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Man Maths: Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth

2 weeks ago

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Writer:

Andrew Frankel | Ti co-founder

Date:

25 January 2025

The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. Not since the introduction of the Jaguar E-Type had 150mph performance been so cheap. And, unlike the E, the Cossie – as we all called it – really would do 150mph. They looked brilliant, went like hell and became one of the most successful Group A touring cars of all time. Which is why if you want a clean example today, you’ll likely be looking at cars costing £60,000 or more. And that’s not even the rare RS500, which have been known to change hands for six-figure sums.

But actually? Its four-door Sierra Sapphire-based replacement was a far better car to drive, even if some will doubtless regard it as heretical for me to say so. But I was around at the time and have driven plenty of both. And today they’re literally half the money of their three-door predecessors.

It’s easy to see why: first, Ford made about three times as many Sapphire Cosworths and second, these were not homologation specials like the original, so they lack the competition pedigree. But this is precisely what makes them better to drive. While the three-door RS Cosworth felt like what it was – a race track refugee – and was set up very stiff, which made for rather too interesting wet weather moments on its dreadful standard Dunlop D40 rubber, the Sapphires were far more compliant and better suited to the open road. I read somewhere that they’re lighter too, though I find that a little hard to believe.

I really liked these cars in period, especially those that had been sensibly breathed upon. The 2-litre motor with its Pinto block and twin-cam, 16-valve Cosworth head was almost indestructible, and while it developed 204bhp as standard, it could be turned up to over 500bhp for racing and I drove at least one road-legal example with 400bhp. It was almost undrivable. But you could get around 280bhp from a standard engine and turbo without much work and seemingly no additional lag and I particularly remember one tuned by Turbo Technics to about that extent which was absolutely delicious. Just remember to make sure it’s the rear-wheel drive version you get, not its all-wheel drive replacement (done so it could be homologated as a Group A rally car) which takes away all the fun.

And it is at precisely this point that our hitherto happy tale is brought to a screeching nails-down-the-blackboard halt. Because, thanks to the gloriously and defining delusional qualities of Man Maths, you might think that’s all you’d want to know about these cars. And it probably is. But there are a few things you need to know too.

First, we’ve already established that these cars are very susceptible and receptive to being tuned. And some have been done with greater care than others; some, frankly, have been ruined. And others have been put back to standard hoping you won’t notice because authenticity and originality is what sells such cars these days. You have been warned.

This 1988 Sierra Cosworth was recently sold by Bonhams|Cars Online for £28,750

Second, though their prices seem quite high these days, there was a period when they were cheap as a plate of frites on the Dieppe seafront, which means many were neglected.

But probably not as many as got nicked. There was a time in the late 1980s when Sierra Cosworths were the toast of the town among the light-fingered community. Autocar had a long termer which got stolen, was then found by the police who decided to hang around in order to collar the tea-leaf upon his return, only to see it being stolen all over again by someone else entirely while they waited.

There’s probably never been a story published about buying a second hand car which doesn’t mention the importance of history, but you’d do well to think of a car to which it was more crucial. If you want one, for goodness sake pay the extra to get a decent car with a known and undisputed provenance. You’ll not only enjoy it more, but I just about guarantee it’ll be cheaper in the long run too.

Photography courtesy of Bonhams|Cars Online

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