1997 Ford Escort Serenade (LX ish) from UK and Ireland - Comments

Exhaust manifold broke, causing the engine to stall at low revs. Probably my fault for having a heavy right foot anyway.

I love this car! I'm 17, passed my driving test a couple of months ago. I live about 40 miles from my college, so getting a car was essential, but I couldn't really afford what I wanted, so my dad gave me his (he walks to work now). Compared to all my mates' cars, this is incredible, with them driving old rusty 1.1 Fiestas, this is in a different world.

The car is very quick (feels it to me anyway) and corners beautifully, the power steering is very responsive and fairly light. Clutch needs only minimal effort; after driving this, I stalled my driving instructor's Polo constantly.

Down point was the stereo, a crappy little cassette thing. I'm a DJ, and really into my music, so I spent all my money on a decent system. I've got Kenwood 6x9's and 5's in the parcel shelf, Kenwood 4's in the doors, an 800W amp in the boot, with a poor excuse for a cheap generic 10" sub in the boot. I get my thud now!

Overall, an excellent car, Big up FORD!

Hey mate. Your review is spot on - I'm about the same age as you with a low mileage Escort 1.6 LX Zetec and they rule! Drives like a new car, it's so good! Anyway, let me know what stuff you decide to do to the car, exterior and mechanical modifications - here's my e-mail address - BernieLad@aol.com. Look forward to your reply! Cheers mate. Mark.

I'm also 17 and have just got a Escort 1.6 LX. It's an R reg and cost less than £2k. Where else would you get such great value. Now want to get GTi alloys with the money I saved.

I brought a serenade two years ago with exceptionaly low mileage (27000) with complete fsh, overall I am pleased with the car and the power, the auto transmission (ctx) is not responsive enough though unlike a normal auto box and apparently they don't last much past forty thousand miles and at nearly a £1000 a time could prove a very expensive item to replace

i have also had to replace the cat at £400 apparently that broke because of lack of mileage so the ford mechanic told me!

Right on man. I was 16 when I bought my 97 escort. It had just over 200k km. I have had few minor problems but overall it was an awesome first car. I'm selling it now (3 years later) to by buddy as his first car.

Has a bit of extra juice when you need it, rolls a bit, but all in all I have been impressed with my escort. I think the best part of my escort was that it was predictable... no surprises it always gave me back what I put in.