Ford Orion March 1986 review

[@englishrob8245]

I remember an metallic blue Orion 1600e with full leather upholstery and walnut door cappings, that couldn't get as an escort. must have been special edition when Ford where getting ready bring out new model.

[@Mtandy-vm2pt]

One of my teachers bought a new Orion 1:6 Injection Ghia in black in 1986: I remember he thought of himself as a bit of a down with the kids cool dude! With his sharp suit and shade's he wore when there was the slightest bit of sunlight! When he was on playground duty. I always remember him telling me it was as fast as a xr3i but cheaper to insure: he was quite knowledgeable about car's he priveously had a earlier Orion Ghia in silver A reg non injection.

[@PaulWilky-x6r]

Always preferred the mk1 orion

[@lewis72]

Those "special high-security" door locks, shared with the Granada, voted Car of the Year 1986 where the locks are "very difficult to pick" could be undone by quickly squashing half a tennis ball over the lock. (I must try this on my Mk3 Granada).

[@quarterlight]

I can imagine

[@MohdjesriOthman-oi1id]

i love orion Ghia model

[@MohdjesriOthman-oi1id]

nice too see this ford Orion, this is the best model on that time, this model small sedan from ford motor company, in the uk how many this model left on road now

[@dgbservices6049]

1.6 Diesel went from 0-60 in around 2 Minutes.

[@baggierols73]

My mate's dad owned a maroon MK2 fiesta 1.6 D. When my mate used to drive us around in it, it sounded exactly like an ice-cream van because of the rattle from the engine lol. Great little motor 👍

[@mattw8332]

A the parents of a school friend in the late 1980s had a couple of 1.6 Ghia injections. The first was a D reg (so 1986 or 87) and then it was a same spec F reg (1988 or 89) in metallic blue. I was rather jealous as my parents owned a rattly 1980 Talbot Horizon at the time. His parents were flashier with their cash - we both grew up in former council houses on the same housing estate.

[@markknoxx7164]

My dad had one of those 16 diesel gl he loved the thing for the economy. He even got mum a 16 diesel fiesta

[@NiceCakeMix]

Great video as always. The Ford Orion in my view was placed as a higher spec version of the Escort. To me the Escort was sold to families who needed the practicality of the hatch. The Orion to me was aimed at 50+ year old buyers who remembered the Cortina and wanted a boot, remember at the time a hatchback was still seen as a continental idea as pushed by Renault, its only by the 90s that everyone accepted hatchbacks as the way you would want your car vs a boot/trunk. So i think with that mindset the range caters to that crowd perfectly. The sporty Ghia Injection would hold its value and had lower insurance than the equivalent XR3i, as the XR3i was targetted by thieves a lot more than the Orion version. These were nice cars to ride in and i personally liked them more than the Escort. Ford ended up dropping the Orion name and just named the whole range the Escort. This continued to the Focus when the booted version was just called the Focus.

[@TrevorBuick]

Orion Vs Belmont 🤔

[@owensteele1645]

I always look forward to the Ford Friday episodes. I used to like the Orions very much. My uncle had a lovely Orion GL bought new in early 1988, E994RRY, which was in Rosso Red with the 'lusty' 1.6 CVH engine under his Orion's 'windcheating' bonnet🙃. And, it was actually quite a flyer. We were all quite fond of it. He used to polish it every weekend. Like the Sierra Sapphires and Mondeo Saloons that came after them, the Orions did in fact have a refinement to their ride comfort that the hatchback versions did not quite have.

[@ΓιώργοςΚιούσης]

In Greece during the 80s people were buying sedans because they thought to be more luxurious to hatchbacks. So Toyota corolla, Nissan Sunny, Honda Civic, Mitsubishi lancer, Mazda 323, FIAT Regata, SEAT Gredos (as it was called in Greece the SEAT Malaga), Renault 9 and Opel cadett were primarily sold as sedans. The only exception in this order was Lancia Prisma and Ford Orion. Lancia and Ford dealers tried to sell them as cars that were more prestigious and totally different to their hatchback versions. They were way more expensive. However some people who couldn't afford a basic version of an Audi 80, a BMW 316 or a Mercedes 190 bought a Lancia Prisma or a Ford Orion....

