There is an unstoppable oil leak that should have made me think twice about buying this car.
My front end parts seem to have gone out all at once. That was probably from not getting the alignment done until later.
My CD player is glitching all the time.
The ride is as rough as it gets. "Sport" suspension is hard, but at least it pays dividends in cornering.
The seats are numbness-inducing after a few hundred kilometers, more so than usual.
The engine layout is awful, and even an oil change is an exciting and potentially scalding adventure.
The rear spoiler is just spoiling to rattle off the car all the time.
No sound insulation. Literally.
The high gearing makes this car zippy but not particularly economical, especially on the highway.
The air conditioning unit really decreases mileage and strains the engine.
Every part that wears out is impossible to find now, or if you can find it, said parts are expensive. The part that is causing the oil leak, an engine-oil cooler & the gasket that sticks it to the block, are absolutely unavailable to me.
The engine runs so cool that in wintertime it has no extra heat to go to the passenger compartment. NOT a winter car.
Now that I've let the air out of this car's sails, let me put some back in.
The engine is a gem, revving smoothly, running right up to the 7000 RPM redline as new. It accelerates with authority.
The rough suspension and hard seats make long trips a bit of a chore, but the cruise control helps, and it works fairly well.
The manual transmission is great, if a bit on the short side.
There is a lot more space than I expected to find in such a small car. The cargo area is capable of moving all of my stuff at once, with only minimal squeezing.
I bought the car with the oil leak, assuming I could fix it. Having found that I can't (3 silicone gaskets later), I'm resigned to the fact that I will own this cold but cool car for however long it takes until something really big breaks. It may take a very long time. At least I'll be getting good fuel economy while I own it. This car gets 400km per tank in town and 600km per tank on the open road.
"The engine runs so cool that in wintertime it has no extra heat to go to the passenger compartment."
Perhaps you are running with no thermostat, or at least one that is too cool. In any event, it is not good to consistently drive an engine without allowing it to get up to full operating temperature. I would investigate this.
The car does drive cool, but I don't think it's a thermostat problem. It warms up, but never enough to send any heat into the cabin, and sometimes not enough to the engine. The thermostat still works fine in the summer, turning on the fan when the temperature starts to creep up in the city. This is only a problem in highway driving at around -30ºC and below. It isn't until about -40ºC that the car can't drive around town and warm up. I just avoid using it in the winter.
1/11/2009-An update: I have been driving the car for a month now on battery power only. I wish that Ford had chosen more Mazda parts, because it didn't know much about service life when it made it's own small car parts. But the car keeps going with regular charging, so I can't really complain. The CD player is getting cranky, but my broken CV joint hasn't gotten any worse. It takes a lot to kill this car.
Hey! Gotta say I think this car is pretty fun. Decent fuel economy with taller tires on it. Timing belt broke with no damage to top end (valve clearance). Very cheap fix... I find some decent power above and around 4000 and smooth at speed with the new tires (120k all day). Power sunroof, cruise... as good as the VW GTI I once had.
4/03/2009 - I have sold the car, and somewhat regret it already. But if I get the chance, I'll find myself a Honda, not because they're a better car, but because they're laid out better in the engine compartment. Ford likes to complicate things (it is NOT a good idea to put the oil filter right above the cat, and it doesn't make it better if all of your vehicles share a flawed design), but the Mazda parts are all for the better. I never had a problem with the transmission, the engine, or the chassis. It just went when I needed it to.
Just bought a 1995 Escort GT for $500. Talked him down from $600. Never owned a car like this. My first car was a 1978 Toyota Celica GT, in HORRIBLE disrepair. I spent our entire time together dumping my wallet and ripping her apart. I'm currently selling my 1989 Mitsubishi Montero; spent the money it would take to fix it on the Escort GT. I'm crossing my fingers here. I don't know much about Fords, Escorts or the likes, but the consumer reviews seem OK, and the expert reviews seemed OK, and there seems to be a pretty big fan base for this car, so god willing, it passes inspection this week without too much and I can stop avoiding cops with my illegal truck. It's only a matter of time...
By the way, has anyone's horn stopped working? The guy I bought it from said this cars horn just suddenly stopped working. I read that it is a known problem that the the ground wire in the steering column is badly attached. Does anyone know what to look for? I'll take a look tomorrow when I pick it up.
Anyway, I test drove it and gave it some gas. It was HARD for me to not mat it to the floor. I had to keep a very light foot since it isn't legal yet either, hehe. But I gave it some juice. Pretty nice pickup for a car like that. I was impressed. Now to get used to the short shifter. I'm so used to my Montero's oar and full off clutch engage. Could have lots of fun in this car! I have to be careful.
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