Quite daft to compare this to the trio. This is a video commissioned by the manufacturer to inform dealers of new updates to the car, of course it's going to be chock full of information.
The late Tony Bastable was neither a motoring writer nor an 'L. J. K. Setright-esc' engineering writer. He was a TV presenter who read from a script. He presented many programmes on many subjects, (children's, historical, current affairs, finance, consumer etc), and Cricket was his main interest. I'd imagine that this film is from his production company, as Ford were one of his clients. Prior to Top Gear, both Clarkson and May were both motoring writers. Later editions of Top Gear were more about "entertainment".
I loved my 1984 Ford Sierra V6 2.3 ghia. Was way ahead of the competition like Cavalier's, Montego's etc etc. There is something special about a rear wheel drive Ford, The nice sensation of being pushed out of the bends is nice :-)
Well the velour seats and the headrests sold it for me so I've just placed an order for a 1.6L. Gone for a manual because a 4 speed automatic sounds like witchcraft.
Interesting how both the ford sierra and the mk1 focus are way ahead of their time. Im going to keep hold of my focus as in years to come like the sierra it will be sort after
The presenting is fantastic, so much detail and information which as a car fanatic I really do like! I'm sure that a modern day type of presenting like this would go down well on one the more narrow cast channels, the only current day programme that's similar is wheeler dealers with ed China although that's more about repairs and selling cars
You really have to give it to Ford, the improvements they made to the Sierra are remarkable. It's a bit of a shame that Tony didn't mention that the new A4LD had converter lock-up in 3rd and 4th, I don't think many brands had automatic gearboxes which could do that, a very important enhancement for fuel economy. But only a minor flaw in an overall excellent presentation.
I test drove one with a view to buying it in about 2012 or so. I had just driven 150 miles in an E60 530i, so getting out of that and into the Sierra didn't do it any favours. It was a bit agricultural, bouncy (maybe tired shocks) and very small (how cars have grown). I bought a Granada Scorpio a year or so later, which I still have.
The extra they missed out was any rustproofing. Generally outclassed by the front wheel drive Cavalier, which was also a complete rot bucket. Then there was the Montego. The mid 1980s were not a good time for UK built cars.
@@alanwayte432 Everyone to their own. My Sierra friends had enough of differential whine, engine failure and disintegrating trim. The Cavvie had more lively engines and better equipment levels. But you would have to admit, both were hopeless rust buckets.
Alan Wayte but the Cavalier caught up and passed the Sierra in sales (mid 80’s), and we just couldn’t shift those XR4i’s in significant numbers. That’s why they kept the Capri 2800 on finally closing that line off with Brooklands version.
At least you can be quite clear that in no way was Tony endorsing Ford products or in any way receiving remuneration from them. Lovely clear objective and independent reporting here.
First year I visited the car show at the NEC. I was sixteen. Came home on the train to Walsall with two plastic bags rammed with brochures which ended up on my bedroom wall between posters of naked women stretched out on 1970s motorcycles.
Best car in the World ....... if you had one made in Belgium like my dad (UK made where not as reliable, but still very good). Only FORD can come up with idea to put 5 digit odometer to car with 500,000+ km lifespan :) (Same in Transit) My dad had 3 door Sierra with Peugeot 2.3D, it was noisy and slow, at some RPM had decent punch for that era .... 460,000 km's when it was sold (last 50,000 km's used as tractor to bring wood from forests), and it still ran pretty good. Only serious repair was some minor transmission refurbish (I won't call it rebuild because nothing significant or costly was done). And even for 3-door, it roomy enough for 190cm fellas, boot was huge and accessible for wide stuff.
Ford really developed the Sierra into a excellent car after a shaky start, loved the 3 I had back in the day can't believe I did 180000 miles in a 2.3d hatch ! Slow but indestructible foot to the floor everywhere ♥️
I had loads of Sierras. In order of owing them... 1.8 L hatch (had two of these one after the other). 2.0i Ghia hatch 1.8 L Saphire 2.0 GLSi XR 4x4 2.8 version with Bosch K XR4i RS Cosworth 2WD Saphire 1.8 L Estate Loved them all... even the estate workhorse was good to drive. My favourite? The XR4i.
