Ford Capri as a daily??

They are basically a MKII Cortina suspension in sporty body with MKIII Cortina Pinto engine
I used one, from 10,000 miles on the clock until scrapped, as an everyday car for years. My wife loved it and nabbed it most of the time leaving me with the tatty VW breadvan Polo for going to work !My daughter came home from hospital in it after she was born and we used it as the main family car with child seat in the back along with older son (he came home from hospital in a Skoda Estelle 105S). Rear seat room a bit limited but OK for children or adults on short distances but wouldn't like to sit in the back for a long time due to limit leg room.
No PAS, unless adapted, on sub V6 models so can be heavy at low speeds in carparks etc. Mine was a 1600LS so had a 4 speed box but reckon a Laser will have a 5 speed and that is a desirable improvement. Not particularly fast either on acceleration or top speed. I assume 2.0 better in that respect. Comfortable both in local running around and long distances. I fitted a towbar and enough torque to pull a car transporter (albeit probably over legal weight limit).
Dash tops can crack especially the speaker area. Uncut dash (people cut aperture to take a larger stereo) a bonus but also rare now. Corners of scuttle rust where rear edge of wings meet so if looks sound check with magnet to ensure not simply filled. Obviously strut tops, sills, rear spring hangers etc all need checking the same as any other Ford of the era

I agree with Keithyboy - economy not great. I fitted a brand new VV and massive improvement over the old unit, both in performance and economy, despite only having done low miles. They have a diaphragm inside and suspect that hardens with age that can affect things. Exhaust manifold is cast iron - I fitted the tubular item off a MKIII 2000GT Cortina. Don't know if it made much difference but looked better. I'd also got the twin choke Webber and inlet but never got around to fitting it. Points / condenser seemed to need changing quite often so again I agree electronic ignition a worthwhile modification. Mate fitted a scrapyard sourced Sierra system to his Capri.
Paul h

i had a capri as a daily from passing my test for a few years ( only 25 so not too long ago) the 2.0 as has been said is more economical then the 1.6 because you don't have to rev the tits off it constantly, a Lightly tuned 2.0 with a 38dgas carb fr33 Kent Cam and a 5 speed box was my last regular daily and it returned 28mpg mixed and up to 33 on a run , Tyres are cheap , electronic ignition is a good plan heaters arent great but other then that they are great cars !

There's a couple zoom about near me too. They're 40 plus year old technology, but you can still get most bits for them running gear wise. Pintos are never going to touch todays MPG figures. Just need to keep an eye on the old tin worm situation, like most Fords of that era, they don't like a lot of salt.

They're massive fun! Only bad thing I can think of at the moment is that if you wanna remove the front things then you'll need to cut them off and weld them back on, rather than unbolt and bolt. Which can be a bit of a pain.

I see you're in Somerset, not far from me. Get one and we can drive around and be The Professionals, lol!

i ran mine as a daily and had nothing but fun, people constantly coming up to me to chat about capris, it was always reliable, i loved it, shes off road now so i can do a few repairs. if you get chance to own one do it before scene tax takes hold of them properly

I had a 1.6 Capri and a 3.0 Capri (both in Mk3 flavour) and used them both as everyday tools...!!! I loved them and I would really love another one day...

The one thing I would say about using them every single day is the fact that they're not getting any cheaper at the moment (and beyond of course!) meaning I'd start to get a little worried about nailing something on a daily basis that I know could be worth a fair few bob...!!!

I love these cars dearly but I fear that over the next few years they may start to get a bit silly price-wise as we have seen with the Mk1 and Mk2 Escort...

But, to go back to the originla question, I would happily use one of these on a daily basis. You just need to keep them serviced, keep them clean and just keep on smiling!

winters coming make sure the heater fan works or you will be scraping ice inside and outside from the screens.did two winters in mine,no heater freezing yes do it again yes.

Have to agree about the 1.6. One one of my first day's over ownership I was pretty gutted when my new sports coupe was outdragged by my girlfriend in her standard 60bhp 1.3 Mk4 Escort!
A 1600cc Capri really is dismally slow.

I use mine as a daily driver, though it is handy to have my wifes more modern polo for long trips as the mpg is not great as soon as you put your foot down.
I used to have a 1.6, then I put in a 2L pinto in it, the lower 1.6 axle gearing with the 2L made it feel much livelier than my current 2L so that could be a good future mod to your 1.6.
No problems with reliability, everything is simple and parts are generally cheap and still readily available from motorfactors.

Rust can be a problem but that is part of having an old daily driver.

They are not a fast point to point car as standard but massively fun handling and it is fun thrashing it everywhere.