Mercury Capri

The mercury Capri is the renowned European Ford Capri that is sold under Mercury division in North America. Simply called as Capri or sometimes referred to as the Mercury Capri, this vehicle exists with mainly 1969 to 1977, and 1979 to 1986 and the latest being 1991 to 1994 models. These capris are nowadays fairly rare and are becoming sought after essentially for the restoration due to their exceptional performance, styling and relative affordability. All of the aforesaid models got Mercury Capri parts perfectly designed from the great engineering of Ford technological inventions. In all the generation of this specific platform, the firm tends to inject its newest developments in order to offer customers with the best quality and high performance which they desire to have.

The mercury Capri was developed during the year 1970-1977. The Capri vehicle was small enough for the four seat accommodation with a fuel capacity of 1.6 liter or the two liter engine capacity. They provides for four speed automatic transmission, a sporty design, solid handling and moderate acceleration.

Under the hood

The Capri in the early 90’s is provided as a front-drive wheel type with 4-seat comfortable and convertible featuring elements of the Mazda 323. All the base Capris are fortified with 100-hp generating 4-cylinder with 1.6 liter capacity, wherein the sport edition of mercury Capri XR2 runs efficiently with 132-hp turbocharged variant.

Options

In regards to its standard five-speed manual transmission, 4-speed automatic transmission is available as optional. Another vital optional feature is the lift-off steel type hardtop that includes the interior lights as well as electric rear window kind of defroster. All these trims provide driver-side airbag, all-disc brakes, power steering, and also completely independent suspension.

In 1991, the Capri XR2 mainly highlights rear and front anti-roll bars. In the next year, it comes with new 3-spoke wheels as well as large tires. It was then endowed with new radio system. New bumpers, passenger side airbag, tail lights and headlights, and even standard sport suspension were included in its very last edition. Albeit, the platform did not succeed to stick for a long term in the market, it definitely has contributed special things to the automobile industry.

Versions

The two versions which were provided for all model years include the XR2 and base. The base model features 4 cylinder DOHC rated at 100 hp (75 KW). The XR2 claimed a turbocharged version of engine capacity 1.6L. Both these models have five-speed manual transmission as standard.

Special features

The mercury Capri comes with some of the special standard features such as power brakes, driver front airbag, bucket seats, 14 inch wheels, 1.6L DOHC type 16V FI engine, AM/FM audio system, power windows, and power steering. It offers some amazing options features such as hardtop roof, Tonneau cover, allow wheels, premium audio system, and anti-theft alarm system.

Standard features are: Bucket seats, steel wheels, tinted glasses, 14 inch alloy wheels, regular unleaded fuel, 5 speed manual transmission, power steering, FM audio system, cloth seating, front air bags for driver and the passenger, tachometer, power windows, in built clock.

Additional features

Apart from the additional features, it is also provided with some extra additional features. Some of the additional features include alloy wheels, sir conditioning, leather seating, automatic power control doors, cruise control, FM and the audio system.

Performance and handling of the car

·         The performance of the Capri’s always suffers from the constrained air inlet and quite restricted space for the outlet. Within a short span of the time Ron million provided up gradation for the Capri model. One such up gradation is bigger inlet pipe and increased inlet for exhaust in order to reduce the back pressure.

·         The front wheel drive with the vehicles such as Mercury Capri suffers from the process called as “torque sheer”. The addition of the car engine compartment will gradually decrease the effect of torque sheer.

Drive test and mechanics and the engine

·         If the engine used in the Capri vehicle develops a sort of hesitation or the miss, it is usually caused due to the ignition of the wire. This is mainly caused due to the aggressive environment in which wires exists more specifically the moisture environment.

·         The alternative belts that’s made used in the Capri have the tendency of getting squeaked. So it’s better to prefer for ford Motor craft belt. Since most of the belts available in the market are not wide enough and thus makes squeaking noises.

Cleaning and protection of the vehicle

·         Be very careful when you allow your Capri for a wash. The service attendants of the car usually remove the antenna of the car but it can be easily blown off through the water pressure.

·         In order to keep the windows motors working, remove all the door panels and spray with the lithium grease to the pulleys and the cables which makes the cable wire from getting jammed and avoids failure of the failure of the motors.

·         The headlight motors of the Capri are connected to the joint of the head light mechanism through two metal links and the ball joint. In order to keep the motors in a smooth working condition lubricate the parts once in a year by making use of the lithium white grease.

Convenience and the storage

·         Most Capri, they just not only enjoy the ride during spring season but they enjoy during summer as well. They are number storage facilities available for the long term of the vehicle.

Fuel economy

The available fuel type is gas and is regular unleaded; it comes with fuel tank capacity of 11.1 gal. The range offered by the model in city/hwy in terms of miles is 244.2/310.8 mi whereas in EPA mileage set city/highway is 22/28 mpg.

Conclusion

This is just a perfect car for regular driving. With the great stereo system, it’s really fun to have drive in this car. However, the Mercury Capri though had some excellent features and good economy it did not made huge sales in the market.