I never made up my mind about the Sierra. The GL and Ghia models probably looked better for obvious reasons but I never bought one. What was the purpose of the cooling fan (6:30) on the engine for having irregular fan blades. I'm baffled.
That metallic red GL is rare as hen's teeth now that spec GL only lasted for 12 month's as it got face lifted again when they brought the sapphire out. Remember the advert on the tv for it with richard briers, & that 85 spec xr4i is even rarer as it only lasted a few months into 85 as it was replaced with the 5 dr xr4x4 ( great tow car )
@Bengt Handlebars The mk1 was waay too old, i am talking about the mk2, which performance wise, model for model made the sierra look like a steam roller!
Yes it was - much in the same way the transmission bell housing, the torque converter, and the transmission were cut open - they are lighter that way.....
Most radiator fans have unevenly spaced blades. Computers, particularly laptops, use this too. It's to reduce tonal humming noise. They will not vibrate if the center of mass remains on the spin axis. Think about it this way: imagine a 2 blades in a line. That's balanced. A 3 bladed Y is also balanced. Now add the two together and rotate one of them so that the blades are unequally spaced. That will also remain balanced.
So that's what those rear window strips were called... and so elegantly nailed on too. Ford certainly did not care about quality with these facelife MK1s! Dashboards became more prone to cracking, door cards from melting in the sun and, as previous comments add, they were rotters! I can only assume they cheaped out on production when realising the Sierra failed to achieve the runaway sales success anticipated. One of mine is an E-max 1.6 which is pretty impressive on economy but feels lobotomised when it comes to showing any driving characteristics. The economy variant, inconsistently named 1.6 economy/1.6e/1.6 Econ/1.6 E-max, must have been shoehorned into post '85 models to get rid of stockpiled engines (I assume?) as they were never popular from launch.
Bang on. Was working at Ford main dealer at launch and couldn't believe how crap they were after the Cortina. I think Vauxhall loved them because, suddenly, the motorways were full of Cavaliers and then Vectras. I think the Sierra marked a turning point for Ford because, up until it was launched, everyone rightly said 'it doesn't matter how good or bad it is it will always sell because it's a Ford' and then suddenly that wasn't true anymore.
It was an excellent car for the time. Unmatched in Europe - we wanted them in Australia, but weren't allowed as the Mazda 323 clone, the Ford Laser was being sold.
Took me a moment to work out this is an internal Ford bulletin. Not a TV item for public broadcast. Interesting points with which to dazzle the punters! I certainly didn't realise that automatic gearboxes were getting rather sophisticated. The new 7 speed jobs are amazing but nobody seems all that interested in the internal goings on of their vehicles these days. Going electric and it's all about range unsurprisingly. Oh and Infotainment/connectivity!
The Sierra cost much more money to build than the Tempo; Ford would have had to raise the price far above what North American consumers would pay for a Ford car of that size. Besides, they also had the Taurus, which was a sales smash and a much better product for the North American market. Don't forget that they did eventually bring the Scorpio-deep down just a lengthened Sierra-over and sell it as the XR4Ti's four-door counterpart.
@@Rlotpir1972 You're misinformed, Robert. The Scorpio was a Ford of Europe product introduced in 1985. Although they shared a family resemblance the Scorpio and Taurus were completely different cars underneath.
75 isn't illegal as such. They had the 10 + 2 rule back then so illegal would be 80. Today it's 10 + 1 so 79 would be prosecutable, anything below that and above 50 isn't enforced. It has something to do with the speedometer tolerances of older vehicles. It wasn't an exact science back then. Today most modern cars overread so if you are doing 40 you're actually doing 38. It also has to do with models with different wheel sizes. Bigger wheel sizes means more distance covered compared to smaller which would give inaccurate readings on a standard and uniform instrument panels that are installed.
Men worked to provide for the family back then. Times HAVE changed (For the worse!). Women were women and men were men. None of these namby pamby shirt lifters and drag queens poncing around groping our kids while the funny haired fraggles go into a mental meltdown over pronouns and misgendering someone. I miss the old days.
