I had a white RS Turbo when I was 18 it was only 4 months old with 2,000 miles on it and loved it. In 3 years I had put 70,000 miles on it, most of the miles were with the window down listening to the turbo whistle... Good times..
These cars mean more to folk than unattainable supercars. I had an old M reg Cortina 2000E and that once attracted more attention at the petrol station than a Ferrari.
Same here. I drive a slightly lowered BMW E28 525i with a nice exhaust system on 16 inch basketweaves, and I get commented at least weekly, by all kinds of people, young and old, rich and poor...
Love watching Rs Turbo videos especially because there are barely any good quality videos. I have a 1989 Escort Rs Turbo and that thing is my prized possession love it soooo much.
My first car was a Mk3 1.3 CVH Escort and the MK4 RS was my dream car. I drove a few XR2 Mk2’s in the day and a Mk 3 XR2i but I never got to drive an RS Turbo. I loved my MK6 1.8 Zetec Si but what shocked me was how much heavier it was compared to the Mk 3. Once all this lockdown is over I would love to see your RS I bet it’s absolutely mint the way you describe her. I wish there were more videos of these.
I remember buying a Ford Fiesta RS Turbo and I was only 21. I loved it. The only thing that was quicker i had at that time was the Awesome Renault 5 Turbo. Brillant memories
I had a friend who had a R5 turbo as a company car when they first came out. I had bought an Escort RS Turbo and he offered me a drive from Bath to London one day. An astonishing car, compared to the Ford and its relatively 'tame' turbo install (that always was the problem, not enough boost), you really knew the Renault had a turbo! And it was only 1.4ltr! Gearing was a bit high, but still a great car.
Really enjoyed this. I own a Fiat Uno Turbo Mk2. Same era car, and still love driving it. Those older turbo hot hatches were great! Icons now, like the Renualt 5 GT Turbo
Thank you for this great review of an old legend. The old fast Ford's were beautifully raw and rough in an age when making "progress" in cars equalled concentration, a mild physical workout and a modicum of driving skill.
Ah the RS Turbo. I’m too young to have ever experienced the fuzz of them when they were new, and too young to ever experience one with the way the prices are going, but I certainly love these things and look ‘back’ on them as if I was there in the 80’s. It’s something about retro cars like this that makes you feel as if you were there when they were new, even if you weren’t.
If you were young enough to enjoy these new, you'd probably meet the Fuzz quite soon as they always assumed anyone you driving one had nicked it! These are pure nostalgia, even the smell takes me back
@@furiousdrivingI can remember the early 2000s getting drove about in the old fords kids today won’t no a thing abar the joys of these cars best cars every cay use to be the easiest to snap a cap 😂
Watching Rs Turbo videos make me so happy because there is barely any good quality videos. I have a 1989 Escort Rs Turbo and I love that thing to bits.
Torque-steer is what killed alot of them...and Fiesta RS's. Pretty dangerous weapons in the wrong hands, hence, not many of them left!!! Still a big following though and being a middle-aged man myself, have re-visited those fun times with a 200bhp Fiesta RS. I don`t drive often, but when I do, I want that fun. That rip of your shoulder sockets at 3000rpm. It shows just how pampered modern cars are. People whinging about no power-steering lol. Raw, unadulterated, crazy fun. You can keep anything newer than 1994...this is the right way to have a mlc. Carry on!
As a teenager me and my friends all luster after this car, now as a grown man I'd still like to own one. Today's car are all very comfortable and refined but there is something very special about the old school rawness of cars like this.
I used to have a black escort RS turbo. What a car. Still my favourite car to this day and I drive an AMG now. Says alot. So much fun and good times. Had my car chipped and used to make a flutter through the gears.. great car..
I well remember walking down Brixton Hill in London to the tube one day, lined up in the traffic creeping down the hill was the usual S Class, AMG series, more M135i than you could shake a stick at but the one car that got every pedestrians eye was a brown Mk5 Cortina Ghia automatic, a car I very nearly bought as my first. Great video. Looking forward to the next
@@mattkinsella9856 tucks it in to bed and reads it bedtime stories even though it’s never been out anywhere! 😂 In all seriousness it’s still immaculate. Think he’s done less than 1k miles since summer of 2019. Will be around 29k on clack I think
@@greggarundel6128 That's impressively low mileage for a car that age. It sounds like he's enjoying looking after it. It's a dream car for a lot of men over 40, so I'm sure he's loving it.
@@mattkinsella9856 It’s absolutely immaculate for the age. Book fulls of receipts etc. We are going to get a few drone shots of it driving in the summer. When I was a toddler he had an XR3I that got nicked so this is finally his upgraded replacement 🤣
I love this, as I do the XR3i which was my Dream Car from 17 until now at 54. Had to watch it again. That rumble at cold idle of my neighbour's gunmetal grey XR3i while he waited for his wife to come out in the mornings simply never ever got old. Loved that car.
How clean is that? Lovely Series 2. I bought a Series 1 RS Turbo back in 91' from 'Mike Youngs Garage' Ilford for those old enough to remember. Loved that car. Owned it for over 4 years. Modded it slightly with a Stage 1 Superchip, Scorpion exhaust, K&N filter, Koni suspension and a stronger clutch. 177 BHP on the rolling road made for quite a quick car for its time. I remember buying a brand new 4 spoke RS steering wheel for it from Ford's back then, cost me £110. Try and get one now. C377HAR, great car, sadly died in 2000/2001.
