Faults:

Alternator and radiator hose leak.

Dashboard recently cracked from sun/heat exposure.

A/C stopped working.

General Comments:

Yes, I am writing this review in 2010 on a car that for all intents and purposes is a 20 year old car. The car has just over 100,000 miles on it. I beat the hell out of this car because it is extremely fun to drive. I used to have a 1988 Mustang GT 5.0 HO about 10 years ago, and this car is just as fun, if not a little more fun to drive. It's a little snot rocket. I haven't done anything to the car other than to add brakes, rotors, alternator, etc routine maintenance. Would recommend it to anyone. As long as you keep changing the oil every three months or 3,000 miles, you can beat this car into the ground.

Steering and handling is very balanced. The acceleration at top end of RPM is pretty fast. Low torque of course, but good torque at high end. Braking is good and the rear has independent rear suspension. Yes on this car. Seats are somewhat comfortable and the suspension overall is good for sport style.

Faults:

Starter motor.

Ignition switch safety.

Wheel bearing.

CV joint.

Alternator (kept blowing these, which is why I scrapped it).

Wipers (still worked randomly by themselves).

Brakes (front right still worked).

Rings (clouds of smoke on hard acceleration).

Rear springs.

Struts.

General Comments:

Depending on you're idea of reliability, this car could be either very reliable, or a piece of crap. It started for me in the very first few seconds of cranking it over. This was the only feature of the car that actually worked like it was supposed to. The starter control box broke, and was replaced by a toggle switch to save hundreds of dollars.

The problem is, the things that did work, didn't work like they were supposed to. The fan speeds consisted of off-lo-med-low; not very nice on hot or cold days. The wipers worked sometimes, sometimes they'd just randomly start wiping. The fuel gauge sort of works, it would read full or empty, and empty was truly empty. The radio stopped working, so I replaced it and this is the only electrical bit to work like it was supposed to.

Driving this car was no treat either. Loud on the highway, crashing over bumps, and overall obviously cheap in every way imaginable. This car was SLOW to say the least, but at least it returned with good gas mileage.. j/k I averaged 18-22 mpg, unacceptable for such a tiny, slow car. It also ate oil, about a quart/100 miles highway quart/50 miles city.

The best part of this car is the low price of replacement parts. The Escort has some of the lowest priced parts of any car out there, which you will quickly learn to appreciate, considering the speed at which it devours them.

Faults:

Exterior - drivers side door lock, hatch lock, hatch struts, left headlight bulb.

Interior - gas gauge and speedo lights dim, passenger side window.

General Comments:

Have had the car for about a month, paid only 900 bucks for it and it seems like a good buy. Has power steering, mirrors and locks and an aftermarket old school Sony cassette.

It rides great, handles good, seems good on gas and is pretty quiet inside, though it is noisy at idle.

It does start every time and likes the freeway - just hope I can get 200k out of it.

Faults:

Rust. As is well known, Ford cars suffer badly with the dreaded tinworm, and this Mk5 Escort Encore is no exception. When I acquired it, there was already the usual rust in the rear wheel arches, but this has since spread. The NS rear sill has recently rusted right through, which will result in a definite MOT failure next March. Also at the last MOT, I had to have the bottom of the OS front wing plated, as it had rusted right through, resulting in the wing becoming detached from the body. The NS wing looks as if it could suffer the same fate, as there is corrosion there too. The car is 18 years old so I expect some rust, but I'm disappointed with the poor rust resistance of my Escort, especially the rapid rusting that seems to have occurred recently.

Lower Suspension Arms. Another weak point on the Escort, I had to have these replaced at the last MOT.

The rubber bushes in them wear rapidly, and also I had to replace a rear shock absorber that had collapsed and was leaking fluid at the last MOT too.

Rear Wheel Bearings. These are quite prone to failure on Escort and Fiestas, and in just over a year I've had to replace 2 sets. Once again I'm getting that telltale whine, so it looks like third time lucky.

This time I will replace them with genuine Ford bearings, in the hope that these last longer.

Clearly some aftermarket bearings aren't up to the job.

General Comments:

I have previously submitted a favourable review of this car when I acquired it from my Dad in 2005, when it had a genuine 23400 miles on the clock.

It was in very good condition back then, although even then it was 14 years old and had some rust in the o/s rear wheel arch.

It has now covered 60500 miles from new, still not a vast mileage for an 18 year old car.

However, during the last year it has become very unreliable, with the problems described above.

Whether I'll scrap after the next MOT is due remains to be seen. I would have edited my original review, but it seems this is not possible, hence this new one.

There have also been some minor electrical problems with this car, so despite it being quite trouble free for the 1st 2 or 3 years of ownership just lately it has become very troublesome and there's no way I'd buy another Escort.

If I did buy another Ford, I'd consider a Focus since these apparently suffer less with the usual Ford problems of rust and suspension wear.

The Encore was a limited edition model which was basically Ghia spec, with a custom shade of metallic blue, sunroof, central locking, tinted glass and electronic alarm/immobiliser. Alloy wheels, a car phone and even an in car CD player were also available as extra cost options - quite impressive for 1991.

Sadly, the problems I've had recently make me never want to own another Escort ever again.

Even allowing for the age of the car, the level of rust and mechanical problems I've experienced are a major disappointment for a car that's been well-maintained and kept in a garage, and which has still only covered barely 60000 miles.