1995 Ford Escort LX review from Mexico

One engine mount broke and did a "clunk" when accelerating, but it was fixed.

This was the fully equipped model in hatchback type.

I had an accident with this car, the tail was quite light and in a rainy day, not going too fast it just over-steered -loosed control- and it ended in an strong crash. The car had frontal damage, not too strong for that accident -I went against the road wall and bumped three lanes from the high speed one to the lowest one. The carter broke and many things had to be changed, but the engine and general structure of the car weren't really hurt. It was perfectly fixed by the dealer, and I still had it for some time more. It worked so well that someone from my family bought it from me -knowing about the accident.

The performance was absolutely dull. The engine was quite noisy and if you wanted highway speeds, you needed to rev at more than 4000rpm. The automatic transmission was fine for normal daily use, but too jumpy, it down-shifted very easily in order to give more acceleration, you had to learn how to accelerate to have an smooth linear acceleration without all the down-shifting. Handling wasn't good -as I mentioned before- as weight distribution was badly designed in this car, the front was too heavy and the back too light, so grip from back was insecure. If you drive extremely carefully, very slowly, and you don't give a damn for performance, this is a reliable, and durable car, quite comfy for its size.

For that engine displacement, the amount of horsepowers could have been many more. If I remember well, it had 98hp, too few for almost 2.0 liters, even at the time.