Had a couple of these and a pretty fast one tuned by Turbosystems/Castle Performance. My cousin still has one but now running a 2.0 Zetec turbo. Old skool cool.
@@jamesevans6335 Like headlining's they start to sag with time though and if you don't apply the lube they dry out like an old bearing! I will swap mine now where do I sign?!?
I had one same colour,they were great cars.Reliable,powerful,good looking and reasonably cheap to run.Always turned heads,last one i saw was in Hythe in Kent a few weeks ago. My xr3i was better than you describe,i had no complaints about and the dog leg alloys,for me looked the best. Wish i still had it now,great for those quiet country lanes. I imagine now it would be worth about £15K .When i sold it in 1998 it only had around 58,000 miles on the clock.(It was a 1988 model). I would swap it for any new car i have had in the past no problem.
I really miss the 1980s hot hatches (I had a 205 GTi) because they were mechanically basic by today's standards and this made you aware of how fast you were travelling. The modern day equivalents feel very remote to drive due to all the electronics and a 0-60 time of 6 seconds barely scrapes you into the warm hatch category. However, I concede they are also much safer.
My Cousin owned a white one. It was fairly comfortable with driver and 3 passengers but the main thing was that it did actually do 130 mph and quite quickly and easily. It was easily mistaken for an XR3i but that was just a quick car, the RS Turbo was properly Fast.
Tom Morris I never did, but could have been a later owner who did? Just a few years ago a later owner messaged me to say the car was still around and he was tracking all previous owners.. It’s amazing to think a car you owned 25 years previous is still around..
I'm actually drive casual escort mk4 for over six years. Restored its body, installed RS side skirts and arches, old fancy wheels and 1.6 Zetec engine and just enjoying it =)
I did my school work experience in a ford rs centre! Rs turbos the white ones with blue stripe, cosworths Sierra and escorts all of them was taken for test drives after servicing! Fastest cars I ever been in
I know, thinking about the camera, the sound, the cars driving past, the next thing to say and just said the wrong number, working alone no ones there to pick you up on stuff you say wrong or dont notice in the edit
I think the top speed was nearer 140mph, my cousin had his standard 1987 'ford rosso red' RS redline at over 140mph on the M4 near Bridgend. Apart from the Audi quatro it was one of the best cars of the 80's. The whistling turbo kicking in gave a huge adrenaline rush to any passenger. Shame the turbo kicked in as late as it did, more modern petrol turbos are so refined. Having said that what a classic....
I'm only explaining it as it happened. It went past 140 & hit the limiter. It will live with me until my last breath. Bear in mind it had only done around 15k at the time, it was less than a year old.
Amazing review I had one of these it was a h reg back in the 90s amazing car at the time mine was a modified example over 200bhp and it was a animal top speed was off the speedo
Thanks for the video! I had a white one from 1989 with a higher turbo pressure kit on it. Up to 160 hp.. This was quite a lot of fun. Nothing but racing against bmw and mercedes things. They did not expect this hahahaha. Side skirts where off and so was the rs turbo logo on the back. New xr3i logo's on it . When next to an other car before the traffic lights, they could't see the air intakes on the bonnet! But unfortunally mine had the ford brake problem. Every 7000 kilometres new brake discs on it. Ford could not find the problem.
Had one before the 3 door Cossie ! Great car, ran Yokohama’s on it, 4K miles on the front had to switch to the back ! Crazy performance for a 1600 turbo ! Never let me down !
a little over 10 years ago I broke up the last one I owned and sold the parts, it was a pretty big spec one that had been featured in fast ford magazine but they were worth little money then and there was more money in breaking it up. lots of others did the same I think which is probably part of the reason they became more rare and the value rose that and theyre rot like a motherfucker :)
It's difficult to describe the impact these cars had when they were new - imagine driving along in 1989 and a brand new one was driving alongside. They were seriously cool and desirable. A manager at my work bought one for his wife exactly the same as this one . 21 year old me has never wanted a car so badly in my life !! He did let me take it for a spin. 😁👌🚗
The speaker joystick was so that you could tailor the volume levels of each speaker so that if you were driving on your own, you could get the exact same volume levels in each ear and from front & back too, instead of (if you left it in the middle) your drivers door speaker/right ear being loudest and your left ear not hearing it at the same volume. I stuck with Mk2 escorts well into the late 80's as they were better cars in my opinion, and of course RWD. Mk3 & Mk4 escorts were heavier, slower, understeery things.
I always preferred the MK I RS Turbo, and that MK I shape in general. My fave is still the RS1600i. I just think its cooler somehow. The closest I came to owning one was actually a MK I Orion 1600 Ghia Injection. Loved that car and I think the dash and steering wheel are more attractive than the MK II
I had a 86 Escort L as my first car... this car would have been its ultimate version as they shared the same chassis. I hated that car when I had it, but watching this brings back all the nostalgia.
