Modified 1988 Merkur XR4TI - One Take 

Hey - There's my car! Can't wait to read all the comments that take this way too seriously. Oh yeah, my radio was stolen a week before Matt drove the car. That's a great look into what Merkur ownership is like in a nutshell. Thanks again Matt for having me back on for a second one-take.

Merkurs were ahead of their time stateside. I fell in love with cars after a ride in an XR4 as a child.

Sierra RS500 Cosworth was the ultimate sierra back in the 80's and going for crazy money these days

I love how accepting of the car's flaws the owner is. You can tell he really likes it.

As a long-time viewer from New Zealand, this has to be one of my favourite reviews you've done TST. As the owner of the euro version of this car - the Sierra XR4i, it was delightful to see the American one reviewed. Our car, a 1984 XR4i has the 2.8L V6 with fuel injection. Bags of torque, meaning when you pick the wrong gear, you can still get away with it! Andrew sounds like a passionate owner & should be proud of his car.

True story..I had a "friend" that read the "XR4Ti" badge as a word pronouncing it Zerrati.

There's a guy at autocross near me that regularly runs one of these on slicks and a ton of mods. Super cool car!

Love this thing, hearkens back to the 80s touring car days when the Ford RS500s dominated BTCC etc. Amazing car that was, props to the owner for having something unique even if it is a shadow of what the Ford was. Too bad it is nowhere near an RS500 in performance, but much better than all the Corollas and Civics out there. This car has character, and that is what counts.

I had an 89 for twelve years and loved it. The Pinto (Lima) derived four banger was a coarse cob of an engine, but the rest of the car was very nice. I don't remember any shift lever spring-loading problem. It might be just this car's transmission. Note I didn't abuse my XR4ti to any extent. It was mostly an everyday driver and a fine GT for me. The factory Recaros in my car were fantastic. The car also fit quite tall people very well. And the hatchback layout was efficient as well. Too bad that pathetic of an excuse for a Ford executive Jack Nasser abandoned that car (as in parts support) as soon as possible. Mine was black with those mesh style BBS wheels. A pain to clean but they also looked great. Eventually sold the car to be replaced with a family 4-door, but I have fond memories of my Merkur XR4ti.

Cool owner.

I just saw this same car at a cars and coffee and have been looking for one ever since and now you just reviewed one! Super Unique car

I had an XR4Ti as my first high school "car" (meaning not a truck or Jeep) and I loved that thing so much. Got the car, engine, and transmission separately from the junkyard and put it together. We eventually turned it into a field beater and testing platform. I did eventually get sick of trying to ask for parts at O'Reillys and they'd consistently think I was just mispronouncing "Mercury" rather than actually just selecting "Merkur" from their computer screen.

I had an 87 from new. A hidden gem, back in the day. Quirky styling, but very functional. The 5s on mine was ok, mine defaulted to the 3-4 gate. The 1st to 2nd shift was slow, due to the synchronization being slow. 3, 4, 5 was normal and quick. Hot rodded mine with help from Rapido Group. SVO intercooler kit Borla ss exhaust Suspension kit. Rear disc kit Sierra grille and badges. Wicked good fun.😊 Fast, fun, and cheap to buy back then.

If you get to drive a Cosworth bear in mind almost no one left them at the stock 200ish BHP, 250-300 makes them much more fun. There is a rumour that the prototype came back from Cosworth with 300BHP but ford had them detune it for the mass market as they knew it would still sell and the Cossies are lunatic on damp roads like we get here most of the year.

My grandfather owned 6 merkurs at one time. We have three red 89s left in the family. I learned stick of these cars at 14. I don't think they're too bad

🤔🤔🤔🤔 that little car with a new 2.3L ecoboost swap! 🤔🤔🤔 interesting!!

I still love these cars👻👍

love the guys passion and enthusiasm. love these builds, i had a 92 nissan pulsar and it definitely had a unique feel which i missed when i let it go. The boxey shape and good visibility due to bad aerodynamics made it even better joy to drive

Glad he got it back. I loved these too, because they were different. I test drove one after a Saab 900 T, another "different"car. Never could afford either, since I was a young man. I remember the salesman, being an ex-race car guy, too me for the drive of my live. After he was done, I remember thinking, "man, after this guys torture test, I don't want this anymore" He had told me that he had had similar rides with this car during the week.

