E30 NO BETTER THAN A FORD SIERRA IN ITS DAY

[anothere21323i]

one of my best mates has a 3door moonstone blue, capable of some 550 odd bhp after the thousands spent on the engine at a specialist in essex, its running about 400 at the moment its in them final stages of getting it running perfect after a full restoration,and all the engine work, rs500 front splitter and rear spoiler with them extra little fin bits on that differ to the normal 3door, however hes oem homo style bar the engine, and under the bonnet a lot of hard work sourcing them rare little clips and bits that were specific to the 3 door and rs, like certain little clips and bits for things on them were white, as opposed to black,on other models, and all the other things, its a hell of a car

You mean all the little bits and bobs that you can order from a BMW dealer that will arrive a few days later from Munich, rather than the Ford bits and bobs that you have to trawl through endless council type auto jumble stands to barter over with some sovereign ringed, inked up goon? No thanks. Ford don't give a monkeys about anything that isn't still in production whereas BMW do support their classic scene to an extent. Speaks volumes.

[Andyboy]

You mean all the little bits and bobs that you can order from a BMW dealer that will arrive a few days later from Munich, rather than the Ford bits and bobs that you have to trawl through endless council type auto jumble stands to barter over with some sovereign ringed, inked up goon? No thanks. Ford don't give a monkeys about anything that isn't still in production whereas BMW do support their classic scene to an extent. Speaks volumes.

Sadly that's true. The rally jacketed grunting mongs have always been part of the Ford scene.
Thankfully the Mark 1 Rallye Sport stuff is being priced out of that particular market now.
But you're right. Ford as a company are pretty rubbish and it was only ever a few individuals within Ford that saw anything of interest being made.

[polsta]

You mean all the little bits and bobs that you can order from a BMW dealer that will arrive a few days later from Munich, rather than the Ford bits and bobs that you have to trawl through endless council type auto jumble stands to barter over with some sovereign ringed, inked up goon? No thanks. Ford don't give a monkeys about anything that isn't still in production whereas BMW do support their classic scene to an extent. Speaks volumes.

i get what your saying, but...not ALL e30 parts are available, there are plenty of bits that are NLA, or the ones you buy now differ slightly from original, i dont know much about m3`s , but are there a lot of parts NLA and tiny little bits ?

but fully agree bmw and ford as a company like that, are worlds apart , although i do love 80s fords, they may be tin cans, but they are still the peoples cars and cars everyone knows !

lets face it, how many us us when we were kids in the 80s, or any age in the 80s...had neighbours and family etc with e30 sports or alpinas or m3`s etc around your local area or older people you knew owning one ?

[Speedtouch]

My immediate neighbours had the likes of Mk4 Cortina Ghias and Mk2 Ford Granadas, though further along, the posh ones had a BMW 635CSi and next door to that, a Jensen Interceptor (which for the most part, sat in the garage!). His missus had a BMW E30 cabriolet.

[anothere21323i]

You mean all the little bits and bobs that you can order from a BMW dealer that will arrive a few days later from Munich, rather than the Ford bits and bobs that you have to trawl through endless council type auto jumble stands to barter over with some sovereign ringed, inked up goon? No thanks. Ford don't give a monkeys about anything that isn't still in production whereas BMW do support their classic scene to an extent. Speaks volumes.

i get what your saying, but...not ALL e30 parts are available, there are plenty of bits that are NLA, or the ones you buy now differ slightly from original, i dont know much about m3`s , but are there a lot of parts NLA and tiny little bits ?

but fully agree bmw and ford as a company like that, are worlds apart , although i do love 80s fords, they may be tin cans, but they are still the peoples cars and cars everyone knows !

lets face it, how many us us when we were kids in the 80s, or any age in the 80s...had neighbours and family etc with e30 sports or alpinas or m3`s etc around your local area or older people you knew owning one ?

My neighbour in the late 80s had a Lachs E28 and just up the road was a very nice Opal E21 323i. Huge influences on me at that time! E30s were all the rage and RS Fords had well and truly dropped off the radar!

[anothere21323i]

You mean all the little bits and bobs that you can order from a BMW dealer that will arrive a few days later from Munich, rather than the Ford bits and bobs that you have to trawl through endless council type auto jumble stands to barter over with some sovereign ringed, inked up goon? No thanks. Ford don't give a monkeys about anything that isn't still in production whereas BMW do support their classic scene to an extent. Speaks volumes.

