Forgotten Ford That Crushed V8s with Turbo Four
The 1980s were a strange time for performance cars. Detroit’s traditional V8s were choking under emissions regulations, European automakers were pushing technology and refinement, and buyers were left caught between nostalgia and progress. Ford, like every major brand, was trying to figure out what came next.
The evolution of the automotive industry in the 1980s left Ford having to answer some tough questions. Could muscle really still exist without cubic inches? Could a turbocharged four-cylinder really go toe-to-toe with America’s beloved V8s? Thus, Ford conducted a bold experiment in an attempt to answer those questions.
Built in Europe but sold in North America, this unusual hatchback carried a drivetrain that seemed completely out of step with the muscle car culture of the time. It wasn’t loud, it wasn’t flashy, and it didn’t have the kind of displacement numbers that looked good on paper. What it did have was surprising speed and enough torque to embarrass some of the era’s so-called muscle machines.
In the mid-1980s, Ford decided to gamble on bringing a slice of European performance to American roads. The result was the Merkur XR4Ti, a rebadged version of the Ford Sierra XR4i. Ford created the Merkur sub-brand in an effort to attract BMW and Audi buyers, hoping a quirky turbocharged hatchback with rally-bred roots would strike a chord in the United States.
From 1985 to 1989, this rebadged Ford was imported through Lincoln-Mercury dealerships …
https://www.hotcars.com/forgotten-ford-crushed-v8s-with-turbo-four/
(photo credit: HotCars)
