Here’s how Merkur became Ford’s second-worst brand failure 

South Africa got a limited edition version with a Mustang V8. It's called the XR8

I owned an 89. I live in an area with loads of hills and curvy roads. The 2.3l intercooled turbo was the perfect car for here. My only issue was having to turn or replace the rotors constantly despite downshifting the manual tranny. That and fuel pump failures. Outside of those issues it was the most fun driving car I’ve owned outside of some trucks I’ve hot-rodded. The XR4Ti stood for X Rally 4cyl turbocharged intercooled.

Guy in my neighborhood still drives a merkur xr4ti really cool to see it still running

My uncle was a Ford executive and so he always had different company cars and when he came over in the Scorpio I had to wash it because at the time it was the only excuse I could come up with to get behind that wheel and it was at the time the most luxurious and interesting car I had ever driven. It felt solid when most Fords outside of the panther cars felt sorta hollow.

I'm 49 and saw several of these as a kid and appreciated them because they were rear wheel drive and really sporty.

Love Merkurs! I saw a lady driving a Scorpio last weekend and I freaked out. Haven't seen one in decades. My dad bought an '88 Scorpio in the late 90's at a car auction. We had no idea about the brand or what we were getting into at the time, but it was really nice to drive and came with a lot of fancy features. Unfortunately it was prone to issues. The first time the flywheel broke, it took a few months before my dad could source one and install it. I still remember the day he drove it out of the garage after all his hard work repairing it -- he backed into our snow plow and scraped the driver's door 😆 Took equally as long finding someone who could work with the paint. Then the flywheel broke a second time. I ended up bringing one home from Germany when I was on an high school exchange. That was interesting - going to a Ford dealer with my limited language skills and asking for a "Schwungrad". We never ended up installing it, instead my dad sold it to a guy who was into Merkurs so I like to think that car still had some years on the road.

Ford Sierra here in the uk, the xr4i was good. The cosworth incredible! RS500 to die for!

I tried to talk my Dad into buying a Scorpio in 1988. They were very popular at the time, sporty with good performance. He bought a stylish Mercury Cougar with a vinyl top. He was right. He kept that car until 2002, never had any problems.

It wasn't just the price and the looks, it was legendary unreliability too. I worked with a guy that had one, bought it brand new in '88. In the 2 years he had it, it spent just as much time at the dealer as it did in his garage. He finally grew tired of the constant problems, and traded it in.

Sterling would definitely make a great video! Another good one I might suggest is Daihatsu. The last Japanese automaker to enter the US market and the first one to leave.

I remember the Merkur. I've known people who owned some. The XR4Ti and the Scorpio. I found them both to be awesome cars. Since I was too young at the time to drive a car, I couldn't say what they were like to drive or own. But those who I knew who owned them found them to be awesome cars, as reliable as you'd expect a car to be. The only thing we didn't appreciate about the cars was its name: Merkur. We were like *"What?!* *"What the hell is a Merkur?!"* or *"Where did that name come from?"* If it was a Ford car, we thought Ford should've sold it either as a Ford brand car, or possibly a Mercury brand car. But a "Merkur"? What?! The same was true for the Scorpio. It was a fun car to ride in and quite comfortable. I found it attractive from every angle, except from the rear of the car. I did like its appearance from the front and from the side of the car, reminding me of the Mercury Sable of the time. Why neither sold well here in the USA is beyond me. They were way better than the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury cars that were already sold.

As a Sterling owner, I would love a Sterling video.

Hi I own the white ford sierra 2.0 ghia estate in your video .I'm in London England .I bought the car 6 +years ago as a stock car and transformed it in to a full cosworth replica estate including all the running gear .she now has a full yb cosworth turbo engine from HARTPOWER putting out in excess of 400 bhp .a far cry from the 115 bhp 4 cylinder pinto engine she left the factory with. I recently did a you tube video with Adam Smith on my cosworth sierra estate F20YBT be sure to check it out .👍

I knew this woman when I was 19 and she asked me: "Hey, do you know this car called an Exeratti? Is it a good car?" Me: "Exeratti? Never heard of it. Sounds Italian" Later, she pointed out an Xr4ti.

My parents had a XR4Ti and a Scorpio. Both were great driving vehicles when they weren't in the shop....

