Latest news with #Escort

The Drive
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Modern Cars Wreak Havoc on Radar Detectors. Here's How Escort Adapts
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Escort Radar, one of the big brands in the radar detection biz, has been under some scrutiny this year as customers and reviewers reported suboptimal performance on the $800 Redline 360c—Escort's flagship. Today, it's dropping a big firmware update to address those complaints. I've now had the chance to test this new firmware and speak with somebody at Escort, and came away with some insights you might find interesting, even if you don't run one of these on your dashboard. All radar detectors can be affected by the radar-powered collision avoidance systems of modern cars. And since more of those cars are on the road every year, filtering those signals out becomes a bigger challenge for detector engineers. As most of you reading this probably know, radar detectors are designed to alert you when cops are measuring, or about to measure, your speed. They're legal throughout the USA except in Washington, D.C., and the state of Virginia. Since we don't write about these too often, I'll quickly rip through some high-level context and then run down Escort's new update. A radar detector is basically a radio receiver. When police post up somewhere to collect ticket money, they'll often point a radar gun down the road, which shoots a radio wave at oncoming cars. When that wave bounces back to the radar gun, it does a little math and tells the cop the target's speed. Many American police use K- and KA-band radio waves for this purpose. The reason a detector is a viable countermeasure to this is that K-, KA-band, and other such radio waves, shoot wide beams that kind of spill out beyond one specific target—think, kind of, like a shotgun versus a rifle. So you can be driving down the highway, and a good detector will be able to pick up a KA signal before police have made visual contact, giving you a little heads-up. Adobe Another speed-measuring tool police use is laser—this is much harder to get any forewarning on. It's faster and more precise; while a good detector will have an alert that you're being hit with a laser, your speed will already have been measured at that moment. Some radar detector brands, including Escort, sell a supplementary device sometimes called a 'laser shifter' that's supposed to be able to confuse such signals, but that's not nearly as widely legal. Interestingly, radio waves are regulated by the FCC, while laser is regulated by the FDA. This is partially why the rules on the usage of both types of signals are inconsistent with each other. After polling radar review sites, forums, friends, and fellows in a California car club I belong to, I found that people willing to splash out on a high-end detector often favor the Valentine One, Uniden, and Escort brands the most, with Whistler and Radenso also getting fairly frequent mentions. However, the high-end Escort Redline 360c has fallen out of favor lately, mainly due to an apparently weak response time. It came off Vortex Radar 's recommendation list for this, false alerts, and general bugginess at the beginning of the year. You can update an Escort device via your phone's internet connection or with a computer using free official software. This particular update is a big one—expect 30 minutes or more to complete it. Andrew P. Collins The Escort Redline 360c is physically the same unit that was released in 2020, but has received quite a few firmware updates since then—the device typically gets one or two over-the-air updates per year. Broadly speaking, American Police speed-measuring technology has not changed all that much in recent years and decades. But traffic and enforcement techniques have, and both of those factors are significant in the radar detector world for separate reasons. First, let's talk traffic—blind-spot monitoring, radar cruise control, and similar safety systems have had a huge spike in prevalence in the last 10 years. That's created a lot of false alerts for radar detector users and has been a big focus for detector engineers. Joe Sherbondy, the Director of Escort's Radar Detection Products, told me this phenomenon is called a 'CAS blast' in the biz—CAS being a blanket term for collision avoidance systems, and blast referring to the barrage of warnings a detector would set off any time it got near a modern car. Refinements to compensate for this are a continuously ongoing process at Escort, Sherbondy told me, and I'm sure the same would be said for other brands. A Redline 360c unit being tested at a Cedar Electronics lab. Escort Secondly, there's the 'quick-trigger' method of speed enforcement that detectors need to contend with. Police are aware of radar detectors' ability to pick up on Ka-band radio waves before they can spot a potentially speeding car, so sometimes instead of simply pointing a radar gun down the highway and leaving it running, cops will manually pull the trigger, theoretically getting a ping before a detector can see it. But as