I love this car but then being in my late 30's I was bought up in Fords of this era. I even had a few Fiestas myself. The dashboard looks so modern for a car that was introduced in 1986 as well. Although I drive a new car as I like an easy life if I had the space and money I would love to own a second car like this. Probably just a bog standard 1.6 Ghia for me though as I don't like crashing into hedges :p
I had a black F reg series 2 RST in 1993 with 60k on the clock....totally standard and in mint condition...cost me £2600!! Had it 2 years and racked up 30k miles and loved every mile of it....Plymouth to Aldershot nearly every weekend...foot to the floor!! Biggest expense was a blown turbo....replaced by Turbo Technics for about £600...ouch! Great review but they had 15 inch alloys not 14's :/
That's ok...you just got carried away with being in the presence of such an iconic car! I had a Mk1 XR2 before the RS...again another excellent car that served me well. I got £2200 for the RS and bought a ropey Astra GTE....great car but loved to rust! £600 was nearly a month's take home pay for a poor squaddie at the time!
Many many ins ago I had a 1.4 (I was 18) any way a 1.4 lx sliver 5 door escort, to which I lowered it and fitted a complete rs turbo bony kit to it and the seats etc , and then proceed to drive it like it was an rs turbo for about just over a year until I decided that I would go through the a round about instead of going around it 😂😂😂ah the good old days , I always wanted an rs turbo still do , maybe some day I will get one
Great video, I dont own a ford but I do have a 1983 mitsubishi colt 1400 turbo that I will be restoring soon and seeing videos like this with other turbo cars from this era makes me so desperate to get it on the road.
Man, seeing this reminds me of my mad 90s years!!! I had a Astra GTE 16V, but loved all the hot hatches of those years. I remember going to a rave in convoy with Rs Turbos, XR2s, Nova GTEs etc. I miss the 90s so much, great music (dance and Britpop) change in government, great films, great cars!!!
I had a Triumph Dolomite Sprint that could out-sprint those escort turbos, but only from the traffic lights to the first gentle curve, where the dolly wanted to go straight on.
Had a series 1 rs turbo..standard bar s/s exh...loved that car and the handling was sharp...had to get rid as too many tealeafs trying to take her . Beautiful clean example that series 2... Bin that steering wheel tho and get an rs 4 spoke on there...
@@furiousdriving the rs in my garage ive had since 1993 growing up in essex i messed about with turbos super chips mine reached over 200 bhp had a burton tuned engine head, cam,and a cossie turbo.absoloute mental car but as i aged im glad i kept the original engine because it kept throwing pistons through the block. and the originl engine is sitting where it belongs lol
I had one of these a 1988 F-reg i put a -31 actuator on it a bigger intercooler i drilled the air box with holes underneath with a k and n panel filter raised the fuel pressure and had a proper ford (koni) suspension kit properly set up on it with upgraded mintex pads .....It ran max standard boost with a bleed valve adjusted correctly,all i can say is,is that it would give a standard cosworth sierra a very hard time.I probably had 175 bhp but the handling brakes etc etc it was a weapon.If only i had it now!
Awesome video, I remember these as a kid. My dad brought home is company car Sierra, loved riding in that thing! Brilliant cars! They don’t make hem like this anymore. Keep the videos coming matey.
Thanks, much appreciated! My dad had a company car Sierra too, one of the last and incredibly I got to drive it, used to love taking it out for an evening
I had a Mk2 Golf GTI. Enjoyed it. Knocked spots off XR3i and 205GTI for handling and build quality. Needed 6th gear. 17mph/1000rpm in 5th made long motorway journeys deafening!
A very enjoyable blast from the past review, at the time when these were new (i was in my mid 20`s) and after owning a mk1 & 2 Fiesta XR2 i bought a mk1 Fiat Uno Turbo... If you can find one that has not dissolved you really need to take it for a blast, they were much cheaper than the Escort RS Turbo but in the day, just brilliant fun...
I had a Black Series 2 in about 1992 i think and i took it to Well Lane Turbo centre, who did some magic to boost the turbo - and it was amazing, it used to torque-steer everywhere in 1st & 2nd gear, and round a corner it'd spin a tyre in 3rd when on boost I have some great photos of it when i used to go camping in france I did about 30K in it, & SOLD IT FOR PEANUTS too - and i regret selling it . . . . . if only we had the ability to 'garage' all out 70's, 89's & 90's car - they'd be worth a fortune
I had a 1.3L on a 1990 G plate which I liked a lot, although no exciting performance to speak of. That cost me nearly £3000 back in 1993, so I expect your £500 cars were bought much later than mine! I had mine until 2005 and changed it for a Peugeot 306 2.0 XSi 8v, which was an awesome car with a beautiful sounding engine note and a ton of midrange torque.
It was always a bit chavvy when i was a lad. We all lusted after the golf GTI 16 valve in oak green and it had a 10bhp more power than the Escort RS turbo.
My mate had one if these back in the day in gunmetal grey, i only got to drive it once he said to me as i fired her up and pulled away “what ever you do dont floor it in third” 😈😈 what a motor😜
i brought one of these when i was 21 and it was also on a E reg! (profile pic on here) but running 200bhp! that boost was insane! so wish i still had it now 😢😢
Back in 1990 i paid £4650 for a 1987 RS turbo. It turned out that with only 36000 miles on the clock the rings and bores were knackered. The garage replaced the engine under warranty. Never had a single fault in the next 6 years. Hated the steering which was incredibly heavy at parking speeds. Suspension so hard it would rattle your fillings. Brakes, tyres and exhausts only ever lasted a year.
Absolutely beautiful car. I miss the ford escort. Just look at that beautiful interior and the lines on the car. I’d have one now. I wonder how many still exist. Not many I’ll bet.
I remember someone back in the day at college, owning one, he had a dump valve fitted, could hear that go off as he drove off!! Plus the car was a fortune to insure!!
