Car and Classic: Ford Orion – Four-Door Hits 40

[Dirty Epic]

Found this nice little article about the booted 'Scort online on Car and Classic.

www.carandclassic.com/magazine/ford-orion-four-door-hits-40/

Yeah seems like yesterday they came out and only a few years back you'd see a diary few around too.

[Sam Tyler]

They weren't too bad a car for the time. Annie had a C-reg 1.6GL Orion from '92 to '96 which would have been the mk1 Orion based on the mk3 Escort. As a saloon it was slightly more comfortable space-wise than my mk4 Escort for holidays and the like thanks to the boot giving more room than the hatchback and not needing us to carry stuff inside the cabin.

I remember doing the drive to and from the Lake District from our home in Hampshire and having no complaints as there was just four of us at the time: me, Annie and our twins. It wouldn't have been big enough when our youngest was born which was when it was part-ex'd for a Carlton.

Overall they were a reasonably good car that served a purpose for us as a family but I would have still preferred either one of my Cortinas.

Sam.

[John Steed]

They were a nice car in their day. I owned a C Reg 1.6 injection Ghia which was the Mk1 Orion/MK3 Escort shape and a couple of years later I owned an E Reg 1.6 Ghia which was the MK4 Escort shape. Both were well equipped cars with electric windows and door mirrors, central locking, 4 headrests, sunroof etc which was good at the time. I believe that the 1.6 injection engine was the same as the Escort XR3i engine. I actually prefer the look of the MK1 Orion to the MK2 but both were nice 

Steed

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

A good marketing decision from Ford then as many buyers preferred a booted saloon still then.

A lot of previous Cortina buyers were dissapointed initially when the first Sierras were launched and didn't take too well to that car's shape so some buyers (a lot of them fleet buyers) went over to rival Vauxhall and went for the Cavalier (J car/MK2) saloon. Or if they hung onto their old Cortina, were pleased when the Orion came along a year later even if it was somewhat smaller than the Cortina. (of course it took Ford over 4 years to address this when they finally launched the booted Sapphire Sierra in early 1987).

I remember my dad liking the Orion when it was launched and thought it much preferrable to the Escort hatchback but he never did get one. I liked the series 2 1.6 Ghia injection with the pepperpot alloys myself. A friend of my dad's got a B plate Orion L with the steel wheels and no wheel covers as a company car (which replaced the Morris Ital he drove before) and a mate had a B reg 1.6GL in white for a couple of years in the 90's as a cheap runabout. It had though a black lower sides painted "tidemark" the previous owner must have painted to cover er..... untidy bodywork, but also had 7 spoke RS alloy wheels, already on the car when bought too.

[Del Boy]

I remember them hitting the streets back in the day and very popular they were too. They seemed to peak and disappear very quickly as Ford moved on in the 90s. I would bet the 3 mks were only on sale for 8 to 10 years.