Each car starts with a lot of hype. The journalist is just advertising. As time goes on the flaws will start to manifest. Eventually the car has zero desirability.
The Cavalier was better? Errr. And the engine? Sorry what did the Holden Camira (sorry, rebadged to cavalier) have to rival the XR and RS versions? I'll give you a hint..nothing. ones collectable now, ones scrap.
I had loads of Sierras. In order of owing them... 1.8 L hatch (had two of these one after the other). 2.0i Ghia hatch 1.8 L Saphire 2.0 GLSi hatch XR 4x4 2.8 version with Bosch K XR4i RS Cosworth 2WD Saphire 1.8 L Estate Loved them all... even the estate workhorse was good to drive. My favourite? The XR4i.
This is a proper motoring journalist. Professional, knowledgable, no nonsense. Makes Clarkson, Hammond and May look pathetic in comparison.
Quite daft to compare this to the trio. This is a video commissioned by the manufacturer to inform dealers of new updates to the car, of course it's going to be chock full of information.
The late Tony Bastable was neither a motoring writer nor an 'L. J. K. Setright-esc' engineering writer. He was a TV presenter who read from a script. He presented many programmes on many subjects, (children's, historical, current affairs, finance, consumer etc), and Cricket was his main interest. I'd imagine that this film is from his production company, as Ford were one of his clients.
Prior to Top Gear, both Clarkson and May were both motoring writers. Later editions of Top Gear were more about "entertainment".
@@DavidT-Mallorca The patron saint of Llandudno
He sadly smoked himself to death.
@@holbeckghyll4997 ?
There is something to be said about this style of presenting. There's no nonsense or rubbish involved whatsoever.
i really feel like im being sold a ford lol
Loved watching Tony Bastable. He was a SUPERB presenter
There’s hints of Alistair Stewart there I’m sure!
@@flyc3 I see that too
Still like the look of a Sierra
I could listen to this guy all day... 👌🏽
He's a man's man, not like the girly twats who are all over telly today.
I'm channelling Tony Bastable for my work presentations
Wow, I was there, back in my youth, the first motor show I visited. I was blown away by the alpine CD player concept,I held in my hand.
Absolutely amazing technological advancements! Still didn't stop mine from rusting to death.
That's so you have to buy another one . Rust by design
Sills, Arches and bonnet were horrendous for being eaten through. Great car but damn did they rust.
I haven't seen a Sierra for years either . The tin worm got many of them .
The Sierra pushed car design forward. Best dashboard ergonomics of any car I’ve had.
Indeed, the Mondeo did enjoy a huge jump in safety though, the Sierra was a bit of a death trap.
I loved my 1984 Ford Sierra V6 2.3 ghia. Was way ahead of the competition like Cavalier's, Montego's etc etc. There is something special about a rear wheel drive Ford, The nice sensation of being pushed out of the bends is nice :-)
Agreed.
Well the velour seats and the headrests sold it for me so I've just placed an order for a 1.6L. Gone for a manual because a 4 speed automatic sounds like witchcraft.
😆😆
2.0i S was my Sierra of choice.
It's a bit of an odd-ball.
Essentially a RWD XR4x4 with the 2.0i engine.
@@lewis72 Show off
@@evo5dave
Would've liked the XR4i, XR4x4 or 4x4 Ghia estate but couldn't stretch to that.
I'll take a 4x4 Ghia Estate
I love everything about this car. I want one so badly.
cameo beige is indeed an exciting color!
Very interesting how when inside an arena with the lighting these now old sierras look fab!
Interesting how both the ford sierra and the mk1 focus are way ahead of their time. Im going to keep hold of my focus as in years to come like the sierra it will be sort after
Great to see a wonderful time in automotive engineering and technology ❤️
The presenting is fantastic, so much detail and information which as a car fanatic I really do like! I'm sure that a modern day type of presenting like this would go down well on one the more narrow cast channels, the only current day programme that's similar is wheeler dealers with ed China although that's more about repairs and selling cars
i owned a red '85 2L sierra - the same as the one behind him in the opening shot. best car i ever had.
