The 1993 Ford Escort, for American buyers, was pretty much the same boring pile of “blech” that had been served hot and fresh on a paper plate since 1990. The nicest thing we will ever say about it is that the Escort GT could be a looker when optioned right, but the performance was somewhere between “limp” and “nonexistent”. If performance was what you wanted out of a car, look elsewhere. Over in the U.K., however, it was a much different story…and a much different car. The Escort was a rally fighter, and the Cosworth RS was the successor to the absolutely bonkers RS200. Officially, these cars made 225 horsepower out of the gate, but tuners soon found a lot more available power in the Cosworth YBT and YBP four-cylinder engines. The handling was an added bonus, and has been praised by just about every journalist who has ever gotten their hands on one. Jeremy Clarkson from TopGear owned one, and enjoyed the car so much that after he had sold it, he borrowed it to have a romp in the hills for a television show. And even Motorweek got their hands on one. It’s a miracle they knew what to do with it, but somehow they managed to not wad up the Cossie their first time out on a test track that looks suspiciously like Mira.
