1989 Ford Escort LX Wagon review from North America

The car's seats in the front leaned in, and cause the driver to sit in a fetal position. Very uncomfortable.

The hatch latch rusted open, so we couldn't close it.

The manual transmission was so worn you had to guess where a gear was.

The front CV joints and bearings went out twice.

Great car for economy. It took forever to get to 110 km/h, and then another eternity to get to 120 km/h, but you could go for 600 kilometers without filling the minuscule tank.

The engine was bulletproof. I don't think more than 60 or 70 of it's claimed ponies were ever working at one time.

The rear wiper, like that on most vehicles, was a disgrace, but always worked.

I put the car into a ditch going about 100 km/h (62 mph) and though I bent a few things such as the front CV joints, it was our daily driver for another 6 months, until it started spewing ball bearings from the front all over the road. It gave us plenty of warning.

The heater was pathetic. It was unable to cope with anything below -20°C. There was no A/C on our car, which I count as a blessing.

The seats were terribly uncomfortable. The front seats broke on the inward side, and forced you into a hunchback, driving stance. The rear seats showed their plastic-bucket construction even more plainly, and forced you into that same position.

The cargo room was incredible, and we used all of it many times, overloading the car by 500 pounds, one time. It always carried through, though the steering gets light with five people in the car (there are only belts for four).

We bought the car for $850, and I think that we got all of that, and more, out of it.