Saw one xr4i, european here in Poland for around 1500$. I am stupid I didn't bought it. 2,9 cosworth engine, 4x4, manual. Great 90s looks. Was quite complete and in working condition. Would do great classic even now and a fun car. Just imagine winter awd sliding all day long. My buddy bought one beater wagon rwd 2,0 for few hundred bucks few years ago. He had it on a small reacetrack twice a week. Learned drifting, ended up out of the track every week. Beater is beater. Then he sold it for the same money he bought it. It doesn't came cheaper to have some fun.

I regret not buying one of these for $800 like 10 years back. It was abandoned at a local shop after the lady had the turbo replaced and couldn't pay for it. It had 80k miles on it and was in very good condition.

Had an '85 for a while and it was the best riding car I've owned. The T-5 swap is fairly easy and greatly improves the shifting. These engines put out big power with some tuning but the brakes are sketchy and a four-wheel disc swap is essential.

Always liked these cars even around car guys in the late 90's no one knew what these were. I drove a 5 speed Thunderbird Turbo Coupe back in the day so I loved these and the SVO Mustang. The 2.3 turbo is a strong engine can take lots of boost for an American 4 banger from the mid 80s it ended up being pretty decent. This strange looking car looks even better with the badges deleted and the rims this one has looks awesome. The dual plane wing is great too! It's almost as ridiculous as the whale tail! Can't wait to see a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth on here!

Ahhhh, This is why I watch you, Matt. I LOVE the odd ball cars!

This guy definitely works in IT

I loved these cars when they came out in the mid 80’s. I worked for a rental car company as a teenager and we drove these very hard.

I had one exactly like this one. It was an awesome car. Nylon lock nuts and screws everywhere. Great mileage. Ran like a bat outta hell.

nice car! the euro XR4i that we got had a 12v 2.8L V6. exact same bodystyle. it competed head on with the bmw 323i. Later we got the cossie which was a homologation special that got upgraded to the rs500 always a 3dr bodystyle without the weird C-pillar that the us-xr4ti and euro xr4i had . These 2WD cossie were very quick (low drag, good aero)and very succesfull in touringcar racing all over the world, notably in Australia where the Sierra cossie took over from the Volvo 240turbo, the jag XJS and the Rover SD1 vitesse. The winning streak of the Sierra was over when the Nissan Skyline came with it's V6 turbo AWD setup. Ford also made a AWD sierra cossie , this always had a 4dr sedan/saloon bodystyle and it became a succesful grA rallycar. it was the successor of the grB RS200 rally missile that used basically the same cossie engine block. sadly grB was banned. That's why Ford continued rallying with the Sierra.

Over here in the UK, the XR4i came equipped with the "Cologne" 2.8 V6, same engine that was in the Granada & Capri rated at about 160 BHP. If memory serves Ford slapped the V6 into the Sierra to try to boost sales in Europe after it replaced the Cortina, same problem you guys in the U.S. had with the Taurus. And like the Taurus it also appears in Robocop, Ford pulled out all the stops to try to make them both cool.

I remember seeing a new one of these as a kid. It was the bright orangeish red color and I fell in love with these cars.

The were pretty cool cars when new. My dad test drove one from the New Orleans auto show in '86. For its day it ran pretty good. Dad was impressed. He almost bought one but he ended up buying an '87 Formula Firebird with 5 speed. If this was my car the 1st thing I would do is do a 2.0 or 2.3 Ecoboost swap. Suspension and brakes too. Hell the Mustang 3.7 V6 would be a sweet engine for this car.

Wish I could like this twice, I love Sierras!

When I was 17 I imported a Cosworth engine block from the UK which came in pieces. I purchased the auto mechanics Cosworth Pinto conversion book and my mechanic at the time went ahead to take the car apart and put the new engine in. My Merkur converted Cossie had 290BHP and burned rubber. I spent all my money I had saved at that time in my life on that car. 1 year later while I left it parked for school. We had a wind storm which blew a tree down and crushed my car. :-( RIP the only Cosworth I knew off that was in Canada. My car was the 1985 Version with the large spoilers and fully loaded with power everything.

There's a gentleman in the Portland, Or area who brought his sierra cosworth with him from Europe when he moved here. Met him at cars and coffee. Awesome car!

what a cool owner , very chill and knows what he has

I like these videos were you get a interesting car and a owner that can tell a great story about owning the car like the guy with the MR2 with a v6 swap

I was always intrigued by these back in the day. There were a few of them around the town where I grew up and I never knew what to make of them. Were they cool? Were they weird? Were they just bizarre and enigmatic? Why yes, to all three!

