1993 Ford Escort Dash Cabriolet review from UK and Ireland

Throttle position sensor; caused the car to run like a bag of slugs, refuse to idle and cut out.

Anti-roll bar link arms.

Cheap summer thrills; I paid £300 for the car, it's in fairly tidy condition for its year, has lots of history. Has been resprayed (professionally) a few years back, so "two tone" Dash edition doors have been swapped for far less tacky looking solid Melina Blue.

Engine is a shocker, a relic of 70's technology, bought kicking and screaming into the 1990's and EEC compliant CFi setup, coupled with a catalytic convertor throttles all the tiny bit of power the engine has.

Has serious drinking problems, with both oil and petrol. Was struggling past 10MPG with throttle position sensor acting up, manages around 20MPG on a run now, however the engine is seriously shot, serious smoke and knocking. This has been due to neglect by previous owners, and NOT a fault of the engine. Burns around 1 pint of oil every 500 miles.

Performance is poor, 0-60 in around 20 seconds, however this again is due to the poorly engine! I've driven many of these with "good" engines, and the performance is just adequate, but ultimately it's a crude old 1400cc engine pulling an Escort.

The brakes feel sloppy, but are effective, the handling to be honest is poor, but no cabriolet from this time has good handling to be honest. Only a fool would buy a standard Escort for pin-sharp handling!

Bar the engine, (good engines can be sourced for £50, and half a day to swap,) which I will overlook, as this is not an inherent problem with the car itself, it's good cheap summer fun. Cheap to insure being a 1.4, and with favourable roadtax banding, makes it a winner.

She can still turn heads with the roof down, and for crawling around in, on hot summer days, she can't be beat!