Volkswagen Vs Ford

[martinb]

I love most of the old skool fords and use to drive them all the time in my younger years (series 1 escort RST, Escort RS1600i, numerous XR2's & XR3i's etc) and always found them great fun to drive.

Main reason i changed to VW though was reliabilty and they all rusted so badly i got fed up with getting wet feet and having the floors welded every year! (I still have vivid memorys of sitting in one of my XR2's while my mate lifted it up on a forklift and welded the floor up while i was sitting in it putting out fires with an air line!  ).

It was actually when one of my fords had failed its mot that a mate lent me a mk2 gti he was trying to sell while i got it fixed that got me into VW's! It just felt so much more solid and better built! Not looked back since!

[Daz...]

My first car was a ford! mk2 fiesta 1.1 - cheap, not very cheerful but i was a student and it was all i could afford... :embarassed:

I've had 2 XR2i's and a Fiesta Turbo since then and none of them can even touch the build quality of a VW. The engines are noisy and not very forgiving after a good thrashing...I always had to take it easy the day after a good blast as the old CVH engines really are a pile of crap. Altho I had one that liked to annoy 8v mk2's...

Best bit was when I had a set of koni top adjustables on my last XR2i it stuck to the road like sh!t to a blanket, did nothing else to it, just got them chucked on - set the damping and away i went!

Oh, they do all rust like mad though. Apart from the Fiesta Turbo's which take a little longer than the others because they were made in Spain which used a better quality steel apparently.

I was going to say that I've had less problems with the Golf but I don't think I have. However, it doesn't bother me spending money on it as the bodywork is all solid. Which is more than I can say for the old Fords out there...

[martinb]

CVH engines really are a pile of crap

LOL, very true, noisy tappets anyone....! 

[cняis]

I had a '90 XR2i, was great fun but expensive to insure at 18! Somehow I couldnt see it lasting 216k miles like my GTI has 

[Mr Blue]

got abit of respect for the mk1 and mk2 escorts as my dad used to rally those.

you dont see many old skool fords on the road these days. only mondeo's, focus's and fiesta's.







TW4TS

[Neaty]

yea i agree with the respect for things like Mark 1 and 2 Escorts, nothing like a bit of escort going sidways, barking through a forest. But they are blinkered and only fords will do.

Seems as the general consensus is that fords last about 5 mins, I will make sure I ephasise on that next tuesday

[martinb]

. But they are blinkered and only fords will do.

agree with that one! Having used to be into fords bigtime when i was younger i still have a few mates who are into their fords. While im now into my dubs, i still like and respect a lot or the old skool fords but they all seem to think vw's suck!

prob just sore that their cars all have holes in the floor and a somewhat "boy racer" image 

[Neaty]

yea most probably! 

[Wazzzer]

I've just come over to VW's from Fords, my last being an Escort RS Turbo with a lot of mods...

I spent an obscene amount of money on that car to get it how I wanted, and could have easily spent that again to get it even better but I just came to the point where I thought "why?"

The car itself had the engine management from a Fiesta turbo, a 1.9 engine, stage 2 turbo, bigger injectors, uprated cam etc and with my own tuning efforts kicked out a solid 205bhp with scope for a lot more. I feel the only thing that lets them down engine wise is the gearbox, I managed to go through 3!! My last was again a standard one but I had it rebuilt but I always felt worried about booting it anywhere as the gearbox would just fall to pieces if I gave it too much stick...

Uprated gearboxes are the best part of £500 for a stage 1 going right up to around £800!!

I always loved the look of the Mk4 Escort and it doesn't really look that odd compared to new cars now but there's no getting away from the fact that they are getting on now. mine was 18 years old and doing ok for its age (mainly due to me getting it partly restored) but it was still showing

Different cars have their different characters, I would love an Escort Cossie but have always told myself if I want to buy one I need to have twice the amount of money I pay for it, the other being for potential repairs. Its not uncommon for even standard Cosworth engines to melt due to a slight injector wiring fault or the like

Oh and if anyone does want to have a look at my Escort I'll probably be in Fast Ford next month but I'll let you know for defo (shameless plug lol)

[DubFan]

I've not owned a Ford (thank goodness) but having driven a friends Escort that was the same age as my Mk2 Golf (a D reg GL), the Golf felt so much better, well planted on the road, no wobbly dash or build quality issues.

While working for an IT firm, I drove a few company cars, including 2 Mondeos, a V6 and a TDI and both were rubbish, even the Vauxhall Vectra they had was better, and I was so glad to get back into my Mk2 after those, even though they were 10 years younger.

I'd say that Ford have produced a few good engines, but if you compare the average (ie Not a restored concourse/race car) Golf Mk2 or Mk3 to the average Ford from the same era, the Golf will have lasted much better.