Thread: Ford Fiesta RS Turbo

I had one of these many moons ago and boy did i love it. Wasnt really that impressive and was a torque steer nightmare but was i the dogs ******** !! To me definately a cool car

With the Recaro seats that came with the pads to custom fit it right?

J.

yep it had the pads, well mine did I also loved mine its a great little car, but cool .... not sure I don't think it should be classed as a cool car in the same way that a Golf Mk1 GTi is.

Superbly cool little car. Limited run of only 5000 cars, comfy Recaro's to perch your bum in. Little tarmac terror and loads of fun when tweeked. I had one up until June when I saddly had to sell it to make progress with bricks and mortar. My example had a few go faster goodies including a Hybrid T3 turbo charger, double capacity intercooler, Kent cam, Bosch 701 injectors and a 195 chip and was knocking on 200bhp, was enough to leave quite a few of my Subaru driving friends a bit red faced.

I've missed the car everyday since I sold it as it never failed to put a grin on my face

my old one is on passion ford, look for posts by 1900cvh he picked the original car off me, actually if you have time its a worthwhile read with what he has done to it !

Had both the Escort and Fiesta RS Turbos. Loved them at the time but they were terrible at getting the power down when i think back. Fiesta was running 180bhp which seemed more than enough back then!

I'll always be a fan of fast fords!

my old one too 200+hp quality

I had mine (H923AES) for 7 years! I bought it just over a year old with 9k on it and it was sold to someone in Hampshire with 122k on it. Hardly cost me anything to run and was around the 170bhp mark when I finally got rid of it to buy a Saff Cossie.

Brilliant little cars IMO!

Here is an old and scanned in pic!

Cool? Like getting a dose of the clap is cool?
No chance...

Chav fodder. Not cool in any way shape of form, in my book.

As Fords go, the previous shape XR2 was a far cooler car.

mk2 xr2s were tat, terribly underpowered, as were the mk3 xr2is inc the 16v version. Ive owned a number of FRSTs now and think they are very cool, struggle to get as much of a laugh beating plenty high end "quick" cars in an old 90s bean tin

stevetdci, havent checked that post for a long time but lloyd is putting some serious time and money into that thing!

Early fezzas are cool cars, newers ones like the zetec are pants.

My brothers project, once the turbo has been specced and suitable injectors worked out and sourced we should be knocking on the door of 300bhp



Few alterations have been made since the photo, full width GRS intercooler, alloy radiator, Avo coilovers, twin ARB setup. On the stock blues at 14psi of boost it made just over 200bhp.

This will be a quick car as I'm certain it will have the legs on my S2 and I've used that as a stick to thump Porsche C4's and M3's

sorry uncool , used to beat them in the old crx

Originally Posted by fingermouse

sorry uncool , used to beat them in the old crx

Thats a broad statement, my old FRST used to beat m3CSL's, so a CRX wouldn't have been too much of a problem me thinks. That said it was 2 litre'd all steel engine running 32psi on a T34 and 100brake of gas

Was that Zetec Turbo? One of my friends built the 2nd one of these only to Ian Howell of Fiesta Frenzy/Area Six fame.

Used to have one of these myself. Pushing out about 185bhp. Constant wheelspin everywhere though. Fun but not a progress maker!

They weren't Zetec's, that came later. Crude but effective and a better installation than the Escort Turbo

Ford RS's are all cool IMO!

Wouldn't say it was better the EECIV systems (OFAC and OFAB) did suffer with their own inherent floors that the Bosch KE-Jetronic just didn't have. Certainly extracting power from the Escort is easier and it came with a LSD to help get the power down.

If you thought getting 185 down was tricky try this one out belonging to a mate of mine lol



365bhp at the wheels on low boost

Originally Posted by ianysm

Ford RS's are all cool IMO!

Have to agree with that statement! I've had two Escort RS Turbos and Sierra Sapphire Cosworth. My brother had a Fiesta RST running around 175bhp and was it a load of fun.

My favourite has been my S2 Escort RST - 218bhp, 4-pot brakes, Blitz electronic boost controller. The thing was as animal on boost and loads of fun shutting down expensive, higher-powered cars on the motorway - not so much use through first and second gears though!

Originally Posted by MIKE GTR

Thats a broad statement, my old FRST used to beat m3CSL's, so a CRX wouldn't have been too much of a problem me thinks. That said it was 2 litre'd all steel engine running 32psi on a T34 and 100brake of gas

I was talking std cars but as a cool classic the Fiesta RS isn`t a classic imo the mk2 XR2 was a better looking car and the newer ST fiesta is ok

Originally Posted by RS_Rawli

mk2 xr2s were tat, terribly underpowered, as were the mk3 xr2is inc the 16v version. Ive owned a number of FRSTs now and think they are very cool, struggle to get as much of a laugh beating plenty high end "quick" cars in an old 90s bean tin

stevetdci, havent checked that post for a long time but lloyd is putting some serious time and money into that thing!

