Not your common pile of Ford! (Ford Granada/Scorpio)

Member Name: uncle_bob

Product:	Ford Granada/Scorpio
Date:	08/09/01 (4546 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: comfort, easy to drive, very refined

Disadvantages: under powered, heavy, Handling is poor

Well here I am again, yet another car opinion. This time I am venturing into the world of the Ford!, make the most of it, not often you will find me in with the likes of Ford.
Now I am going to try and write this opinion and avoid being biased due to my general dislike of Fords, and give the old Scorpio a fair trial.
I will spare you the long winded, and quite frankly, boring story of how I came to dislike Fords.

We used to own an old Granada. It was a 2.8V6 Estate, (1985) Automatic. Beautiful car it was, had its problems, but you had to love it, and so powerful. Unfortunately, she got old, and although I took it under my care to restore her, I already had 2 cars on the go, and didn't have the time, or the money to restore her. So she was sold to the Granada Enthusiast club for 1p, yep 1p. She wasn't worth anything, but we just couldn't give her away. To show how much that car was loved, the 1pence piece is in a little box in my dads draw!

So, what do we replace her with? I mean she towed the caravan, and did all the hard work and never complained about it. What car would replace that? We searched high and low, looking at almost every estate car available, and not one could match it for power and space, as well as comfort. Only thing that came close was the Volvo, but these were to expensive, and the new ones didn't match up to her.
In the end we settled for a Granada Scorpio. Much smaller and only a hatchback, but was a nice car to look at and drive.
It didn't have any where near the power as the old Granadas, and only being hatchback, had hardly any space in comparison, but we have given up hope of replacing her like for like (my granddad owns a Scorpio Ultima 2.9, and although it has the power, it still doesn?t tow the caravan like the old Granada)

So what's with this Scorpio then?

Well, first a little background information, as usual. (you love it really)
The Granada was introduced b
ack in 1972, I believe. And was the 'executive' car of its time. Sporting refined interior, powerful engines, and having the Ford badge on the front instantly made it a car to respect.
The Mk1 and Mk2 were produced for a long time, in Estate and Saloon version. The popular choice being the 2.8V6, but there was a large range to choose from. The Estate version was stopped in about 1985 - 1986 (if someone knows the accurate dates, please let me know) but the saloon was carried on, and the hatchback was launched.
The Scorpio was the next thing Ford brought out, it is based on the original Granada, but was much more refined and executive, offering gadgets which had only recently been intoduced on cars in the UK, such as Air conditioning, cruise control, ABS etc. And although the previous Granadas had all the electrics such as windows, seats, mirrors etc, the Scorpio was the top of the range. Ford were starting to lose their reputation, and the Scorpio helped them maintain what they had left, and even, possibly, improve it slightly.
The Estate was eventually brought back in again a few years ago, in the form of the Ultima, which was a lot like the previous Estates, with big powerful engines and good interior space. However they stopped making the Granada altogether in 1998. The latest Granadas were very 'American' with typical American styling and interior. This set them apart from the competition, but didn't do them any favours. Vauxhall were really making a comeback and Ford kept losing battles to them. The Probe was short lived, before it was overtaken by the Calibra. The Fiesta lost to the Nova, which became the Corsa. Escort was lost on the release of the new Astra and Ford rapidly lost status in the UK to Vauxhall, and the ever present Japanese cars. The Granada was really their last hope, but unfortunately, the American styling (that grille for one) and Vauxhalls new foot hold in the UK market, meant the Vauxhall Omega soon sent th
e Granada to the list of 'discontinued' cars. Even the monster Cosworth engine fitted to some, couldn't save it.
Since then, Ford have failed to produce a car that can out do Vauxhall, and the Japanese cars which took the UK by storm.

So history lesson over, (you still awake there?) lets get back to the Scorpio.
I will concentrate mainly on the Scorpio from 1985 - 1994, as this is the range I have had experience, with. I'll see if I can take the Ultima out for a test drive and bring you the results at a later date.