You really have to give it to Ford, the improvements they made to the Sierra are remarkable. It's a bit of a shame that Tony didn't mention that the new A4LD had converter lock-up in 3rd and 4th, I don't think many brands had automatic gearboxes which could do that, a very important enhancement for fuel economy. But only a minor flaw in an overall excellent presentation.
Rip Tony great fellow you was
Brilliant! Thanks for putting this up.
I always wanted a Ghia 4x4 estate, they were rare cars indeed
I test drove one with a view to buying it in about 2012 or so.
I had just driven 150 miles in an E60 530i, so getting out of that and into the Sierra didn't do it any favours.
It was a bit agricultural, bouncy (maybe tired shocks) and very small (how cars have grown).
I bought a Granada Scorpio a year or so later, which I still have.
Great video by ford aimed at the dealer sales teams, even to the point of stating the customer knows there stuff.
The extra they missed out was any rustproofing. Generally outclassed by the front wheel drive Cavalier, which was also a complete rot bucket. Then there was the Montego. The mid 1980s were not a good time for UK built cars.
Um no...the Cavalier was not as good to drive..I had both back in the day
@@alanwayte432 Everyone to their own. My Sierra friends had enough of differential whine, engine failure and disintegrating trim. The Cavvie had more lively engines and better equipment levels. But you would have to admit, both were hopeless rust buckets.
Alan Wayte but the Cavalier caught up and passed the Sierra in sales (mid 80’s), and we just couldn’t shift those XR4i’s in significant numbers. That’s why they kept the Capri 2800 on finally closing that line off with Brooklands version.
Mk2s should be better than these. Not anything outstanding though
At least you can be quite clear that in no way was Tony endorsing Ford products or in any way receiving remuneration from them. Lovely clear objective and independent reporting here.
First year I visited the car show at the NEC.
I was sixteen. Came home on the train to Walsall with two plastic bags rammed with brochures which ended up on my bedroom wall between posters of naked women stretched out on 1970s motorcycles.
7:36 - "If you claim benefits , then he must see them". Steady on, Tony. That's my business.
Big fan of the Ford was Big Tony.
Best car in the World ....... if you had one made in Belgium like my dad (UK made where not as reliable, but still very good).
Only FORD can come up with idea to put 5 digit odometer to car with 500,000+ km lifespan :) (Same in Transit)
My dad had 3 door Sierra with Peugeot 2.3D, it was noisy and slow, at some RPM had decent punch for that era .... 460,000 km's when it was sold (last 50,000 km's used as tractor to bring wood from forests), and it still ran pretty good. Only serious repair was some minor transmission refurbish (I won't call it rebuild because nothing significant or costly was done).
And even for 3-door, it roomy enough for 190cm fellas, boot was huge and accessible for wide stuff.
those mpg figures are pretty impressive from a petrol car in 84. On paper of course...
Ford really developed the Sierra into a excellent car after a shaky start, loved the 3 I had back in the day can't believe I did 180000 miles in a 2.3d hatch ! Slow but indestructible foot to the floor everywhere ♥️
My one would do 110 not bad 35 years ago for a deisl
those mpg states are way over the top.
So THAT's the A4LD transmission! I recall my transmission man recommending swapping the crappy 3-speed automatic in my Merkur XR4Ti for an A4LD.
I had loads of Sierras. In order of owing them...
1.8 L hatch (had two of these one after the other).
2.0i Ghia hatch
1.8 L Saphire
2.0 GLSi
XR 4x4 2.8 version with Bosch K
XR4i
RS Cosworth 2WD Saphire
1.8 L Estate
Loved them all... even the estate workhorse was good to drive.
My favourite? The XR4i.
Tony Bastaple used to be our milkman :-O
Miss my sapphire cosworth ☹️
Bastable is a God
PaulabJohnson the God of gods. 👌🏻
Woollard is God.
