Faults:

Caught fire from Leaky Transmission fluid cooling lines (50 km after purchase)

Engine and Transmission replaced 7000 km after purchase (Transmission seals gone and Engine blowing oil)

Transmission seals gone again within 50000km and replaced transmission filling fluid with pieces of clutch.

Seals above drivers window leaking Water. Door locks on rear hatch and side doors no longer work.

Wiper transmission replaced twice and blade arm snapped off.

General Comments:

I suspect this was a lemon car.

It appears to have experienced an accident in its past and was forcibly passed onto the consumer via use of faked emissions and safety certificates.

When repaired, it was very peppy and handled well. But mine smelt of stale water and mud all its life.

In Canada. Refer to OMVIC and UVDA in Ontario when purchasing a used car and you are unhappy with your purchase.

By the Used Vehicle Info Package in advance, it will save you $$$.

Faults:

The real question should be, what didn't go wrong with this car.

The brakes went out, the motor had to be rebuilt, the transmission was replaced 7 times (no exaggeration, it had bad gas mileage, the motor never really ran right in the first place.

General Comments:

This car was the worst thing that I have ever had and I still have to pay off the loan for the motor to be rebuilt, and I don't even own the car anymore. If I could make an opinion about this car, I would say go foreign.

This car is really Fix Or Repair Daily!!

Faults:

First of all when I was driving the car home, after just buying it, I noticed that when I accelerated, the engine speed increased, but the car did not go any faster. So I knew even before I got it home that I would need to replace the clutch. This cost me 160 quid.

I also had to replace the driver side wishbone suspension arm which cost 16 quid.

I had to have the driver side seat brackets welded, as three of them had sheered off. This cost 30 pounds, which was worth it because the Recaros are very comfortable.

I've had to renew the fuel filter.

The car had problems starting and the battery would loose charge very quickly. I bought a reconditioned alternator, (which needed replacing anyway), but this did not solve the problem. Next I replaced the starter motor, which solved the problem for about two weeks, then it started to have trouble starting again. It's a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it starts first turn, and other times it won't start at all.

The body is starting to show its age, with rust in a few places.

Needs valve stem seals replacing.

Front heated windscreen has stopped working.

Rev. counter doesn't work properly.

General Comments:

The car is definitely a step up in performance from my last escort, which was a 1.4L, with a 0-60 of about 10.5 seconds.

The Recaro interior is very comfortable, and keeps you from moving in your seat when cornering fast.

I've lowered the suspension 60mm front and back and it now handles brilliantly. Will keep up with almost anything on twisty roads.

It suffers from wind noise at the doors at high speeds.

Fuel economy of the 1.6EFi is pretty good.