WOW! this is a car that you just don't see anymore. I use to want one of these back in the day. very nice to see this thing.

The cosworth powered one we got in Europe was pretty cool... This one seems meh

The Merkur was known as the 'Sierra' in the UK. Top end models were race tuned by Cosworth engineering. A Sierra Cosworth or 'Cossie' was a revered car in the UK in the 80's and early 90's. 2nd only to the famed Vauxhall Carlton Lotus, a car that was so fast the govt wanted it banned as the media hype was that no police car could catch one.

My first car was an '87, but it had a 3 speed auto. When it crapped out we had a shift kit put in. It was terrible to drive on the highway with the revs sitting around 3000-3500 RPM at 65 mph, resulting in about 15 mpg. That said, it probably needed a tune up because it spit and spattered constantly, but I would "clear its throat" by giving it some boost. The old school turbo tech means the engine is gutless until the boost comes on, which made it almost comical to drive with the shift kit (giving it the impression of speed). One time the tail pipe fell off in a parking lot (rust, lots of it), so we used that as an excuse to install Magnaflows. The body roll was very real, the clear coat was gone, and it had those weird ass 8 spoke rims. I sure miss it. I look for it on CL from time to time.

I had 1985 XR4TI no problems at all with shifter. I love the XR4Ti so much.

I had an 88 xr4ti. Fun car and lots of modifications to do. It would awesome to see a gen 1 or gen 2 turbo or supercharged Taurus SHO.

Ford increase the top speed by going to the single spoiler, they changed the rear quarter window trim to aid aerodynamics. Nice to see a new X-eratti video.

Ah. The car that determined the fate of the past 30 years of my life. My parents bought one, and drove it off the lot in the winter of 88. Little did we know, they had the wrong tires on the car. That led to a car accident that changed things forever. My mother was permanently disabled from that accident. There was a lawsuit that took place soon after, but it fell through somehow. Since I was a child at the time, I don't recall the details of that. I do know that the dealership closed soon after that. After the accident and repairs, my father was still driving the car. I always thought it was cool; the white paint, the double spoilers, and the cool sounds it would make. Despite how cool the car was, it lived in the shop more than it did on the road. Over the years, I've contemplated getting one to tinker with. I understand this gentleman's attraction to the car. Life...

Never have I clicked on a TST video so fast. Also, those seats def look like early SHO seats just reupholstered slightly! SHO seats are easily one of my favorite seats in any automobile.

Back when I was in college, 88 thru 92, a roommate of mine bought one of these... I think it was '90 or '91 when he bought it... It was an '85 model -- the first year available -- and it was the most unreliable p.o.s. ever!! It was in the shop more than he drove it... It amazes me how many "car guys" have no clue whatsoever what these cars are. To me, it's just another crazy car from the '80s. LOL.

My uncle had an early model (red and grey two tone and the biplane wing) back in the late 90's - early 2000's out in California that was pushing 20+ PSI....was fast as hell and I wanted it, car got crushed by a tree the year before I got my licence and couldn't bring it back to NH. For all its quirks it would have been hilarious to drive and screw with all my friends who had civics and shit.

This time you did a good job shifting. When my bro had one I used to run out second, ease into fourth, then to third if needed. Our grandpa finally built him a shifter gate that mounted to the floor on both sides of the console.

People like this keep car culture alive

My dad had a Ford Sierra when I was a child in 90s London, so I thought I was going mad when I saw the title with that thumbnail.

I've been waiting forever to see a Merk on One Take! Glad to see Matt wasn't too harsh in his criticism, and that he enjoyed it. Now get a damn T5 in that thing, stat! Or at least a BAT shifter. You can make a T9 dance if you want to, as long as the music's not too fast.

...and this is how I found out the Merkur XR4TI is a Ford Sierra in drag. I guess we'll add that with an Ecoboost swap to my unobtainium wishlist!

I am sure those are the seats out of the old Ford Granada (one car up the food chain in Europe). Really comfy and really heavy. Great video and brings back find memories of the XR4i. Hard to imagine how radical that looked back in the day. That double wing at the back was otherworldly.

