For those of you resident in the UK I cannot recommend enough Fast Ford & Classic Ford magazines which feature all sorts of useful information for people running any type of Ford old or new.

Another good source of information is old copies of Performance Ford, again difficult to get hold of. PF ran a G reg 2.9i XR4x4 between 1989 to about 1994 as a staff car so there were quite a few articles about mods that they made to it plus general running reports spread across many issues. There hasn't been many recent articles in PF worth mentioning and they seem to only cover mainly Cosworth's and RS' cars now. Issues of both magazines, with the relevant articles mentioned, to try and get hold of are :

Fast Ford

• Jun '85 - Sierra XR4x4 First Road Test
  
• Nov '85 - Quick Brew - TT230 XR4x4
  
• May '86 - Sierra 4x4 Ghia Estate Test
  
• Apr '88 - Sierra XR4x4 Test
  
• Dec '89 - Twin Turbo XR4x4 Test
  
• Feb '90 - 200 bhp XR4x4
  
• Apr '90 - Sierra XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Oct '90 - Sierra GLS 4x4 on Test
  
• Jul '92 - Six Drive - Tuning the Ford V6's Essex and Cologne
  
• Jul '92 - Minker v Cosworth - Shootout Between Minker Twin Turbo and Cosworth
  
• Jun '94 - Yellow Peril - 220 bhp Supercharged XR4x4
  
• Sep '94 - Sierra XR4x4 Tune Up - Upgrades for XR4x4
  
• Oct '94 - Bargain Boost - Twin Turbo XR4x4
  
• Dec '94 - Stealth Attack - 2.8i XR4x4
  
• Apr '95 - XR4x4 Fact File
  
• Jun '95 - Sierra XR4x4 2.0i Paramedic Ambulance
  
• Dec '95 - 2 Litre XR4x4 and XR4i Fact File
  
• Nov '96 - Creation - 200bhp Turbo XR4x4
  
• Jun' 97 - XR4x4 Buying Guide
  
• Oct '97 - Hidden Agenda - Supercharged XR4x4
  
• Mar '98 - Plymouth Barracuda - Race Style 400 bhp XR4x4
  
• Apr '98 - Supermarket Sweep - 200 bhp Turbo Ghia 4x4 Estate
  
• Dec '98 - 2.0 XR4i/XR4x4 Buying Guide
  
• Mar '99 - Happy Shopper - Cosworth Powered 440 bhp XR4x4
  
• May '99 - Fitting a Quickshift Kit to a Type 9 Gearbox
  
• May '99 - Falling Down - 600 bhp Twin Turbo'd 4x4 Sierra
  
• Jun '99 - XR24x4 - 24 Valve Cosworth 4x4 Sierra
  
• Mar '01 - Black Market - 2.9i XR4x4
  
• May '03 - 24v V6 Sierra Thrash
  
• Jun '03 - Modifying XR4x4
  
• Mar '07 - XR4x4 Buyers Guide
  
• Apr '07 - Blown XR4x4

Performance Ford

• Oct '87 - Trans-formed ! - Automatic Conversion for Ford 4WD Cars
  
• Nov '87 - The Power & The Glory - Power Engineering's Sprintex Supercharged XR4x4
  
• Jan '88 - On All Fours - Full Test of 1987 2.8i XR4x4
  
• Mar '88 - Agony Column Special - The Cologne V6
  
• Jul '88 - Four By Four By Turbo Technics - Full Test of TT230 XR4x4
  
• Jul '88 - A Pair Of Plus Fours - Test Between Supercharged and Turbocharged XR4x4's
  
• Aug '88 - French Leave - Le Mans and Back in a Supercharged XR4x4
  
• Apr '89 - Better By Four - Full Test of 1989 2.9i XR4x4
  
• Jun '89 - Carrying On & On & On - Full Test of Sierra Ghia 4x4 Estate
  
• Nov '89 - 4x4+2=Heightened Pleasures. Test Drive of Turbo Technics XR4x4 Twin Turbo
  
