Genuine Question

Is the ford cortina the same as the ford granada?

no, the ford cortina was an english and australian car that began production in the late '60's it was modeled off the falcon, but differed in some ways. The granada/monarch/versailles were entirely different cars that began production in 1974 or 75 in America. it's my understanding that there is an english an aus model of the granada but I don't know much about that one. it cuold be an offshoot of the cortina.

cool thanks

There are two (tree) types of Ford Granada:

The European one, made from 1972 to 1984 in Germany and UK. These are divided into two models.
Mk1, 72-77: http://www.oldfordclub.sk/modely/granada/mk1%20-%20consul/granada_1_gl_gold.jpg

Mk2 78-84: http://www.crystal.mcmail.com/main/crystal%20on%20drive.jpg

(The Ford Scorpio was also called Granada in UK from 1985 to about 1991/92 )

Then there are the US Granada, which I don't know a shit about.

The U.S. '75-'79 Ford Granada/Mercury Monarch/Lincoln Versailles shares many chassis design similarities with the '64.5-73 Mustangs and '74-78 Mavericks. Many suspension and driveline parts are cross compatible between all those cars. The Lincoln was a larger car and had more unusual parts like larger ball joints up front and a disc brake 9" rear. Some Monarchs and Granadas had the same rear end, but it was an extremely rare option on those cars.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v521/65ShelbyClone/1976_granada_estrada_colorado.jpg

Around 1980 the Granada was transferred to a Fox3 platform much like '79-1993 Mustangs. '94-2005 Mustangs are still based on this chassis, but quite a few revisions were made it got the code SN95. 2006 Mustangs I believe share the Lincoln LS chassis.

AS someone who has driven both an 81 European Granada and a US. Granada, all they share is a name.

The European Granada was a sensational high speed performance sedan, for the time.

The US Granada handles like a slow pick-up truck in drag.

Although I am a fan of American cars, the difference between the to is simply shocking. The Euro car is so much better in every way, it's hard to believe they came from the same company.

If Ford in the US and Canada had imported the Europoean Granada in the late 70's/early 80's, they would have really given BMW and Mercedes a run for their money at the time.

The Euro car is so much better in every way, it's hard to believe they came from the same company.

They didn't come from the same company. Euro Ford may be a branch of the original North American Ford, but the markets and ideas for what will sell are oceans apart. We never got a turbocharged AWD Escort and we still don't have a turbo Focus. The Focus was spawned in Europe, actually. 1974-83 was a dismal span for U.S. carmakers. None of them seem to care about small performance cars since mushy family sedans and giant SUVs are so profitable. All the progressive thinking started in the early '80s and died five years later.

The Euro Granadas look better, thats for sure.