@@79devo He is now with the Gods RIP Tony
Exciting new colours, state of it 🤘
My first ever NEC show I went to I was 10 years old
I never made up my mind about the Sierra. The GL and Ghia models probably looked better for obvious reasons but I never bought one.
What was the purpose of the cooling fan (6:30) on the engine for having irregular fan blades. I'm baffled.
Jelly mould styling played a big part in those fuel consumption figures. The Sierra caused quite a stir.
At least you could buy cars in colours back in the1970s and 80s. Now the choice is black, white and 50 shades of grey.
Car journalists take note, this is what we want with todays cars.
That metallic red GL is rare as hen's teeth now that spec GL only lasted for 12 month's as it got face lifted again when they brought the sapphire out. Remember the advert on the tv for it with richard briers, & that 85 spec xr4i is even rarer as it only lasted a few months into 85 as it was replaced with the 5 dr xr4x4 ( great tow car )
I have a 1983 Ghia with both the switch and the first aid kit storage box.
@@StefanKrstic2 Yes exactly you have the ghia, My reference is to the gl both items deleted when they face lifted the gl again
@@deviantrider9309 my A83 sierra A522OJN had that feature, but the cavalier mk2 anyday!
@Bengt Handlebars The mk1 was waay too old, i am talking about the mk2, which performance wise, model for model made the sierra look like a steam roller!
6:24 is that fan a real representation of one actually fitted? With odd spaced blades like surely it would vibrate itself to pieces?
Yes it was - much in the same way the transmission bell housing, the torque converter, and the transmission were cut open - they are lighter that way.....
Most radiator fans have unevenly spaced blades. Computers, particularly laptops, use this too. It's to reduce tonal humming noise. They will not vibrate if the center of mass remains on the spin axis. Think about it this way: imagine a 2 blades in a line. That's balanced. A 3 bladed Y is also balanced. Now add the two together and rotate one of them so that the blades are unequally spaced. That will also remain balanced.
So that's what those rear window strips were called... and so elegantly nailed on too.
Ford certainly did not care about quality with these facelife MK1s! Dashboards became more prone to cracking, door cards from melting in the sun and, as previous comments add, they were rotters!
I can only assume they cheaped out on production when realising the Sierra failed to achieve the runaway sales success anticipated. One of mine is an E-max 1.6 which is pretty impressive on economy but feels lobotomised when it comes to showing any driving characteristics. The economy variant, inconsistently named 1.6 economy/1.6e/1.6 Econ/1.6 E-max, must have been shoehorned into post '85 models to get rid of stockpiled engines (I assume?) as they were never popular from launch.
Bang on. Was working at Ford main dealer at launch and couldn't believe how crap they were after the Cortina. I think Vauxhall loved them because, suddenly, the motorways were full of Cavaliers and then Vectras. I think the Sierra marked a turning point for Ford because, up until it was launched, everyone rightly said 'it doesn't matter how good or bad it is it will always sell because it's a Ford' and then suddenly that wasn't true anymore.
I still drive a sierra
Ford Serra Best car Ford made i believe.that just my opinion
It was an excellent car for the time. Unmatched in Europe - we wanted them in Australia, but weren't allowed as the Mazda 323 clone, the Ford Laser was being sold.
And also the mk1 focus, way ahead of their time.
@@easydrive3662 The interior was horrendous.
Biggest selling point of the Ghia was the air conditioning.
It never worked!!
Who gave this a thumbs down?
*SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!*
I have that auto gearbox free-wheeling 'feature' on my 2008 Volvo, it's horrid.
All those customer benefits but Ford forgot the rustproofing!!!
Why does he keep referring to the Sierra hatchback as the saloon...?
There wasn't a saloon model until the Saphire came out a few years later.
A lot of cars are to complicated today, with zero gains in the MPG,
Took me a moment to work out this is an internal Ford bulletin. Not a TV item for public broadcast. Interesting points with which to dazzle the punters! I certainly didn't realise that automatic gearboxes were getting rather sophisticated. The new 7 speed jobs are amazing but nobody seems all that interested in the internal goings on of their vehicles these days. Going electric and it's all about range unsurprisingly. Oh and Infotainment/connectivity!
