TT is GONE and an Australian Ford takes it's place!

Gentle Reader,

If you've followed my blog at all, (which I greatly appreciate!) you may recall my much-loved and enjoyed double denim blue 2000 Audi TT quattro. It's a halo car and is one that's been listed as one of the most significant cars in automotive history. Not mine, TT's as a whole.

I had it for two years and four months. It was a fantastic car that was supremely comfortable, VERY quick and handled like a dream. The previous owner had put thousand$ in it and it was better for it.

But, being German, it can be and was finicky. I sold it on eBay and it is now in the hands and wallet of a young man in Tennessee. May he drive in peace.

Flush with cash, something that is VERY rare in our life, I set out to find a suitably fun replacement. Something that was different. I and sometimes my lovely wife too, test drove and sat in a great number of cars. One that intrigued me was a 2001 Volvo V70 T5. It was very rare in that it has a cloth interior and best of all a MANUAL transmission. This is a must for me. It was too pricey, and a bit too big. Quick though! Turbo powered.

Another gorgeous wagon-like car I drove was a Lexus IS-300 Sportcross. This thing is RED! Light tan leather interior. Smooth inline six and great size. Sadly, for Americans, Lexus only outfitted the Sportcross with automatics. Otherwise, plus less money, it would be mine.

There were many others looked at and driven. When testing "previously enjoyed" cars, the sales people will let you go by yourself. They have your vehicle on their lot and a copy of your driver's license. So, theoretically, they could track you down if you stole their car. No worries here. I don't steal cars.

So, you may be wondering, "What is this mysterious Australian Ford?" It is a 1991 Mercury Capri XR2. Made in May, 1990 and delivered July 20, 1990. So it is more than twenty years old. I tracked down the original owner and enjoyed speaking with him. I'm the third owner.

The previous one had the car re-painted, it's RED, and it was done very well. He may have replaced the top, but maybe not. Regardless, the car only had 84,000 miles on it. After twenty years! Superb condition, too, as you can see in the photo at the top of the page and below.So, what is a Mercury Capri and what is the XR2 part? The car was designed by the Italian design firm: Ghia. Here is a link telling about the Barchetta show car as sold by Christie's:GHIA BARCHETTA CONCEPT | Christie's
That explains it better than I could.

So, it was built upon the Mazda 323 chassis and engines/transmissions. The base (non-XR2) has a 100 horsepower 1.6 liter engine with single overhead camshaft and two-valves-per-cylinder. Standard with five speed manual transmission. Auto trans were optional. Fifth gear is overdrive. It has a hydraulic clutch actuation.

The XR2 has Mazda's 323 GT/GTX engine and transmission. It is still 1.6 liters but has twin (dual) camshafts and four-valves-per-cylinder. Output is 132 horsepower with 136 pound-feet of torque at 3000 RPM. How does it make that much more power? A turbocharger. At 60 MPH it is turning 3000 RPM. This means passing someone is easy in top gear as the engine is already at maximum torque. Forth and fifth are both overdrive and the clutch is operated by a cable. The GTX Mazda was four-wheel-drive.

The Capris are front wheel drive. Odd that Mazda would be happy with a car built with their mechanicals that would be direct competition for their Miata. But since Ford owned a good chunk of Mazda then, they had to go along.

The Capri was sold as a Ford in "the land down under" and a Mercury in the USA. They had planned to sell it elsewhere, but that never happened.

As it turns out, the Capri outsold the Miata in it's first nine months here in the USA. It wasn't designed as a real sports car: Front wheel drive, verses the Miata's rear wheel drive. Also, it has a small back seat as well. Nonetheless, it sold well initially.

Sold only from 1990 (1991 models) to 1994. The last year they made design changes and added a passenger air-bag. Only a few hundred '94 models were sold.

So there's the history. How does it compare to the Audi? Very well. Fabric seats which I prefer but not as comfortable. Still feel good though. Plus driver's side has adjustable lumbar
support. Recline as well as height adjustable. Same legroom as the Audi.

It came with an expensive at the time, Kenwood stereo. It was adapted to the factory "Premium Sound" power amplifier. I removed all that and installed a nice JVC stereo with built-in HD radio. I replaced the factory speakers with Pioneers two-ways in the doors and two-way Infinitys in the rear. Sounds MUCH better and I love HD radio.

So far, I've had the timing belt, water pump et.al. replaced and done minor maintenance
and been scrounging up the odd interior pieces that were missing or broken.

It's averaging 28-29 MPG in combined driving. Runs fantastic, handles well and I love being able to put the top down.

It's going to continue to be a "fair weather" car. When it rains or snows, in the truck I goes.

Here's some more photos:As you can see, the back seat is pretty useless. The interior shot above has the since removed radio in place. Note that hole in the right side of the dash? I'm not sure what they intended it for. Not much would stay there....More shots:I've never had so many gauges in one car before! Turbo boost gauge is a new one for me.Below is the whole engine bay. I've been slowly cleaning and detailing it.Last is a close-up of the top of the engine:
The cam cover was originally painted with thick black "crinkle" paint. Most was gone and I'm slowly removing the rest. The "DOHC" and "16 VALVE" were in red.

Finally as mentioned above. The car was designed in Italy by Ghia. Ital Design did the interior. Mazda provided the chassis and drive-train. It was built in Australia. Quite the international car!

Good luck in seeing one. They are quite rare now.

Thanks for looking!

Scott