Ford - Fleet - Ford Escort (mk5) vs Vauxhall Astra (mk3) (1991)
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- Ford - Fleet - Ford Escort (mk5) vs Vauxhall Astra(mk3) (1991)
Video produced by Ford aimed at fleet buyers comparing the newly launched Vauxhall Astra to the Ford Escort.
ft Tony Bastable
8:05 - he just basically described important safety additions to the Astra as unnecessary because they add too much weight.
I can see why Ford would have hated the new Astra....it was an all round better car than the Escort. Admittedly a limited range (when first launched) and some pricey options.
But if you have to complain about the standard fitment of a catalytic converter and seatbelt pre-tensioners that pretty much proves you've lost the game. Maybe it was the whipping they got for the Mk5 Escort that made them have a serious rethink, which resulted in the excellent Mk1 Focus just 7 years later!
Thanks to Richard Parry-Jones who turned Ford around, insisting that the cars needed to feel good as soon as one drove them. Rip.
If you bought a Rover R8 was way better than the Ford and abit better than the Vauxhall
Seat belt pretensioners, catalytic converters, side impact bars, all things that all cars have to have now by law and ford beat the competition by not giving it to you.
Ford to be fair had a point, the platform on the Astra was carried over from the old model, where as for had a new platform just everything bolted to it was carried over from the old escort like the crap engines and crap driver experience! 😂
That was actually quite cringeworthy tit for tat tactics there from Ford. The mk5 escort was a pup of the highest order. Don’t even get me started on the Valencia and cvh offerings...
This is why Ford ditched the Escort name for Focus. They thought that the Escort name had been too damaged with the shite they served up after Mk4.
Very true, the Silvertop Zetec engines were pretty unbustable and whilst unremarkable were years ahead of the earlier offerings.
The cars they were nailed in to were pretty stale though.
The MK3 Astra was frankly an excellent car and it is telling that even now you see a few kicking about on the roads still. The MK5 Escort is all but gone from the roads, until the MK1 Focus was released in 1998 and arguably turned the market on its head Ford was clearly chasing traditional Ford buyers and cautious Fleet buyers.
Lol, if you need your seat-belt tensioner reset by a dealer, it probably had to help you save your life... Complaining about side impact protection bars...
Don't forget complaining about it having a catalytic converter and auto electric windows as standard
he said all fords had a pollen filter for 4 years. not true, the fiesta in 93 had no pollen filter
The Escort didn't even have a tensioner - and failed badly in early 90s crash tests, while the Astra was really good.
What you have to factor in is unlike now with easy Credit access where a large proportion of Car Buyers can buy a new or nearly new car when this was filmed new cars were predominantly purchased by two particular groups:
1) Older professional male drivers who in their own opinion were far too good a driver to need all that needless safety kit
2) Fleet buyers who were deeply suspicious of any added costs or technology that requires a visit to the garage if it goes wrong
In respect of the latter group scaring them with the information that resetting the seat belt tensioner required a garage visit would be enough to scare them off buying the car. Fleet buyers happily went out and purchased loads of MK5 Escorts because they were seen as a safe and simple choice. One of the reasons why the Sierra was rear wheeled drive was fleet buyers were suspicious of the technology and costs involved with a front wheel drive car. It was only at the end of the 90's when credit became easily available for the consumer and family buyers started to be able to buy new cars that safety started to become such a key selling point. Renault with their Euro NACAP 5 cars like the Megane and Scenic cleaned up on the back of that.
In respect of fleet buyers the people who drove the cars that were purchased for them as company cars tended to hate them and the second they hit a pay grade which allowed an allowance to buy what you wanted would beat a track to a VW garage to buy a Golf GTI or a BMW garage to buy a 3 Series!
@@floriskuipers4925 Fuel injection too. I well remember that all-important 'i' after the engine size on mainstream car badges back then. It made you the King of your street. Crazy times. We also had an outside-temperature gauge, love it or loathe it, on every mk3 Astra. I felt very hard-done-by for buying the latest car with new features I preferred NOT to have.
I had the pleasure of driving a nearly new MK5 Escort back in the day. It was quite nasty. Getting back into my then 7 year old Cavalier was a clear step up in every meaningful way.