Mr. Sherbondy explained it to me, that only gives the gun user an approximate idea of your speed—they need to hold the trigger down for a period of time to get a confirmed reading and write a ticket. Theoretically, if your detector could pick up the quick-trigger ping, you could still slow down enough to slip below the get-fined threshold for police attention. As for how a company like Escort figures all this out and proceeds with research and development, Sherbondy told me that for his outfit, the main source of bug squashing prioritization is a combination of scanning user forums, the brand's Facebook page, and feedback his customer care team gets by phone and email. I found a forum post from just a few months ago in which Sherbondy himself tossed up on a radar detector forum explaining an update and soliciting user feedback. So, some actual product testing is done in part by customers, while Escort also maintains its own closed network of beta testers. Of course, it does its pre-release R&D in a lab. In response to requests for transparency, the brand just released a white paper explaining its testing methodology along with today's just-announced firmware update. You can take a look at that here: Escort Redline360c July 2025 Firmware-Update WhitepaperDownload Escort-Redline360c-July-2025-Firmware-Update-Whitepaper This interesting document showcases how the Redline 360c's enhancements were measured and includes some insights on how speed is measured by law enforcement in general. Here's what Escort claims to have improved with its July 2025 firmware update (version 1.17), per release notes: Improved Filtering & Alerts: Modern vehicles use an array of radar systems that can confuse traditional radar detectors. Redline 360c is now a master of ignoring these invalid radar signals, with up-to-date filtering that can recognize automotive safety systems like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, or emergency braking systems. This allows the detector to focus on and identify actual police radar signatures, ensuring that drivers only receive alerts that matter. Modern vehicles use an array of radar systems that can confuse traditional radar detectors. Redline 360c is now a master of ignoring these invalid radar signals, with up-to-date filtering that can recognize automotive safety systems like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, or emergency braking systems. This allows the detector to focus on and identify actual police radar signatures, ensuring that drivers only receive alerts that matter. POP Alerts: With reliable POP alerts, the Redline 360c delivers consistent detection of radar guns that use POP technology, detecting signals 10 out of 10 times, outperforming the leading competitor's 8 out of 10 times. With reliable POP alerts, the Redline 360c delivers consistent detection of radar guns that use POP technology, detecting signals 10 out of 10 times, outperforming the leading competitor's 8 out of 10 times. Directional Indicator Responsiveness: The new update comes with improved arrow transitions that respond more quickly and accurately to threat vector changes, so drivers have enhanced situational awareness while on the move. The new update comes with improved arrow transitions that respond more quickly and accurately to threat vector changes, so drivers have enhanced situational awareness while on the move. Adaptive K Band Filtering: The new K Filter toggle gives drivers unprecedented control over their detection experience, with measurable performance differences for 'K Filter On' and 'K Filter Off' scenarios, ensuring a customizable drive for different environments. The new K Filter toggle gives drivers unprecedented control over their detection experience, with measurable performance differences for 'K Filter On' and 'K Filter Off' scenarios, ensuring a customizable drive for different environments. OnStar/Wi-Fi Update: For Redline 360c users with onboard OnStar systems, this firmware update addresses connectivity issues when updating via Wi-Fi for improved reliability and better functionality. Andrew P. Collins I have not run a radar detector since I was in high school, when I thought I was hell on wheels in my 160 horsepower base-model FC RX-7. Unfortunately, it did not keep me from getting cited for driving like a dick (I forget what the actual infraction was) or running an aftermarket exhaust (in hindsight, straight pipes might have been a little obnoxious for my suburban neighborhood). Both tickets were deserved, anyway. Nowadays, I just kind of drive at what I consider a socially acceptable speed for the road and conditions, and have mostly managed to avoid the scorn of law enforcement. However, I did find some significant satisfaction just watching the watchers, so to speak, with the Redline 360c on my dashboard and Escort's accompanying 'Drive Smarter' app on my phone. I quickly realized it was not practical to get images of the Redline 360c in use—my camera's shutter speed couldn't capture the screen accurately. But Escort's render makes it a lot easier to understand what the device looks