So, engine:
The engines I know of that the Scorpio came with were,
The 2.0, 2.0i, 2.5 turbo Diesel, 2.9i V6 and the 2.9iV6 24v.
Power from these engines, was as follows (you love these statistics I know :op)
2.0 - 109bhp
2.0i - 125bhp
2.5TD - 92bhp, low I know, but this was upped to 112bhp in 1993
2.9i - 145bhp
2.9i 24v- 195bhp

I'm sure you will agree, if its power you want, then the 2.9i is the one to go for.
All but the 2.9 are straight 4 engines, nothing fancy.
The 2.9 is a V6, and is probably the best one to go for out of all of them, although economy is poor. With about 25mpg achievable from the 2.9. but you get the power.
The rest all claim around 35mpg, including the diesel. Diesel engines have never been Fords strong point, and most diesel engines Ford produce are poor in comparison to people like Renault, and Peugeot.
Ford didn't go for the big powerful engines, like they used to, apart from the 2.9, instead they concentrated more on reliability. And fair play, ours has 145,000 on the clock, and (touch wood) had no major problems yet.
Service on these earlier models is relatively easy, with the home mechanic allowed access with the spanner for a number of small jobs. But on recent models, this is lost in favour of you having to pay Ford to do most jobs.

Performance?
Well, it has to be said, it feels good to dr
ive them. Although they have a very low power output, they do feel powerful. The one I drive and we own is a 2.0i and being Automatic, you put your foot down and the kickdown kicks in and you do feel the power launching you. However this is more due to soft suspension and transversely mounted engine, which tends to rock the car as it revs high, giving you the feel of power, even though in reality, you not got that much.

Top end speeds of the models is not up with the likes of the Omega, with max speeds of:
117mph from the basic 2.0 and 119mph from the 2.0i.
The diesel will see you to a wimpy 108mph unless you get the 1993 onwards version, which will see you to a slightly more respectable 119mph.
The 2.9 is again the big boy with 126mph and 138mph from the 2.9 24v. Still not your high performance car considering its size. For comparison purposes, the Omega 2.0i will see you to 130mph, and the 2.6i V6 sees a nice figure off 142mph. So you can start to see why Ford were fighting a losing battle.

Off the mark, the 2.0i isn't bad. Being Automatic the one I drive, you get good grip with no wheelspin. This makes for easy acceleration. But lack of power means you only see about 10.5 seconds 0-60 across the range, with the 2.5TD (pre 93) only managing 13seconds.
The 2.9 pushes 9 seconds, with the 24v squeezing 8 seconds which is a little more respectable considering the size of engine, but if you have the automatic version, expect to lose a second or 2, as you really need to work them gears to achieve those times, which the automatic wont let you do.

Handling leaves a little to be desired. The rear wheel drive makes handling in the wet, shall we say, interesting, and the long wheel base and rear wheel drive do produce a loss of grip when cornering. Watch out for the backend going, cause when they go, theres no return, until you hit something of course.
Soft suspension and a fairly high ride height don't help matters, bu
t then this is an executive car, and sports set up is dropped in favour of comfort. And it achieves that well.
Normal driving of the cars in comfortable, and I used to use it to travel 60 miles to London everyday, down the M1 and through London. And it was very good for this job. I used to prefer to take the Granada over the Nova, just for shear ease of drive and comfort.
It will cruise at 70mph happily, with still more in it. The Automatic gearbox makes town driving easy and stress free, with the absence of a clutch making it easy to keep stopping and starting, without giving you tree trunk legs from working that clutch.
When on the move, is where you get the sense of power. Especially with the Automatic. You can put your foot down to get past something, and it will go. If you find yourself running out of road, then burying the throttle will induce the kickdown (Automatics only) and the car knocks itself down a cog and really seems to fly. For a small engine, it performs well. The manuals require a little more work to get that blast of power from them, but knocking it down a gear gives you the same effect and will get you out of some tricky situations.

Overall in terms of performance, it lacks the power to be a 'drivers' car, but for long distance and easy driving, it performs well, taking away handling (which is pretty poor) is favour of shear comfort.

Interior?
Well its status as an executive car is emphasised inside. Electrics all round, including windows, sunroof, seats, mirrors, rear seats, central locking. On most models.
Nice refinements, such as heated front seats, heated front and rear windscreens and Air conditioning make it comfortable to drive all year round.
The cruise control is a nice feature, and although not much use for short journeys or in heavy traffic, it proves very useful when making long trips down the M1 at 8pm. You can get up to 80mph (oops, 70mph I mean, sorry officer) and flick the cruise
control on, then sit back and let the car do the work. Power steering, and being Automatic, makes driving almost effortless, with the occasional turn of the wheel needed. It holds its speed well too, very rare does it struggle to keep a set speed.