Had an 86 XR4TI and added a Rapido group intercooler. Great power and handling! Traded when second child came along. Always liked the styling of the Capris and Granadas back in the 70's.

The Merkur brand is truly a hidden gem I wish that the brand would have lived on a little longer.

These cars were massive sellers here in the UK, there was Cosworth versions of both the Sierra and Scorpio. The Scorpio was also know as the Granada in Europe, think the Scorpio was just the more luxury version. The saloon was known as the Sapphire, the Cosworth Sapphire were really quite common and very fast for the day, I think they made about 200Bhp which was really good for that era, as the car was pretty small and light, well by US standards anyway, it was looked at as a decent sized car in Europe, as we are used to driving really small cars.

whilst working as a jockey for Lincoln in 1987, I drove several XR4Tis and Scorpios. Those were fantastic cars.

I remember as a kid being able to say "Merkur: correctly and absolutely loving these cars. I wanted one really badly because I thought they were unique and ahead of their time. Plus I like the way they looked.

I remember seeing a Scorpio up close for the first time around '95. It was at an auto auction, steering column all busted up, likely having been stolen and recovered. Just falling apart inside. It was so beautiful but in such a sad state.

I really really wanted one of the XR4ti's when i was a kid, at the time they looked so damn cool. I t was about the closed we ever got to that rally Escort back then

What I recall about these cars were a couple things. A. Sky high price tag. B. You couldn't get parts, at least the ones to fix the Euro portion of the car. I remember that though certain Lincoln Mercury dealers would be happy to sell you 1, their service depts wouldn't touch them beyond oil changes...

I remember the first time I ever saw a new Merkur Xr4ti. It was unique, you could tell it was a German car. Always wanted one, but unfortunately, it never happened. But I do have it's cousin, '84 Mustang SVO!

I had an 88' XR4TI and loved it and the Scorpio! Its what turned me onto German cars and haven't looked back! And would buy another if they ever came back!

if only they gave it a decent engine like the Sierra Cosworth

I had a white '86. What a fun car. A little under-powered but it had exceptional handling. And a fun little joystick to position the stereo's fader/balance.

I love my 1989 Ford/Merkur Sierra Xr4ti

The post-XR4i (usually called "saloon" in the UK) performance Sierra model in the UK was usually referred to as the Sierra Cosworth, and featured 4-wheel drive. When the Sierra was replaced in Europe by the Mondeo there was no XR4i or Cosworth replacement. The 1992 Escort Cosworth for Europe was the spiritual and performance successor and actually used a development of the Sierra Cosworth Chassis over a hand-built Escort-style body.

It was this car where Jim Rome gave his radio crew it's name. They're called the XR4Ti because Rome bought that car to make him look cool, but then it turned into a piece of crap.

I bought one new in the late 80s, on a dealer closeout for about 15k. It was a fun car, that i feel was ahead of its time, getting many compliments over the years. The biggest drawback were expensive parts and the Lincoln Dealerships, rolling their eyes, when i brought it in for service, because they didn't want to deal with them, especially after they had been discontinued in the US. !!!

We had a Scorpio when I was a kid, after the brand had died and they were trying to unload them all. I think my Dad paid 16 grand? And he got them to give him the Mercedes trade in value later :) Used to love showing off the electrically reclining rear seats to my friends.

The word “ marque” is actually pronounced “mark”. The pronunciation you are using is for the similarly spelled “marquee” as in a theater marquee. 👍🏻

Outstanding! I always wanted an XR4Ti!! Thank you for the trip down memory lane!!

The fact that it had 2 doors would make it extremely valuable today. We seriously need a major influx of 2 door cars today. Cars have become nothing more than transportation appliances. We need cars that look good and put fun back into driving.

Nice video. I liked that you covered the European range and versions at the end. The Scorpio in Europe was actually a trim level of the mk3 Ford Granada, and there was also a 2.9i V6 Cosworth version. The Granada name was dropped for the unloved mk4 in favour of the Scorpio name. The original 3 door Cosworth Sierra ("the Cossie") was, I understand, the most stolen car in the UK in the 1980s, mainly for joyriding. This was replaced by the 4 door Sierra Sapphire Cosworth saloon, which was slightly tamer and more respectable looking, but just as lovely.

Subbed. NOBODY talks about merkur or sterling! The cars not the diesel trucks!