like in action. At least you can see how the alert looks on the charging outlet (which has a secondary USB output). Andrew P. Collins, Escort After a few days of real-world testing in rural New York, my impressions are mostly good. I ran it with and without the update, and to be honest, I thought it worked pretty darn well on the old firmware, too. But just last night I went out, running the new firmware, and can confirm that in about two hours of cruising, I encountered four speed traps, and all four times the Redline 360c lit up before I had eyes on the cop. (Yeah, New York state has an intense police presence even 100 miles outside NYC.) The directional warning worked, too—it wasn't practical to document, but it was easy to watch the forward arrow light up, then the side I'd pass radar on, and then the rear light stayed on as I drove away from a lurking radar emitter. What it did not detect were the five other LEO vehicles I clocked in traffic with me over the same drive loop. I suspect they were not emitting any speed-reading radar while traveling—it's a radar detector, not a police detector. As far as early warning on speed traps, I was impressed with what I saw. The Drive Smarter phone app wasn't quite as satisfying—I had some inconsistent Bluetooth pairing performance. And while it's supposed to be able to get local speed-limit data from the internet to project onto your detector for reference, mine could never find this info. I didn't experience any false alerts at all. The Escort Redline 360c is physically and functionally a nice piece of tech. The windshield clamp is incredibly solid, and the magnetic attachment base hooks up with a slick snick. I really like the Knight Riderish sweeping red line animation it does by default, and having a mute button on the power cord is nice for easy reaching. I can't say if it's worth the price premium over more basic units, but it's been dead-on right and reliable in the days and hours I've been real-world testing it. A radar detector on your windshield invites some social judgment. I mean, the whole point is to enable speeding, right? My perspective is that there's a pretty big gap between exceeding some speed limits and reckless driving. Posted limits, unwritten limits, and dangerous limits are not always the same. Cruising at 70 mph on I-87 in New York is technically illegal, but largely safe, and certainly socially permissible. Weaving through traffic with a huge speed delta over other cars? That's where you start to become a menace—and a radar detector won't shield you from getting busted for that kind of activity anyway. Carrying excessive speed where it's not appropriate is dangerous and rude. But there's nothing wrong with having some intel on where speed traps might be hiding. Got any radar detector expertise or preferences to share? Drop me a note at


Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Irish Examiner
Motorsport: Stafford and Cleary hang on to win in Midleton
With a 15.3-second lead entering the final stage, the Wexford crew of James Stafford/Richard Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) almost backed off too much but did enough to win the Midleton-based CDE Imokilly Rally by 4.4s. Armagh's Jason Black and his Cork based co-driver Karl Egan took second place as they pushed hard on the final stage and while they almost caught Stafford/Cleary, they deprived the Monaghan/Cavan pairing of Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon (Ford Escort) of the runner-up spot by 4.7s. Doogan led after the opening 15.5km stage where Stafford, who reckoned the dust on the stage was more that he anticipated, took time to get into a rhythm and finished just 1.1s in arrears. Gary Kiernan (Ford Escort) in third struggled with brakes that overheated. Top seed Rob Duggan lost time when he had to reverse after he spun his Escort, he ended the stage down in seventh - 12.7s off the lead. Stafford set a strong time on the second stage to move into the lead - 5.7s ahead of Doogan, who wasn't committing as it would involve some risk. Kiernan slotted into third but continued to have brake issues. An untroubled Michael Cahill (Escort) was fourth followed by the Toyota Starlet of Armagh's Jason Black and the Escort of Clare's Padraig Egan (Ford Escort). Although Duggan partially sorted some issues, he withdrew at the Midleton service park leaving Stafford tackle the repeated of both stages as rally leader. The Wexford driver was best on SS3 to move 9s ahead of Doogan while Egan crashed out. On the fourth stage Black, who struggled on the opening stage, showed a fine turn of speed and topped the time sheets to move up two places to third - a mere 1.1s behind Doogan. Stafford reckoned the dust on SS4 prevented him from posting a better time, nevertheless, he led by 13s. Kiernan attributed his time loss on SS4 to having stiffened the front of his Escort too much as it was "lifting off the road" on the high speed sections. Cahill in fifth was a little concerned about some differential issues while Peter Wilson, who posted good times on both reckoned his Escort was running