I still wonder WHY Ford only brought the 3-door XR4Ti in the states and not the 5-door model. I bet it was far better than the Tempo/Topaz.
The Sierra cost much more money to build than the Tempo; Ford would have had to raise the price far above what North American consumers would pay for a Ford car of that size. Besides, they also had the Taurus, which was a sales smash and a much better product for the North American market.
Don't forget that they did eventually bring the Scorpio-deep down just a lengthened Sierra-over and sell it as the XR4Ti's four-door counterpart.
@@mark_p300 Scorpio was a 5-door Taurus.
@@Rlotpir1972 You're misinformed, Robert. The Scorpio was a Ford of Europe product introduced in 1985. Although they shared a family resemblance the Scorpio and Taurus were completely different cars underneath.
@@mark_p300 I thought it was 1984. Ford was first for those 'modern' headlights in the first place. See the Lincoln Mark VII when it debut in 1984.
F!!!! He was only 40 here!!!!
Сиерры - это топ!
Try and make sense of all those trim level / option variations. Boggles the mind lol
Время великого рассвета инженерной мысли
I love that fuel economy figures are quoted at an illegal speed.
75 isn't illegal as such. They had the 10 + 2 rule back then so illegal would be 80. Today it's 10 + 1 so 79 would be prosecutable, anything below that and above 50 isn't enforced. It has something to do with the speedometer tolerances of older vehicles. It wasn't an exact science back then. Today most modern cars overread so if you are doing 40 you're actually doing 38. It also has to do with models with different wheel sizes. Bigger wheel sizes means more distance covered compared to smaller which would give inaccurate readings on a standard and uniform instrument panels that are installed.
i got a ghia!
He said 1984?
Ah, so he does! That’s really odd because it says 1985 on the label... I’ll amend it though - thanks!
Is there a reason the audio is antiphase?
People don't have a clue about sound.
The handbrake in the Ghia is so up... its annoying... just looks wrong
Can't believe they still didn't use an electric fan.
SPEAK UP!!!
1:50 "more car for HIS money". Only men bought cars in 1984 😂.
They way it should b
@@Tondaloona03 Ha, not at all. It's just funny how times have changed.
Men worked to provide for the family back then. Times HAVE changed (For the worse!). Women were women and men were men. None of these namby pamby shirt lifters and drag queens poncing around groping our kids while the funny haired fraggles go into a mental meltdown over pronouns and misgendering someone.
I miss the old days.
Aero what??
Gudjon Pall Gudmundsson smith
Strake. Like a front canard.
nah, not enough on this facelift the mk2 cavalier was still much better!
Heresy!
Mk 2 cavalier was pants compared to sierra.
Seriously...his name.is.Tony Bastardable?? Haha
Each car starts with a lot of hype. The journalist is just advertising. As time goes on the flaws will start to manifest. Eventually the car has zero desirability.
True, but this video is aimed at Ford staff and dealers, and Tony is paid to present. He did a lot of 'journalist' motoring presenting on TV, too.
Tony Bastable could go away for 10 mins, write down a Brexit strategy, come back to Parliament and explain it so everyone would vote for it!!
Total bias to ford Vauxhall cavalier was jyst as good as the ford.
And gm engine wherevwsy better
well it's a ford promo so...
The Cavalier was better? Errr. And the engine? Sorry what did the Holden Camira (sorry, rebadged to cavalier) have to rival the XR and RS versions? I'll give you a hint..nothing. ones collectable now, ones scrap.
Top gear proved the Sierra was better. I love both so I'm not fussed about which one I'd have.
Lol the genuinely important. It’s a Ford Sierra.
I had loads of Sierras. In order of owing them...
1.8 L hatch (had two of these one after the other).
2.0i Ghia hatch
1.8 L Saphire
2.0 GLSi hatch
XR 4x4 2.8 version with Bosch K
XR4i
RS Cosworth 2WD Saphire
1.8 L Estate
Loved them all... even the estate workhorse was good to drive.
My favourite? The XR4i.
Reminds me of those "great car, I had 8 of them" comments