Willson’s top tips

Stock low-milers head towards £20k territory, but bargains remain to be snapped up

Quentin on the huge price fluctuations of diminuative favourites from Ford, Renault and Fiat – and how you can capitalise

The trending of fast (and some reasonably quick) Fords has now spread to the Fiesta XR2. Mkis and MKIIS have enjoyed lively rises in the last year and some trade cars have been advertised for sale recently for as much as £16,000. Just before Christmas, Classic Car Auctions dispatched a very fresh and original XR2 MKII ’86 with 31-year ownership and 32,500 miles for £13,420. I remember in the early Nineties struggling to sell tiny milers for three grand.

Overbrook Garage in Gloucestershire is offering an ’87 MKII with one owner, 50,000 miles and 31 stamps in the service book for £15,950. Prices for average MKIIS are now running between £8k to £10k with MKI asking prices even higher. A private seller in Merseyside has an ’81 in Caspian Blue with factory Climate Pack, but 90k miles, for an astonishing £17,000. But we shouldn’t be surprised.

These warmed-up Fiestas speak to a young demographic who have watched prices of Cosworths, Mexicos and RS Turbos flame through the stratosphere and are scrambling for a piece of sporty Dagenham action before it soars out of reach.

Just look at the world record £100k in November for Silverstone’s NEC sale ’81 delivery mileage RS2000. I sat in that car and sniffed the aroma of the Eighties and caressed the perfect period brown cloth and plastic interior. This is a decade that’s really hot right now. But if you’re quick, you can dodge these rising auction and dealer prices by combing the online classifieds and bagging an XR2 at much lower money. A private enthusiast in Stockport has one of the last MKIIS, an ’89 in Radiant Red with 50k, four owners and every servicing bill from new for just £5995. That won’t hang around for long. Any XR2 that’s totally stock, unmodified, with sensible mileage and a decent paperwork trail will now make £10k plus and low mileage cars could even be heading for £20k in time. They really are worth snapping up now. A few days before I wrote this market report, online classifieds site Gumtree carried an ad for an ’87 with 18,000 miles, one woman owner and all Mots since 1991 for just £3000. And yes, it sold. Calm down. There are more like that one out there. Start looking now.

‘If you’re quick you can dodge rising auction and dealer prices’