Advantages: Comfortable, Spacious, Cheap spares
Disadvantages: Dodgy high-speed handling, Poor starting, Corrosion in vital areas

...I bought a ten-year old Orion Ghia 1.6 in 1996, after many years of hatchback ownership. Obviously, it was a second car as I could not risk having a Ford as my one and only vehicle. The car felt good, solid and comfortable so I bought the Orion (60,000 on the clock) for £750. The problems I inherited with the car were a non-functioning electric window switch (cured with a dose of WD40) and some ancient and rock-hard front tyres, which scared the life out of me the first time I stood on the brakes.The front wheels locked solid sending the car screeching down the road in a cloud of smoke. It was either get some new tyres or look around for a decent life insurance policy - the tyres won the day. The car turned out to be reliable, except in the area of early morning and, occasionally, hot starting. I did develop various start... Read review

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Advantages: more or less an escort
Disadvantages: rot/rust

...Well this is a saloon escort at the end of the day with same engines, interiors, body panels etc. if you are looking for a mk 4 orion then you would be alot better of getting alate 1989-f reg onwards. this is because the 1.3 lx cvh changed to the 1.4 lx cvh which is much quieter then the older 1.3 tappety sounding engine which sounds like your dragging a bag of nails down the road. Most fords 1986-89 rot i dont know why but when i say rot i mean like a cancer, really bad! but 1989 models are still on the road and rot no worse than any other car of this age.they also gave the car better styling aswell with bigger bumpers and side door trims. the cvh engine is quite a reliable lump and when they go wrong they are so cheap to repair ,its definately one of the cars best points. as for driving, these can really be chucked without to much... Read review

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Advantages: none
Disadvantages: none

...When I was younger I always wanted to own a Ford Orion ( I know I was young and wisdom comes with age). When I passed my driving test I knew what would be my first car, with £3000 to spend off I went, and came back with a D reg Ford Orion 1.6i turbo, I loved it . Over the next year or so I added a body kit, alloy wheels and various other extras, this car was the dogs bollocks and I would cruise around town getting looks from everybody. Now I am a lot older I look back at that car with some embarassment but also regret that I ever sold it. I have had many cars since then but none hold my affection like my Ford Orion ( your first car always will).... Read review

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Advantages: Price and features
Disadvantages: remote control

...I brought this set about 2 months ago and cannot fault it, i have it wall mounted in my games room, linked up to the ps3 and xbox 360 the picture is fantastic for an entry price point TV. This is my second Orion set and i cant fault them. I have always usually stuck with high branded products but as it was not my main tv i went for something slightly cheaper. I have to say my friend has a sony set and even he thinks the picture on the Orion is better. · Integrated digital tuner (DVB-T) to receive Freeview · HD Ready · Brightness 500 cd/m2 · Contrast ratio: 1200:1 · NICAM stereo sound · Teletext / Digital text · PAL / SECAM compatible · Accepts NTSC signals through the inputs · 2 x HDMI sockets · Component video inputs · PC input (with accompanying audio input) · 2 SCART sockets · S-Video input · AV inputs... Read review

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Advantages: Larger than Escort, Cheap to run and maintain
Disadvantages: underpowered, usual old age rust problems.

...and space. Roof racks could be fitted and infact I managed to fit, myself, partner, 2 kids and a 5 man canvass tent with all accessories for 2 weeks camping trip. The car has no special gadgets with mainly all mechanical parts, this made things easier for me fault diagnosis was easier. The interior was standard as for an escort/orion, grey/brown materials with grey carpet, standard foam seats, no air bags, no power steering. Just plain and simple mechanics. All in all, I liked this car even with the problems I had. If you are looking for a cheap family car with a secure boot space then this would be for you. Be prepared to put up with basic upholstery and features.... Read review

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Advantages: Superb Quality & Build
Disadvantages: Quite expensive and not for beginners!

...Orion Classic was sat right at the back gleaming under the spotlights. The kit included: 22 x 18 Bass Drum (with retractable spurs) 16 x 13 Rack Tom 14 x 11 Rack Tom 12 x 9 Rack Tom 10 x 8 Rack Tom 14 x 5.5 Black Panther Snare All made from all Maple shells with outer Birdseye veneer (Antique Ivory) I managed to get the set for £1,400 as at the time they were retailing at £2,000 so it was well worth the purchase! The kit jumped right out and just looked the business. It has a lot of quality extras compared to the average kit. Mapex have put a lot of thought into the designing of this kit, for example the lugs on the bass drum are all protected by outer metal protection so that they will not get damaged/bent if the kit was to get bumped when taking in and out of a car. The mounts both for the cymbals and the toms come... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent Ease Of Use and Sound Quality
Disadvantages: Constant Crashes, Sometimes Cannot Open It's Own Files..

...As a beat-maker / producer in Georgia, I have played around with the best software around for making music. I purchased fruityloops* when it first came out and still continue to play around with it from time to time. I also purchased Reason for $299 when it first came out. I fell in love with the demo of this software and had to have it! I still love Reasons ease of use and fast response time when making music. Now Orion is a mixture of Fruityloops and Reason but more Fruityloops. To me, I cannot really compare Orion to Reason in terms of how music is made. It is very comparable to FL-Studio / Fruityloops though. After using all 3, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. I like FL-Studio because it has truly grown into a powerhouse for beat production. A lot of people hate on FL but the truth is, it can really do... Read review

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Advantages: Fairly competitively priced, ability to extend range of instruments and effects
Disadvantages: PC only, prone to crashing, lacks the extensive wave editing capabilities of competitor FL Studio

...just have to accept the components you have. The higher edition of FL Studio boasts the best support for wave recording and editing, but the liquorice sweet interface might be itself enough to kill productivity, and rudimentary support for waves might be enough so far. Unfortunately Orion isn't for anyone but Windows 98+ users. Mac users have no choice but to go for Reason. Furthermore Orion 6 requires at least a Pentium 3 or Athlon. All other requirements are modest. When you first start Orion, you first see a blank window area that fills up with mixer panels as you add instruments to it (a good selection of samplers, synths and drum machines with presets to get you started are in there). The mixer panels, as you'd imagine, tweak properties of the instruments and it's here you can also assign effects. My favourite instruments would... Read review

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Advantages: Built in Freeview and is HD Ready
Disadvantages: Freeview is not HD

...... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap to buy and run
Disadvantages: Appalling blind spots.

...Thr Ford Orion is basically an 1980's Ford Escort with a boot. Thats nto to say its bad, just that its average with a boot. As Ford stopped making Orions some time ago you won't be able to purchase one new, so you'll obviously be looking at getting a second hand one. Mine has done 67,000 relatively trouble free miles in 14 years, and, while slightly rusting in places, is still structurally sound. Recent problems i've encountered have been: Key so worn that it no longer operated the locks, but my local Ford Dealer were very helpful and gave me another key free of charge. Lost petrol cap, but again this was replaced. Worn distributor rotor arm, only a £12 part (from the AA) but quite important. Other than that i've not had any problems, as long as you look after it, like any car it should last for a good few more years. Handling... Read review

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