Sadly that's true. The rally jacketed grunting mongs have always been part of the Ford scene.
Thankfully the Mark 1 Rallye Sport stuff is being priced out of that particular market now.
But you're right. Ford as a company are pretty rubbish and it was only ever a few individuals within Ford that saw anything of interest being made.

Yup. I bought a 1973 Mk1 Capri 3.0 GXL from the old boy who bought it new in 2003 and spent the next 3 years restoring it. It had only covered 36k miles from new and had everything including its bill of sale and original dealer number plates and rear screen sticker. All it needed was a pair of wings, sills and a respray. So why did it take so long? Finding NOS genuine Ford panels was appallingly difficult, and very frustrating. It was enough to put me off and I have to say it is SO much easier to restore a BMW as A) the vast majority of parts are still available new, and B) those that aren't can be found and rebuilt because fundamentally they are better quality. Try walking into a Ford dealer and trying to order parts for anything that's more than a few years old! If you think E30 M3 parts are expensive, have a look at any of the 70s Ford RS bits - shocking!

[bss325i]

A good Sierra is an okay car. Both the German built 2.0iS and the 2.0i Ghia Sapphire with the 205 Pinto were decent cars in the day.

My first RWD car was a german built 2.0iS in black. D400ART, complete with the pepper pot wheel trims, sports suspension and the three spoke steering wheel similar to the mk3 XR3i one.

That was the car learnt to drive in after passing my test.

Also had a 2.0i Sapphire Ghia with the pinto, it was a good steer with the Koni suspension kit and yoko's that i fitted.

A few "twinks" were also had, one of which was a cheap shit box i bought when i was skint, a 2.0 carbed LX with 148k which despite my greatest efforts of a complete lack of mechanical sympathy or maintenance would not die!

That one ended up in a Hedge.

[Simon13]

sierra dashboard......nuff said!

[Andyboy]

sierra dashboard......nuff said!

Complete with the crack like the San Andreas fault.

[e301988325i]

Someone I know has an '88 Escort RS turbo, series II if you know. It's deon half the miles of my '88 E30 but the interior has had it, both interior door handles are seriously worn and look so tatty, enough to spoil the whole interior. You can't tell me that BMW and fords were comparable in quality terms back then?

15 years on I've no doubt that an equivalent Mondeo is probably as good as my '02 E46.

[Reelizmpro]

Many American's are driving imports these days vs Domestic and those that do own a US automaker's car are driving Cadillacs, Corvettes, Mustangs and Camaro's. Although we didn't get the Ford Sierra Cosworth here, we did get the Merkur XR4Ti which was essentially the same car sold under the Merkur brand name. This is a car that you will never see on the street today. Even back in the early 90's it was a rare car to see. It's design was pretty futuristic but they just weren't popular cars here in the US. The turbo 4 cylinder probably made it expensive as well.

In contrast, the E30 was embraced by the US as the 80's yuppy car. They were in a lot of films and TV shows, especially the cabbies. It was a really innovative car with power sunroof, On Board Computer and high quality compared to what was available in the US at the time. Same with the 190e, though it was more expensive.

[Andyboy]

They could have sold the Sierra as a Sierra Ghia and sold a lot of them as a plush sub Taurus economy car complete with the 2 litre OHC Pinto engine. Calling a car by a name nobody could pronounce ('Mare-koor', FFS!) was never going to end well.
The V6 Capri sold well in the US because it was neat, compact and well made. Ford didn't capitalise on the 'made in Germany' thing as that would have saved them long term. Like GM, Ford are effectively f*cked now because they can't compete with the Koreans - zero prestige, and not competitive on price or warranty. Who'd buy one?

[jonb]

I'd have a nice 3 door Cosworth tbh. There's something about them but they need to be relatively standard and not 600 bhp knuckledragger spec with all the Samco/chrome/polished underbonnet nonsense.

E30 M3's are nice but they're not very quick anymore. A Sierra with 300+ bhp however, is.

Yes, 3 doors look great. Got to be standard though although a small hike in power is welcome.

e30 m3's are great but whole lhd thing is a bit off. Better all round car than the ford, but the cosworth received high praise when it was released. The cosworth will get more attention on the uk roads for being a cool motor(and not just from the meatheads), where as the m3 is another one of those "oh look at that old bmw" type of cars.

[Speedtouch]

Frank Williams was paralysed after crashing a Ford Sierra:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Will ... rmula_One)

Maybe things would have been different if he were in an E30...