1988 Ford Escort Wagon review from North America

The Harmonic balancer went bad and started rubbing on the engine block.

The water pump failed and had to be replaced (not a chore for the feint of heart due to the timing belt being involved)

I loved my Ford Escort, in spite of it being a little on the ugly side from a style perspective.

I purchased it in 1998, in Anchorage Alaska USA, for $1600. It ran just fine except for the problems noted in the "What things have gone wrong with the car" section.

My first winter with it we had -20 Fahrenheit for nearly a month and that little car was starting when even the brand new ones wouldn't, and I was jump-starting them!

I sold it to a neighbor who gave it to his grandson, it still comes back to visit on occasion although I suspect that living with a college kid is taking it's toll on it. But hey, I'm sure it has some amazing stories to tell about the experience too, haha.

I would own another of these in a heart beat, but it seems like you either get a good one that will live longer than you, or a bad one that is plagued with demons.

From a driver's stand point it was a decent compact car. I miss the standard transmission; having married a lovely lady who cannot for the life of her figure out the stick-shift I think I am forever banned from having one of those again. The car handled well, and it performed beautifully on snow and ice. Fuel economy was really great.

I think the only difficulty I had was that dang timing belt being such a difficult thing to work on/around, if not for that I never would have had to pay some other guy to work on it, it was that simple and nice of a car.