Faults:

Front anti roll bar mounts.

CV boots.

Rear wheel bearing perished.

Loose front seats.

Central locking played up.

General Comments:

I have owned that car now for just a year, I'm very happy with it being a diesel its no the nippiest, but I did not buy it for that, the diesel engine has superb fuel economy its unbeatable. I can get 400 miles out of a tank easily, I run the car mostly on short journeys, but on the motorway it will quite happily sit at 2200 rpm in 5th at 70mph.

When I first bought the car there was a knocking noise coming form the front, with the front wheels off and poking around with a crow bar the anti roll bar was very lose. The rubbers were just £4 each from the ford dealer, the difficult bit was fitting them, the two bolts are very poorly positioned, but once done you can forget about them.

I bought the car in May 2002, K-Reg with 140,000 for £950, its coming up for its 150,000 anniversary soon and still chugging along, luckily the interior is not too worn. The drivers seat has a second adjuster for the tilt, but over time this has meant another thing to go wrong, but after I took the seat out and taped the runners in a bit it does not move as much.

The rear wheel bearing perished, it started with just a low sound above the road noise, but with the rear drum brake off it revealed that one of the balls had split, this did not brake that bank either at just £30.

I really enjoy the car, although the steering took a while of getting used to as it has no power steering, which does not affect normal driving, just parking really, I think it makes you park better as you get it right first time every time as you know that adjustments are not the easiest.

As fate would have it the worst problem was when I went on holiday when the central locking would not respond, being on holiday I could not really strip it all down, but luckily the boot is not included in the central locking circuit so locking the doors from the inside then climbing out the boot seemed to work. When I got home I took the drivers motor apart to find that one of the sliding contacts was a bit low so a simply raising it with a screw driver solved it.

Although I like the car the time has come when you want something faster, so I'm now looking at mondeos, but I'm going to make sure the escort goes to a good home.

Faults:

Brake pads and discs needed to be replaced at 89000 miles

Front bearings need replacement at 91000 miles.

General Comments:

Overall, the car is generally squeaky and rattly.

Not up to that standards of Japanese cars.

Eg my parents' 1990 Ford Laser (Australia, Mazda based) had 280000 Km (180000Miles) on it when they sold it (owned from new) and it wasn't as worn in areas such as gearshift, suspension, or brakes.

The ride is very comfortable and it cruises remarkable well at 80mph for a 1.3 but takes a while to get up to speed, which can be a little dangerous at times (my previous cars were quite powerful by comparison).

Rust also seems to be an issue, but that may be caused by the local environment.

Faults:

The fuse box had to be rewired at 60000 miles, caused by cracks in the circuit board.

Some paint has begun to peel on the off side door.

Standard alarm has just started to act up, though dead locks still work.

General Comments:

I would not describe the 105 version as a 'hot hatch'.

Bad brakes, handling, and nor enough power make for a very bland driving experience.

However the car does stand out from the escort pack (larger alloys do help though).

With a large interior, sport seating, and all the electric toys, the XR3i is a comfortable car.