• Jan '90 - X Certificate - Full Test of Power Engineering Supercharged XR4x4
  
• Nov '90 - Quadrophenia ! - Four Different 4WD Sierra's Tested
  
• Feb '91 - Oselli's Graduate - 2.0i XR4x4
  
• Jul '93 - XR4x4 Update - History of PF's own XR4x4
  
• Dec '93 - Get Saving - Review of Power Engineering 3.7 Cologne Conversion
  
• Apr '94 - Sixty Things to do with an Old Sierra
  
• May '94 - Why I Drive A ... XR6
  
• Sep '94 - Gone But Not Forgotten - The XR Range
  
• Oct '94 - Buying Guide to the Sierra XR4x4
  
• Oct '94 - Get The Max ! - 3.7 XR4x4 Conversion
  
• Oct' 94 - An Ideal Estate - The TT230 Sierra Ghia 4x4 Estate
  
• Mar '95 - Exceptional XR Sierras
  
• Sep '03 - XR4x4 Buyers Guide
  
• Nov '07 - XR4x4 Buyers Guide
  

Other articles have appeared in the following issues of the magazines stated. This is not an exhaustive list but is something I will try and constantly update.

Fast Lane

• May '85 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Sep '85 - XR4x4 Tested
  
• Oct '85 - XR4x4 Janspeed Legato Tested
  
• Jan '87 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Nov '87 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Dec '87 - Pressure Point - Sprintex XR4x4
  
• Apr '90 - Power Engineering XR4x4
  
• Apr '91 - Minker 323
  

Performance Car

• May '85 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Jan '88 - Sprintex XR4x4
  
• Mar '89 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Aug '89 - Turbo Technics XR4x4
  
• May '90 - Power Engineering XR4x4
  
• Aug '90 - Minker K1
  
• Oct '90 - The Men Who Put The Technics Into Turbo - Minker
  
• May '91 - Dances With Wolves - Minker

Car

• Apr '85 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Aug '85 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• Feb '90 - Four By Four By Four Group Road Test including XR4x4
  

Autocar & Motor

• 09/03/85 - XR4x4 Driven
  
• 29/06/85 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• 04/06/86 - Sierra Ghia 4x4 Estate Road Test
  
• 24/01/87 - Sierra 4x4 Estate
  
• 05/03/88 - Petrol Test with an XR4x4 (Leaded/Unleaded)
  
• 19/03/88 - Group 4WD Test including XR4x4
  
• 30/03/88 - Sierra With Surge - Sprintex Supercharged XR4x4
  
• 25/01/89 - XR4x4 Road Test
  
• 21/02/90 - 2.0 XR4x4 Road Test
  
• 27/06/90 - Minker K1
  
• 08/08/90 - Serious Sierras including Minker K1
  
• 13/03/91 - Used XR4x4 Guide
  
• 11/12/91 - Buying 4WD Cars Second Hand including XR4x4
  
• 05/02/92 - Ford XR History including XR4x4
  

Other Magazines

• Revs - Mar '97 - Twin Turbo Terror - Twin Turbo Sierra 4x4 Estate
  
• Classic Car Weekly - 14/06/00 - Executive Toy - XR4x4 Buyers Guide
  
• Practical Classics - Jun '04 - Eighties Old School Sierra Buyers Guide
  
• Practical Performance Car - Nov '07 - Track Day For 2K - including XR4x4
  

Another definite has to be the Haynes Ford Sierra V6 1982 to 1991 Manual which covers XR4i, Ghia 4x4 Estate, 2.3 Ghia and XR4x4 (both 2.8i and 2.9i). The ISBN for this manual is 1859601766.

Other useful books are listed in the table below :

A limited production of cigarette style cards has also been produced depicting the XR range through the years, this includes a card of the Mark One XR4x4. These can normally be found either at car shows or autojumbles.