THE COMMON TOUCH

摘要

The Ford Escort XR3i always felt more down to earth and accessible than a Golf GTI or 205 GTi. But John Evans says this once common hot hatch is sought after today. The used car scrappage allowance of 2009 has a lot to answer for, not least the absence of XR3is on our roads. Back in 1994, there were around 95,000 of them, but today there are only about 450, with another 1500 off the road being restored or tucked away as investments. And an XR3i is a good investment, in the same league as contemporaries such as the Peugeot 205 GTi and Volkswagen Golf GTI. That said, how good an investment depends on how much has been spent bringing one up to scratch. We found a 1989-reg concours-winning XR3i with 56,000 miles on the clock advertised for ￡24,995. The trouble is that ￡75,000 has been spent getting it to this standard.