1991 Ford Escort LX review from North America

When I owned it:

Alternator (dealer $400)

Rear Defogger switch (dealer $200)

Slight coolant leak

Rust by rear wheel wells, edge of hood and edge of trunk.

Car gets stuck in 5th gear if you come to a stop in 5th.

Driver seat slanted a bit to the right

Both rear springs cracked

Replaced 3/4 tie rods

Steering feels loose even after tie rod replacement (was told due to worn bushings - not a safety issue)

Seems to blow headlamp bulbs more frequently than normal

Struts that hold up hatchback lid worn out and don't hold it up anymore.

Back-light on radio display burnt out

Exhaust replaced from the Cat back.

Previous owner (my bother) that I know about:

Air conditioning stopped worked (was never fixed - neither my brother or I care about air conditioning)

Alternator replaced

Starter motor replaced

Windshield replaced

Fuel Pump replaced

Water Pump replaced

A few tie rods replaced

Timing belt replaced at 180,000KM.

These cars are basically a Mazda Protege chassis, with some Ford bits added. The 88HP 1.9L engine was a Ford design that was re-engineered by Mazda.

So like the Protege, these cars are quite roomy for their size (with the seats folded down on the hatchback model, I could fit a couple of mountain bikes), are easy to get parts for, have pretty good handling, and are decently reliable (as long as you're not the type of person who needs to fix every imperfection). The 1.9L is not very smooth, but it's better than the GM 2.2 or 2.5 'Iron Duke' derivatives. These cars are best with the manual transmission. The 4 speed auto isn't that bad (my mom has one), just that you're only playing with 88HP - and when you're on the highway with a few people in the car (especially with the air con on) and need to pass someone, you're going to need some patience.

While the repair list seems long, my cost of repairs + maintenance over 3 years worked out to about CAN$100 per month - not bad for a car that I paid $1500 for. And some of the issues also existed when I bought the car. And when you factor in the mileage, it's not bad.

Didn't bother fixing the rear springs (would have cost $600), the rust, the slight coolant leak (just added coolant once every 2 months), the air con or the transmission getting stuck in 5th (a problem that is avoided by remembering to take it out of 5th before stopping).

I only bothered fixing safety related things like the tie rods and brakes.

Speaking of tie rods, in my opinion these should be inspected by a dealer on an annual basis. Independent mechanics can't be counted on to know what to look for in this area (or I've had bad luck with independents). I had an independent mechanic check out my tie rods, said they were okay and one broke on me a less than a month later - and I didn't hit or drive over any curbs or potholes.

Tie rods on Escorts have a tendency to wear out and if one breaks, you lose steering control - very dangerous - do not skimp on this. And they are not expensive to fix - $200 for an inner rod, $300 for an outer rod at the dealer. Each of the four tie rods on my Escort were replaced at least once, and at least two of them were replaced twice. My mom's car had at least one replaced and the other two Escort owners I know also had to have some tie rods replaced. I don't know how Ford avoided a recall on this.

Also, regarding brakes, I found that getting the brakes serviced at the dealer resulted in the brakes staying 'good' for a much longer period of time. Apparently, when you replace the pads on these cars, there are pins that hold the pads in place that also need to be replaced. If they're not, the pad will shift and lead to uneven wear. This results in having to redo the brakes after 6 months - it happened to me.

Ford dealers in the Toronto area seem to be very good. The service isn't much more expensive than an independent shop, plus you get RELIABLE shuttle service (at least more reliable than the Honda dealer near me) to and from work and often they wash your car. And whenever I got something fixed, it seemed to stay fixed.

The Escort I had seemed to have an engine that put out more power than usual. And I'm comparing it to my mom's '92 LX (auto), and two other people's Escorts (stick shift), all with the same engine. Mine was noticeably faster, but sounded rougher. I had no problems keeping up with Honda Preludes or Civic SI's... unless they were turbocharged, supercharged or had NOS.

Other things to note are that the original clutch lasted for 220,000KM and the 2nd clutch still had lots of life in it @ 346,000. The alternators last on average of 150,000km. I never changed the spark plugs (but they were changed at least 2 times before I owned it) and it didn't seem to have any negative effect. Also, the engine didn't consume oil as long as I changed the oil every 4000km. One time I changed the oil after 5000KM and I noticed some oil consumption (1 litre).

If you neglect to change the timing belt, it could break. But this doesn't destroy the engine as it is a 'free-wheeling' design and not an 'interference-design' (like in Honda's or VW's). All that happens is the car stops and you have to get a new belt installed for about $400 at the dealer. I never bothered replacing it and it never broke on me.

When you get an Escort (or any other car for that matter) serviced for something that requires wheel removal, make sure the shop uses a torque wrench to tighten the bolts and NOT an air gun or you'll get warped brake rotors due to unevenly tightened or over tightened lug nuts. Also, if you get a flat tire and you have over tightened lug nuts, forget about changing the tire yourself.

In one case, I caught the dealer mechanics using an air gun to tighten wheel lug nuts and gave the service manager hell for it (only thing I ever caught them doing wrong).

These cars come with a stainless steel exhaust that takes about 10 years to rust out.

Every car that's cheap is going to have some issues. The things that break on the Ford Escorts aren't that expensive to fix. Plus these cars are practical, cheap to buy, cheap to insure (nobody wants to steal them) and cheap to run. There are also many Escorts available for sale. I would consider buying another one in the future.