Faults:

The boot doesn't open.

The rear view mirror fell off.

The alarm has a mind of its own.

Changed a brake light.

New suspension bush required.

Rust built up on rear arches.

2 new front tires.

The handbrake (P) light shows indefinitely.

Plastic from interior trim broke.

Cigarette lighter launches like a projectile missile. Now doesn't work.

General Comments:

This car is the worst car I have ever owned.

It handles like a boat. The suspension is too soft, which is good for tackling speed bumps at high speeds, but bad for cornering.

The performance is dismal. It sounds like a washing machine in high revs. It does have a twin cam DOHC engine, which is an improvement on the SOHC on the Mark 4.

The reliability is average. I will give it some credit here for not leaving me stuck on the hard shoulder of the M25. Yet.

The interior is cheap. Parts of it are scattered around the inside of my car including the rear view mirror, which after several attempts to glue it back on, I have left on the back seat.

Exterior.. Thunderbirds are go! Who designed this car? Was it some kind of promotional competition I missed out on in the early 90s?

Ford were on drugs when they designed this car.

Avoid like the plague.

Faults:

Headlights go quite regularly.

General minor electrical problems such as rear wash/wipe stopped working, indicators broke.

Found the rear wheel barrings problematic, had to replace both during ownership.

General Comments:

Despite its age, this car never let me down. It looked rubbish, drove rubbish, sounded rubbish, but it's like a tank, never had a mechanical problem with the car. The engine provided good acceleration and power in lower gears, but lacked real bite from 50mph upwards.

Under its dour shell, my Escort always provided me with a reliable, reasonably quick and easy to drive car, which is exactly what I needed out of my first car.

Faults:

Well...the brakes, front strut, heater blower motor.

General Comments:

I love this car as I bought it dirt cheap. It is not a whole lot to look at, but gets helps me to get the pizzas to customers doors.

I only paid $300 for the car and it has exceeded my expectations.

Faults:

Replaced tie rod ends at around 150,000.

Overheated and had fan motor replaced at around 170,000.

At 187,000 started knocking extremely bad. car died on me. I am auto student at local community college. I pulled the head, found that valve seat on intake of #4cylinder had came out. had to replace seat and valve and also the piston. this did not fix the knocking! I am still investigating this. the timing is fine. there is oil on #4 cylinder. going to do manual oil pressure check and possibly take head back off.

General Comments:

Until recent problem the car has been great.

I am single mom going to school full time and the car was excellent on gas.

Handled well.

Sufficient power. I mean its not a v8 but it got me where I needed to go.