a little too hot. With the brake issues sorted, Moffett was pleased with his performances on both stages, he was seventh in a top ten that also featured Vincent O'Shea (Darrian T90 GTR) and the Escorts of Cian Walsh and Mark Dolphin. Walsh, in the Tom Randles Escort, was happy with his performance while Dolphin was unhappy when he encountered a stricken Escort being removed on SS3. Protecting his lead position Stafford stretched his advantage to 15.3s on the penultimate stage. Doogan tried a harder compound that took a few kilometres to work properly as Black trimmed the margin between them to 0.9s. Kiernan and Cahill followed with the latter closing to within 5.3s as Kiernan tried some different tyre options. Moffett had a big moment on the stage and decided to call it a day. At the latter end of the top 10 Cian Walsh and Mark Dolphin battled for local bragging rights as the latter cut the deficit to a mere 0.7s. Stafford arrived at the end of final stage a trifle worried as he reckoned he had backed off too much, to his relief, his victory was confirmed within a few minutes. Elsewhere, Kiernan and first time co-driver Jake O'Sullivan (Escort) managed to fend off Cahill for fourth with Meath's Peter Wilson (Ford Escort) sixth. Kenmare's Vincent O'Shea (Darrian T90 GTR) took a trouble-free drive to seventh as Dolphin reeled in Walsh for eighth and top Cork driver by just 0.2s. Youghal's Jason and Ross Ryan (Toyota Starlet) won Class 11F and the Castlemartyr/Ardfield crew of Darragh Walsh/Gary Lombard (Honda Civic) took the Junior honours. CDE Imokilly Rally, Midleton: 1. J. Stafford/R. Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) 41m. 08.2s; 2. J. Black/K. Egan (Toyota Starlet)+4.4s; 3. J. Doogan/P. Lennon (Ford Escort)+9.1s; 4. G. Kiernan/J. Sullivan (Ford Escort)+38.3s; 5. M. Cahill/C. Smith (Ford Escort)+44.1s; 6. P. Wilson/J. McCarthy (Ford Escort)+1m. 19.2s; 7. V. O'Shea/E. O'Donoghue (Darrian T90 GTR)+1m. 38.6s; 8. M. Dolphin/T. Delaney (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.2s; 9. C. Walsh/D. Doonan (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.9s; 10. D. Hickey/R. O'Riordan (Ford Escort)+2m. 11.5s.


Cambrian News
14-07-2025
- Automotive
- Cambrian News
Osian Pryce triumphs in Nicky Grist Stages, preps for Roger Albert Clark Rally
'This was my first gravel rally for nine months and my first in an Escort since the RAC Rally in 2023, so I'm very happy with both our performance and our result,' said Osian.

Miami Herald
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Boreham Motorworks Alan Mann 68 Edition Ford Escorts appear at Goodwood
Tucked away at a pub near the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed were a pair of Mk1 Ford Escorts, one wearing the classic red-and-gold livery of Alan Mann Racing. They're meticulous recreations from Boreham Motorworks, which is building a series of Escort continuation cars with Ford's blessing, the first of which is due to be delivered in August. The Red-and-gold car and its black-and-yellow companion (nicknamed "Bumblebee" by its builders) are pre-production versions of the Alan Mann 68 Edition, built to the same FIA Group 5 specifications as the original Alan Mann Racing cars, and limited to just 24 customer cars. Founded in 1964, Alan Mann Racing has long been closely associated with Ford. Founder Alan Mann raced a number of the Blue Oval's products-including the Lotus Cortina, Mustang, and Falcon-but the Escort is likely the most famous car to wear the team's distinctive livery, thanks to its 1968 British Saloon Car Championship win. During the team's heyday, which coincided with Ford's "Total Performance" campaign to use motorsports success as a marketing tool, Alan Mann's lineup as a virtual racing hall of fame. Jackie Stewart, Jacky Ickx, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, and Mario Andretti all drove for the team at one time or another. However, Ford's downsizing of its motorsports efforts also marked the end of Alan Mann Racing's time at the front of the grid. The name returned in 2004 as a preparer of historic race cars, and in late 2024 Boreham Motorworks announced that it was taking over stewardship of the venerable name. The most visible product of that arrangement so far is the Alan Mann 68 Edition Escort. While Boreham Motorworks also plans to build modernized Escort road cars, this version is intended to be identical to the cars raced by Alan Mann in 1968. Boreham replicated Alan Mann's unique sliding-joint MacPherson strut front suspension, and the devotion to period correctness means the 68 Edition has a solid rear axle with Watts linkage. It also rolls on 8.5-inch front and 10-inch rear wheels that seem absurdly tiny by modern standards. A 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine provides 201 horsepower, which is sent to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual transmission. That should be plenty for the Escort's 1,752-pound dry curb weight, which Boreham Motorworks claims is in line with that of the original cars. The Alan Mann 68 Edition is the most exclusive of the Escort continuation cars Boreham Motorworks plans to offer. The company also plans to sell road and track versions that don't hew as closely to period specification, with somewhat larger production runs. And the company plans to revive another Ford classic-the RS200 rally car. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Car and Driver