The seats are comfortable, but a little short, making it get a little uncomfortable after long periods of time, you do start to get the numb bum. Full control over the seats, all electric, means you can adjust the seat in almost every way to get comfortable.
Space is good, with plenty of headroom and legroom both front and back. The electric rear seats make even sitting in the back pleasant on long journeys. Making it a great family car.
The boot is average for a hatchback family car, with space to carry the shopping and a large pushchair. But it isn't a work horse. The very intrusive wheel arches and low boot line waste space. The back to the boot is not too high, so loading and unloading is easier than with a lot of cars. Although the parcel shelf is hard to store out the way, if you need to remove it. Its wide too, giving you extra space, but they seemed to waste this space with lockers in the side panels, for wheel braces and jacks, which would be better stored under the sparewheel maybe.

I would certainly recommend you take the Automatic version, although I know, it tends to be a granddad car, especially to someone like me, who likes to stir it with a stick, but the automatic makes it a very comfortable car.
The instrument panel is informative and incorporates everything you would probably want to know, although the display that tells you about lights and doors can become unreliable after a while.

Looks?
It does look a nice car. Until you get to the newer models, where they started using those 'frog eye' head lamps and wide mouthed grilles, which killed the Scorpio. Ford really lost the plot in design on the newer models I feel.
The older models were nice, wi
th a long sweeping bonnet and nice font bumper. The cabin area of the car is high, and the windscreen is very vertical, ruining the sleek look, but again, really helps in terms of comfort. The rear is square and ends rather sharply, with not much attention to detail. It is like the designer started it on the Monday at the front, and by Friday was fed up and just left the back, which lets the overall styling down a bit.
The wheel arches make a comfortable hole for the 15inch wheels it sits on, and depending on the model and spec you buy, sits on some fairly nice alloys for standard cars. With room to improve if you so wish. You could probably squeeze some 17inch under there, but they would not look right on a car like this.
It does look an executive car, and styling on the older models was nice. The newer styling from across the pond ruined what was a nice looking car, but overall, Ford didn't do to bad.

Safety?
Safety is good in the Granada. ABS was fitted to most models, and some of the higher range, newer models have airbags.
The brakes feel responsive but soft under light application. They stop the car well, and are perfect match for the car. The ABS is violent when it kicks in, and really throws you and your passengers about, but you only feel the ABS under very heavy breaking, and as long as it keeps your car in the same shape, and more importantly, you in the same shape, then it is a minor discomfort for a safe car.
The build is strong, and makes a very tough car. Its long engine bay gives plenty of crumple zone and heavy build should keep you in one piece should the unfortunate happen. Be warned with the back end and having a towbar mind you. Ours got hit the other week from behind, in a slow shunt. And the towbar and the way it is fitted, pushed forward into the rear differential, much faster and it would have smashed the differential.
Overall it is a safe car to be in, and should help keep you safe.

Security?

Standard Ford alarm isn't much to write home about. Offering door opening sensing mainly. With Ultrasonic on some of the newer models. If you want good security then ditch the standard alarm in favour of a good aftermarket system, as the standard is poor.
Apart from that, that's all it offers in security really.

What to look out for?
Well, like I said, 145,000 and no problems really yet. But watch out for the typical faults with the Granada, mainly electrical, things like the Windscreen washer system, Drivers window, locks, boot lock being the common ones to go wrong, and seems to be a problem across the range.
The engine needs a bit of TLC to maintain it. Regular service and oil checks, if done right will keep the engine ticking for a fair few miles.

Overall verdict?
Well for a Ford, it isn't bad. Not much in comparison to the Vauxhall Omega, but if you are a Ford fan, then the Granada will probably meet your taste. A much nicer car than the Mondeo in most aspects, and unlike the Mondeo, tends to be more a status symbol, where as the Mondeo is as common as the Fiesta!
If you want a car that is comfortable, fairly economical, and a great family car then the Granada is worth putting on your list of cars to check out.
If you want comfort and power, with good handling, and rapid performance, then you would do better to leave Ford and follow the crowd into the Vauxhall, or some of the Japanese cars available now. As power is what lets the Ford down. Forget the Diesel, as you won't gain any of the advantages of diesel with the Ford diesel engines and are to be avoided.
Go Automatic for the ultimate driving experience, and manual if you want to stir it with a stick, if you don't mind not gaining much in performance.
A car that will be around for a while, and is now fairly cheap to pick up second hand.

That's probably the nicest thing I have said about a Ford. Just goes to show, they ha
ve potential, but let them selves down by created buckets such as the Mondeo, and Probe. Make the most of the Granada while you can, then be ready to look elsewhere I think.

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