I bought a dark green Escort RS-Turbo in ‘95. Never matriculated it because the insurance turned out to be just outrageous. I would have had to pay two months of salary for insurance alone. And it came with a clause that stipulated I couldn’t drive it on Friday night (from 22h till Saturday morning 6h) and then again Saturday night (from 22h till Sunday morning 6h). So...I ended up with an E36 BMW 325i. Which was also quite expensive to insure but at least I got to use it when I wanted. One Saturday night I had parked my car on the side of the road a few hundred meters away from the nightclub we went to. When one of the DJ’s announced there had been a car accident and several parked cars got hit, I went outside and yep, my car was completely ruined. Apparently a 19-year old driver had parked his Ford Escort RS-Turbo backwards into the flank of my car. He had insurance... but with the clause I was proposed earlier. I had to wait almost two years before I got payed about 70% of my money.
Drove one in Aug '87 (along with 5GT Turbo, 1.6 & 1.9 205GTI, Fiat Uno Turbo, Mazda 323 4x4 Turbo, and MR2). It came last on my list, just behind the Uno!!
I have a December '87 Granada Scorpio and it doesn't have the joystick speaker balance/fader control, however, many years ago my dad had a 1986 2.0i GL Granada that DID have it !
![[HQ] Fifth Gear - Escort RS Turbo vs. Kadett GSi](/img/n.gif)
I bought one of these in 1994 when I was 19 I am now 45 and I still have it.
Philip Miller wow I had one when I was 21 don’t have it now though
My first car this. Back in 2002. 18 years of age. Good memories.
System South It cost me £1075 to insurer third party in 1994.
@@Hypergangnam first car RS Turbo fuck how much was that to insure at 18?
Fair play 👌
I had a white RS Turbo when I was 18 it was only 4 months old with 2,000 miles on it and loved it. In 3 years I had put 70,000 miles on it, most of the miles were with the window down listening to the turbo whistle... Good times..
These cars mean more to folk than unattainable supercars. I had an old M reg Cortina 2000E and that once attracted more attention at the petrol station than a Ferrari.
Roger Mellie.Must have been petrol sniffers.
Was that attention because it broke down and caused a huge petrol cue tho??
that is so true
Same here. I drive a slightly lowered BMW E28 525i with a nice exhaust system on 16 inch basketweaves, and I get commented at least weekly, by all kinds of people, young and old, rich and poor...
Love watching Rs Turbo videos especially because there are barely any good quality videos. I have a 1989 Escort Rs Turbo and that thing is my prized possession love it soooo much.
My first car was a Mk3 1.3 CVH Escort and the MK4 RS was my dream car. I drove a few XR2 Mk2’s in the day and a Mk 3 XR2i but I never got to drive an RS Turbo. I loved my MK6 1.8 Zetec Si but what shocked me was how much heavier it was compared to the Mk 3. Once all this lockdown is over I would love to see your RS I bet it’s absolutely mint the way you describe her. I wish there were more videos of these.
I remember buying a Ford Fiesta RS Turbo and I was only 21. I loved it. The only thing that was quicker i had at that time was the Awesome Renault 5 Turbo. Brillant memories
I had a friend who had a R5 turbo as a company car when they first came out. I had bought an Escort RS Turbo and he offered me a drive from Bath to London one day. An astonishing car, compared to the Ford and its relatively 'tame' turbo install (that always was the problem, not enough boost), you really knew the Renault had a turbo! And it was only 1.4ltr! Gearing was a bit high, but still a great car.
my lancia hf turbo ie used to smash these 😱still love the rs tho 👍but the hf was better 👍🤣
Or a CRX VTEC without Turbo😊
To hear the rasp of the exhaust of the cvh engine, brings back memories and the switchgear all to hand & easy to use
Really enjoyed this. I own a Fiat Uno Turbo Mk2. Same era car, and still love driving it. Those older turbo hot hatches were great! Icons now, like the Renualt 5 GT Turbo
Thank you for this great review of an old legend. The old fast Ford's were beautifully raw and rough in an age when making "progress" in cars equalled concentration, a mild physical workout and a modicum of driving skill.
Ah the RS Turbo. I’m too young to have ever experienced the fuzz of them when they were new, and too young to ever experience one with the way the prices are going, but I certainly love these things and look ‘back’ on them as if I was there in the 80’s.
It’s something about retro cars like this that makes you feel as if you were there when they were new, even if you weren’t.
If you were young enough to enjoy these new, you'd probably meet the Fuzz quite soon as they always assumed anyone you driving one had nicked it!
These are pure nostalgia, even the smell takes me back
@@furiousdriving Just like the Golf GTI, general theft item.
@@furiousdrivingI can remember the early 2000s getting drove about in the old fords kids today won’t no a thing abar the joys of these cars best cars every cay use to be the easiest to snap a cap 😂
Watching Rs Turbo videos make me so happy because there is barely any good quality videos. I have a 1989 Escort Rs Turbo and I love that thing to bits.
Like a ass i sold mine for a reneult 21 turbo i got 800 quid 😭
To this 56 year old bloke that’s not just cool , that’s South Pole in the middle of winter cool.