King Brilliant
I’ve had this before, not on a Vauxhall...its caused by an air lock in the coolant system...when the system pressurises and it reaches the air lock it blows...also had it blow coolant pipes...just need to
bleed the system a bit longer, let the stat open and squeeze the bottom hose a few times.
That may even have been the Cavalier mk2 C, D or E plate. They were solid, economical, light and quick. I had D318 RNM, a light-metallic blue 1.6L, for 9 years. Loved that car.
@@owensteele1274 I loved mine too, cracking cars they were D43 RNF.. I've had more than a few Mk3's too
The Astra was so much better than the escort in the early 90s. He doesn’t mention the superior fuel consumption of Vauxhall
In a Ford sponsered video he doesn't mention it? :)
There were some good cars around and cars were rusting less :)
@King Brilliant - no, that's now. ars of the late eighties and early nineties look far better than most of today's abominations
This has to be one of the worst promotional videos made by Ford, it seems they clearly knew the Astra was a better car, but we're desperately trying to find ways to make it look bad.
The Escort Cosworth was better than any Astra.
@@basshead.
Hardly part of the standard Escort line up though, was it ?
It was a cut & shut Sierra platform with an Escort-looking body welded onto it, done by Karmann of Germany.
Standard Escorts of the era were utter shite.
@Anthony Superior black race Joshua The Scorpio uses the Sierra platform. But it's still a Scorpio. It's the same with the Escort Cosworth
"26 Astra models as opposed to 49 Escort/Orion models." (Two model names for essentially the same car - same equipment, different name = double the models.) 🙂
Seems strange running down safety features as just so much extra weight. I was reception manager in a Ford dealer at the time and had Escort Ghia as a company car, my best mate had an Astra LX it was better built, nicer to drive and more comfortable. This is a typical Ford training video of the time where they believe that everything they build is perfect and nothing will ever go wrong with it. The problem was that the management at the time really started to believe their own spin and there was no really good fallback for the customer as Ford really believed that nothing would ever go wrong. At one point there were no less than 8 recalls active on the Mk5 Escort they really were a horrible car and the Mk6 couldn't come quickly enough.
Moaning about catalysed engines..... year later it was mandatory for (August 92) for all petrol engines to have them!
I guess it was a window of opportunity, get in while you can / last chance. He does sound a bit Stone Age though ribbing catalysers.
He had to say what Ford told him to.
Which the Industry knew was happening, they'd have to be mad to introduce cars without them a year before
Spot on. Also some K-reg pre-facelift Cavalier 1.6L and GL models had cats and Pierburg 2E3 carbs that did not get on well at all. Similarly, I recall when the end-of-line K-reg Sierra 1.6 Azuras were running ancient Pinto engines (they had to get rid of their stockpiles somehow) also with standard cats.
What I live most about this video is how balanced amd impartial it is! 😆😆
A very comprehensive character assassination for the Astra, yet ask any Vauxhall mechanic and he will tell you the MK3 Astra was the best of the lot. My brother had one and in 13 years never failed an MOT nor had a breakdown.i
my Astra Diesel still runs from the day I bought it to this day, never had massive problems
The Mk3 Astra was in a different league to the Mk5 Escort, and that's from a Ford fan...
I agree. That was the era when Vauxhall made some remarkably good cars. Look where we are now? Not great at all.
The only time an Escort could rival an Astra or Golf was when they launched the first front-wheel drive Escort in 1980. Ford had spent hundreds of millions on it, and it was a very mature car compared to a MK1 Golf or a 1980 Astra (Kadett D).
But it seems that all the changes made to the Escort up until 1997, were rather cosmetic. An Escort from the 90's looks just like a 1980's one with more rounded bodywork. When they launched the new Escort in 1990, it had exactly the same dreadful engines its predecessor had.
A week later he was filming the Vauxhall response video. * KER-CHING!!!
After this Tony went to every Vauxhall dealer he knew of and kicked anyone he could see in the balls.
This video was not aimed at the end customer, it was a professional presentation for the Ford dealers giving them tips on how to shift the Ford product at a time when their leading competitor had upped their game. Seems that most of the comments here are not taking the audience, context and purpose into account.
The word 'context' seems to have been removed from the dictionary these days.
