Not owned a 3 door, but drove a few. I have to say the saff is easier to drive, don't forget that Ford deliberatly toned down the saff handling as plenty of people stuffed their new 3 doors when they discovered they were NOT as talented as they thought they were
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From what I can remember of the changes, the saff shell was somthing like 90% stiffer with foam filled pillars, lower front roll centre, so the turn in was not so sharp to cut down tramlining etc, and the spring rates were adjusted to make it a bit more comfortable.
Don't compare a 4x4 saff to a 3 door, different ball game really.
I find that the 3 door is great fun to drive, and personally I love the sharpness of the steering, but you can feel the cars age compared even to a saff, and IMHO they feel flexy and just stuff like the thin door pulls etc make the car feel old. 3 door for weekend fun, saff for daily stuff
