Faults:

Melted fuel pump relay (£32 from Fords or £10 from a breakers yard).

Snapped rear tie arm (£52 from Fords).

Alternator failure (£36 local motorists shop).

Drivers door central locking failed (2 hours to locate and re-wire door looms).

Squeaky boot locking catch (2 minutes and 4 inches of electrical tape).

Worn front wheel bearings (yet to be replaced).

Track control arm bushing worn resulting in worn tread on the inside tire edge (bushings to be replaced with poly bushes).

Off side brake caliper sticking resulting in a warped brake disk and an annoying squeak and grinding noise when coming to a halt (Caliper replaced with a fully reconditioned unit £36 pounds and brake disks, both sides replaced with Ebc turbo groove disks and green stuff pads).

Finally turbo oil seals worn therefore blowing oil through the inlet manifold, greatly reducing power by about 40 bhp and loads of torque (turbo being replaced next week with an added -31 actuator).

General Comments:

The majority of these problems are general wear and tear, but some are due to the fact that the car is highly modified.

The car used to be a show/sound off car so it is in immaculate condition, and it still turns heads at 16 years old!!!

The car has had the following modifications; Piper cam, ported and polished head, Scorpion straight through 3 inch exhaust, Chipped ECU, running 1 bar/ 15psi of boost pressure, Pipercross induction filter, bleed valve, Samco silicon hoses, Turbo XS blow off valve (very load), Nomad Racing boost gauge, Ebc brakes, 90 spec interior, bumpers and spoiler, fully de-locked, smoothed bonnet, Antera 145 alloys, Clifford full closure alarm, Toad Power key transponder immobilizer. To cope with all the extra power adjustable Koni suspension had been fitted, this greatly improves handling and stance of the car, but the ride quality suffers as the ride is so firm.

I would recommend one of these flying machines to anyone who likes a real driving experience and loves attention! If this isn't what you are looking for in a car, then opt for a Ford Mondeo or similar.

Faults:

We discovered hesitation uphill was due to carburettor wear.

Thermostat seized open was replaced at time of purchase.

Besides rust on sills noticed at purchase we subsequently found through -metal corrosion on upper interior boot floor panel.

General Comments:

The OHV Popular 1300 model (basic) Escort is a wonderful buy at its 2003 price point of around £300.

It was conceived as a value buy for the eighties.. this value shines through ever more readily today.

I take severe issue with the worlds oldest mass manufacturer... the fact that they saw fit to produce and market a semi-sealed (V.V type) carburetor assisted motor WITHOUT FACTORY FITMENT OF AN INLINE FUEL FILTER speaks volumes why until only very recently they and their overall reputation were in such doldrums in the European market.

The Escort is a throwaway car today partly due to enormous cost in the replacement of the carb which must be done to a larger number of those traveling beyound 60000 miles... partly also because of the high level of rot that will pervade any poorly conceived and protected vehicle chassis such as the Escort has. It is an under-body design full of sludge traps.