That doesn't change the situation at all. The 'arguments' delivered in this video are the same whether they are shown to the consumer directly or if they are told to them by a dealer. The purpose of the video may be different, but the arguments contained within it (which is what the comments are mostly about) aren't. Seems that you were too busy thinking about how wrong everyone must be to realise that your own argument is invalid.
I had a mk3 Astra 1.4 8v, very very slow. But it was a £500 car when I had little money and it kept running, kept passing its mot, its last reg letters were MOE so obviously it got called Moe the Astra. I used to run it into things to amuse my self. Tell you what I miss it, simple reliable and I rather liked him (it). The next owner was a friend and Moe continued to give good service until he died. RIP Moe
I've never really been a Vauxhall person, always preferring Ford products by and large. But, I'm not stupid. The Mk 3 Astra was a far superior car compared to the Mk 4 & 5 Escorts. This presentation strikes as desperate on the part of Ford. However good the rest of their range might have been at the time, the Escort was a complete mess. Only the Focus in 1998 put things right.
I wish he would have said what he really felt instead of beating round the bush!
That probably would have meant driving home in the Astra!
😄😆😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ive got mk 3 astra 1997 had it 9 years still going strong
My favourite shape Astra remember my friend's dad getting a brand new 97 P reg, in green 1.6 LS. Was a lovely car and I always thought they looked more ahead of there time than the escort!
The 1.7 diesel they 1st used was a slow, heavy thing but could be fixed easily ( if the cambelt went it didnt push the valves out iirc) but it wasnt until 1993 when they used the 1686 Turbodiesel Isuzu it changed the game for fleet operators. Easily tuned for 90+hp, standard was 82hp and was smooth and refined :)
Yep. The Isuzu turbodiesel was years ahead of the agricultural Ford unit and considerably more powerful and economical.
I had a Cavalier with the 1686cc TD unit and it was remarkably refined for a 1990s diesel. Not as powerful as the Peugeot XUD engine but eerily calm and serene for a diesel at the time.
At the time the Escort/Orion was a turd. Had they been better cars, there would've been no need for this video.
My mother’s daily driver was a K-reg Diesel Escort without power steering for a few years in the late 90’s, in the end she had to have an operation on her shoulders from heavy steering, true story.
Back in the day the Astra was better made and built than the Escort. You were lucky to find an Escort more than 10 year old still on the road - while the Astras would easily surpass that. It may be that the Ford was more refined and had more of a pedigree, but at the end of the day the Astra would outlast it easily by 50%. The Ford was just a rotbox.
Exactly right, even now twenty eight years later you will see a few Astra from that era driving about. You won't see any similar aged Escort on the road.
@@Fedaykin24 Very true, the Escorts (and also Mondeos) are all gone now
Yes. The Escorts disappeared decades ago. You still see those Astras regularly. They also dated well. Still look OK now.
@@Fedaykin24 Especially when you consider the Escort was the UK's biggest selling model of the time, comfortably outselling the Astra, I haven't seen an early mk 5 for many years
@@robertnixon8625 Indeed, there are no Mk5 Escort to be seen but you can still find Mk3 Astra about. The Mk3 Astra was fundamentally a superior car! That being said the Mk1 Focus was a revolution for the industry and you can still find plenty of Mk1 Focus about...
If you watch the original top gear reviews of both cars (a trustworthy source of information) you will see that they really complained about the escort. The Astra was much better on there...
before clarkson ruined journalism
I hated this exact era of both the Astra and Escorts.
And yet in 2019 how many mk3 Astra's are still on the road in the u.k and how often do we see any of the escort or orions?
Poor old Tony was looking a bit tired in 1991
Was he a heavy smoker?
yep and died of emphysema
I was thinking that Tony looked sickly here. Compare this to the ThamesTV videos posted elsewhere on CZcams from a decade or so earlier. I know, a lot happens in 10 years - and he sadly died in 2007. Great voice, good journalist, but he was clearly a paid Ford shill in this one. Can't fault him for trying to earn some bread.
My aunt had a 1992 Astra 5-door and while it certainly looked decent and modern, it was a piece of junk. It broke down quite a few too many times and wasn't well made. To think, she had traded in a Scirocco for that. She hasn't considered another Vauxhall since...
