but drive totally differently, some would say almost refined.
I love how much more visibility you have on these older cars
My mates older brothers mate had one of these back in about 92/93 his one was lowered and looked really cool.
I had a 1984 Sunburst Red XR3i back in the day and absolutely loved the thing. Janspeed 4-2-1 manifold and exhaust system and K+N filter and Slick 50 oil additive. My previous car was a Mark 2 Escort 1.1L, so the XR felt like a rocketship in comparison. Rot got a hold of the car eventually, but it set me off on a lifelong fascination with fast exciting cars, so I have a lot to thank it for.
My (literal) dream Hot Hatch. Cracking looking Car. If I ever do manage to get my hands on one I would leave it standard and try and get one of the traffic light air fresheners (I saw one in the latest issue of Classic Ford Magazine) and 4 Cassettes to put in the Cassette holders.
I’m a Ford driver of 39 years had two escort cosworths back in the day 92 and 95 epic love Ford’s I have at the minute a puma St 1.5 with limited skip differential. That car in video makes me smile keep up the great work mate 👍
I love XR3 line up
Excellent vid of a nice example. My uncle’s XR3i was stolen in Edinburgh and recovered in Glasgow, he said it never felt right again and traded it in for a Micra 😃
DVW377X with 5 speed box, lowered on RS springs, k&n filter and Jetex exhaust. Sold it in 1987 to buy a house. Currently running a modified ST150 Fiesta at 59.
This was my old car that I restored when I was 21. I paid £200 for it. It nearly set fire to itself on the way to a max power cruise in Birmingham. My mate extinguished it with vodka and coke. Another time the brakes failed after I bought an mot ticket for it and it nearly went through a stone wall. Some good memories. I sold it to a friend who them sold it back to my cousin.
happy days! sounds a bit of a riot :+)
Clover-leaf alloys....the teledials came later and had more rings/holes around the edges. Great Review.
The authentic Old Ford experience lol. I’m thinking the clutch cable probably just needs adjusting.
I think they might of been self adjust
I like the alloys, they look cool
I was a mobile mechanic in the mid 80's. I remember the carbs would always block up. Made a fortune fitting timing belts and blowing out idle jets and tubes on the 32/34 DMTL. Worst job was the nightmare clutch ratchet, what a back breaking job stuck in the footwell whilst trying to get the little spring fitted.
Ahhh man, takes me back to my XR3, same spec as the video. I loved that car and would buy it back in a heartbeat if it was still about (won’t be).😑
Those back spoilers were a Godsend really...before those were invented you'd end up in an elevated driving position like in the last scenes of Grease the movie. It's cut all that out and made us safer.
Best shape of escort . Loved these . Well done mate good video.. give it a full send 😝🚙💥
The Mk 1s and 2s were much better cars though. I drove all round Europe in a Mk 3 albeit non hot hatch and the overwhelming impression was cheaply made car, particularly the interior. Brakes and gearbox not great either. Reliable and fuel efficient though.
Great review of the XR3. A lot of the remarks you make are spot on with my experience with my own XR3.
I've got a '82 5-speed XR3, in near identical spec to this one and absolutely love it.
The black side mouldings in front of the rear wheels are original XR3 spec, they were designed to lower the drag coefficient in combination with the wider wheels/tyres.
I think the 5-speeds would even be rarer than the 4-speed ones as these were only in production for 7 months or so. (March '82 until end September '82)
The 5-speed really makes the car more comfortable on the motorway at speed. To be fair 5th gear is more of an overdrive gear as it is quite gutless when trying to accelerate.
It seems that the XR3 in the test has been lowered a tad, as mine rides quite bit higher on original suspension.
Decent review. The plastic part before the rear wheel is standard, as is the crappy gearbox. The battery tray was no doubt renewed as they rotted from poor drainage and fumes from the battery (yes, I was told that several times when I had my 1982 XR3i). Oh, my cambelt also snapped.
Um classico aqui no brasil mecanica confiavel excelente em curvas um otimo carro ❤
My deputy head in school had a white RS Turbo. I remember almost being overcome whenever i saw it. Back then they were soooo cool. Still love the XRs although my passion is for the XR4x4 ❤🥰
I had a 4 speed XR3 and then a 5 speed XR3i. The XR3i was a bit better overall but I loved the laser seats in the XR3
My old car I ripped the original engine out and fitted an Rs turbo engine into it and it run right for a while was fitted with 5 speed box aswell. Lots of hidden history was rotten when my cousin owned it before me.
ah right! (not mine btw) sounds like its had a busy life!
There was a guy in the village I lived in got an XR3 when they first came out, so i'm assuming it would be the same as this one, 4 speed and carb fed. He took me and my pal out for a wee run and it certainly felt quick to us!
Such a good looking car, the word which springs to mind is "crisp" (if that makes sense). Not too much not too little, just right👍
Ooh pepper pots, i haven't seen those in a while.
