DjJinx

Is it true that the only reason the US has not got the escort cosworth is becuz ford doesnt want to ruin their precious (excuse spelling) mustang industry????

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T H wit tha U G

Heep

That's probably one of the main reasons, but not the only one. The Escort Cosworth was based on the European Escort, which is a completely different car than ours, and it would have to undergo extremely costly crash testing and federalizing to be allowed for sale in North America. Also, the Cosworth Escort was a homologation of the rally Escort, and, although it's slowly growing in popularity, the WRC is diddly squat in North America. Back in 1993, very few Americans would pay $30,000 for a fast Escort when they could get their beloved 5.0 Mustangs for cheaper

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replicant_008

The Escort Cosworth RS while bearing a strong resemblance to the then current Mark VI Escort - probably owed more mechanically to the Sierra Cosworth RS and XR 4X4.

After the banning of Group B rally cars and the ineligibility of the RS200, the RS Cosworth was created by using the Sierra Cosworth running gear. The RS has a longitudinally mounted twin-cam turbo-charged Cosworth engine mated to 4WD running gear and basically ran on a chopped down Sierra platform with Escort panels.

In comparison, Escorts had long been transverse mounted Zetec powered, front-wheel drive machines.

The Mark VI Escort and the Sierra (which I think was marked as a Merkur at one stage in the US) were not marketed in the US. By then the Escort was based on a Mazda 323 based (also Ford Laser KF series on) platform which was powered by transverse mounted 1.8 BF DOHC and a 1.9 litre SOHC engines of Mazda and Ford sources respectively.

I can imagine the cost of re-engineering and homologation for the US market together without reference to a current platform probably meant it was never going to fly.

Interestingly, there were 1.8 litre turbocharged 4WD versions of the Ford Laser KF Series and Mazda 323 available in Japan and in Australia. Rod Millen campaigned a Mazda in a couple of Rally New Zealand which were and still are WRC events. But they couldn't compete with the works Toyotas, Cosworths, Lancias etc and as Mazda was bleeding red ink it was all too expensive - so the rally and the Le Mans (which incidentally they remain the only Japanese winners) racing programmes were quietly buried...

Finally, the original Ford Probe programme was originally intended to replace the Mustang platform but public reaction kept the Fox platform going. Besides Ford Australia will need the Mustang as will may provide the answer for a low-cost platform to base the 2010 Falcon on...

Heep

The Sierra was indeed marketed here, but as the Merkur XR4Ti. Unfortunately, it was only available with the turbo 4 cylinder and not the V6 that was in the Sierra XR6.

Laser turbo engines are popular swaps into American Escorts because the cars are so similar, but I have yet to see someone transplant the entire 4WD system. I don't know if it's even possible, but it sure would be neat.

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replicant_008

Hmmm. The floorpan is the same so it would be a real interesting project for someone who wanted to score some traction and handling. Having driven one it had considerably more grip than the front wheel drive and less likely to chuck you into the trees when driving fast on gravel and snow covered roads.

Interestingly, the current Mondeo I have is the basis for the Jaguar X-Type which is 4WD. I haven't planned to mod the car as it's just out of the box (I've done 5,000 miles to date) it would be interesting to see if I could drop the 3.0 litre Duratec in and add the 4WD running gear...

mentalmickey

if anybody really wanted one, theres no reason why you can't import an european spec LHD one into the states. it would be a great crowd puller and unique. it would probably blow away them mustangs too! the escort cosworth has the capability to pump out 500bhp with a 0-60mph time of around 4 seconds and a top speed of 180mph. but excpet to pay lots of money.