1990s

The Ford Mondeo ST220 put a 223 bhp 3.0 V6, a six-speed gearbox and Recaro seats into the Mk3 Mondeo and turned a rep's saloon into a car worth keeping. A guide to the ST220 and the Mk2 ST200 that preceded it, the saloon, hatchback and estate, the ST TDCi, what goes wrong, and what they are worth.

The Ford Sierra replaced the best-selling Cortina with aerodynamic styling Britain nicknamed the jellymould, and slowly won the country over across 1.3 million UK sales. A guide to the ordinary Sierras, the XR4i and XR4x4, the Sapphire saloons, why survivors are so rare, buying checks and values.

The Land Rover Discovery of 1989 put Range Rover engineering under a family-priced body and invented the everyday Land Rover, and the original Discovery 1 is now a classic in its own right. A guide to the 200Tdi and 300Tdi eras, the V8s, the Camel Trophy years, what rusts, buying checks and values.

The Lotus Carlton was a Vauxhall saloon rebuilt by Lotus around a twin-turbo straight-six, 377bhp, 176mph, faster than contemporary Ferraris with five seats, and so quick the press and Parliament called for it to be banned. A guide to how it was built, the ban campaign, the famous crime spree, what to check, and what one costs now.

The Land Rover Defender ran from 1983 to 2016, the coil-sprung successor to the Series that became one of the most recognisable shapes on earth. A guide to the One Ten, Ninety and 130, the engines from the Tdi to the Td5 and Puma, what to look for when buying (including chassis rot and theft), and what they are worth now.

Robin Hood built the cheapest Lotus-Seven-style kit cars in Britain, famously a car on the road from one budget kit and a single scrap Ford donor, with an unusual folded stainless-steel construction. A guide to the models, the stainless monocoque story, the GBS succession, and the things to check before buying one.

The front-drive Escort Mk5 of 1990 launched to some of the harshest reviews Ford had ever received, and the company spent the next two years putting it right. At the top of the range, the rally-homologation Escort RS Cosworth turned the unloved Escort into an icon. The development story and the survivors.

The third-generation Granada of 1985 was Ford's most advanced car yet, a smooth aerodynamic hatchback that brought executive-class technology like standard anti-lock brakes to the mainstream and was named European Car of the Year. Known as the Ford Scorpio abroad, it was Ford's big British saloon for a decade. The development story and the survivors.

Supercars, hot saloons, and the slow end of an industry, the British cars of the 1990s spanning the McLaren F1 and the Escort Cosworth, the Lotus Elise, the TVR boom under Peter Wheeler, and the long decline of Rover Group.