1989 Ford Escort Pony from North America
Summary:
A waste of materials!
Faults:
The performance of this car brings back very bad memories for me. Many a time I've been stranded without warning by this Ford Escort.
The car ran well the first year.
During the second year, the module attached to the distributor went bad.
The end of the second year is when things really got to be a problem. Starter motor, motor mounts, wheel bearings, leaks, along with all the regular maintenance, recalled exhaust converter.
The third year, the blower motor for the A/C went out. The dashboard started cracking, and would you believe, the car's stereo speakers disintegrated; rotted out.
I honestly had to check under the hood every day to stay on top of things coming apart by themselves.
Some how, unknown to me, the blower motor was glued into the dashboard. For some reason, I found out all these years later, the A/C was not installed at the factory, but at the dealer. Ford service simply said that it would cost more than the car was worth to take apart the dashboard to get to the glued in blower motor, etc. For the next two years, I roasted a golden brown during the blistering summers. Perfectly working compressor, but blower motor burnt out.
There were other minor things like windshield wiper motor, dashboard bulbs, etc.
Now that I'm really reflecting on things, I practically replaced everything on that car, it was so bad. I couldn't sell it because my payments were for five years. It was really no good after the start of the third year.
Finally, during the middle of the fifth year, after I had done a total brake job with new master cylinder, the transmission started slipping and eventually didn't do anything anymore. I told them to take it away, and what a relief and a blessing that was, because it was killing me money wise.
I have very few regrets in my life so far, but buying that new 1989 Ford Escort was the biggest mistake I could have made. It was at a time in my life when I needed a dependable car for school, work, and it did not work out that way. Really thinking about it, it altered my course in life into a direction I was not able to recover after the financial ruin over this Escort. I really needed that car for school, but it was some junk Ford put together, knowing it was no good to begin with.
Yes, a regrettable purchase that altered my life course. Some things you can't recover because the opportunity or time has passed, and that's what the Ford Escort did to me. Caused me to miss opportunities and unable to recapture them. Unreliable junk!
General Comments:
Ford Escort, it should of been named Ford Alone! Because that's where you'll be, Alone and broke down!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 21st September, 2010
21st Feb 2011, 15:28
I have an 89 Pony, and I love it! Nestled safely between the complex fuel injection systems of today, and the unreliability of carburators is a simple throttle body injection system that starts up in any weather. I have had to do some repairs, but this car is so easy to work on, and because of the mass production of parts and cross compatibility with other Ford models, parts are extremely cheap. The work I have done includes new wheel bearings, rebuilt distributor, and timing belt, and nothing cost more than 50 bucks! I know from experience that you can't do any of that on a ZX2 without breaking the bank. This is easily a 4 star automobile!
22nd Sep 2010, 23:59
Try a '97 or newer Escort. Or better yet, the 2-door ZX2 model. It is quite sporty and can usually be found at a very fair and affordable price. I've driven the versatile Escort station wagon 1998, the 4-door Escort and its twin, the Mercury Tracer, and the 5-speed ZX2. The ZX2 is very sporty and reliable. My friend owns a rental company and he was still renting these things out with anywhere from 60 to 100k miles and he had minimal problems with any of them.