1988 Ford Escort LX 1.4 review from UK and Ireland

Bought this in a hurry after my Golf MkII was written off by a drunk driver. A mistake.

Had a catalogue of failures from major ones like a core plug on the engine corroding through at 2.5 years old through to losing wheel hub caps whenever it went over a bump.

Dealer service expensive and the 1.4CVH (Constant Vibration & Harshness) engine needed a new cambelt every 22500 miles.

Rubbing strips peeled off door, rust spots appeared under bonnet etc.

The CVH engine was supposed to be "lean burn" but it could not do more than 42mpg on a good day and mostly hovered around 40 even driving gently on the motorway.

Engine was very harsh, especially under acceleration and not very quiet.

Interior plastics wore badly and rapidly developed lots of scratches.

Handling was OK, but the car needed constant adjustment of the steering wheel to keep on track. Also unstable in side winds and easily pushed off line. Not a very relaxing car to drive.

On the plus side, it was reasonably fast in a straight line, but that's the only good point I can think of.

Car had no personality and I was glad to get rid of it after 18 months as soon as I could afford something better.