Faults:

Don't ever buy one of these pieces of junk!

The serpentine belt blew out, got that fixed.

The pipe that ran the antifreeze rusted out, which resulted in having to have the head re-machined.

The timing belt was replaced twice, and an axle tonge cracked and basically fell off.

The brakes failed less than a year after being completely redone.

The airbag light came on.

When I took it in to have the brakes fixed, the mechanic said it belched out black smoke from the passenger-side of the hood, and that the head had blown (again), the timing belt needed to be replaced (for a third time), that the frame had completely rotted out and that I would be better to junk it.

I paid $2995 for it, kept up all the maintenance, and put over $3,500 worth of work into it... I got less than 12,000 miles out of it before it took a dump. What a waste; I could have leased a car for that much.

This car was off the road more than it was on for the 15 months I owned it.

Faults:

I had to have the tires replaced about a month after I bought the car.

The oil pan had a leak.

The CV joints are going.

The gears grind on occasion, and sometimes will not go into reverse.

General Comments:

It's a 1999 Ford Escort Zx2 (manual). This is a great car. Its my first, and at 16, it's very reliable and decent on gas.

However, if I run anything over about 65 mph, it revs really high (like 3200-3500 rpm), and if I run anywhere between 75 and 83 mph, it's anywhere from 3600 to 3800 rpm. Is this normal?

Faults:

Transmission problems at 135,000. Reverse went out and wondering if it will be worth putting in a rebuilt transmission... until this point I only changed out the serpentine, idler, roller bearing, and the alternator... it has been a good car.

Faults:

The idle control has went bad on the car. That's about it.

General Comments:

I think that my Ford Escort is a good running car. It makes a lot of strange sounds, but it never broke down. It needs idle pulley and other little stuff. Other than that, it's good running.

Faults:

So far nothing significantly has gone wrong.

General Comments:

This limited edition of the ZX2 has a firmer suspension besides a lowered stance thanks to tuned Tokico struts and Eibach coil springs. With the addition of a larger rear sway bar (21mm) to replace the stock much smaller bar, and a high performance tire setup (I have Goodyear F1 GS-D3's), this front engined car handles exceptionally well with hardly any under-steer or "push" as you'd normally expect on a FWD vehicle.

Faults:

Lots of things have needed replacing prematurely and/or multiple times. Engine and transmission mounts (car vibrated very badly, fixed then started vibrating again), brakes pads and rotors, tie rods, rear struts and springs, automatic transmission started to slip.

General Comments:

I gave my mother my previous 1994 Escort to use as a trade-in so I could "move up" to a newer car, her 1999 Escort SE. She had a few problems with it every year, so I should have seen the warning signs.

The older (1991 to 1996 Escorts) were the BEST. I had a 1994 Escort LX 4-door hatchback with a 1.9 liter engine and a 5 speed manual transmission. Roomy, comfortable, reliable and good on gas. Nice looking car too. But, mine didn't have air conditioning.

My mother got this 1999 Escort when it was six months old. Maybe it was abused or just a lemon to begin with. Bland looking, not very versatile (sedan vs hatchback) and such a money pit! Both my mother and I both drove this car very gently and I did a lot of highway driving.

When I got this 1999 Escort, it had about half the mileage my 1994 Escort had. The 1994 had hardly anything that every needed replacing. But not the 1999. I went from a good car to a bad car. I was always fixing things. About $2000 per year. And I was still driving an old car (7 years old at the time I traded it in on a new Toyota Matrix). I figured if I'm going to spend that kind of money on a car, might as well be on monthly payments on a nice, new, reliable one!

I briefly considered looking for a low mileage 1994-96 4-door Escort hatchback or wagon. If a new car is not in your budget, that's what I would do. The 1997 and up Escorts were not as good. Several other people have agreed with me on this.