My 1st car was a black xr3 with black silver interior loved it ❤️
I had a W Reg.. one of the best cars I owned despite its faults 👍🏻
Nice review, what a survivor how has that happened?. At my age 64 I can remember when these were everywhere.
Back in '87 I bought my mum an XR2. The only reason I mention it is because Ford use to have a full range of appealing cars, the capri, mk3 cortina, grananda's especially 2.8i ghia x, the XR2, XR3, RS turbo, sierra XR4 + XR4x4 and not forgetting the cossies! They always had something to light up ones underpants. Now there isn't anything in the ford range other than a mustang that would ever pull me near a dealership.
Great review!
That brought a load of memories back for me as i had 3 XR3's, a 4 speed carb, in sunburst orange on a W plate, a five speed carb, in white on an X and a 5 speed injection, in sunburst orange on a Y plate. They were great fun, sort of rough and ready and had to be revved as they had very little torque. The injection wasn't much better than the carbs really, only another 10BHP. The early ones with the 'knock-need' suspension camber went round corners like they were on rails. All of mine needed valve stem seals, but with the special tool that was fairly easy to do. I wish i still had the W plate as the prices have gone through the roof recently.
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Great back road car, feels more than 96hp on what i call Postman Pat roads.
great car i had an xr2 in 80s my mate had a black xr3. PLEASE get rid of those naff indicators get the amber ones back on
This was my old car!!! Bought it off a friend ,Not original engine,not original history with the car !!! Lost miles!!!gained an xr3 engine and box ,front panel patchwork quilt and inside roof rotten ,good car otherwise😂
I've owned this car too I coverted it too an Rs turbo engine. Nearly 20 yrs ago
LOL that's 3 previous owners so far! I wonder how many are on the log book now? history keeps coming up?
Had 1 just like that far from nice nice from far came into my dads garage i paid £250 for it in 2003 had it a good year or so until my mate borrowed it 1 night and stuck in to a tree , picked it up next morning tock my 6x9s out and stereo and cds and got £50 quid from scrap yard lol
I would love to own the rs 1600i escort and the sierra sapphire .
XR3i was exported to Malaysia b4 it was later sold as Ford Laser S using Mazda Familia 323 platform which offers a turbo variant Mazda Familia XG Turbo.
Ford named it Ford Laser TX3 1.6 NA while Mazda 323 GTX Turbo 4wd.
Ford update the TX3 with a 1.8 NA and Mazda gave us the Familia Interplay GTR.
Fun Fact - ln early 90s, the Mazda b6/b8 turbo engine found it's way into many Ford TX3. Favorite option for plug and play engine swap
I had one in the mid 80 s NWE333X, same colour but with red piping on the seats. We called them ‘pepper pot alloys’ in those days
Pepper pot alloys had 8 smaller outer holes, 12 holes including the bolt holes, the alloys on this XR3 are clovers
Back in 1992 when I was 18, I got offered one of these for just £600. It was generally very tidy all round, insurance would have been horrendous for me so sadly I declined buying it. Had I have known what I know now in 2024 about these cars, I most certainly would have grabbed it. I believe that it was sold the following week after I looked at it and got written off shortly afterwards 😢😢😢
I had the original twin carb but with a five speed box not rapid but better suspension set up than xr3i, would out corner xr3i ride was harsher though, it had very pronounced negative camber front suspension and very prominent rear positive camber making it corner like it was on rails.
Think they toned down xr3i suspension as people complained xr3 was too harsh a ride
It had a 0-60 of 9.7 seconds. The Mk2 1600 Sport/Harrier was 10.1 seconds
I hat two like that one in red the other white when I first started trading, glad I’m not in the car trade now
I had the mk3 xr3 convertible with rs body kit was sweet
Its not an instrument dimmer, its a variable ajustment for the intermitant wipers,
1:13
These wheels were known ad Egg Poachers.
I've a 2023 Fiesta and still the notchy gears persist 😂
Was never too sure of the excessive positive camber on the front wheels on the XR3s-The XR3i gave us a bit of negative.
It certainly gave them some very weird handling characteristics - if pretty grippy- a harsh ride, and very rapid tyre wear- which is why Ford quickly re-vamped it for the 3i.
Such a shame they went to fwd after the real Escorts. Imagine how many people would snap up a new retro version of rwd Escorts. A La Mustang. I have a late 90’s Ford Laser (Mazda323) 1.8 twin cam 5 speed manual with over 300,000km. Still revs out sweetly, but down a little on compression. Good little car. But I dream of a rwd version for more driving experience.
