Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-95
I got my Ford Escort ZX2 exactly one year ago. I change the oil in it every 3000 miles, and take very good care of it. But since I bought my car, I have invested almost 2500 dollars into fixing it. Some of the problems is the car shakes when it is stopped, the water pump went out, the idler pulley, the head gasket, and the car doesn't even have 100,000 miles on it. I will never again buy a Ford; my boyfriend tried explaining to me that it was junk, and next time I will listen.
Alright, I don't know what you all do to your cars, but I have a 98 Ford Escort ZX2 manual transmission and I love it.
I put synthetic oil in it every 5000, and I have owned it for a year, and only have had to fix the radiator. It isn't top quality, but it's not a piece of crap. You just have to apparently know how to drive.
I worked on cars for 2 years, and I know what cars are crap, and this car, is not. You just can't drive it into the ground, but no one said it was meant for that.
I bought a 2000 ZX2 2 weeks ago. 83k miles, 5sp As soon as I got it home I changed the air filter, serpentine belt, spark plugs, oil and filter, and checked the timing belt. Besides a slight vibration at idle I have had no problems with this car. Although I've only owned it a couple weeks and problems could still arise I do not for-see anything besides normal wear and tear items. If you buy any used car you are going to have to realize that someone else took care of it and there may be some problems that you are going to take over. From reading the posts on this site it sounds like the automatic trans are junk... so buy a 5sp if you are going to get the ZX2.
I bought 1999 ZX2 5sp in 2005. It was in almost perfect condition. There were 89000 miles on it already. What I can say: a small great car. I had code 171, fixed by myself, it cost me $2 (two dollars) in parts. At 110000, alternator died, was replaced in shop ($380). And these are the only problems I had. I change oil after every 3000 miles; tires, brake shoes and pads whenever it is necessary. I keep my eyes on all fluids on daily basis, that's all maintenance I have. I have 148000 on my odometer now, and my ZX2 performs great. Also I am pretty satisfied with mileage: 25 mpg in city/35 mpg on interstate. I don't do dragracings, burnouts, and other abuses. I simply drive, 50-60 miles every day. That's all, folks.
We just bought a 1999 ZX2 from my in-laws for $500. It has 102,500 miles and is in absolutely perfect shape, inside and out. They bought it brand new, did regular maintenance, always drove it with some common sense and they never had a single problem with it. They say 25 mpg in city, 35 on highway. I haven't noticed any idle problems and the 5-speed trans shifts just fine.
I hope to continue this car's good record, but with 100,000 miles I hope the rubber band isn't close to snapping.
OK,
I read all the comments, and all are the same 2 groups, the lucky and the unlucky owners.
I have 3 cars - ZX2 (99, 2k and used auto 2001), all 3 the same problems except trans.
I live in Mexico City, 2000 metres over sea level, and for rough idle I fixed with plastic belt around accelerator levers (maybe you spend more gas, but is minimum).
Those problems about A/C changing hoses; for the check engine lamps always on: in the 2001 it was fixed by cleaning valves and resetting disconnecting 20 seconds the battery (changed every 3 or 4 years)...
I maybe am in the lucky group, but I love its design, I just have to demand to Ford, to review the material of the engines and improve them for more power, because they say 130 hp and I feel maybe 80 into automatic and 95 into my other 2 manual cars...
For all those of bad lucky group with a ZX2, and who still likes the design, I suggest to sell your actual cars and buy another ZX2, observing before paying, that the new ZX2 belongs to the lucky group (I did myself, so I have 3 cars and am a happy owner).
I hope these tips serve you all... read around.
I have a 1999 ZX2 with a 5sp and every option offered, it is just about totally stock, it is very quick, I have reached over 110mph on the highway and have done no engine mods whatsoever.
I have no idea why some of these reviews bash the ZX2, in my opinion it is amazing... I have driven mine for approx 4 months and put on over 10,000 miles, it has over 142,000 and runs absolutely perfect, I paid only $1200 for it.
It is absolutely the best car I have ever had, and I have had a DSM Mitsubishi Eclipse, a Toyota Corolla, and a Subaru Legacy, and the ZX2 tops them all.
So I pretty much read the great majority of the reviews and as someone said, "I am one of the lucky ones". I purchased the vehicle with 33,000 miles from a friend who I was lucky to know that he took care of his cars. This is back in 2003. The car was a 1999 ZX2. He had no major problems and even provided me with the dealer vehicle history with on time maintenance schedules. Been that it was my only mode of transportation I made sure that all maintenance continued to be made on time and with quality products.
As a general rule, I believe that this is a great car for what its worth however you also have to realize that FORD utilizes crappy materials inside and out in order to make their profit. With this said, I replaced the original four struts for KYB struts and changed to slighlty wider tires and rims than the original installed. Not way oversized but just slightly wider to improve handling. The change in handling was night and day.
