Faults:

Driver's side wheel bearing.

Passengers side wheel bearing.

Wind screen wipers.

Front tyres.

General Comments:

Not the best looking car in the world.

Electric roof with heated glass window was good, but without the cover on, it would get in the way of the rear-view mirror.

Was very sporty feeling, with very nice bucket style seats.

Standard stereo was not too good.

Had bad scuttle shake on bumpy roads.

Engine is amazing; being a ZETEC it's very efficient.

Good boot space, and the rear seats fold for better space.

Would give Corsas and Saxos etc a good run for their money!.

Top speed I had was a little over 120mph.

Faults:

Throttle position sensor; caused the car to run like a bag of slugs, refuse to idle and cut out.

Anti-roll bar link arms.

General Comments:

Cheap summer thrills; I paid £300 for the car, it's in fairly tidy condition for its year, has lots of history. Has been resprayed (professionally) a few years back, so "two tone" Dash edition doors have been swapped for far less tacky looking solid Melina Blue.

Engine is a shocker, a relic of 70's technology, bought kicking and screaming into the 1990's and EEC compliant CFi setup, coupled with a catalytic convertor throttles all the tiny bit of power the engine has.

Has serious drinking problems, with both oil and petrol. Was struggling past 10MPG with throttle position sensor acting up, manages around 20MPG on a run now, however the engine is seriously shot, serious smoke and knocking. This has been due to neglect by previous owners, and NOT a fault of the engine. Burns around 1 pint of oil every 500 miles.

Performance is poor, 0-60 in around 20 seconds, however this again is due to the poorly engine! I've driven many of these with "good" engines, and the performance is just adequate, but ultimately it's a crude old 1400cc engine pulling an Escort.

The brakes feel sloppy, but are effective, the handling to be honest is poor, but no cabriolet from this time has good handling to be honest. Only a fool would buy a standard Escort for pin-sharp handling!

Bar the engine, (good engines can be sourced for £50, and half a day to swap,) which I will overlook, as this is not an inherent problem with the car itself, it's good cheap summer fun. Cheap to insure being a 1.4, and with favourable roadtax banding, makes it a winner.

She can still turn heads with the roof down, and for crawling around in, on hot summer days, she can't be beat!

Faults:

When I got the car, I noticed I was pulling left and right on acceleration and De-acceleration . Problem solved x2 bottom arms.

Engine over heated, thought it was head gasket, the garage told me that the head had cracked in several places. So I had all new top end of engine. Even now when have it at a constant motorway speed e.g. 70-80mph the temp creeps up to the red. So I feel that the head is going again or gasket.

Replaced shockers on front and x2 read bearings on back for MOT.

General Comments:

I've had a 1.8 diesel ford van before and it took it's time getting up to speed, but this 1.8 turbo diesel is quite good for performance. A bit slow pulling off until turbo kicks in (1500-2000rpm). You get used to it though. I like the car, but I'm not happy with the garage that did the repair on the head.

Faults:

Gearbox went just after I brought it.

Lower arms were worn.

Exhaust was loose.

General Comments:

This car is lovely to drive, comfortable, quick and looks great with the roof down.

Especially for a girl!