I'm from the UK, I have a mate who has a 1986 XR4i on a C reg (for the UK peeps lol), with the original numbers matching, chassis, engine and gearbox. He paid £400 for it and it came with loads of spares :) It has a few rust issues which is being sorted, and has the 'cracked' dashboard that always happens. Not sure which V6 it has in it, think it's the 2.8 Litre but this 2.3 turbo sounds awesome :D

I am 47 so I remember these when they were new. I fell in love with them at 16 and it was the weird wing that drew me in. It probably be more trouble than it is worth but this car would be fantastic with the fiesta st motor in it

A shifter bushing would probably fix the shift issue. Cheap and easy fix. :-) I miss my XR.

I rented one for 10 days decades ago when I was honeymooning in Nova Scotia and it was a blast to drive in spite of Canada's insanely low speed limits. I was told that the Canadian version was stronger than the one available in the US, but I don't know if that's true. Regardless, I've wanted one ever since. Great vid! Thanks for the memories!

In 1984 a neighbor bought a brand new U.K. spec Sierra XR4i it looked fantastic back in the day. The XR4i had the fuel injected 2.8 V6 and could do about 130mph. I wonder what the South African/Australian versions can do with the 5.0 V8😀

Best owner ever! Thumbs up for Andrew

Matt, you hit it on the head exactly. You now NEED to drive the full on Euro spec Sierra Cosworth RS, which, if I remember, came factory with a T5 trans; AND JUST LOOK SO MUCH BETTER !!

Been waiting for this since I bought my Merkur..FINALLY!!!!!

In South Africa we had the Sierra XR8 model with a 5l V8 from a US Ford Mustang. Only 250 were built so they are very rare and sell for a pretty penny.

Finally one of these are on here I have a 1986 ford merkur they are cool cars

Definitely one of the most oddball cars I've ever driven. Was psyched to see you did one in here

Interesting to see the XR4TI here. I remember being a kid in the US seeing them and was always interested to know what they were about. Unfortunately they are totally different beast to a Cosworth. A Cosworth had the T5 box, a much better and crisper suspension setup along with bigger more responsive breaks. I'm pretty sure they had an LSD too. As standard they only had just over 200bhp but to chip it to 300bhp was easily done and the engine was capable of so much more. All in all it means that if you did the same road test with any of the Cosworth variants you'd find a totally different machine!

Miss mine..had two first one auto was ok.. But grounding hooked..the second one saw a add in the old car week!y magazines. It had super low miles test drove it with two manual stick lessons under my belt.. purchased it and drove a hour home..my first five speed.. Took it to local car shows.. Had fun with it.. Had a 500 watt custom audio system that was thing.. The gear box sucked.. But a good car to learn on.. Did a lot of repairs myself.. Super easy to work on.. Sucked in snow.. Off the road a lot lol.. Sold it to a friend who did put the intercooler in it.. Ran it many many years after.. Quirky car.. Fun.. whateverhappendto the merkur that broke the land speed record?

Sweet he listens too his fans, thanks.

Loved these cars. Great cars and so much potential out of the that 2.3.

I looked at one for sale about 17 years ago. We were saving for a house so I couldn't buy it. I wish I had taken it for a test drive though but I didn't want to fall in love with it. The guy collected them in various states of disrepair and sold completed ones.

my love to cars began with my dads paris blue 1985 sierra 2.0 GL when i was a child that was really a great car

My dad use to own the same car back when I was a kid his was a 87 tho and blue. Probably the coolest car to me he ever had.

The Bi-Wing Rear Spoiler is the best feature. The Euro version of this car (Ford Sierra RS Cosworth) was a Rally Hero way back before Subaru WRX or the Mitsubishi Evo.

I"ve seen this car in Bethlehem, PA YEARS ago. it used to park near my parent's house sometimes and i loved weird cars even then,

If you can actually find and review a Sierra Cosworth, the next one to do would definitely be the Escort Cosworth. The early ones you can import right now, and I saw one in person at a Cars & Coffee a few months ago. Such a cool car.

had a lift in a brand new sapphire rs and will never forget the stuck in the seat feeling that gave me.

In Britain, the Ford Type 9 is commonly used in older cars as a five speed swap and to turn engines around for rear wheel drive. People use these behind Ford Zetec, Duratec, Vauxhall 16-valve red tops, Rover K-Series, etc.

