Ford had high hopes of creating a hot hatch hero with the XR3. Released in 1980, surrounded by competitors, it had sharp looks and snappy handling but despite its 1.6-litre overhead cam unit under the bonnet, it just wasn’t fast enough to challenge the Golf GTI. 

Although Ford swapped out the rear-wheel drive and leaf springs, designed an interior years ahead of the Golf GTI in modernity and made sure they were cheap to buy and run, the car's reputation suffered.

Ford later added a five-speed gearbox Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection to boost performance, drivability, and reliability to create the XR3i. This certainly helped close the gap, but it was mainly due to the car's "devilishly handsome" looks that the XRs were secured into hot hatch legend.

Loan courtesy of Tolman Motorsport.