1995 Ford Escort Mistral review from UK and Ireland

Windscreen cracked right down the middle, although my own fault (bad idea using warm water on a frozen windscreen). Cost £125 to replace by local callout service (Auto-glass quoted £250!!) as it was not covered by Third Party Fire & Theft Insurance.

Starter motor died @ 54,000 miles (odd, because I have an invoice from previous owner showing start motor replaced at 51,000). Am kinda half waiting for it to die again, at which point I will get it investigated. Cost £75, fitted myself.

Has an annoying squeaking sound coming from what would appear to be the front brakes... only starts squeaking after 10-15 minutes into journey, almost as if it doesn't start until the brakes are warmed up a bit. A very light touch on the brake pedal makes it stop, but it will come back as soon as the pedal is released. Sharp braking will cause it stop and not come back for several seconds. Service history shows new pads at 50,000. More an annoyance more than anything... radio solves this. :o)

Nice to drive.

Looks quite nice as well (if that is your thing), with body coloured bumpers and rear spoiler.

Very comfortable for myself and passengers when bombing around town as well as on longer journeys.

Nice performance increase, having driven a Vauxhall Nova 1.2 previously. However, once the initial excitement of having a car with a bigger engine than I am used to wore off, I am starting to feel the limitations, particularly when accelerating at lower speeds.

Engine is quite harsh and noisy and vibrates quite a lot, causing the slightly plastic-y trim to rattle, especially around 40mph in 2nd & 60mph in 3rd. However, some significant power kicks in here and the car is capable of some good over-taking.