Still a tv presenter God
A bit tired? He looks a freaking undertaker. Monsieur Alphonse from Allo Allo comes to mind. "Oooh my rikiticouer!"
Tony was a good presenter, who did his homework and knew what he was talking about- then they pushed him aside for more 'modern' flash,bang,wallop presenters..so don't blame him here for taking the Ford shilling at the bottom of the glass.
Bloody hell it's Alan Partridge!
"I'm not driving a Vauxhall Astra, I'm not driving a Vauxhall Astra, I'm not driving a Vauxhall Astra"
“Not my words, the words of top gear magazine!”
As always Vauxhall gets talked down but is in every way a better car compared to the horrific escort MK5.
Hmm. I remember driving a 1.4 16v Astra when it was new in 1991. Much nicer than the noisy uncomfortable and dated Escort which had barely moved on from the Mark 3. Later came close to buying an ex company SRi - quite a decent car but the lease company wanted too much. Wouldn't have touched an Escort by this late stage especially as a friend bought a brand new and totally awful 1.6LX. Arguably the final Escorts with 1.8Zetec 115ps engine and nicer seats were a much much better car than this early 1990 model, but by then the opposition had moved on by a long way.
Ford's Focus launch in 1998 was not before time either. They were struggling up until that time.
nowadays this video would be classed as hate speech!
Slander!...if it was moderately believable but its all a bit sad and desperate and an obvious smear campaign. “Look how awesome this new Astra is! Disgraceful! Buy one of these rattly shitbox Fords instead!”
J647 NPP made 1991 and scrapped in 2006 not bad
how do you know that?
And Bastable died just one year after...that Astra ghost searched for revenge
@@benconway9010 DVLA Tax check website
J127XNO died 2009!...give me a MK5 Escort reg! I dare ya! They’d all been scrapped well before that!
I saw a grey K-reg Turbo Intercooler 1.7 Diesel one in recent years, 2017 around then :)
As a ford fan and escort mark 5 fan I still think the Astra was superior in every way, it took ford another 2 years to get the then called zeta engines aka Zetec and had to rely on hcs and cvh power and still continued to do throughout the escorts lifetime. It was 1995 by the time the escort actually was a decent car but too late
I had this model escort from new. 130000 miles and double shifted for work night and day . Kept it 13 years . One set of brake pads. No problems with it. Hardly used any oil. Brakes were shit on very steep hills with 4 people in. Sold it for 250, ran for another 2 years with no expense. Then scrapped. Still had same exhaust back box on for 13 years.
That Apple looked delious 😂
Plus the astra comes with a convenient slicing mechanism!
Vauxhall were thinking about reps the whole time!...having lunch in their cars at Newton Pagnell services! “I got ur apple bro!”
@@televisionandcheese Another convenience we didn't want. Lol!
What a lovely man Tony was
A true gentleman
Sad that Tony's blazer addiction led him to speak any old rubbish for a few quid in his top pocket.
And then the brilliant mk1 ford focus came along and all changed, amazing car!
I can't disagree with that at all. It was Ford's game changer in 1998. It put a stop to the traditional Ford bashing overnight.
I'd still take a Vauxhall Astra Mk3 over a Ford Escort Mk5, it was a better car and had plenty of features the Ford didn't come with.
Tony certainly had an issue with Vauxhall.
Whilst primary school age my older brother convinced me his name was Tony Bastard. I got in hot water when I repeated that to my dad!
I've always been a Ford fan so I was made up when I got my first company car Escort! 1.7 non-turbo diesel without power steering or electric anything. Then 6 months later I got an Astra... I could use that apple for my humble pie.
In general I’m a ford guy, but I’ve actually owned 3 of these mk3 astras and they were bloody brilliant value for money. I bought a 1.4 in 2007 for 400 quid, ran it right up until 2015 only replacing brakes and tires.
The Astra was the police car of choice in Merseyside. Even seen a few in police pursuits situations.
I like the Cavalier Commander 2-tone steel wheels the police Astras had. On the other hand, the South Wales police force had mk5 Escort diesels in white, in the '90s. They must have been absolutely frustrating for those coppers.
There’s clutching at straws and then there’s this review! The 1990 ford escort was a dreadful car and ensured the end of the escort name later in with the Focus- it was such a dullard they had to ditch the escort name
I like this guy: a Ford man through and through; none of that GM crap.
