Why is it when people do programmes looking back over hot hatches the RS turbo is not included, especially the S1?

People compare the Golf GTI and XR3i? surely the flagship car at that time was the rs model?

I don't think I have ever seen the RS turbo featured in a line of of modern classics on a tv programme.

 

yeah i always wondered that as well

never really see RSTs on TV for owt

 

Ive wondered that too

 

Someones off here has just been filmed around london for a car program i think

 

They fear the white lightening.

While Im on the S1 topic, the other day I saw a really old programme and a cover of a max power mag was in it, and i am sure it was a green S1 on the cover, anyone ever seen it.

Proper mushy pea green, not the dark green one floating around a few years back.

 

because in the grand scheme of things,they were shite certainly a long way down the list of best hatches anyway

 

You want to wash your mouth out

 

I love the S1,and it has defo become an icon,but when compared directly to other cars it wasn't THAT good

 

it was certainly better than the xr3i's they used tho
even a rs1600i would have been a better car to put up against other hot hatches

 

When Clarkson compared the definaitive hot hatches of the 80's he used a Mk1 GTi and an XR3i.................I did wonder myself

 

Exactly Mr S1, that was the programme I was thinking of. Yes it may not have been the best, but it was better than the XR3i, trim, performance, looks etc.

Just thnk it is odd that they choose a lower model in the ford range to compare to VW's flagship hothatch?

Maybe it is that due to lower production runs, the mainstream are not familiar with the car and so the XR is chosen to represent as it is more commonly known.

Funny, but an S1 still turns heads, more than any other hothatch of its time, maybe again down to the rarerity.

 

i think the XR3i fits the "hot hatch" category better than the RS Turbo for these ind of camparisons, as thats what they were directly competing with. the RS models were in a different market i think

 

No its down to the fact that a mk1 golf gti was built up untill A reg then went onto the mk2, the series 1 wasnt put into production untill b reg.

The car that ford had as its flagship at the time of the mk1 golf gti was the xr3 and xr3i or even rs1600i

 

Personally, i do love S1's.........but.........you drive a well looked after RS and a well looked after XR3i and i would say the N/A engine is a lot nicer to drive, and you don't suffer the dreaded wheel spin the RS's are prone to. This was probably a big contributing factor, aswell as the difference in the price tickets.........

And additional to that the 0-60 between the 2 is very minimal

 

minimal? 8secs vs 10secs?

 

xr3i was about 8.9 factory figs s1 was 8.2 16i 8.7

 

I thought the official 0-60 for an XR3i was a little lower than that

I could be wrong?

 

 

i have a book of road tests of the s1 vs xr3i vs 16i versus other contemporaries like 320 bmw mr2 alfa whatever etc, very interesting reading

Safe to say if the 16i didnt have a stupid revlimiter that cut in before peak power it would have been a slightly different set of road tests!

 

Standard RST's ain't quick - thats why everyone fettles with them

 

Exactly my point, and they don't feel very good to drive standard either, a 3i engine feels a lot more responsive and torquey especially low down, which obviously it will.

 

8.9secs? what downhill with the wind behind it

i'm sure theyre quoted in the 10sec mark

 

TBH Jim I think that figure is probably about right. Even 20 years ago it could hardly have been called a 'hot hatch' with a 0-60 in double figures

 

Its deffo 8.9 in the ford literature I have and the autocar tests

 

You'd be surprised.........put a standard RS against a XR3i and you won't be getting much ahead of it, if at all........

 

yep, years ago, I had a RS1600i and my mates had a XR3i and S1 and there was no noticable difference in acceleration, and we all used to just beat the S2 when that came out.

 

The extra bit of power a S1 produces is lost through the stupidly short ratio's and loss of traction.

 

can you just swap the internals over from an xr3?

mine used to have an xr3 box in it. twas fun. til it broke.

 

You could do yea, and still retain the LSD. Stripping boxes isn't the best job in the world though