So far, I'm in love with the compact car scene. Especially these Euro cars. Don't have to worry about having a V8 when you have a stylish (and cute) car with a turbo 4 or a diesel lol

The apartment building I lived at 10 years ago. There were 3 of them lined up in the long term parking lot. It's only because I drove by them everyday that I even knew this brand existed.

Never knew much about these, someone in my dorm about 10 years ago had a red XR4TI and I remember being puzzled at it looking like a Ford (having been familiar with those Cosworth models from racing games) but having the name Merkur. Never looked into it but now I know! Thanks.

In the UK we got scorpios and sierras with cosworth engines. The Scorpio had a 2.9L cosworth V6 and you could get a sierra RS cosworth , RS500 or the Sierra sapphire cosworth (sedan version) with the YBD engine and 4x4 or RWD. The RS500 in moonstone blue is my favourite ever car, aside from a Ferrari F40

I always remember this as the starter car for Midnight Club 2, the cocotte

I can remember when they arrived at the dealership I worked at. The XR4TI was a fun car to drive. We had previously dealt with the 2.3L turbos that had carburetors and had a lot of issues with drivability. So it was a nice change to have a decent fuel injection system and turbocharger even though it still had a pinto motor. Of course there was the big issue with the leather upholstery shrinking to the point that it would split. We did a lot of upholstery kits on that car. The Scorpio on the other hand did not sell well at all. I think I remember maybe two at the dealership. The first one was given to the local newspaper for a review. That didn't go well. The key which was shaped like an old 18th century skeleton key broke off in the door. It sat in the corner of the shop for weeks waiting for a duplicate key because there was nobody that could make one. I'd be willing to bet that today you can't get one at all.

Despite the piss poor marketing, these were awesome cars. You could make 300hp at the wheels very easily with basic bolt ons.

I’d love to see a video on the AMC/Renault Alliance and Encore. I had an 86 Alliance 1.7. It was light, somewhat peppy and tossable for the time, however; the built quality and materials were dismal. I always wanted to drive the final performance iteration, the 2.0L GTA coupe.

I always loved the XR4TI and Scorpio!,but like the Tucker of 1948,they were great engineerd cars that were to ahead of it's time.

I've always really liked the look of the XR4TI. It would be great to have one now.

When I was about 12 I got to hang out with my older brother and one of his friends for the night. His friend had a XR4T and I had never heard of these. After the turbo hit I fell in love with the car lol His dad had 2 sitting in the yard for years, wish I would’ve snatched one up.

I had an 88 Merkur Scorpio. Much cooler than a Taurus, but had catastrophic issues with only 30k miles. I doubt there's a drivable Scorpio out there

The biggest problem with the XR4TI was: the basic car - Sierra- never meant to be the main BMW competition in Europe (OK maybe Cosworth version) . But the basic 3-door Sierra could've been a great car to compete with Tempo/Topaz coupe actually. The Sierra brochure You used in this video is definately not from Germany.

In 1985 my girlfriend was shopping for a new car. She wanted a sporty coupe with a manual transmission. The Xr4Ti made the short list so we headed to a dealership. In 1985 i was 27, drove a BMW, and dressed like Don Johnson in Miami Vice and my girlfriend was of a similar age and also well dressed. We show up at the dealership, which is devoid of customers when we got there. The GF explains that she's shopping for a car and wanted to look at the XR4ti and take it for a test drive. "Are you ready to buy today?" asked the salesman. No, we've just started and this is the first stop. "Well, I'm too busy to take you for a test drive unless you're ready to buy." How can I know if I want to buy it unless I drive it? Had I been thinking, I'd have lied and said, "Sure, we'll buy" but I was floored by the idiocy.

There was a guy in NE Ohio who had an XR4Ti that he dropped a Mustang SVO engine into.... That car was something else.

When I was a kid I wanted one of these. Lol. I'm glad I was too young at the time to make that mistake.

This car was still on the road when I was stationed in Germany in the army.

When I was in college, I was sent a floppy disk that contained a presentation on how great the Merkur XR4TI was. The presentation compared the Merkur to a BMW and Mercedes.I just remember thinking how weird it looked. It also gave me the impression that it was called a Mercury Merkur XR4TI. I didn’t clue in that the Merkur was its own brand.