[@albertbekassy2709]

In Sweden the Escort and Orion base model was the 1.6 L, and the Taunus TC 3, later Sierra base models were the 2.0 L. The swedish road tax was based om weigt, not engine size, so I guess Ford descided to only sell the larger engines.

[@jamescoghlan8401]

Initially pitched to a more conservative demographic and supposed to be upmarket. Hence, at launch, GL was the lowest trim and the L came during model revisions .As you say, no base/Pop trim to justify its higher price on the lists.

[@markkenworthy2269]

The new door locks were chubb locks the previous locks did easily freeze up

[@gaufrid1956]

The Orion was yet another Ford model not sold in Australia. What is interesting is that when Ford Australia had its collaboration with Mazda, they sold a slightly restyled version of the Mazda 323 as the Ford Laser, and, yes, also a booted saloon version called the Ford Meteor. This meant that Ford's small/medium and medium sized vehicles came as both a sedan and hatchback. The larger one was the Telstar/TX-5. Note the space age kind of model names!

[@edword7195]

driven a 1.6 petrol chia and a 1.6GL D the D was painfully slow on the motorway would struggle to keep up with traffic 30 years ago and must have been near 20 seconds to 60. The 1.6 Chia felt rapid for a 1.6 carb car. Never driven the 1.4 but with the economy so close to the diesel not sure why any one bought the diesel

[@rodssolar8253]

I loved my old onion, great little car, stripped it down and fitted it with a xr3i engine an box I had nocking about, and yes I did call it a onion

[@MATTPRACY-fi6we]

I GOT ONE MATT PRACY

[@anthonyperkins7556]

This and the Mk2 Ford Orion, were the nicest Orions ever. Didn't think much of the Mk3 Orion from the 90's.

[@quarterlight]

I tend to agree

[@paulie-Gualtieri.]

Ford deleted a few of nice little features on the first Orion when the MK3 came out, especially on the GL and Ghia.

[@jeremywentworth1833]

MK3 towards backend of production became the Escort saloon or certainly did in the UK. As an Escort owner I always preferred hatchbacks.

[@russellcooper5826]

Love the Ford Friday episodes. Driven an A reg mark 3 Escort 1.3L and a mark 4, 1.1 popular. A joy to drive but vastly underpowered. A 4 speed gearbox didnt help when travelling over 55mph.

[@quarterlight]

Thank you

[@markturner-smith5309]

The 1.6i Ghia came about mostly because sales executives or fleet where mostly prohibited from buying hot hatches/XR3i’s because of insurance so fast saloons tame looking saloons came about.

[@paulie-Gualtieri.]

The 1.6 Ghia injection was a smart looking car, especially in Ocean blue metallic and the pretty cool trip computer to play with. In stark contrast to the sheer misery of the 1.6 LD in Maritime Blue, I spend travelling around in as a child.

[@quarterlight]

Indeed I know you like your luxuries so can’t imagine you in a lowly trim model of anything

[@owensteele1645]

I also owned a Maritime Blue Orion 1.6 LD, E74RAF, which used to be a taxi. In late-'99 when I bought it, it was very heavy, noisy and worn out, but it got me out of a hole until something better was sought the following year, an H-plate XR2i of all things!

[@jeremywentworth1833]

My cay been a GL had the digital clock up by the rear view mirror which was the same as my mums at the time D reg.XR2 D819KYG & her H reg XR3I. GLs were much nicer my mate had a mi2 D reg Orion 1.6DL having a clock were my rev counter was .

[@markevans2280]

As usual , they watered down the mk2 Orion from the mk1, the mk1 had luxurious interior & better alloys, I had one in oyster gold, was beautiful until after it was about 9 yrs old, was rotten as a pear underneath, do much for body protection on 80’s cars 😂

[@nickyboy.]

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