Faults:

Worn front lower wishbones.

New battery, as previous had come to the end of its life.

New front brake discs and pads due to excessive wear.

General Comments:

Very quick for a naturally aspirated engine.

Handles very taught and confident.

Interior is typically classy with recaro seats and swooping dash..

This production year, yields more refinements that previous incarnations.

Faults:

Alarm

Ball joint.

General Comments:

A good all round mile eater which wasn't caused me any major problems.

Faults:

Driver's side electric window has stopped working.

No other faults :-)

General Comments:

For a diesel car it is no slouch and rarely sluggish, and it also holds its own against petrol cars I've driven for my company. Acceleration right through the gears is very good, and cruising at 50mph in 5th and then slightly giving the engine some juice brings a reassuring whistle from the turbo and a nice increase in speed. Very cheap runner, easily around the 45-50 mpg for me and I'm hardly a slow driver.

Faults:

Rear wheel-arches on both sides are rusting from the inside outward (all the spot welds in the wheel-arch flange are expanding as they rust away!)

Virtually all of the elements in the heated front screen are no longer work.

Nothing has hone wrong mechanically!

General Comments:

Car was a one owner, known history vehicle before being acquired from our in-laws. Always garaged, always serviced, never been in an accident. (Replaced a 1990 Escort cabriolet we'd had from new, that had 65,000 miles, with no rust). Holes appeared in the OS rear wheel-arch of the newer car some months before the 6 year corrosion warranty expired. That area was repaired by Ford dealer, but the underlying cause was not (bare metal joint between inner and outer whee-larch) ; the rest of that wheel arch and the near side one are now quite merrily rusting away. Ford have no interest. Built in Halewood with care, by the same people who now build the Jaguar X type?

Ludicrous instrument pack; who needs a line drawing of a car on an instrument pack (saves the cost of a tachometer presumably)

A cheap car to run, but check the wheel-arches very carefully before buying

Faults:

Seal around sunroof leaked £100 to get fixed.

Catalytic convertor craked after 37000 miles. Expensive to replace.

Minor electrical problem with earth-wire for rear fog light.

General Comments:

Nice car got it when I was 18 and performs well with cheapish insurance.

Well equipped with electric windows, and a fronted heat windscreen (real bonus in the winter)!!!

Nice comfortable cabin with easily laid out dashboard.

Faults:

Battery cut out whilst driving, and had to be later replaced.

Rear wiper only works when it wants to.

Rear doors creak when opening and closing.

Heated rear screen is either very slow or doesn't work.

General Comments:

This is such a good value car, much bigger and more comfortable than most other cars available at the same price.

The final generation escort is a huge improvement on the early 90's examples, and looks and feels much more like a real car.

The front seats are excellent and really comfortable.

However, the rear seats are very hard.

The car has no power steering, but it is still light and has a lot of 'feel'.

All controls are chunky and comfortable, and very easy to use.

Fuel economy is excellent, because the engine is so small - the fact that it's a big, heavy car doesn't seem to affect this.

Faults:

Front left bushes have worn, very easy to replace.

ABS sensors get dirty very quickly on the front and rear of the car causing the ABS light to come on, easily cleaned.

General Comments:

Fantastic car, I chose the 2wd over the 4wd for performance. Not a cossie killer, but can hold its own against others. The 2.0 16v I4 engine is very well built and very responsive. A real drivers car handles corners very well.

Spot on, just enough power for todays roads.