Torque-steer is what killed alot of them...and Fiesta RS's. Pretty dangerous weapons in the wrong hands, hence, not many of them left!!! Still a big following though and being a middle-aged man myself, have re-visited those fun times with a 200bhp Fiesta RS. I don`t drive often, but when I do, I want that fun. That rip of your shoulder sockets at 3000rpm. It shows just how pampered modern cars are. People whinging about no power-steering lol. Raw, unadulterated, crazy fun. You can keep anything newer than 1994...this is the right way to have a mlc. Carry on!
i think its the people that tend to buy these cars that have made it rare trying to make it better
As a teenager me and my friends all luster after this car, now as a grown man I'd still like to own one.
Today's car are all very comfortable and refined but there is something very special about the old school rawness of cars like this.
Couldnt agree more!
I used to have a black escort RS turbo. What a car. Still my favourite car to this day and I drive an AMG now. Says alot. So much fun and good times. Had my car chipped and used to make a flutter through the gears.. great car..
Sold mine when i was 20 im now 43 and still feel the pain 💔
If only at 20 we could see into the future
Same
I well remember walking down Brixton Hill in London to the tube one day, lined up in the traffic creeping down the hill was the usual S Class, AMG series, more M135i than you could shake a stick at but the one car that got every pedestrians eye was a brown Mk5 Cortina Ghia automatic, a car I very nearly bought as my first. Great video. Looking forward to the next
That car is bloody mint! I can't believe how nice it's been kept, inside and out. The owner should be very proud.
It’s my Dads! 😂 He bought it not long after this video was made, his pride and joy!
@@greggarundel6128 I hope he keeps it as nice as the previous owner. How many miles does it have on it? I'm guessing not too many.
@@mattkinsella9856 tucks it in to bed and reads it bedtime stories even though it’s never been out anywhere! 😂 In all seriousness it’s still immaculate. Think he’s done less than 1k miles since summer of 2019. Will be around 29k on clack I think
@@greggarundel6128 That's impressively low mileage for a car that age. It sounds like he's enjoying looking after it. It's a dream car for a lot of men over 40, so I'm sure he's loving it.
@@mattkinsella9856 It’s absolutely immaculate for the age. Book fulls of receipts etc. We are going to get a few drone shots of it driving in the summer. When I was a toddler he had an XR3I that got nicked so this is finally his upgraded replacement 🤣
I love this, as I do the XR3i which was my Dream Car from 17 until now at 54.
Had to watch it again.
That rumble at cold idle of my neighbour's gunmetal grey XR3i while he waited for his wife to come out in the mornings simply never ever got old. Loved that car.
How clean is that? Lovely Series 2.
I bought a Series 1 RS Turbo back in 91' from 'Mike Youngs Garage' Ilford for those old enough to remember. Loved that car. Owned it for over 4 years. Modded it slightly with a Stage 1 Superchip, Scorpion exhaust, K&N filter, Koni suspension and a stronger clutch. 177 BHP on the rolling road made for quite a quick car for its time. I remember buying a brand new 4 spoke RS steering wheel for it from Ford's back then, cost me £110. Try and get one now. C377HAR, great car, sadly died in 2000/2001.
Did you use torque developments as I work there back then
@@jameslatimer1432 No mate it was Kevan Kemp - Severn Valley Motorsport in Ironbridge, Telford.
James Latimer they were a rip off
My old man had g plate black xr3i in the mid nineties I loved the thing, this brought back memories man thanks
Had a couple of these and a pretty fast one tuned by Turbosystems/Castle Performance. My cousin still has one but now running a 2.0 Zetec turbo. Old skool cool.
Who would sell there wife for an RS turbo?... I would!!
Jonathan Cleaves you can have mine for free..
Wives don't rust lol
@@jamesevans6335 Like headlining's they start to sag with time though and if you don't apply the lube they dry out like an old bearing!
I will swap mine now where do I sign?!?
Love these fords! Just had my E46 325i decarbonised and remapped. Hits 60 in 6 seconds dead now :-)
I had one same colour,they were great cars.Reliable,powerful,good looking and reasonably cheap to run.Always turned heads,last one i saw was in Hythe in Kent a few weeks ago.
My xr3i was better than you describe,i had no complaints about and the dog leg alloys,for me looked the best.
Wish i still had it now,great for those quiet country lanes.
I imagine now it would be worth about £15K .When i sold it in 1998 it only had around 58,000 miles on the clock.(It was a 1988 model).
I would swap it for any new car i have had in the past no problem.
Remember owning one of these in that colour about 20 years ago, a good one these day is very hard to come by
I really miss the 1980s hot hatches (I had a 205 GTi) because they were mechanically basic by today's standards and this made you aware of how fast you were travelling. The modern day equivalents feel very remote to drive due to all the electronics and a 0-60 time of 6 seconds barely scrapes you into the warm hatch category. However, I concede they are also much safer.
My Cousin owned a white one. It was fairly comfortable with driver and 3 passengers but the main thing was that it did actually do 130 mph and quite quickly and easily. It was easily mistaken for an XR3i but that was just a quick car, the RS Turbo was properly Fast.
This was a beautiful car for its time. Even today, it’s still a looker.
Bought a white ‘88 RS back in 1994..F79 TEL, had mine chipped by Power Engineering. Loved it!
waynester71 I’m sure I remember this car! Did you go to Southend?
Tom Morris I never did, but could have been a later owner who did? Just a few years ago a later owner messaged me to say the car was still around and he was tracking all previous owners.. It’s amazing to think a car you owned 25 years previous is still around..
