You Need This: Third-gen Mercury Capri, the “Australian Miata”

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

 but I think the turbo XR2 version is worth looking at if you just want something fun and cheap to drive around town. 

[narrator voice] The XR2 was not, as some believed, "worth looking at." [/narrator voice]

Yeah these are just awful cars. They're significant I guess because they're from maybe the last era we had where there were numerous truly awful cars on the market (it was a contemporary of the Ford Festiva and Hyundai Scoupe, after all), but they have almost zero redeeming qualities. They are the living embodiment of the "Mom I want Miata/but we have Miata at home" meme. 

My grandmother had one of these things, and I spent some time driving it around. What a miserable, horrible car. Sort of like if you had somebody copy a Miata who'd never seen or heard of a Miata before. Then you took that bad copy to Ford in the 90s and told them to build it for half price. 

JG Pasterjak said:

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

 but I think the turbo XR2 version is worth looking at if you just want something fun and cheap to drive around town. 

[narrator voice] The XR2 was not, as some believed, "worth looking at." [/narrator voice]

Yeah these are just awful cars. They're significant I guess because they're from maybe the last era we had where there were numerous truly awful cars on the market (it was a contemporary of the Ford Festiva and Hyundai Scoupe, after all), but they have almost zero redeeming qualities. They are the living embodiment of the "Mom I want Miata/but we have Miata at home" meme. 

Ha. I like Festivas too... but maybe there's just something wrong with me.

edit: Put it this way: if I want something to modify, track, and just enjoy driving; I want a Miata. If I want something that has a convertible top that would be fun to put a couple kids in and drive down the road to the park or ice cream in town then the Capri XR2 would be on my radar. Let's be honest, what else would you be looking at in the "convertible, tiny back seat, under $5k gets you a decent driver" catagory.

These XR2 engines were a popular swap into Festivas that turned them into giggle machines. 

When they were new, I drove a Capri and Miata back to back.  The Capri felt just like Ford Ford Econobox with the roof wacked off.  The Miata on the other hand was made up of all the magic we all now know!

Have you ever noticed that with hardtop the Capri looks very akin to a Mk1 MR2?

The Capri shows us just how lucky we were with the original Miata. There was a study as to what the Miata drivetrain layout should be, and the Capri's FF architecture was considered. They used the same basic powerplant, of course, but the Miata got a worked over version called the BP-ZE that made 116 hp while the Capri got the econobox version with no zing and 82 hp. It did get up to 101 hp later. The Capri's styling was also very much up to date for 1989, the Miata was one of the first retro designs that stepped right outside whatever current fashion was. 

IIRC the Capri was actually delayed by a year or so because of airbag regulations. That's based off a comment made by Bob Hall when I was chatting with him last year so I might not remember the specific details, but they weren't supposed to launch simultaneously. 

I've got some old Australian car magazines from when they were introduced. I'll pull them out and see what the press had to say at the time.

What all was wrong with the driving experience?  I have no time around these things.  I assume they're floppy like ramen.

I do like that the taillights on the FWD Capri do have a visual call back to the mk1 facelift Capri's lights.  Sort of.

Hmmm, SWMBO thought this was an article about pants.......

Back in The Fast and the Furious days, there was a guy who thought their XR2 was hot stuff because it was turbocharged, but even with a bunch of upgrades it wasn't actually any faster than my Neon ACR at the time.

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

What all was wrong with the driving experience?  I have no time around these things.  I assume they're floppy like ramen.

I assume the distaste is because you can't do smoky donuts with one because it isn't rear drive.  Not that an NA Miata was a smoky donut machine either.

The Capri was based on one of the funnest front drive chassis ever made.  Sure it was a convertible but nothing is without faults.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Are you thinking Mazda BF or BG for that 'funnest platform' label?

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Yes, it's a BF chassis, which I recall was fairly good for the time.

Just saw one of these running at the hill climb last weekend.

In reply to silvermiata7777 :

The original U.S. Mercury Capri was not a roomy vehicle, either, for those of us who are over-average size. The back seats were barely adult-capable, and I can remember my roomie driving me around with my hair fully outside of the sunroof.