What horse shit. How many Mk3 Astras are still going? When was the last time you saw ANY Escort on the road?
Andy D how many collectable Astra's on the road? I see escorts from mk1 right up till the last RS cosworths on the road....
good point but the Escort's been around for a lot longer. When ford were doing MK1's and 2's the Astra was a Magnum or a Firenza, and they're very collectable.
yeh the astra gsi and the only collectable escorts are the cosworths and mk1s and 2s and maybe a few mk3s like xr3 and turbos but the mk5s? I don't think so
I drive MK1 and MK2 Astra GTEs as dailies and I’m not the only one...I see MK3 Astras almost everyday...last time I saw a MK5 Escort? not a clue...doubt it was this decade! Lets not forget the only reason Ford HAD to develop the Cosworth to raise the profile of its shit box fleet as they were a laughing stock! Even then Journalists preferred the Carlton GSI! (I still have the original feature!)
Good car Astra I’ve had 4 of them!👌
It should be clear that Tony was in most of Ford's promotion videos at the time...
IMO Rover 200/400 was the best car in this class in 1991.
I had one on loan for a couple of months. Low spec 214 Si. Couldn't really fault it but powered steering would have been welcome.
Slagging off deadlocks, side impact bars, pollen filters, seatbelt tensioners.. The Hi Torq 1.4 was faster than the wheesing CVH, and the skeletons wanking in a biscuit tin 1.3 was a gutless joke that only came with a 4 speed box on lower models, and Ford's locks could be beaten in seconds as well as the cheap alarm Ford fitted
Thank you ROVR for uploading this time capsule. Looking back - from Germany - at these cars... well, you can buy an Astra F where I live, I would call it the most basic car you can buy. There are a lot of them on the road, not many of the first generation, but they still run. The Focus... oh it was the Escort is gone... scrapped, transformed into dust. These cars came in the early 90ties to us, from the mid-eighties there was an agreement among German car magazines that no car without a catalytic converter will be tested. Finally, the Escort failed in the crash test so bitterly that Ford had to do a new design in between that costs around eight billion DM. But the Astra F and the Golf III remained better. The crash test was done by "Auto Motor und Sport", maybe it can be found on youtube. I used to be a VW guy, this ended with a terrible Golf IV, we had a second hand Astra F (13 years old) that was traded in to a Asta H Caravan we still have. I had a Focus Turnier as a fleet car - the first all troubble free car I had. Would by the current Focus.
As a former owner of an 1991 Escort 1.4 CLX, all i can say is good riddance. That thing was prone to rust almost everywhere.
Was it a metallic colour? Silver, grey and light blue Escorts seem to rust much worse than the white, red, black and navy ones (may be due to the lead in the solid base paint).
@@owensteele1645 It was metallic blue.
I see today some of this astras on the road and last escort that I remember to see was at 10 years ago and was a rust bucket.
4:10 Ford's unbreakable keycode...yeah
Put it in a freezer overnight to reset it.
PATS was quite revolutionary at the time and it did take GM some time to catch up.
PATS is tricky to defeat now, at the time even the initial incarnation of it would have been near impossible to crack without some serious knowledge, test instruments and computing power.
Ford did pave the way with this, and as manufacturers all introduced analogous systems car thefts plummeted to the fraction of the 1980s levels with have today.
Good old Tony. The bloke from Tomorrow's World, and Magpie.
This is taking nitpicking to another level
6 months behind on RDS, oh no!
What a savage death of an apple. Tony, you've got me. I'm buying Escort.
🤣
Lol. Moaning at the cabin noise with the window down. I know the Escort of this period was absolutely diabolical for cabin noise. There is a video of ford fanboy Jeremy Clarkson moaning about it somewhere and it's bag of nails underpowered engine.
A surprisingly spitful video trying to find holes in a generally better car. I don't think the Astra Mk3 was perfect, but I'd prefer it over the very average mk5 Escort, it was comfy and a nice sort of wrap around dash. The presenter is careful to miss out things like the safety bars in the doors, but say the pretensions were a hassle? But then hark on about the cat only models, though they were soon to become legal fitting. And then to hark on about the engines being bad? Vauxhall's OHC engine of the 80's was a gem, while Ford's were awful (quite liked the immortal 1.3 CVH however :-). No steering wheel adjustment is a weakness though (but being a re-bodied Mk2, I suppose the steering was transferred over)?