Didn't even mention the awesome handling fully independent rear suspension provided. Neither mustang or Camaro could touch it in the twisties ! Best Ford I ever bought!

My buddy had an XR4Ti in high school. It was a great-running, good-handling car for (back then) cheap. Pretty fast outright, but downright hot on a country road. Great car, too bad they were such hunks of crap, haha!

I loved the Scorpio. Practical and still had a sedan look to it even though it was a hatchback.

Street Turbo magazine ran an article on one of these with a 300z turbo motor. Super vehicle with competent handling above the 300Zx capability is how they described it. Still ...just a great personality.

Growing up, my best friend's dad had an xr4ti. HE got it in college and all those years later it was still in good condition. We took it one summer and rebuilt it as a fathers day gift for him so he could drive it again. I loved working on that car, I loved driving that car, and I want an xr4ti so much now.

They should have imported the faster and nicer looking fast British Sierra, the Cosworth. think the Cosworth badge would have made a difference plus the car is faster and nicer looking. Ford should then have imported all the RS badged fords of UK too, the Escort RS Turbo, the original Fiesta RS Turbo and the 1990's sedan Sierra called the Sapphire Cosworth which was also 4x4 and also not forgetting the legendary Escort RS Cosworth. If Ford had offered those models and maybe changed the name to Cosworth or even just not created a new sub brand but just brought the European/British XR and RS sports badges for standard Ford models, I'm sure they'd have been a success.

I probably would have bought the 4 door over the coup and if it was named Ford as well

Great video, I'll be waiting for that Sterling video. I had a coworker in the late '80's that drove one, and really loved it...Seems like I remember it being a venture between Rover and Honda.

The Sierra was available in estate form from the start of its in run in 1982/3. The saloon was introduced in 1987 after the whole range was facelifted.

I would love to import a cosworth to the state's! Mazda miata history next.. like there's not a thousand of those out on RU-vid already lol

You should do a video on the Acura Vigor! My '93 was one of my favorite cars.

My uncle had a red Merkur xr4ti back in the days, it was a decent vehicle

When I was in high school I would pass one of these with the double spoiler as I walked home and I thought that this car looked exotic and all these decades later I still feel that way.

I always thought these were sharp looking cars back in the day. The Xr4ti looked great in black

Maybe if it had more spoilers and pillars.

I sold these cars at a Lincoln-Mercury dealership. I also owned a 1986 XR4Ti and my dad owned a 1989 Scorpio. They were fantastic cars. The problem with sales was at the dealership level. Most of the salesman I worked with were happy to sell Town Cars and Marquis to the Lawrence Welk crowd. The Merkurs were completely different cars with an entirely different clientele. The guy with the handlebar mustache who sold your grandpa his Town Car probably isn't the guy you want to frame a euro-sportscar sales experience. These guys would literally hide from Merkur buyers. Worse, Ford understood this and required salespeople to become certified before they could demo Merkurs. Only a few of our salespeople took the extra (unpaid) time to do this. Honda and Toyota later did it right by completely removing Acura and Lexus from their existing brand structure. I saw very few curious Merkur shopper converted to sales. Unless you walked into a Lincoln-Mercury dealership pre-educated and with your mind already made up on buying a Merkur, there was very little chance you'd drive away in one of those cars. I think I sold one.

The merkur xr4ti is one of the best fords ever made especially for the era. Way better than a foxbody stock for stock. I've had 10 of them . They're fantastic cars but today parts are very hard to get even engine parts are getting harder to find as the 2.3 lima is almost 40 years old and the aftermarket support isn't there. Most parts have to be imported still. I swapped my last xr4ti drivetrain into my 73 capri. That 2.3 turbo is a good combo in the little capri.

That XR4TI was a great car....a German Version of a Mustang SVO.

Bob Lutz. The man when at GM (90's?) said they engineer their vehicles to last 70k miles.

We had an 81 Chevy Citation. They are were very popular and we saw them everywhere. I have not seen one on the road in years. I will never forget the sideways AM Radio. It was also the first front wheel drive car we owned, the transverse engine was something different we had not worked on before.

I purchased an used 88 Merkur Scorpio back in 1990. Love that car and drove it coast to coast as a young active duty military officer in the Army. Nothing else on the road at that (used) price point looked that good. The hatchback of the Scorpio had so much room and a lot of flexibility. Constant electrical gremlins, poor resell value, and having a rear half shaft explode at hwy speeds at +85,000 miles made me give it up after a . Been a Honda/Acura owner since.

