1997 Ford Escort from North America - Comments

Nothing went particularly wrong with this car, aside from necessary maintenance issues, until it died. Suspension is cheap on this model. Had to replace ball joints, and all the struts were almost useless when the car died. I had to replace an oxygen sensor 5000 miles after I bought it, and the previous owner had replaced it 20000 before I got it, so it seemed to burn through these. Ran fantastic until it started misfiring. Changed the spark plugs, and it seemed to run fine, but started misfiring again and blew the engine apart, stranding me in the middle of nowhere. This all happened in a 1 week span.

Started ridiculously well, even when it was -10F and the battery was half dead. Pretty cheap to run. Not a huge amount of power, but that was great for me because I just wanted a cheap ride. Worked well on the freeway at 80-85 mph. I wasn't a big fan of the cloth seats; they were a little cheap. Overall I was very pleased, but a complete and sudden engine failure at 140000 miles seems a little premature. I'm not buying another escort unless it's a dirt cheap beater.

1.9 was a better engine, but they still had troubles. Like valve seats letting loose and ruining head and piston. Luckily I had a parts car; found and got a head and left piston in there.

I had to replace the O2 sensor on mine as well, and can agree with nearly all your statements on this little workhorse - especially the cold-morning starts. I live in upstate NY and I've never had a problem with it starting up - even on the one morning I had to be out early and it was -18. I'm hoping the 140K mile explosion is an isolated incident, though as mine is at 120K.

As a vegetarian and animal rights supporter, I like the non-leather seats, though and don't see them as cheap.

I agree on the suspension. I had to replace the rear springs on my car at (I think, but am not sure) 75,000 miles. The steel spring had actually snapped on both sides. Even still, before I found out about the broken springs, my car carried a 450 to 500 lb cargo load like it was nothing.

I'd definitely buy another Escort. I love my car.