You have to admire the sauce of this video really. Even Ford knew these cars were shite. I owned one as my first car, I thought it was great till I drove a friend's Mazda 323F. I immediately realised what an cheaply made turdbox the Escort was. Mine had the 16V engine which was pretty good, mind.
These 80s early 90s commercials and reviews never cease to amuse me when they just say a cars model name and not the word the before. Like it makes it more prestige or something or the identity of the model (whatever that is supposed to be) will be lost by referring to it as THE Astra. Its just cringe inducing today same goes for the tones of the presenters. Shocked Ford offered quickclear windscreens this long ago wow!
Senator is the ultimate in affordable luxury, you and your family can travel in refined comfort making 3 hour plus journeys simply disappear. Senator is also the ideal car for the travelling businessman who spends many an hour at the wheel. Senator will wow with many state of the art features such as the digital dash blah blah. That type of crap!
THE ESCORT THE ORION THE THE THE THE THE THE ASTRA
Ah the early 90s. The worst Astra iteration Vs the worst Escort iteration. Despite awful suspension, build and styling, the Astra was at least much less awful than the Escort.
Moaning about side impact bars effectively saving lives
Had 3 Ford Escorts as company cars in the 90s ...they were absolutely dire, not helped by dealerships. Put me off Ford for life.
Video description states the video was a presentation by Ford.
Blimey, I had forgotten about the Orion !
I used to sell mk5 Escorts new. They sold well to fleets, and also to serial Ford buyers who had had a new one every few years for as long as they could remember, always had an OK experience, and therefore simply didn't even bother driving anything else. Anyone who was doing their homework properly and test driving various alternatives before making a decision was never seen again after driving an Escort.
You have to go back to the dark days of BL to find a manufacturer trying to flog a new car that was so poorly developed and generally off the class pace as the mk5 Escort Nasty engines, plank-like seats, cheap plastic interiors, terrible assembly quality (panel gaps and paint were poor, trim poorly fitted etc) and just lacked any sort of polish, or sign that anyone had really given a toss at any point in the development or manufacturing process. The XR3i and RS2000 versions that came shortly after had gone through some quite considerable turd polishing with SVE and were pretty good, but the CVH and Endura engine range were nasty old relics that were a generation and two generations respectively past their sell by dates.
It's unthinkable now that a manufacturer could have such a low opinion of its customers, and take their business so much for granted that they'd not only launch a turd like this in a competitive market, but use propaganda to pass it off as a class leader. Thankfully the cultural change that resulted in part from this dreadful car caused Ford to consistently start turning out class leaders going forward. The mk1 Mondeo was a cracking car, and was just the beginning.
8:44
Who would leave their child in the driver's seat with the keys in the ignition so they _could_ put the window up ?
Astra was a safer & greener car with catalyst as standard also side impact door beams & seat belt tensioners as standard as well. Engines in the Astra better too much more refined too, Escort/Orion has an OHV engine with a carburettor. Sour grapes ad campaign from Ford.
OHV was only the boggo models...
B3NN10N yep it was, the 1.3, I've driven one & such a noisy unrefined engine even by 1990s standards. The Astra was just a better car
Jenny Donne the efi was good and pokey... the dohc was great! Then came the Zetec which was superb! Can’t really demonize the whole range by 1 bad engine.
B3NN10N the Escort ended up a better car towards the end but at the start The Escort unfortunately was a bad car, have experienced both cars and found the Astra was better, unfortunately the zetec engines were not out then just the Kent hcs or the cvh, they were rough compared to the Astra. I'm a fan of Ford cars but the early 90s until the launch of the Mondeo was not a good time for Ford. I've experienced fords now & currently drive 2018 fiesta and love it, it's a brilliant car.
@@jennydonne8946 Daft question but where did Ford go wrong with the ohv engines? In the '80s, my parents had a C reg mk2 Fiesta Ghia 1.1 4 speed ohv, and we all absolutely loved that little car. It was fun, as my dad was driving it at 9/10 everywhere, and it was very reliable until the bodywork fell apart at 10 years old. Reg was C23VLJ (RIP).
