With apologies to Zero...
1997 Ford Escort Ghia X hatchback 1.8 16v
Swapped outside of an auction site as seventh owner, June 2008, 80k miles, 10 years 8 months old.
PRICE £150.
Worry about the increasing likelihood of my no-history 122k mile Rover 418TD snapping its timing belt led me to look for a replacement. A quick perusal of online auctions threw up a chap 14 junctions up the motorway from me who had an Escort to get rid of as he needed an estate car to fit all his fishing gear in at the weekends. He told me he lived less than a mile from his work and didn't use the Escort in the week, but to be honest I was swayed by the prospect of owning a car with air conditioning more than anything. A quick meet outside a fast food restaurant halfway to sniff around each other's cars and the deal was done.
The Zetec engine is the second most powerful I have ever had in a car, and its low-end torque is so great that I wondered if there was something amiss with my previous diesel car. It will pull up a particularly arduous nearby hill at the 50mph limit in 5th gear with oomph to spare – unless the aircon is in use, then it loses only a mile per hour or two by the crest.
The ride is surprisingly smooth for such an old car, and seems more forgiving than that of my dad's 2003 C-Class on rough surfaces. However it does crash through potholes which the Merc damps well, betraying the Escort's near- 20-year-old roots . Dual carriageway and motorway
work is no problem for it, at 70mph it's very quiet, very relaxing with a smooth ride and again plenty of overtaking power in reserve.
The brakes are a bit naff to be honest and although it was advertised as having ABS there is no warning light or indeed wheel sensors nor ABS ECU.
It performed really well during the recent bad winter, and never got stuck or out of shape at all unless I was having fun on snowy roundabouts. The only time it needed a push to get going was halfway up the aforementioned hill, and then only because I had done my turn of getting out and pushing fellow motorists a few hundred yards uphill first.
Visiblity is good all round, with nice wide heated mirrors.
With respect to fuel, I'm getting 44mpg on motorways and 40mpg between here and nearby towns (I walk everywhere within my home town). This economy owes a lot to my current self-imposed economy-focused driving style.
Inside its not huge, but roomy enough. For a hatchback the load area is adequate, although I have removed the rather heavy parcel shelf as an aid to fuel economy. The drivers seat electric height adjust still works, although the lumbar control broke with a “bang” a good year ago. The seats are not overly comfortable and give me aching legs after more than an hour's driving. The dash is tacky, ill-fitting plastic wood with white instruments. The 12v socket is located in the pull-out ashtray, which is an annoyance as the ashtray light still works and shines at you in the dark when listening to mp3s. All the controls you need are there and to hand, and there are plenty of them with a heated front screen, front fog lights and electric windows and mirrors. Leave the engine running, open a door, and the car emits an ear-piercing beep from the incorrectly wired lights-on buzzer. The headlights are really low tech H4s, but
fitted with Halfords 50%+ the lights on dip beam are simply superb, the best H4s I have ever had. The spread of light on main beam is really well designed too, and puts many much newer cars to shame.
Everything is really poorly screwed together, lots of it squeaks and rattles, and its a regular task to work on it for one thing or another. It's straightforward to service with lots of room in the engine bay, Its now done 106k, the tyres are now all part-worns with 5 or 6mm remaining and when I changed a driveshaft at the weekend the brake pads (which came with the car) still looked at almost new thickness.
The heater is adequate after a few miles' driving and will almost take the frost off your fingers. The aircon isn't 100%, certainly not as good as that in my old company 406 was, but still cools everyone enough on a blazing sunny day.
Issues? The heater blower fan resistor pack is located directly beneath the windscreen wipers so it stays wet, the connectors rust and frequently short out, something which no amount of vaseline seems to cure. The paintwork is a lovely lustrous metallic across most of the car, although the front bumper has a 12” vertical crack under the offside indicator and both bumpers scratch through the paint to the black plastic very easily when parking by braille.
All in all, I am pretty well pleased with it. Its pleasant to drive and own. It does all you want in a
simple and relaxed manner, has plenty of poke when you need to get a wriggle on, takes 4 people and a week's luggage to the seaside, as well as 6 foot christmas trees to the tip, and is TRULY the second hand bargain of the century.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Wed 21 Apr 10 at 18:26
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Ford Escort - used car review new