Then I saw the CRAP they gave us called the 'Escort' and I wanted to puke!
Saw many in England back in the early 90's when I was there. They had the wheels, suspension, the POWER, they even looked good.
They also had a Merkur X4RTI, made by the Mercury Division of Ford, both ran like "scalded dogs" on the M1, and back in the ol' US of A, we got the watered down, anemic, "family" sedan that sucked.
We had a Rover rental that even with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side, had some great performance, on the M1 and little, winding roads.