You should try the brand sterling

Fun Fact: Principal Skinner on The Simpsons is the proud owner of a Merkur XR4Ti.

I grew up with the Ford Sierra. You could even get an early one with an underpowered 1.3 litre engine in 1982/83. Some of the lower spec Scorpios in the UK were actually badged ’Granada' until 1994.

Can we do one on he Dodge Monaco? My step dad got one and it never ran lol.

Why would they name it the Mercur when they already had Mercury 🤔

These were very well loved Ford's this side of the pond. Here in the UK buyers loved the Sierra (the UK/European name) especially the XR4i, XR4x4 and the legendary Cosworths (RS500, hatchback Cosworth and saloon Sapphire Cosworth and 4x4 Sapphire Cosworth) The Cosworths had their spiritual home in my home county Essex along with all fast Ford's (XR2, XR3i, XR2i, RS turbo, Escort Cosworth and RS200 etc.)

I use to own a Ford Sierra 3.0 GLX with the A4LD outo gearbox here in South Africa. We did not have the European engines, and were making the old Essex 3.0 l V6 locally, from a 2.5l version up to a 3.8l version, with a 3.0l EFI version. What a wonderful car! It was fast, had excellent road holding and I had to sell it due to a lack of space at home. The Merkur had all those features as what my Sierra had. I think if Ford made it as a Ford with maybe a V8 engine, like the South African Sierra XR8, it would have been a success. But it seems as if Americans are only interested in straight line speed(drag racing), and the independent rear suspension is not really suited for that.

Except they were far better builds than the US built Fords, and actually more advanced.

I loved Merkurs!! They looked so cool.

Had two xR4TI''s and one Scorpio and loved them all! The three speed Auto transmission sucked tho!

I subscribed after the first minute. Keep it coming. Love the obscure car culture.

I still think these are cool!

Do a video about the daewoo car brand

When I sold Acuras back in 1989, and one of these Merkurs pulled in the older salesmen would call them "Turtles". The resale value was horrible and we seldom actually took one in trade. I do remember a lease turn-in at our Honda store, a Scorpio with a new set of tires. The F&I man at Honda was driving a Scorpio himself, and had the used car mechanic exchange his wheels and worn tires for the ones on the off-lease unit.

My dad was the accountant of a Ford dealership owner and he brought home a Scorpio that he was trying out for a week before buying it. I thought it was a very cool car with a lot of unique features, but he never got it in the end.

They looked like oversized Saabs, with dual spoilers.

'Marque' as you're using it, is pronounced "mark"

My childhood friend’s older sister, at the time (early 90s), had a 5dr Merkur. RWD. But always broken down. And we always got stuck in it during the winters in hilly SW Pennsylvania lol.

Very good vid. I'm from the UK, and grew up with the sierra, it was a very dodgy step for Ford, and at first back fired! We had the Cortina first, a very loved car for us. sure, they rusted away quickly but were reliable. And easily fixed. (so was the Sierra as it was loosely based on the Cortina.) the Cortina here was basically your Chevy Nova. Ford north America seemed to lack that size at that time?? Very entertaining content! 👊

My husband and I tagged along with a couple we knew to meet others we knew who were camping in the early 90’s. The couple had a new XR4Ti. It was roomy, easily storing our bags in the back, and we were comfortable in the back seat on the 3 hour drive. The sound system was excellent. We always thought it was a beautiful car, especially in black. It was a head turner back then, as there weren’t too many on the road.

One of my childhood friends parents had a XR4TI…I remember it being awesome passenger experience…recalling my 17yr old me.

I had an '88 XR4ti in white, bought it used around '92. I liked it and drove it to about 100,000 miles. It didn't give me many problems until its injectors started leaking and by then I was ready to sell it. People have said the hot engine compartment cooked batteries, and I did have to replace mine more often than typical.

One of my school mates had a XR4Ti with the double wing. We always did think it was pretty cool. It just had a cool look and was exotic. This was in the early nineties and I was fooling around in my first car an Audi Quattro coupe. That was my poor man’s Delorean in my mind.

That RS 500 looked pretty slick! I wouldn’t mind one of those.