1999 Ford Escort ZX2 2.0 from North America

Summary:

Cheap man's Acura RSX for 12K

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Peppy engine.

Reliable (mine is a manual).

Turns quickly.

Engine a little noisy.

After break in, 30+mpg in town, 36-38mpg highway

Doesn't use oil.

Nice looking.

Premium sound with CD is pretty good.

Good snow traction.

0-60, 7.4 - 7.8 (according to magazines).

Very cheap to buy and maintain if you buy a stick shift model, and drive fairly normally and don't make modifications to the car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 24th September, 2001

1999 Ford Escort ZX2 2.0 from North America

Summary:

Piece of crap ZX2 - transmission failure 5 times on a brand new 1999

Faults:

Where do I start -- This car was the biggest piece of crap I ever had in my life.. One mistake I will never make again = I got the car brand new - It looked pretty nice for the money. However it cost me over 10 grand in repairs.

I had my transmission fall out at 2 thousand miles. That was the first one. I got it fixed and did not think much of it.

I had a stereo system, rims, lowered it and had ground effects put on. Then my transmission went again - they voided my warranty and refused to fix the car for free cause of the aftermarket parts on my car. I paid to fix it cause they said that because of the 17 inch rims on my car, it put stress on my transmission and because of my stereo system being wired into the computer, it sent bad signals to the transmission causing the failure.. I had it fixed and it broke again - in fact it broke 4 more times. The last time they left it in a box in my trunk and I got the car towed back to my house with my parents fuming.

I wanted to sue Ford for negligence and not fixing it right. They were rebuilding it and everytime they rebuilt it, my car was out of service for a week if not longer cause they took their time. So I went for a long time without the car out of a one year period, and I almost died each time my car failed on me. I drove home in reverse one time, and drove home on L low gear another.

I finally went with my family to the dealership, they told us lots of crap, then they finally said listen, we will take the car back in a trade in and give you an extra 5 thousand dollar credit because of all your problems.

I still took a huge loss in the car and in order to get it, I would have to go to court. So I settled with the extra 5 grand. However, the 5 grand had to be put towards another Ford. I put it on a 2000 Ford Taurus which is the best car I have ever driven. It has 205 horse power and leather, and is very comfortable. I'm happy with the car I have now, however feel I deserve some kind of payment for my loss on the piece of crap ZX2..

If there have been any class action lawsuits against Ford I would like someone to contact me on this matter at my email address ROCCRAZYZ@aol.com

General Comments:

Don't ever BUY A FORD ESCORT -- the biggest piece of crap.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 27th August, 2001

29th Aug 2001, 13:28

My sister has had the same transmission problems with her 2000 ZX2. It has been in the shop several times for transmission repair, once it completely went out on her in traffic while she was driving to work at 4:30am... not a very reliable car thanks to the transmission, everything else about the car is great though.

1999 Ford Escort ZX2 Sport Coupe 2.0 DOHC Zetec from North America

Summary:

This car can roll with the big boys!

Faults:

Front brakes mostly, I've had some work done on the transmission when it was shifting weird.

General Comments:

I love this car, it can roll with almost anything out there, it's so quick it's unreal for a 4 cylinder automatic.

I'm often scared of the transmission, it has these real bad spells where it doesn't want to act right, I've had it worked on several times and the guys at Ford act like I'm making this up! Why would I want to sit there for 45 minutes waiting to have my car looked at if I didn't think something was wrong with it.

Besides that it's the best car I've ever had, it beats that 1988 Camry to death in every way, that car was a nightmare on wheels.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th July, 2001