15 inch wheels-XR cars had 14s
RST had 15's
15 inch. 195/50 VR 15 tyres I believe
I'm actually drive casual escort mk4 for over six years. Restored its body, installed RS side skirts and arches, old fancy wheels and 1.6 Zetec engine and just enjoying it =)
nice
I did my school work experience in a ford rs centre! Rs turbos the white ones with blue stripe, cosworths Sierra and escorts all of them was taken for test drives after servicing! Fastest cars I ever been in
Dominik Parry-waller when did u do work exp ?
@@161BMW in the 1990s can't recall the year. Was in Maidstone Kent
15inch standard wheels not 14inch... Come on John 😋
Really... for fucks sake.. The first thing i heard :)
I know, thinking about the camera, the sound, the cars driving past, the next thing to say and just said the wrong number, working alone no ones there to pick you up on stuff you say wrong or dont notice in the edit
I think the top speed was nearer 140mph, my cousin had his standard 1987 'ford rosso red' RS redline at over 140mph on the M4 near Bridgend. Apart from the Audi quatro it was one of the best cars of the 80's. The whistling turbo kicking in gave a huge adrenaline rush to any passenger. Shame the turbo kicked in as late as it did, more modern petrol turbos are so refined. Having said that what a classic....
Mine Pulled a ton 40. Regular !!!!
Speedometer error. No way unless it was modified.
I'm only explaining it as it happened. It went past 140 & hit the limiter. It will live with me until my last breath. Bear in mind it had only done around 15k at the time, it was less than a year old.
Amazing review I had one of these it was a h reg back in the 90s amazing car at the time mine was a modified example over 200bhp and it was a animal top speed was off the speedo
You're right about the seats, my son has MK1 MR2 from the 80's and you just sink into them, so comfy unlike modern cars nowadays which are rock hard.
How things have moved on. Standard RS Turbo had about the same bhp as a Toyota Prius. 😂
Modern cars are a lot safer but also a lot heavier rs turbos weigh 965kg with 181NM of torque Prius weigh 1380kg with 142NM.
@@phil6747 yes, my mate had a 750kg Uno Turbo with about 190 bhp. To this day, one of the quickest accelerating cars I have been in. 😂
Thanks for the video! I had a white one from 1989 with a higher turbo pressure kit on it. Up to 160 hp.. This was quite a lot of fun. Nothing but racing against bmw and mercedes things. They did not expect this hahahaha. Side skirts where off and so was the rs turbo logo on the back. New xr3i logo's on it . When next to an other car before the traffic lights, they could't see the air intakes on the bonnet! But unfortunally mine had the ford brake problem. Every 7000 kilometres new brake discs on it. Ford could not find the problem.
Only car I've ever regretted selling "F666 XKF" and the only car I've ever remembered the reg of. Great video, thanks for sharing.
A mate had an old escort F654 TTW
Had one before the 3 door Cossie ! Great car, ran Yokohama’s on it, 4K miles on the front had to switch to the back ! Crazy performance for a 1600 turbo ! Never let me down !
Amazing car. I really wanted one as a kid in the late 80s. That model looks absolutely pristine.
Great video. I hear these talked about so much by people who had one 'back in the day' - sounds like such a cool time!
I thought £2,350 was too good to be true! Lovely car! Crazy to think that you used to be able to buy these for next to nothing 10-15 years ago!
2001 maybe 2 I paid 2k for a very very nice one. Ridiculous money now.
Good spot, I added a 0 now!
a little over 10 years ago I broke up the last one I owned and sold the parts, it was a pretty big spec one that had been featured in fast ford magazine but they were worth little money then and there was more money in breaking it up.
lots of others did the same I think which is probably part of the reason they became more rare and the value rose
that and theyre rot like a motherfucker :)
It's difficult to describe the impact these cars had when they were new - imagine driving along in 1989 and a brand new one was driving alongside. They were seriously cool and desirable.
A manager at my work bought one for his wife exactly the same as this one .
21 year old me has never wanted a car so badly in my life !! He did let me take it for a spin. 😁👌🚗
I’m 41 now. Had a grey 90 spec one. Best car I’ve ever had. But I remember paying £1100 a year for third party insurance lol 😝
I had a A reg XR3i but wanted an RS Turbo. I did have a chance to drive a black D reg, epic car. This video brought back fond memories. Thanks.
The speaker joystick was so that you could tailor the volume levels of each speaker so that if you were driving on your own, you could get the exact same volume levels in each ear and from front & back too, instead of (if you left it in the middle) your drivers door speaker/right ear being loudest and your left ear not hearing it at the same volume. I stuck with Mk2 escorts well into the late 80's as they were better cars in my opinion, and of course RWD. Mk3 & Mk4 escorts were heavier, slower, understeery things.
True, same as the balance/fade on a headunit but I never liked it!
I always preferred the MK I RS Turbo, and that MK I shape in general. My fave is still the RS1600i. I just think its cooler somehow. The closest I came to owning one was actually a MK I Orion 1600 Ghia Injection. Loved that car and I think the dash and steering wheel are more attractive than the MK II
Yeah +1 for the MK3 escort shape.
Starting into an identical ones restoration tomorrow. Will be the fifth or sixth I have worked on of this model. Cracking cars IMO.
I had a 86 Escort L as my first car... this car would have been its ultimate version as they shared the same chassis. I hated that car when I had it, but watching this brings back all the nostalgia.
