Ford Escort RS 1600i - with front-wheel drive against the Golf GTI
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Summary
When the third generation of the Ford Escort was presented in the fall of 1980, everything about the popular passenger car was new. Instead of the rear wheels, the Escort now drove the front wheels and the design was also completely renewed. But Ford did not forget the fans of particularly sporty models and presented the RS 1600i as the basis for the A/N groups as early as 1982. The initially fastest Escort was well received and is a rarity today. This driving report describes the history of the fuel-injected Ford Escort and shows it in many pictures. And there is also a sound sample.
This article contains the following chapters
- Completely new
- Advanced technology in the RS 1600i
- Finesse for racing
- Open at the top
- Failed against the top dog
- Successful
- At the wheel
- Further information
Estimated reading time: 7min
Preview (beginning of the article)
Around 50 years ago, on November 17, 1967, the first Ford Escort was produced. Thirteen years later, even the most traditional Escort fans had to rethink, because from September 1980, the third generation of the compact family car now had front-wheel drive instead of rear-wheel drive. The advance of the VW Golf simply could not be ignored so easily. Development work began in the winter of 1975, resulting in a modern and straightforward three- or five-door model with the characteristic notchback. Everything was new, and many Ford people would actually have liked to give it a new name. But the code name "Erika" didn't really fit, so it stayed with Escort, which was the lowest common denominator, so to speak.
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