Sounds like the great linkage needs adjusting
The suspension geometry of the early xr3 was known to have a knocked knees look the geometry was revised for the xr3i
someone put the new indicators on it would of looked better with the right ones in my opinion,i drove many of them and had no prob with gearbox but ithink the 5 speed is better
I love the old mk3 ,For a 40 year old car I'd be expecting to drive that way , a engine overhaul is a must , people need to understand no matter how good a carburettor the engine compression needs to be good for correct operation . The later injection model hidden a lot of running issues making for a more reliable motor.
The problem with selecting gears is the selecta rod on the gear linkage. The rods wear sloppy, and if it's had a replacement clutch this makes it extremely difficult to align the rods correctly . With two mechanics on the Job the linkage can be adjusted nearer to where it should be ,
get it 80 percent right with lots of trial and error swearing involved. Great video 👍🏻
Lol , the mechanical injection was rubbish, caused more running issues than the carb, it did give a flatter torque curve and better emissions, when it worked properly 😂
Gear linkage was simple IF you bothered to mark it's alignment before removing it 👍
I had a clutch done it was perfect before, after the clutch putting it into 3rd felt like it hadn't even gone in, but it was in didn't feel very positive going into any gears after.
This example doesn’t wear its original suspension. The front suspension had a ton of positive Camber . It’s also running the wrong carb and air box. It should have a dft Weber . The early cars are definitely not the best of the mk3 . The last injection mk3 is the best no doubt about it
I had one in late 80s then got mk2 xr2 then escort rs turbo
No you didn't lol
I loved the XR range i had a 1982 Red XR3, a 1984 caspian blue XR3i,a Mk1 Fiesta XR2,a MK2 Fiesta XR2 and a MK 3 Fiesta XR2i.
The MK3 onwards was where it went wrong. The MK1 and 2 are far superior.
I think your struggles with first gear could be down to the linkage not being properly adjusted, not 100% sure with these but the Mk4 with a 4 speed had a push down reverse gear stick so you had to push the stick down to get into reverse gear. If thats the case with these early xr3’s then i’d say the selector needs adjustment because you shouldn’t be able to get reverse without pushing down.
I could be wrong though, never driven an early xr3 they may have a different linkage. Lovely car though, not a quick car by the day’s standards never mind todays but I wouldn’t kick one out of bed if it farted 😂
My Aunt had an X plate XR2, two tone grey and black. 1600 twin cam 95 bhp I think. Great car, love the XR series.
Not a twin cam, they didn't exist, x reg would have the Kent engine which wasn't even OHC, it was a development of a 20 year old design, the later mk2 had the CVH single ohc 👍 the XR fiesta didn't get a twincam till the XR2i in the 90s 🤔
Something wrong with your gearbox there, Fords had the slickest shift. Back in the day they were very lively and stiff compared to slow, soggy run of the mill cars.
Had a few xr3 and 3i they were more about handling and looks, were far too under powered,, the wheels are cloverleafs,,,, needs the amber indicators as well
Back in the late 80's my friends all had these in XR3i form, I never followed trends so got myself a Fiat 105TC Strada, much nicer and better car IMHO but of course had the dreaded rot problem!
Fiat was a brave choice. A ford was fairly reliable easy to work on and cheap for all the parts. Could change a whole engine in an afternoon. Head gasket was an easy job.
ah but so did the xr3,s! at least you had twin webers!!
I just hate that rough CVH drone.
That cars lowered. Spats are standard and it's not a dash dimmer it's the speed for the intermittent wipers
I had a X plate xr3. I put a 5 speed box in, thing to do in the early 90s. 5 speed killed the little performance it had.
Would it not have been better to wait until the Carb had been replaced? It would probably driven more like it should have done back in the day. I hated them so much back in the day I fitted twin 40 Webbers, a high lift Kent Cam, modified Cylinder head, and Janspeed exhaust to my 1984 1.6 Ghia. It was funny leaving them for dead, but with 136 bhp at the flywheel it was still 31 bhp more than the 105 bhp injection model.
this car was over 200 miles from home and reviewed while in the area.
Definitely not best of the bunch. I had a black X reg back in 1989, I had one friend who had a mk2 RS2000 & he could see off the XR3, & another who had an XR3i, & he could see off the RS2000, so the injection engine made a noticeable difference, plus the handling on the i's were more sorted.
Yep, the early carb cars were very twitchy on the rear end, Ford revised the rear suspension geometry on he later cars 👍
Xr3 96hp rs2000 probably 101hp and xr3i 105hp so probably about right
That i made things much more reliable and way more easier to get the right amount of fuel in at the precise time it was required. It really did make a difference.
96 hp v 105 hp? i think the rs2000 with the pinto engine was under 100 hp as well a capri 2.8 injection would have seen them all off!!
Mk2 rs2000 110 Bhp and xr3i 105bhp as I recall
XR2 was Fiesta, XR3 was Escort, XR4 was Sierra. Then I belive there was a XR6 and XR8? What was the first XR?
I was never a fan of these. I don't think that they were especially good when they were new.