I love this car but then being in my late 30's I was bought up in Fords of this era. I even had a few Fiestas myself. The dashboard looks so modern for a car that was introduced in 1986 as well. Although I drive a new car as I like an easy life if I had the space and money I would love to own a second car like this. Probably just a bog standard 1.6 Ghia for me though as I don't like crashing into hedges :p
I had a black F reg series 2 RST in 1993 with 60k on the clock....totally standard and in mint condition...cost me £2600!! Had it 2 years and racked up 30k miles and loved every mile of it....Plymouth to Aldershot nearly every weekend...foot to the floor!! Biggest expense was a blown turbo....replaced by Turbo Technics for about £600...ouch! Great review but they had 15 inch alloys not 14's :/
Ouch indeed, but still a bargain! Yes, I know 15", theres no one behind the camera to stop me when I say the wrong thing, and then its too late!
That's ok...you just got carried away with being in the presence of such an iconic car! I had a Mk1 XR2 before the RS...again another excellent car that served me well. I got £2200 for the RS and bought a ropey Astra GTE....great car but loved to rust! £600 was nearly a month's take home pay for a poor squaddie at the time!
Many many ins ago I had a 1.4 (I was 18) any way a 1.4 lx sliver 5 door escort, to which I lowered it and fitted a complete rs turbo bony kit to it and the seats etc , and then proceed to drive it like it was an rs turbo for about just over a year until I decided that I would go through the a round about instead of going around it 😂😂😂ah the good old days , I always wanted an rs turbo still do , maybe some day I will get one
I could watch 80s/90s hot hatch road tests all day haha!!!
Please do, and stay for the adverts! ;-)
I work for torque developments in late 80s and we used to fit stage 2,3 heads with monster camshafts and they used to get 250 300, bhp plus
A nice blast from the past there.
Couldn’t afford a RS so ended up with an F reg Golf GTI 8 valve. I loved it and have been a fan ever since. As usual a great video . Thank you
Great video, I dont own a ford but I do have a 1983 mitsubishi colt 1400 turbo that I will be restoring soon and seeing videos like this with other turbo cars from this era makes me so desperate to get it on the road.
Man, seeing this reminds me of my mad 90s years!!! I had a Astra GTE 16V, but loved all the hot hatches of those years. I remember going to a rave in convoy with Rs Turbos, XR2s, Nova GTEs etc. I miss the 90s so much, great music (dance and Britpop) change in government, great films, great cars!!!
Yes, the 90s was a fun time, a more positive decade, I miss it
@@furiousdriving don't man, I'll start crying haha!!! Such a good time, no responsibilities just pure fun, I miss it all too big time!!!
I had a red D plate one back in the day. Absolutely loved it. Would love another one again
Had one for 9 years. Loved the car good fun to drive 👍
I had a Triumph Dolomite Sprint that could out-sprint those escort turbos, but only from the traffic lights to the first gentle curve, where the dolly wanted to go straight on.
I had a red one back in the late 90's was chipped to 210bhp F777 TAC it had so much torque it was great fun! How I miss that car!
Had a series 1 rs turbo..standard bar s/s exh...loved that car and the handling was sharp...had to get rid as too many tealeafs trying to take her . Beautiful clean example that series 2... Bin that steering wheel tho and get an rs 4 spoke on there...
Loved racing these, back in the day, in my GTE 16V until we had to go round a corner 😂😂😂
Yeah, GTEs were fast...in a straight line!
@@furiousdriving the rs in my garage ive had since 1993 growing up in essex i messed about with turbos super chips mine reached over 200 bhp had a burton tuned engine head, cam,and a cossie turbo.absoloute mental car but as i aged im glad i kept the original engine because it kept throwing pistons through the block. and the originl engine is sitting where it belongs lol
Always wanted one of these...had 3 XR2,s and loved em.....
I had one of these a 1988 F-reg i put a -31 actuator on it a bigger intercooler i drilled the air box with holes underneath with a k and n panel filter raised the fuel pressure and had a proper ford (koni) suspension kit properly set up on it with upgraded mintex pads .....It ran max standard boost with a bleed valve adjusted correctly,all i can say is,is that it would give a standard cosworth sierra a very hard time.I probably had 175 bhp but the handling brakes etc etc it was a weapon.If only i had it now!
With a car that light sub 200bhp gives so much performance, thats the kind of car I love to drive now when I can
Awesome video, I remember these as a kid. My dad brought home is company car Sierra, loved riding in that thing! Brilliant cars! They don’t make hem like this anymore. Keep the videos coming matey.
Thanks, much appreciated! My dad had a company car Sierra too, one of the last and incredibly I got to drive it, used to love taking it out for an evening
I had one in red as well it was a lot of fun but had so much wrong with it. On tick over they sound amazing it's a burble sound
I had a Mk2 Golf GTI. Enjoyed it. Knocked spots off XR3i and 205GTI for handling and build quality. Needed 6th gear. 17mph/1000rpm in 5th made long motorway journeys deafening!
