opel manta versus ford capri.

manta mad

right fellas.
whats the verdict . an argument started in a pub between two fellas, over what was the best car out of these two, an opel manta or ford capri. what do ye think? which was the best looking car or the best to drive?
these two fellas nearly came to blows over it:)
they then started on escorts & kadetts .but were asked to leave then .
anyone here at was there , corktina was it you, the ford fan had a cork accent

KTRIC

If you said the Manta A, then I would have gone with that. But if its a Manta B and its up against the Capri, then the Capri wins hands down.

ds20prefecture

Manta all the way. Except for the 2.8injection Capri. In black.

BrianD3

Not that well up on Mantas although I've always liked the look of them. I'd imagine that the Capri has a better range of engines than the Manta everything from 1.3 to 3.0. Loads of different trim options too plus a few nice special editions like the RS2600, RS3100 and 280 Brooklands.

Was the Manta ever fitted with engines as large as the V6 Capris. If not then that's a plus point for the Capri.

Both have great motorsport heritage - Capris in tourng car champs, Mantas in rallying.

Capris made several famous TV appearances (The Professionals, Minder etc.) not aware of the Manta ever appearing in a TV show. I'd regard a bit of TV fame as a plus point

junkyard

I'd say the Manta would win over the Capri anyday. Any Capri I ever drove felt as if it had rollerskates on.:)

corktina

I'd say my Cortina would trash the bejeezus out of either of them....but then again it does have a capri engine in it........:) :cool:

corktina

ds20prefecture wrote:

Manta all the way. Except for the 2.8injection Capri. In black.

so...thats a vote for capri then I guess?:D :rolleyes:

Silvera

I have yet to drive a Capri so I can't comment on that aspect. But for sheer looks alone it has always been the Manta for me.

I've owned two Mantas to date - a 1978 1.6 Coupe and a 1986 2.0 GTE Coupe.

.....though, like ds20prefecture, I do like the Capri 2.8 - especially the Brooklands edition

IIRC, there was a 2.2 Manta available, and perhaps a bigger engine also ??

Silvera

Cool Manta's ........

manta mad

yes there was a bigger engine manta , a 2410 cc
the holy grail of manta ownership is the manta 400. now if a fella could get his hands on one of these hed be worth a few pound.
some are changing hands for 20.000 sterling in england:eek:

& there was the i300 with a 2969cc engine, only built in few numbers with 1 rhd model being built.

anyone know if there is any 400 mantas in ireland ?

Silvera

Hi manta mad,

Have a look at this N.I Manta site - http://www.btinternet.com/~steven.spiers/index.html

There are lots of Manta 400 replicas there .....perhaps one of them is 'the real thing' ?!

Regards,
Silvera.

Squirrel

This is a tough one. I've only seen a small number of Mantas, and quite a good few Capris.

But I'm going to have to go with the Capri because of GTA2 I think it was with the Crapi, a car identical to the Capri from the roof anyway with that view.

dubtom

Any Capri fans out there might be able to answer this. Many years ago I saw two UK reg Capri's in convoy, stolen unfortunatly. One was 20 S Panther and the other was a 30 S saphire. I know that Ford used the saphire name on something else, probably a Mk 5 Cortina but have never seen Capri's since with those names on them. Now both Cars were in the colours of the name, the 20 was Black ad the 30 white and I was never sure if the names were just the the owners own branding or Fords. Anyone ever seen Capris with these names.I think it would have been early 80's.

Squirrel

dubtom wrote:

Any Capri fans out there might be able to answer this. Many years ago I saw two UK reg Capri's in convoy, stolen unfortunatly. One was 20 S Panther and the other was a 30 S saphire. I know that Ford used the saphire name on something else, probably a Mk 5 Cortina but have never seen Capri's since with those names on them. Now both Cars were in the colours of the name, the 20 was Black ad the 30 white and I was never sure if the names were just the the owners own branding or Fords. Anyone ever seen Capris with these names.I think it would have been early 80's.

The Sierra Cosworth 4 door was badged Saphire if I recall. I couldn't tell you about the Capri unfortunately. They could've been tuned by the owners.

MercMad

Well the Ford had a better range of engines whilst the Opel had a range of better engines, better longevity and more torque. Aslo more refined !

The rear suspension on the Opel was better too with better axle location via the trailing arms and panhard rod !

JMHO !

I love the squat looks of the last Capris though !