Eulogy to the RS2000

Sir,

In answer to W. B. Blydenstein’s letter published in your October issue I would like to suggest a car which equals, or in my opinion, betters the Cavalier 2.2 he, not without just cause, so highly rates. I refer to my, or indeed any, RS2000.

Before I quote figures let me say I have owned my RS for some 6 months during which I have covered 15,000 miles, I am the current “Class A” (cars) leader in the BAMA BAOR Rally Driving Championships. I say this because I think that I know the RS fairly well even in the short time that I have owned it and hence am able to confirm (or indeed deny) any figures that “the book” offers, rather than just repeat them.

To deal with top speed, which I believe is a relatively unimportant figure anyway, the RS does do 112 m.p.h. (on the autobahn!) although I am not in the habit of driving at this speed. The second figure he quotes is that of 0-60, a figure again which the RS betters, however, how often does one drive one’s car flat out from 0-60?

Perhaps the latter two, that of fuel consumption and torque are slightly more realistic figures, again, the RS betters fuel consumption and certainly doesn’t come far behind on torque. The fuel consumption of the RS is by no means its good point however. I did 3,200 miles in two weeks in August in Germany, France and Britain which included a 390 mile “thrash” from Osnabruck to Coleus (and back) and I averaged 27 m.p.g. (approx.), a figure that even surprised me especially as one rarely goes below 80-85 on the autobahn (or indeed British Motorways).

The last and perhaps most important point to a lot of people, that of cost, must bring my point home, and I quote …”conversion of the Cavalier, may I suggest he looks around and finds me a car costing less than 45,000 …”. Let me quote you a figure, £3,400 (tax free) including steel sliding sun roof, tinted glass, vinyl roof etc. and even allowing for the £500 tax concessions I still seem to have saved approx. £1,000. (The cost of the basic car in Britain is £3,973. -Ed.)

May I suggest that I have found such a car.

To end obviously every car has its faults. The only complaints about the RS to date are stiff clutch cable which was replaced, a slipping clutch because the new cable stretched and this again was replaced and a coolant problem which was traced to the radiator cap which was at the wrong pressure. Other than that once again I believe that Ford have come up with a real “value for money” and the RS has given me much pleasure since May and hopefully will continue to do so for some time ahead.

Lastly let me apologise for the lateness of this reply but our recent move to Northern Ireland has been somewhat hectic.

Thank you for -an excellent magazine.

BFPO Belfast RICHARD T. R. McCROW (Lt.)