Down here in south america we had the Sierra too (it was called Sierra i meant), my uncle had one, somehow the one on the video looks smaller (that might be just me) here it was easy the biggest car at the time, size wise, then the smaller version of it, the Escort, was similar looking but smaller body, the one in the video to my eyes looks somewhere in between those two, again i might be wrong since i was around 10 years old when i got to ride that car and it may have seem bigger than it actually was. Nice video Matt, keem em coming.

Yeah, I used to own one of those through college and adulthood in the late 80s to 1995. Drove across country twice in it. Delivered pizza with it (and got in an accident ugh). Sold it with around 115K miles. Lotta great memories.

Matt I'm in law enforcement and I drive a boosted Mustang. I NEED that shirt when you have the Mustang ones ready.

I had 2. The fist was a 1985 with the dual wing. It made me a mechanic because I had to repair something almost every day. I remember one night i got off work at 9:30, drove home 45 mins., changed the head gasket so I ca go to work the next day. It was snowing and I am Jamaican.

my dad had one when we was kids his had a garret upgrade and methanol injection on it with custom svo cam, header, open vented Westgate through the fender well he made his own frame ties and did a bunch of brake and suspension upgrades it ran a best of 11.80 in the quarter and he roadraced it twice a year after a club of guys invited him to bring it the kid he sold it to whipped it out in the rain and cut it in half with a telephone pull

I had an '88 also, very finicky and weird car but I really loved it. Sold it off to focus on my fox body but I miss that car a lot.

Haha! At 8.15, Matt liked the "sneeze" term for turbo being recirculated.

I bought one of the last ones made for USA. Ford gave me a 4500 rebate (lol) and the dealer took 3000 right off the sticker. It was almost free! Lol There was married couple in Washington State (Rapido Motor) who sold tons of aftermarket stuff for cheap. Bottom line: it only cost me 1700 in mods to get the car to 225hp and 230tq @ 18 pounds off boost. I rolled the rear fenders and the plastic fascia right back the car. Was able to fit 275’s in the rear w/ room to spare. I’m not sure what other owners were doing but I was running mid 14’s and I probably got to 60 or 62 in 6 secs on a cool dry day.

The non-intercooled turbo engine in the merkur XR4ti was the same engine as the lesser known Mustang GT Turbo that started being sold in 1983

bought ofter seeing this. Reminded me of how cool the Xr4ti is. I have a red 1989 Xr4ti ❤

Matt, you should take the plane and make once the 'one take' in Europe. You can find and drive so many better Sierras with V6 2.9, Cosworth engines and even Rover V8 conversions that you 'll forget this one.

Just saw one of these bad boys at the local fred Meyer. First time in person. Such a dope looking car

Being an owner of gen3 Mr2 Turbo, these cars are gems, especially with Gen3 or Gen4 setup...

My best friends Mom growing up has one of these grow up. Same color. Awesome.

I remember these well.They sold them at Mercury dealers. Drove one in the late 80's, loved everything (RWD) but the price. I bought an MX6 Turbo W/4 wheel steer. But the Merkur was a great car.

My grandfather has Ford Sierra saphire 1.8CL, 89hp. On of last carburatored cars, and it shoukd use lead fuel. Even to this day it can do 200km/h. Gearbox is heavy but very positive, steering is great and it is super comfortable.

The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was first presented to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1985, Cosworth YBD, 204 hp (1988-1989 5-speed Borg Warner T5 (1986-1989)

The best kind of car disease, the ones that don't make any sense, and yet you have to love them

that bike looks like he is going 50 to 60 mph~ cookin!

I liked the owner of this car. Good sense of humor and just seems like a really cool guy in general. Unique and kind of cool car as well

my brother gave me his xr4ti for my 16th birthday that was sitting for a year because of a bad turbo and him moving. I ended up selling it for I think 400. been looking to find another. My brother also had a 69 camaro that he stripped down and redid everything just never put it back together. he sold it to a guy from Florida we are from PA for 2000. guy called him 3 days later asking if he had the yanko badges! he thought it was just a SS. Someone must off wanted a sleeper. he sold that one when I was around 10yrs old......

why not just call it a ford sierra?

Dude. Matt. T5 with a Pro 5.0 is awesome. You can bang it all day long and it's smooth and takes it like a champ. Maybe don't powershift 3rd too much, and definitely not 4th ... but otherwise, they're not terrible like you say :) I mean, I know you've driven a lot of the "perfect" shifting cars, Porsche, S2000, etc., but the T5 with a Pro 5.0 isn't the worst by far :)