As part of my maintenance I used Mobil 1 sysnthetic engine oil and redline manual transmission fluid. I have a K&N air filter along with routine fuel filter changes. The major expense came at 100,000 miles when I changed the timing belt, water pump, seals and spark plugs; again this routine on any vehicle.
My one problem came however with the change of the timing belt where my wonderful mechanic decided not to check the crappy tensioner than ford installs and installed the timing belt on it. The tensioner-plastic to my surprise-broke after a few hundred miles on the new timing belt and luckily from what I understand ford did have a good design in leaving a gap between your pistons and valves should the tensioner break or timing belt snap. Otherwise your engine is gone.
Other than that I have continued with scheduled oil changes, and changes of tires. I have used Michelin pilots but I have been happy with trying the cheaper Falken ZIEX512 and Falken ZE329 on my last two sets. Yes I drive a lot. I put 22,000 miles in one single summer back in 2003.
So here I am in September of 2008 and with 175,000 miles on my escort ZX2. I purchased a brand new SUV back in 2006 and back then I thought about getting rid of my escort but the dealer wanted to give me $200 for it. I decided to keep it and it was a good decision. The car still runs great, but in these times of high gas prices it has paid for itself by more than $200. Unfortunately the AC has gone out on it and I preliminarily believe is a compressor issue, even with that problem I am still happy with this purchase.
I hope that this thread was helpful and if I can help anyone with how to make their escort a little better and prevent the unfortunate manufacturer problems then shoot me an email at accpslo@yahoo.com.
On time maintenance with quality products makes a BIG difference.
I've noticed quite a few posts about the vibration problem
while idling and I took care of mine just this year.
I own a Ford Escort ZX2 that I have owned for 8 years. It has about 89,000 miles on it. The car started with serious vibrations while idling a couple of years after I bought the car. My mechanic told me the motor mounts were the cause and a package was available of mounts redesigned to fix the vibration problem but I could just replace the worst one and leave the rest.
I replaced the worst and decided to leave the others, this left a slight vibration but much better than it was originally. I finally broke down this year and replaced the rest after the vibration increased and became more of a shudder. The shudder is completely gone and I love it. It is much more pleasurable driving without that vibration every time you stop at a light.
I've also had 2 alternators and a tire rod replace, and my almost new serpentine belt slipped off once after driving through some fairly deep water.
I have had my ZX2 for about 7 years. In that time I have replaced the transmission with a Ford transmission for the price of 2500.00. This comes with a 3 year warranty. Now 4 years later it is slipping again. No warranty left and I sure the price has went up. We have always bought Fords but I not to happy that they have a obvious problem and they choose to ignore it. We take very good care of are cars as they cost enough. All maintenance is preformed and are cars have a lot of miles. But if a car is not meant to be driven then that's not the car for me.
I have a 1999 Escort ZX2 and I love it! I just turned over 200,000 miles on this car. The air conditioner went out at 120,000 miles and the serpentine belt went out around 150,000 miles. Other than the rough idle, and now the stalling problem when I stop at a light, this car has been wonderful! I am just starting to have this problem with stalling and ended up here looking for answers. I will have this problem looked at this week and will drive this car forever. I change the oil regularly and keep on top of all other maintenance. This is the only reliable Ford I have ever owned, and I work for the company!
I have a 99 ZX2 automatic, bought in 2005 when it had 69K, ran pretty good till the last few months, speedometer died, then the lights on the gear rod died.
Finally car stopped in the middle of the road. The engine is running, but did not move. I think the transmission is gone, then after 10 minutes it started moving, probably transmission got slipping. I am taking the car to the mechanic tomorrow, hoping the bill should be low. I can't afford huge bills at this time. At least the good part is I don't need to drive to the work, I can walk.
I bought a 5 speed manual 98 ZX2 back in 2007 with 97,000 miles on it. The only non-scheduled repair that I had to perform on it was an outer tie rod end last month ($15.00). The vehicle now has 128,000 miles on it, original transmission. I have read that a lot of people have been having transmission trouble. You want to be wary of buying ANY high mileage vehicle without personally knowing the seller. I mean, who can say if the last person who owned it didn't know how to drive a manual transmission vehicle or abused it? (burnouts, donuts, racing... - the ZX2 is NOT a race car) Take care of the car and it will last you forever.
Well I think this car is okay from point A to point B, I was wondering does anyone know what type of fuel pump this car has?? Jojo.
My 1999 Ford Escort is one of the bad ones I think. It also might be me. I have horrible luck with cars. It probably doesn't help that I'm a delivery driver.
So far, after 3 months, I've had the blower motor and the thermostat changed. That wasn't too bad (only about $400), but now the transmission is starting to slip pretty badly. I had a Ford Bronco I a few years back, and also had transmission problems.
When I finally graduate from college and can afford a new car, I will NEVER buy another Ford.