Faults:

Front right hand side pop up light would not work.

Dash electrics have failed twice over the time I have owned the vehicle.

Water pump broke within six months of purchasing car.

Gearstick has collapsed twice.

Currently the gear stick is beginning to rattle again.

Engine tappets are making noise.

General Comments:

An enjoyable car to drive and especially in summer (if you live on the coast). Parts can be expensive as a cracked tail light cost me $800 dollars from the Ford dealer.

A bit of money can turn this car into a head turner; although the single cam engine is reliable, the problem is that the engine is slow to accelerate.

Faults:

Fuel gauge broken at around 140,000 km.

Often idles at around 500 RPM, shaking terribly.

One of the pop-up headlights had dirty contacts - it wouldn't go down until a mechanic cleaned them.

Passenger side window will only go down from the drivers side control.

Indicator/light stalk is oddly sensitive to any forward pressure and can flash the high beams when trying to indicate at night.

Both inside door pulls have fallen off.

Glove box handle broken off.

Electric mirrors sound as if they are about to burn out.

General Comments:

The Capri was based on the Ford Laser so mechanically they are quite reliable.

I have the Automatic model. It's a 3-speed unit and is rather fuel in-efficient.

61kw is not much power and the car must be revved very hard to extract any kind of performance. The engine also lacks torque so ascending a steep hill can be a painful experience. The turbo models are much, much quicker, but unfortunately they were never available with an auto transmission.

Despite its bad points, I do really like this car. Its fun in the summer time, looks great and is good to drive especially in city traffic.

A better buy would be a series II model from 91-onwards. They had a much zippier twin cam engine and a 4-speed auto.