You sure the MK2 golf GTi handled better than a 205gti? I thought the Peugeot was the best of all of them from that era
My boss had one of these in the late 80’s I drove it a few times it had unbelievable toque steer but apart from that loved it
Middle aged men love this car. Nailed it.👍
My mum bought a brand new white rs turbo back when I was a little kid never forget that car lol. To easy to steal though
What a car. Next ones gotta be a escort cosworth
I seem to be working up to it! Or a Sierra Cossy
I used to buy and sell these , I've got a 92 escort cosworth which was the best escort ever
They were bonkers mental for Insurance
I love these cars.Proper drivers cars!I had an 86 mk3 Rs in white and blue livery!Great torgue bottom end!🏁🏁🏁
My dad had the XR3I in the early nineties and I can still remember the reg
Love the rs turbo
Iv got a mildly tuned cabriolet with rs lump running 225 bhp so much fun always makes me smile lol
An gets looks everywhere I go lol
18 years old and I want one of those RS Badboys 🤙🏼
I was lucky enough to have one of these in White D reg....what a car...thanks for the memories.
A very enjoyable blast from the past review, at the time when these were new (i was in my mid 20`s) and after owning a mk1 & 2 Fiesta XR2 i bought a mk1 Fiat Uno Turbo... If you can find one that has not dissolved you really need to take it for a blast, they were much cheaper than the Escort RS Turbo but in the day, just brilliant fun...
First car I drove was an XR3
First road legal car was a red E reg XR3i,this vid gave fond memories!☮️
What a fantastic review. Took me straight back to the 90s
I had a Black Series 2 in about 1992 i think and i took it to Well Lane Turbo centre, who did some magic to boost the turbo - and it was amazing, it used to torque-steer everywhere in 1st & 2nd gear, and round a corner it'd spin a tyre in 3rd when on boost
I have some great photos of it when i used to go camping in france
I did about 30K in it, & SOLD IT FOR PEANUTS too - and i regret selling it . . . . . if only we had the ability to 'garage' all out 70's, 89's & 90's car - they'd be worth a fortune
I had a 1.3L on a 1990 G plate which I liked a lot, although no exciting performance to speak of. That cost me nearly £3000 back in 1993, so I expect your £500 cars were bought much later than mine! I had mine until 2005 and changed it for a Peugeot 306 2.0 XSi 8v, which was an awesome car with a beautiful sounding engine note and a ton of midrange torque.
It was always a bit chavvy when i was a lad. We all lusted after the golf GTI 16 valve in oak green and it had a 10bhp more power than the Escort RS turbo.
My mate had one if these back in the day in gunmetal grey, i only got to drive it once he said to me as i fired her up and pulled away “what ever you do dont floor it in third” 😈😈 what a motor😜
Turbo whistle on these cars where awesome . Shame the turbo Whistle has been engineered out in modern cars
i brought one of these when i was 21 and it was also on a E reg! (profile pic on here) but running 200bhp! that boost was insane! so wish i still had it now 😢😢
Back in 1990 i paid £4650 for a 1987 RS turbo. It turned out that with only 36000 miles on the clock the rings and bores were knackered. The garage replaced the engine under warranty. Never had a single fault in the next 6 years. Hated the steering which was incredibly heavy at parking speeds. Suspension so hard it would rattle your fillings. Brakes, tyres and exhausts only ever lasted a year.
Absolutely beautiful car. I miss the ford escort. Just look at that beautiful interior and the lines on the car. I’d have one now. I wonder how many still exist. Not many I’ll bet.
I remember someone back in the day at college, owning one, he had a dump valve fitted, could hear that go off as he drove off!! Plus the car was a fortune to insure!!
oh yes, there as a time you couldnt go anywhere without hearing a dump valve hissing!
Had one of these in 94 for couple of years when I was 23 loved wish I had never sold
I bought a dark green Escort RS-Turbo in ‘95.
Never matriculated it because the insurance turned out to be just outrageous.
I would have had to pay two months of salary for insurance alone. And it came with a clause that stipulated I couldn’t drive it on Friday night (from 22h till Saturday morning 6h) and then again Saturday night (from 22h till Sunday morning 6h).
So...I ended up with an E36 BMW 325i. Which was also quite expensive to insure but at least I got to use it when I wanted.
One Saturday night I had parked my car on the side of the road a few hundred meters away from the nightclub we went to. When one of the DJ’s announced there had been a car accident and several parked cars got hit, I went outside and yep, my car was completely ruined. Apparently a 19-year old driver had parked his Ford Escort RS-Turbo backwards into the flank of my car. He had insurance... but with the clause I was proposed earlier. I had to wait almost two years before I got payed about 70% of my money.
Thats a new one, I know these were stolen and crashed like crazy but the Friday night clause is new but apprarently justified!
What a lovely example. Great video. The itch to get mine finished just intensified.
Drove one in Aug '87 (along with 5GT Turbo, 1.6 & 1.9 205GTI, Fiat Uno Turbo, Mazda 323 4x4 Turbo, and MR2). It came last on my list, just behind the Uno!!
14s on the xr3i. Nice vid mate..this was the first turbocharged car I went in..couldnt believe the torque in 3rd round roundabouts.
Thanks and yes, I wish Id said that right! It was when the turbo kicked in half way around a roundabout it got interesting!
That is a looker. Didn't realise those Escort's could be that handsome.
What a gorgeous example, love it. Really nice. They look so cool now amongst the massive SUV's. Makes me want to keep my Focus ST170.
very nice car, i do not have an RS Turbo but i have a XR3 Cabriolet, very fun little car, i love it
greetings from Brazil
Hello and thanks for watching! Enjoy the XR3i, a great car!
I have a December '87 Granada Scorpio and it doesn't have the joystick speaker balance/fader control, however, many years ago my dad had a 1986 2.0i GL Granada that DID have it !