1994 Ford Escort RS Cosworth – Classified of the Week

There’s something about the Escort RS Cosworth that just makes you giggle like a fool. What you have is a humble family hatch, but instead of a clattery CVH under the bonnet, there is an angry, turbocharged 2.0, 16-valve Cosworth engine kicking out 227bhp. And in a small family hatch, that’s a lot. This why instead of being front-wheel drive, the engine has been turned through ninety degrees and now powers all four wheels. It’s what made this car such a weapon on the rally stages of the mid-1990s. It’s an Escort, but on some serious steroids. And that’s all before we get to the way this thing looks. The deep chin spoiler, the wide vented front arches and the muscular rears, and of course, that magnificent rear ‘whale tail’ rear spoiler. It’s just wonderfully daft. 

The only problem with the Escort RS Cosworth is that most of them have been heavily modified. Now, we have nothing against modified cars, they represent personal expression and that’s all good. However, when it comes to the ‘poster child’ for ‘90s rally car excess, we’d much rather have one in standard fettle. That’s what makes this week’s classified of choice of special, as this particular Escort RS Cosworth has seen no three bar map sensor, it has no ‘dark greens’ and the turbo isn’t so big it can suck the front-end panels of their mounts. This car is the Escort RS Cosworth as Ford intended.

Finished in Mallard Green with matching cloth Recaro trim, this Escort RS Cosworth is, if you ask us, the perfect spec. And from what the vendor tells us, it’s in perfect condition, too. The mechanical side of things has been taken care of with a detailed service history that features all the right work, such as a cambelt change, oil and filter change and fresh differential oil. Externally, there is more perfection at play, with panels free from dings and dents. Also, those all-important RS Cosworth alloy wheels are in immaculate condition, and have never been refurbished. Further evidence that this car has been cherished throughout its life. But then, with only 21,400 on the clock, it hasn’t had enough use to suffer any abuse!

Buy this and you’re not just buying a car, you’re buying an icon. The Escort RS Cosworth is a car that got a generation interested in motorsport. It was a wild and brave design that shouldn’t have worked, but it did. It’s not a word we like to throw about, but the Escort RS Cosworth was and still is a legend. Its popularity hasn’t waned over the years, if anything, it’s grown. It’s still a regular sight in motorsport, it’s been popularised by modern-day stars like Ken Block and despite its age, it still leaves young enthusiasts all weak at the knees, as well as those of us who are old enough to know better.

At £53,995 this is by no means the cheapest Escort RS Cosworth out there, but it is one of the purest and one of the most original. Keep it in rude health, look after it in the manner it has become accustomed and it’s only going to go up in value. But that’s not the point. The true point is taking the opportunity to own such a wonderful, iconic car.