Faults:

Well this car has been pretty much maintenance free besides typical oil changes and tune ups. I have only had one expensive repair and one cheap repair.

80,570 miles: Oil sending unit went out. ($10 part)

132,042 miles: Head gasket blew. ($1,200 fix)

General Comments:

I like it.

That Mazda engine is pretty powerful, and manages to achieve 35 mpg.

I bought this car brand new, and it has served me well over the last 15 years. Only needing oil sending unit and a head gasket. The head gasket was my son's fault, he uses it whenever he goes to school, and he was racing with a Honda Civic; he won, but he kept driving it hard and the car basically heated up, and he didn't pull over until it got to red. I fixed it though, and it is still running fine.

YOU WANT ONE!

Faults:

Recall for power window track replacement.

General Comments:

The 1993 Ford Escort was one of the most reliable, trouble-free cars I have ever owned. As a station wagon, it had more room than much larger cars yet still delivered impressive gas mileage. (over 40 on long trips and 32-34 combined driving)

If I were to complain about anything with that car, it would be a weak heater and air conditioner. Neither system could handle our temperature extremes; however it was satisfactory between 22-80 degrees.

Reliability is what counts, I guess, and reliable is what the car was. I am a stickler for maintenance, and with that said, the car performed flawlessly with 2,500 mile oil changes, annual cooling system flushes, 15,000 mile tune-ups, and 25,000 mile transmission fluid/filter changes. Most of the maintenance I did myself.

Brakes were equally impressive although most of my driving is on rural highways. (64,000 on front brakes and 91,000 miles on rear brakes with mileage to spare!)

It was a fairly comfortable car to drive, and the seats were first-rate on long trips. The handling was superb, especially in the winter. Snow and ice never hampered that car, but then again, it came with Michelin tires.

Bottom line: If I still had the car today, I wouldn't regret owning it.

Faults:

I have had nothing wrong with this car.

General Comments:

I RUN THE LIVING (opposite of heaven) OUT OF THIS CAR. It takes a lot of abuse. From over revving to power shifting, gravel road rally to pavement drifts I can't seem to kill this car by at least keeping it on the road and keeping oil in it! Sure its slow, but it gets the best gas mileage I have ever seen and there is a lot of room for some extra ponies. I have easily gotten 40mpg with this car. The interior could be better, but this is a very good and reliable trip car for 2-3 people. I have found that after-market intake and exhaust can do wonders for this car.

Faults:

Timing belt broke at 128,000 Km (Last April). $50 part, installed myself.

Passenger side tire blew. In my location, they had to specially order the tire because of its small size.

Heater core blew last september. $120 part. Had to rip dashboard apart to install. Took six hours of labour. Done it at the dealership cost near $700 in the end.

Windows still fogged up despite heater core replaced. Suspect leak in truck seals because I left a book in the back and the book was noticably wet.

Car overheating. Suspected fan, replaced all fuses, not it. Flushed fluid. Checked plugs. Turns out it was the water pump.

Timing belt broke again, this time at 136,000 km (Last October). (Belts are supposed to be checked every three years) Discovered oil leak going into where the belt is located. Had water pump replaced when timing belt was replaced.

Car starts smoking in November. Still smoked today. White smoke coming from front drivers side of car. Coolant leak (suspected head gasket blown) onto a hot part of the engine. Goes through 2 litres a week of coolant.

Automatic switching of gears is becoming really rough. Checked fluid, it's okay. Didn't have a problem when driving residential, but on highways the car rattles and runs rough.

General Comments:

Noisy.

Parts hard to find.

Labour sucks because of the small engine size (takes longer than it should).

Good on gas.