1995 Ford Escort LX review from North America

Water leaks into hatch, cd player broke.

I bought this car for 1200 canadian dollars about a year ago. Since the paint and the body were in really good shape, I put some money and time into changing the timing belt, thermostat, front rotors.

Still, it only adds up to $2000 dollar I've spent on the car. If I get another 30K out of it, I'll be happy.

I live in Toronto, and the price on used imports are outragous here. Like 95' civics going for $4000. And I'm not paying that much for a ten year old puddle jumper no matter how much better japanese cars are supposed to be. So that's how I came across the escort (ironically recomended by a guy who works mainly on imports) apparently, it's not uncommon for these things to last over 350000 km. And it's basically the same car as a mazda 323, save the engine which is aparently better than the mazda's anyhow.

Things I'm not happy with, well, water leaks in through the back of the car during heavy downpours. Although I mostly fixed that with some sealant. The heater is just sufficant which on bitterly cold days is an issue.

The tranmission started falling out of gear when I first got it a year ago. But mysteriously, the problem stoped. The car had been sitting for a long time before I got it, maybe that had something to do with it. I did change the fuild, which was kind of a pain in the ass. Oh, the cd player in the radio does'nt work anymore.

But for a ten year old car, it's great. It seem to hold up as well as the imports for that time. I'd call it the best keeped secret in used cars.