8.31 i have a k sri as a second car and it floats if you drive it a wee bit harder than you should! Downright scary on a fairly wide a road bend or dual carriageway roundabouts, had a golf gtd before, by no means a hot hatch but was glued to the road in comparison. Absolute monumental gap in engineering quality.
Ha so scathing lol - classic marketing - bad mouth the opposition because basically our product is total crap
Best astra ever made
In no way is an apple comparable to flesh and bone. It's like he's comparing apples and oranges.
Your comment is witty and true.
It's only the driver's windows that has 1-hit close and no owner should let a child in the driver's seat with the keys !
At time when you had central locking was God send
Strange that this video didnt quote from escort test articles of the time cos the astra was concidered the better car (peugeot 306 was the best car in class by miles). Only good thing about the mk5 escort was it was so bad ford went out to prove it could build a decent car with the mk1 focus
Agree with this. The 306 was always overlooked the turbo diesel variant was a bloody quick car and reliable too just a shame the same couldn't be said for the petrol offerings. And the mk1 focus is the best looking and driving car ford have ever made I really miss my quirky focus saloon.
I had a 98 R plate mk3 Astra, it rolled like a pig in the bends and the build quality was pretty crap as were the electrics, i enjoyed my Escorts much more,
Top or sporty versions = Escort
Regular or cheapest versions = Astra.
Apart from the Cosworth the mk5/6 Escort was utter crap, even the gti, rs2000 etc.
We had one of the astras I remember it being a bit underpowered but weren't they all. But other than that a good car k611 xfj lived on after we sold it
What a load of shit, Astra was so much better, I owned 3 of them..
Lol, salty Vauxhall stans dont like hearing the truth. 😂😂
Tony Bastardable slagging off safety features!!! Mind you I did enjoy watching this - should be more ads like this in 2024.
Absolutely desperate tactics from Ford here. I remember even. At the time they were pilloried for this video. Thing is all the things they derided on the Astra, the catalyst and “heavy” side impact protection were added to a hastily reengineered Escort launched just months after this video was made
This is a salesman training video, not a public sales pitch. Extremely cringeworthy all the same.
I can remember Tony Bastable being one of the presenters on Magpie.
sickpuppy4711 You can see the years of smoking catching up with him here.
@@nkt1 yep he ended up dying of emphysema. was a great presenter though
Tony Bastable was a legend
Why were all the measurements in inches in 1991?
What I'd like to know is where can I buy a Tony Bastable blazer badge and tie set?! Ahh Haaaa!!
Ford must have paid Tony loads for this guff, hell he didn't even get close to ragging that Astra.
You've sold me, Tony...I'm buyin' an ASTRA!
I could use that window function on the heads of my enemies. Selling point right there.
A DESPERATE attempt to undermine a really VERY good car for its time
The Astra ran rings around the Escort and Ford knew it.... so developed the Focus
And with the MK1 Focus they took the world by storm
I still admire Vauxhall of this vintage, but they could have tried harder after the Focus took the stage
He likes the astra better then ? 😂
If I was old enough to drive in 1991/92 and could afford one it would be the mark 3 Astra between these 2. The 1990 Escort/Orion was lazily executed. It was improved a bit in 1992 with the 'oval grille' but the proper facelift the Escort received in 1995 should have been the car introduced in 1990! I ran a 1994 Escort saloon 1.8 diesel ex police patrol car for 6 months and for £362.50 (including VED for 6 months) it was actually a good old banger with a very comfortable driver's seat.
My family members owned a couple of petrol engined Astras and I thought they had reasonable performance.
So on the face of it, Ford have paid me a lot of money to slag the Astra of as much as possible
This was the era when Vauxhall actually produced some half decent machines. I wish he'd sort out his f***in' grammar as well. Neither Ford, nor Vauxhall, is plural.
Learnt to drive in one of the first mk5 Escorts. Awful car. Carb would spill fuel on every emergency stop, then kangaroo. Actually had some lessons in the dealer courtesy car (without dual control) because the driving school car was out of action so much. It was also really heavy for manoeuvres like it had a pas rack but no pump!
That jacket Tony's wearing - where can I get one?
In an antique shop.