Faults:
The main board on the steering wheel went up supposedly. I don't trust dealers though and that's what they claimed and charged me about $800.00. This board controls all of the accessories on the steering wheel; lights, wipers, cruise. The Second time I ever took it to a dealer and the last. These rip-offs replaced the nice adjustable intermittent wiper switch with a cheaper one that was not adjustable, and I didn't notice it until I was hundreds of miles away and could do nothing about it.
The only other thing that went out was the switch that won't let you start the car without the clutch. Luckily I had my mechanic with me and he hot-wired it, and the next day I installed a 2 dollar pushbutton switch below the dash that acted very nicely as an anti-theft device as well. By the way, when I had it at that dealership they nicely offered to fix that for me for $250.00. I said no thanks I fixed it for $2.50.
Other than that, and for all I know it might not even have been anything, but a fuse, nothing has ever had to be repaired on this car.
My only complaint has ever been that if the windows are opened even a crack when it's raining the water just pours right in. Unfortunately it's the same with the majority of new cars. I'm pretty sure that was the reason that this car although it had every option available, electric mirrors, moon-roof, the works, had manual windows. A minor issue all in all.
The timing belt does need to be replaced at 50k miles. At least the original does. I broke that one at 75k, but it did not damage the motor. That was my one other trip to a dealership. That lovely place charged me for 8 hours of labor to put the new belt on. Surprise, that'll be $800.00. The next four were done by my buddy and myself on the ground on our backs in roughly an hour. I didn't blame the car though because the manual said to change it and I thought (there I go doing that again) that can't be right. Well it was correct. Never had any more problem with that though.
General Comments:
My mechanic who hates Fords, has to eat his hat every time he asks how that little car is running and I tell him, like a top.
It has the original clutch, exhaust front to back, alternator, water pump, virtually everything aside from that one circuit board.
It's never had anything, but Mobil 1 oil and I changed that every once in a while. Sometimes 40k 50k between oil changes.
I traded my 5.0 Mustang in on this car and thought I was trading down. Little did I know that the top end was the same, and with the front wheel drive it handled ten times better. Not to mention stopping pretty quick with the four wheel discs.
The seating is roomier than my friend's 4-door Acura, front and back seats.
I love the automatic seat-belts. Although my girlfriend hates them.
My last trip across the country, I was getting 37 miles to the gallon. It was only rated at 31 highway when it was NEW, and that was with about 265 Thousand miles on her. I'm talking hard even brutal miles that I put every one of on.
Not one spot of rust on the car anywhere. It's lived in Virginia and Maryland through hundreds of snowstorms and here in Seattle in constant rain.
To close all I can say is I'm very glad I found another one to replace it.
I didn't know if it would make it back across the country and this time I had company, so I gave it to my mechanic buddy and bought a 94 he had, with the same engine, essentially the same car, for $1,000 dollars, and this one is like new compared to my worn out little scort, even with 130k on it. The new one got us here without a hiccup and it's running like a top. I never doubted it.
Aside from the few things I listed above, which I'm pretty sure the offensiveness could have been avoided by avoiding dealerships, this car has been amazing!
3rd Mar 2005, 10:32
OK. This escort is not the same top end as a 5.0 Mustang, since a 5.0 Mustang is a 5.0 L.V-8. Your Escort, on the other hand, is a 1.9 L. I-4. And if you paid $800 for a timing belt, you go to the worst dealership I have ever seen. It pays 3.5 hours labor. All told about $540 dollars. They probably charged you so much because they replaced the water pump to (It should be done).