21-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
1981 Ford Escort XR3 Test: The Grass Is Definitely Greener
From the November 1981 issue of Car and Driver. If one needed any reassurance that a new day has dawned at the Ford Motor Company, the fact that Ford president Don Petersen has been seen tooling around in this lovely little red street racer ought to provide it. This is a type of car that is unthinkable in most of Detroit's board rooms today. It is exciting, aggressive, compromised entirely in the direction of driving fun, and—within the Procrustean confine of Detroit's automotive orthodoxy—frivolous ... "We can't wast our time on stuff like that," goes the litany. "People will think we're not serious about fuel economy. Tell the guys in Research and Development that we need a full status update on the new decal package!" There are two Ford Motor Companies, one in North America and one everywhere else. The one in the United States is and has been taking gas lately, and it has been decided by the people who preside over Ford's fortunes to bring the two closer together, to make the North American one more like the Everywhere Else one. The Fiesta was an early step in that direction. The Escort/Lynx was another. The Escort has been a resounding success in the market place, but less so among the critics. It won the coveted European Car of the Year Award in spite of the fact that automotive writers (the people who vote this particular prize) both here and abroad had serious reservations about its ride and handling. But there is a truth in the automobile business, truer than other truths: it says that the good cars are the ones that sell. The Escort sells. Now we have driven one that also goes. View Photos Aaron Kiley | Car and Driver The XR3 (shown here) that we managed to borrow from Mr. Petersen is the sportiest Escort Europeans can buy. It weighs 2000 pounds, while our own long-term-test (American) Escort weighs 2140 pounds, and its 1598-cubic-centimeter engine produces 96 horsepower at 6000 rpm, 98 pound feel of torque at 4000 rpm. This ratio of weight to power results in zero-to- 60 times on the order of 10 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 17.2 at 79 mph, considerably faster than anything an American could buy in the same size and price class. It's wonderful. You'll find the hood release on the underside of the steering column. Pop the hood and look inside. What you see is a neat little overhead-cam four with a two-throat Weber carburetor, a smooth cast-iron exhaust manifold feeding twin downtubes, the necessary cooling and electrical gizmos, and that's all, folks. Hardly, any of the stuff that the EPA has forced us to cram under the hood of our cars so that we may breathe from our exhaust pipe in relative safety; just the important bits. View Photos Aaron Kiley | Car and Driver But the engine compartment is only about the third thing you admire on the XR3. First there's the exterior. Ford-Europe opted for a much cleaner, more discreet overall look for its Escort, and the XR3 benefits from that, especially at the front. Then there's a nice deep air dam under the narrow European bumper, and a rubbery black "What'll it be, fellas" serving-tray spoiler on the rear deck. Fat Pirelli P6 tires on wide-rim 928-ish alloy wheels complete the picture. As a visual experience, the XR3 attracts a lot of attention. Overtaking, waiting at crosswalks, stopped at traffic lights, it never failed to capture the hearts and minds of the overtaken and/or bystanders. And it isn't just a matter of zoomy looks, either. The aerodynamic aids bring the drag coefficient down to 0.38; a stock U.S. Escort's is 0.40, which was already an excellent aerodynamic performance. (Though how this is possible, with the enormous outside mirrors that jut out from the XR3's doors, will forever remain a mystery of modern science.) One's next impression is of the interior, which would look good in a Porsche and would be a quantum leap upward for most American cars. Gray cloth with red stripes covers the seats; the rear being a folding bench for extra load space, and the fronts being Recaro look-alikes for extra creature comfort and security. The steering wheel is very small in diameter, padded, and almost as fat as the Pirelli outside. Everything about these furnishings exhorts one to sit down, start the engine, and bury the loud pedal in the floorpan—which one invariably does, at least the first couple of times. But there's more. The windows go up and down electrically, and the Whitman's Sampler-sized outside mirrors are adjusted the same way. The sunroof is as nearly perfect as one of those can be. It features tinted glass, it is manually operated, and it both slides fore-and-aft and pops up at the rear, depending