The 0-60 dash was a bit lame, does that engine not rev over 4000rpm?
I tend not to fire subscribers cars round to redline in each gear..
It does not help the engine running cold the thermostat housing needs overhaul
My childhood.
Love the look of them, and that one looks brilliant in red.
However……I don’t like the way they drive….i drove the later version with 5 speed. Hateful gearbox & clutch. And the engines are rough.
Sorry, don’t like…..would buy a Vauxhall eveytime 😬
Why didn't you mention that this car has only done 7500 miles? Bet it's worth quite a bit.
I don't know how many miles its done in total
Commuting from Winchester to Leatherhead in the 90's, I opted to buy a brand-new Peugeot 205 1.9 GTI, which I thought was a very well-made car, hence that's why I kept it for nearly 10 years .... After the warranty, I modified it slightly with a new ported/gas flowed cylinder head, upgraded fuel pump, a sport clutch and a branch exhaust manifold with through exhaust .... A lovely car overall and very reliable, as it never broke down once.
See we had stop start back in 1981 that’s maybe why people 50 and older hate stop start , the early 5 speeds wernt much better especially 2nd-3rd
Everyone hates stop start. Most of the time it struggles to start and you miss the lights. Often I was going to pull away and it wouldn't start because I was already in gear.
@@chrishart8548 I never had any issues with stop start working but ! Most Cars have a cam chain and vvc , all that stopping and starting stretches the cam chain and eventually leads to failure , or even worse as happened on my n20 bmw 328i it wrecks the complete engine as the same chain drives the oil pump
i drove both the xr3i and older xr3 my friends had them sorry they were awful !
Why wasn't that car cleaned inside 😊... lovely car I had a Y reg XY3I back in the 80's
you'd have to ask the owner, lol
"A little bit harsh". Thats putting it lightly for a CVH !. About the worst engine of the 80's, absolutely awful.
They were a bit rough and rawcus...not very refined...but they served their purpose very well...reliable and economical....(we had a Mk3 Escort 1.6 L CVH)....The Series 1 RS Turbo...of course being a CVH....which were a very capable performance car...and now fetch silly money...the RS1600i...(CVH)...also being a valuable Icon...that performed well....they were Raspy...When compared to a later 80's...Vauxhall C20XE...Red Top...was it the C20XE....the Red Top was overall a better engine....in fact...Vauxhall's were better than Ford's in a few respects..(not the new ones)...but the CVH was a good engine...it was just nothing to write home about overall generally speaking....it was built as a mass producable family economy car engine...in Ford's...that have always been throw away vehicles...(the U.K/European ones at least)...The Mk4 Escorts Odometers....only went up to 100.000...then they'd go around the clock again...which kind of proves...that they never intended the cars lifespan...to exceed 10-years....@ roughly 10-k miles a year on average.
CVH - Considerable Vibration & Harshness
No. The XR3i was better by a country mile. The Golf GTi would eat an XR3 alive and sh*t it out again. The 105 bhp XR3i could at least compete.
The XR3 wasn't a bad car by any means but you could do much better.
ford escort ex are tree xD
Don't you realise that the original XR3 is actually just a cosmetic upgrade? There are NO performance upgrades whatsoever. A bog standard engine and suspension as the "upgraded cam" was, as you at least hinted, USELESS. They were not given a PERFORMANCE boost until the XR3i. Also, an Escort is a saloon NOT a hatchback.
lol - a stock mk3 1.6 was also 96hp (quoted?) if an escort is a saloon, what's an Orion? 😆
Eggbound
teledials [as fitted to porsche] ??? - cloverleaf... yes, the spats are standard...
instrument dimmer ??? look at the knob - wiper delay adjust... green LED clock is standard
XR2 air filter box fitted with peeling XR3 sticker ? perhaps a knackerd XR2 carb ?
poor review, car a bit iffy as well, poor unsympathetic driving of a lame car...
and yes, i owned a X reg one in the day, i know how they drive quite well, the good + the bad...
The XR3 was never fast! 😂
I remember them as a kid. Looked cool but I’d take a period Golf GTI any day. The gearbox looked and sounded awful.
Having any golf has always been much more expensive than any ford. I don't think anyone ever paid list price for a ford either.
Dunno what hes on about this ford virgin. What are those alloys called 🙄
alfasuds ran rings round them
Dropping rust in a circle as they went
Yeah and breaking down every 5 seconds. You couldn't get to 0-60 cos it would've conked out by then.@@paulkeith9680
Complete bollocks
😆
Loved my Mk1 Escorts. Loved my Mk2 Escorts.
These were dogshyte when new and only got worse as they aged.
Wheezy, harsh engine, daft camber to try and get them to go round any sort of corner, terrible build quality, just a terrible car.
I love the MG'S Ford Escort xr2i & Xr3i 🫠🥰