1991 Ford Escort LX review from UK and Ireland

Rust on the wheelarches, behind doors and on tailgate. Huge hole of rot on the inside below the driver-side a-pillar.

Blown engine at 86000 miles, probably big end bearings, sounded like a tractor, replace with modified EFI engine (needed special bracket to fit carb), which was quite rattly.

Rear wheel bearings a constant problem.

Blockage in carb meant car wouldn't start.

This car was not a patch on my previous Citroen BX 14RE.

The 1600 CVH engine is truly awful, being rough, unrefined, inflexible, sluggish and unreliable.

Seats seemed like they had been filled with cheap foam, hard and badly-shaped.

Poor build quality, centre console could be moved with the hand. Very cheap plastics. Excellent ergonomics and reasonable level of equipment (electric windows, central locking, tilt/slide sunroof, velour trim).

Supremely reliable electrics, nothing ever went wrong in that department.

Very hard ride on any surface, didn't like speed humps at all. Possibly the most unresponsive steering of any production car, with a massive 4.7 turns lock-to-lock, very vague steering and heavy at parking speeds due to the lack of power steering. Poor handling, couldn't take a corner at speed to save it's life. This is all down to a very poor suspension/steering setup. In fact I think all previous Escorts were better in this respect, but was all rectified in early '95.

Uncomfortable and unrefined, intrusive, groaning engine note at lower speeds, intrusive wind/road noise at higher speeds to the point where it was impossible to hold a conversation.