1998 Ford Escort GTi from UK and Ireland - Comments

Hey I bought a 98' GTI yesturday an I'm loving it. Will get my mates sat nav and see what the real speed is Vs the speedo.

Laddo who commented on getting it as his first car - well - I bought mine on the back of some 17-18y/o who couldnt afford the insurance. Lucky me, I nearly lost her to some young lad who would have battered it. I'm 21, bit more sense. Will look to mod.

You should get onto confused.com, or directline. easy to get quote online.

Just a note to the guy who wants a gti for his first car - I am 18 and I am paying just over #1300 quid for a fast track policy with Bell Insurance. I am insured for 10 months and get a full year no claims after the 10 month policy expires. So you can insure a gti fairly easily. Cheers.

For the question about insurance; I am 18, it's my 1st car, I have insured it through my dads insurance as a 2nd driver. But if you can't do that, shop around, you can get a good cheap deal, they're out there!

Hi all, well I've had my Escort GTI for 6 month now and it's never let me down yet. It's a good reliable car, it's still a buzz to drive it, and who said the GTI is slow??? Well in fact I've done 140+. It hit the clock and the speedo was bouncing up and down, and I've got evidence on my mobile phone.

To the people having idling problems do you have a cone filter fitted? These have been known to cause problems due to the oil on them which coats the air flow meters hot wire with oil confusing the ecu.

Hi I'm looking to get a 1.6 gti does anybody know what power they put out and is it worth getting?. lol will it be a step up from a 1.1 fiesta?. and how do they handle mods?, thanks.

The escort gti is a 1.8 not a 1.6.

Hi I own a 1999 gti 1.8 16v and love it to bits I use it day in day out and only ever had 1 prob with it and we all at some point have that idle prob, but I sorted mine by fitting a new idle control valve and replacing the k@n filter. plus if you fit a 5 inch tale pipe and a bolt on turbo you can get around about 165 170bhp from it with ease (makes these little saxo things look like little dots when looking bk lol). I did spend out £390 on turbo and fitting kit and exhaust, but was well worth and was very easy mod thanks 4 reading. If you need any info email me at dantay.20@hotmail.co.uk.

I want a 1998 escort 1.8 gti and just wondering what would be the first modification you would make to a standard model??

I want extra performance, but with out making my insurance to high, any ideas?

Cheers for any help.

I have just bought a 1.8 gti 1998 off ebay for $480 its body

has a few scratches, but the engine is fine I got the car to do track days I mainlY go up against my friend in his 1999 vts with induction tuned pipe and sports suspension uprated brakes it goes very well we both drive very similar we both run yokohama a048r or toyo 888r for unbelivable grip on the gti first outing at croft race circuit the gti was a little slower out of the slow hairpin from 20 to 60 but once the revs were up they were matched the long back straight there was no gain on each other so in my opinion by racing the gti as hard as posible the 2 cars are just about matched..

Lookin to buy this escort gti, from a mate, I alwyas tht they had 130 bhp lyk fiesta rs 1800?? its bn chipd, got diesel box, magnex full system including sports cat, was in process of building a turbo for my fiesta rs 1800 project, but seriously thinkn on getn this, any help to fordieloon@hotmail.co.uk.

Hey! I'm 22 and bought my escort gti at 21. insurance dropped £900 in a year and I'm now paying £670 fully comp with 1 years no claims throught barclays, give it a try! my opinion on the performance is that it's a nippy car certainly not slow, but not rapid either. my speedo has read 140mph, but its prob more like 125mph and hit 60mph in just over 8 seconds.

Nope according to all the usual websites the escort gti has a 0-60 time of 10. long way from just over 8.

I have a 1998 escort 1.8 gti 16v late zetec and shes anything, but slow. one of my mates has a saxo fitted with sport cams and sport suspension and left him sitting in third gear and managed to get 90mph in 3rd gear just before red lining it.

To get more power from your Escort Gti

The cheapest way to go is to fit 2L Cams, throttle body and maf sensor from a Mk1/Mk2 Mondeo Zetec E (Silver top). This increased the bhp on mine to 136bhp.

A Piper-cross Viper added an additional 3 - 5 bhp.

I am also having a Dastek unichip fitted, which is a piggyback unit for your original ecu that you can have reprogrammed when ever you add a new mod to your car to make sure your getting the best from the engine. My brother had this fitted to his Gti which he said has made his engine more economical, with much more torque and given him an extra 20 - 25bhp.

The RS2000 may have a more powerful engine being a 2.0L, 150bhp as standard, but being Fords I4 Engine tuning wise your pretty limited.