Faults:

Rear nearside suspension bangs over bumps in the road. Rear wiper motor stopped working. Brakes effective when used hard, but spongy at all other times.

General Comments:

I had the engine re-bored to a 3.1, fitted Kent fast road cams and fit unleaded cylinder heads. So if if didn't go like stink before it certainly does now. The handling and steering and high speeds and sharp bends is brilliant. The cars good fun when it's wet on the road it power slides with no effort whatsoever, roundabouts are brilliant fun. However the cars interior is now showing it's age, the dashboard has cracked due to the sunlight and the drivers seat is worn.

Faults:

Failed ignition coil.

Worn TCA bushes.

Faulty fuel gauge.

General Comments:

Look at the above faults, then consider that these were over 60,000 miles, and that the car had 114,000 miles on it when I started!

The Ford Sierra is one of the most solidly engineered, bombproof and reliable cars money can buy. It's also pleasant to drive (nice RWD chassis), cheap to run and easy to work on.

The engineering is simple, crude even in places, and the four cylinder engines are way off the pace both in terms of power and refinement. But the thing works, day in day out, and in all weathers. I'd jump in it, turn the key, and it'd start, religiously and without fail.

Two oil and filter changes a year and a few other bits of basic maintenance was all it needed. It let me down twice - once when the coil burnt out (brand new replacement cost £20) and the other was when the fuel gauge went faulty and we ran out whilst showing half a tank. Even without making allowances for a six figure mileage, that's good going in 5 years and 60,000 miles.

Parts and insurance are cheap, fuel economy was over 30 mpg however hard I drove it, and the car became like an old friend. Eventually the bodywork let it down, and with plummeting car values making repair uneconomical, she went to the breakers a couple of years ago, still running sweetly with 173,000 miles on the original engine.

Faults:

Rust.

Headlights never worked together, only one at a time.

Rust.

Wiper arm connected to the motor came adrift from the blades, and stopped working, but when I tried to fit the replacement arm, it warped and I couldn't shift it. Worked fine after that.

Rust.

It was very rusty as well. Had to drive through puddles with my feet raised up.

Rust.

A wire kept falling out from under the engine which made it stop, but it started again when I pushed it back in. Didn't really matter where I pushed it, could be a different hole every time, but as long as it was not dangling the car worked well.

There was quite a lot of rust about as well.

Usual gripes about crappy Ford electrics which they still haven't got to grips with.

Rust.

General Comments:

The most comfortable car I have ever driven. I loved it. If it was not so rusty I would have had it a long time. Good engine, reasonable electrics, shame about the body.

Once lost the keys on holiday in Ireland, but bought a Cortina key off a guy in a garage (for a pint of Guinness) and managed to get into it and drive it home.

It was massive and you could get loads of stuff in it and it never complained.