That takes me back! My most memorable moment in my old RS was actually beating an A4 Convertible! I watched the guy nudge his missus and say 'watch this' to her! This was at a set of traffic lights just coming out of St Albans when i left him in a cloud of Worn turbo smoke! Oh yes!! Lol.
Was running around the 180bhp mark. I also had an Escort RS feated in FastFord. 220bhp, chromed everything under bonnet, leather re-trim, grey pearl paint....I blew 3 bottoms ends and the turbo and it spent most of its life with me off the road! It was a pain in the arse but quite an animal when she was running!
Fast Fords never die! lol

Also i must agree the mark 2 XR2 is seriously cool, just underpowered. I have always wanted to built a track XR2 with a turbo lump in it as these are like go karts!

never be a real classic just cos they look so awful,terrible nondescript styling and then after 4 years lots of rust thank god.

Originally Posted by goon

never be a real classic just cos they look so awful,terrible nondescript styling and then after 4 years lots of rust thank god.

A huge following and the prices these cars still change hands for says you're wrong

Sat in one of these on Friday (too many beers to drive it ), guy I know has a Metallic grey one, std body work but the engine is WIP although is still meant to be 200+bhp.
These things are TINY!! when you compare them to modern stuff.

Pretty cool car more so than Series 2 RST Escorts IMO, rare too.

Paul

Yes, but a standard format does not allow.

Sorry I do agree with the last post Mike.

Around 8.

The only cool thing about this car was that it had rather tasteful upholstery fabric on a pair of nice recaros. Car ruined by green stripes and god awful 3 spoke wheels! It's replacement was much nicer to drive and look at.

A cool ford fiesta would be a mk1 XR2 or Supersport.

The RS1800? It couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and not all got the Recaro's, some got the Si style wingbacks, Yuck!!

Originally Posted by Oranoco

The RS1800? It couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and not all got the Recaro's, some got the Si style wingbacks, Yuck!!

Yes, but only if you're talking performance then I accept the RST had the edge, but not by much.

I remember one of my friends getting a later (mk3.5) RS1800 many moons ago when they were new, had with the Si seats which weren't so nice I admit, but much better interior, power steering etc and thinking it was the bees knees at the time, had a much classier image than the RST and it was a hell of a lot better to drive, less torque steer, nicer cabin, quieter and didn't give much away to the RST in performance.

Originally Posted by beanoir

Yes, but only if you're talking performance then I accept the RST had the edge, but not by much.

I remember one of my friends getting a later (mk3.5) RS1800 many moons ago when they were new, had with the Si seats which weren't so nice I admit, but much better interior, power steering etc and thinking it was the bees knees at the time, had a much classier image than the RST and it was a hell of a lot better to drive, less torque steer, nicer cabin, quieter and didn't give much away to the RST in performance.

The performance between the two is barely comparable. RST made it's claimed 130bhp where as the RS1800 simply didn't (usually only managing between 115-120). The RST produced torque ( thanks to the turbo charger, the RS1800 didn't (hence lack of torque steer).

Only difference between the two really interior wise was the black dash and plastics, which I admit did look better and why I converted mine. The PAS is handy but the steering isn't really heavy without it and I always found they seem to lack steering feel with it.

In RS circles the RS1800 isn't really even regarded as being a true RS and is always seen as the poor cousin to the RS Turbo hence the huge price difference between the 2 cars.

It's not a bad car but it will always be in the RST's shadow as it's little more than a 16v XR2i with some wilder cams. But then again it does wear an RS badge and it's so easy to convert to 2 litre

Originally Posted by Oranoco

The performance between the two is barely comparable. RST made it's claimed 130bhp where as the RS1800 simply didn't (usually only managing between 115-120). The RST produced torque ( thanks to the turbo charger, the RS1800 didn't (hence lack of torque steer).

Only difference between the two really interior wise was the black dash and plastics, which I admit did look better and why I converted mine. The PAS is handy but the steering isn't really heavy without it and I always found they seem to lack steering feel with it.

In RS circles the RS1800 isn't really even regarded as being a true RS and is always seen as the poor cousin to the RS Turbo hence the huge price difference between the 2 cars.

It's not a bad car but it will always be in the RST's shadow as it's little more than a 16v XR2i with some wilder cams. But then again it does wear an RS badge and it's so easy to convert to 2 litre

Thats all very well, but I still maintain that the RST doesn't have a better "cool wall" status than an RS1800.

You are, of course, entitled to that opinion

its about as cool as having AIDS

Originally Posted by beanoir

Thats all very well, but I still maintain that the RST doesn't have a better "cool wall" status than an RS1800.

Surely the fact of having to explain to someone that it isnt an XR2i would make it uncool?

At least turbos could easily be spotted against the 2i's

IMO neither are cool, but they are indicative of the 80's/90's hot hatch era

Originally Posted by superkarl

its about as cool as having AIDS

HAHA

im thinking Im gonna sell up to buy a Ford rs as there way more fun then my audi and so much cheaper. Only thing that lets fords down is rust and weak gearboxes My mk2 Fiesta running a transplanted rs1800 zetec engine use to kill alot of cars. Coming back to the turbo bit mk2 had the tt conversion which was cool mk3 rs turbo is a very cool car defo no chav wagon dont see chromes on an rs