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I like all of these cars, too, but my money would go to the Milano.
The XRs are great cars because it's relatively easy to pump them up and make them special, but to me they just don't come that way.
E30s are great cars but they always seem like somebody else's idea, as in "You should get an E30, because..."
The XR4TI has the advantage of having a simple and tough engine, so its alot easier/cheaper to make big power than most other euro cars. The interior (and the seating position) in them is pretty bad though. E30s are just expensive and not that exciting. The cheap ones are way too worn out to be a daily driver anymore. Milanos are cheaper and most of the ones still on the road are in better shape. They arent hard to work on at all, and with a few exceptions the parts are pretty cheap. Id pick one over an E30, Miata, XR4Ti, or MK2 vw any day (I will admit i havent driven a Merkur, the others i have though).
Travis_K wrote:E30s are just expensive and not that exciting.
I have to disagree with both of these points.
I have fiddled with XRs a lot. I would rather have an E30 for a stock class racer, an XR for highly modified. Sadly the stockish E30 would be as fast as a modified XR.
Slick let me know if you want me to look at this for you
Both my dad and my best friend had XR's, and man stock vs. stock the E30 is a WAY better car. Huge knowledge base, lots of spare parts out there, much better handling, much better power delivery. The Merkurs always seemed to be broken or shedding plastic body parts. The Merkur can be made very, very fast of course, but it's not like an M52 swap isn't cheap and plenty of fun.
This is the only XR4Ti that I have seen up close and liked...
That's Ben Martinez's SCCA DSP National Champ car 
more porn of that car: http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15573
I'm a huge 2.3t fan, but I don't know if I'd buy an XR. I can't get over a few of the wierd parts...the crap tranny, two-piece driveshaft, no intercooler (and pretty tough to fit one, especially if you keep the A/C), the seats that feel like they came out of an LX Mustang, the open diff, the wierd molded hoses in the cooling system... And they're pretty tight under the hood - I had a 2.3t in a '71 Pinto, and THAT thing was easy to work on compared to an XR.
I had a couple, but I didn't keep either very long.
So I was trolling craigslist and I happened to notice this posting...
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/1969991731.html
I think Ben might be selling his car...
And at the other end... http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/1970279970.html