upon whether you want sunshine or ventilation. There is also a sliding louvered screen to blank it off completely, if that is your pleasure. There is an AM/FM-radio/cassette system as well, but it plays through two raspy speakers and doesn't really measure up to the other interior appointments. View Photos Aaron Kiley | Car and Driver On the road, the XR3 is a mixed blessing. It is quick, but not really fast. Ten-second zero-to-60 times and a 108-mph top speed aren't going to separate anybody's retinas, but they're certainly brisk in a car of this type. The handling is sort of standard front-wheel-drive-with-fat-sticky-tires understeer—which is a vast improvement over the soft-riding American Escorts—and the roadholding, on smooth surfaces, is excellent. We generated a lateral acceleration of 0.75 g on the Chrysler Proving Ground's 282-foot skidpad, and the car felt stable and reassuring. Lift-throttle or brake-induced oversteer was still there, but to a useful degree: a good driver can correct his line by steering the rear wheels with his right foot. Only on bumpy roads does the XR3 behave like an American-made Escort—but even then there is a difference. The same vigorous pitching and uncontrolled vertical body movements tried to upset the car, as they would on a regular Escort, but the XR3's Bilstein shocks are just as vigorous in their control of those movements. The result is that the XR3 stays on course, but the rear wheels patter over the rough stuff, occasionally lose contact with the pavement, and are snubbed rather viciously whenever they threaten to leave the ground entirely, as on the far side of a frost heave taken at, say, 50 or 60 mph. As unpleasant as this occasionally is, it is a vast improvement over the bump-induced instability and general rough-road raggedness that we've found so troublesome in U.S. Escorts. That this he-man version of our Escort should share its bad habits at all was apparently unavoidable, given the basic similarity of chassis and suspensions. View Photos Aaron Kiley | Car and Driver The combination of unassisted steering, small steering-wheel diameter, forward weight bias, and fat, sticky tires makes for very heavy steering in the XR3. A few minutes on our slalom course or a lot of parallel-parking practice every day would be a real upper-body builder. The car goes where it's pointed without a moment's hesitation, but it makes you work for every degree of steering deflection. In this sense it is decidedly sporty. The brakes are good, but not great. The disc-drum combination suffers from premature rear lockup, which lengthens stopping distance appreciably. The car's personality and general level of performance certainly cry out for discs at all four corners. The clutch, unlike the one on the XR3's American cousin, is a good one. It's smooth, it takes up predictably and gradually, and it accepts heavy-footed driving and quick shifts without protest. As in most front-wheel-drive cars, the shift linkage is less than perfect, but as front-wheel-drive cars go it is acceptable. The engine is strong and smooth, but noisy, starting off at a reasonable noise level and becoming increasingly tiresome as one approaches the 6300-rpm redline. This, however, is a small price to pay in a country where we are afflicted with so many little engines making lots of noise and not much horsepower. View Photos Aaron Kiley | Car and Driver The bad news about this little XR3 that Mr. Petersen lent us is that you and I will never be able to buy one, unless we sell the farm and move to Europe. The good news is that our friends at Ford are going to build an American version that we can probably buy in 1984. It will have the U.S. car's clunky grille, headlamps, and bumpers, unfortunately, and it will suffer to some degree from the horsepower drain that drags down the performance of all American engines these days, but we'd expect much of the character of the XR3 to survive. Equally good news—as reported in the other parts of this Escort/Lynx extravaganza—is that much of the lamentable ride and handling behavior we've complained about in these cars is being set right in 1982. Perhaps the best news of all is that cars like the XR3 are beginning to show up in Detroit's corporate parking garage at last, and just in time. View Photos Aaron Kiley | Car and Driver Specifications Specifications 1981 Ford Escort XR3 Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door hatchback PRICE Base: $10,900 (Great Britain) ENGINE inline-4, iron block and aluminum head Displacement: 98 in3, 1598 cm3 Power: 96 bhp @ 6000 rpm TRANSMISSION 4-speed manual DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 94.4 in Length: 159.8 in Curb Weight: 2000 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 10.0 sec 90 mph: 28.2 sec 1/4-Mile: 17.2 sec @ 79 mph Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 8.9 sec Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 8.9 sec Top Speed: 108 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 195 ft C/D FUEL ECONOMY Observed: 27 mpg EURO CYCLE FUEL ECONOMY City: 33 mpg C/D TESTING EXPLAINED