1998 Ford Escort ZX2 from North America - Comments

I have owned my 1998 Ford Escort ZX2 for just over 2 years. My boyfriend, who is a mechanic, has done regular maintenance on the vehicle (oil changes, filters, etc.) Those people who keep commenting on maintaining vehicles can shove it. I drive all highway and keep regular maintenance and do NOT race the car or have it pimped out. The fact of the matter is, Ford does not put enough time or effort into building their cars. At 120,000km, the serpentine belt needed to be replaced as one of the bearings blew up and wrecked the entire unit! At 130,000km I replaced the radiator which wasn't a huge deal except for the fact that the thermostat gauge stopped working entirely after working on and off for about a year. Since about 130,000km also, my transmission started slipping. When merging onto the hwy, the car would rev up no matter how much gas was given, but the car wouldn't go past 20km/h. Eventually it'd catch after a few seconds and run regular. In keeping up the maintenance, my boyfriend did a tranny flush in hopes of clearing the problem up temporarily. 2 weeks after the flush, my tranny died. I only have 148,000km on my car. My alternator is on it's way out as well. This car has cost me more than I paid for it. It was driven by an old lady before and she gave me the records on the car indicating regular maintenance as well.

From what I've read on previous comments, the trannys on the Ford Escort ZX2 (1997-2002) have serious defects. Some of you may be lucky enough to find one that was built by a professional, but most are lemons and I wouldn't suggest investing your money on these. I will be buying an import from now on.

I'm a mechanic and I have advised a handicapped friend (who must have reliable cars due to their handicap) on two occasions to buy a Ford Escort because they were so reliable. He put 190,000 miles on the first one with virtually no problems, and well over 100,000 miles on the second one before it was hit by a truck and totalled.

The Escort is a very solid and dependable car. To regard a 9-year-old one that was probably abused and neglected as typical of all Escorts (or Fords) is a big mistake.

Of course if you insist on an import, be ready for big buck repairs from day one. My experience with imports has proven them to be more unreliable than any domestic I've ever owned.

Import?! FYI, Honda's and Toyota's are made in the U.S.A!

I love my Escort so much. It's very reliable, and imports? Seriously they are the real waste of money. Repairs are beyond expensive.

Any non-American cars in the US are going to have extremely expensive repairs.

I own a ford ZX2 03 model and I have had it since 2005, bought it with just 8000 miles now 72000 miles. that's 64000 in 2 years. no major problems and I have added a lot of after market performance parts and have had zero problems other than regular maintenance. I also drive very aggressivly and have no problems with the manual transmission.

My father and I have been co-owning a Ford Escort ZX2 1998 5 speed manual transmission for the past 2 years... there was 160000 km on the car when we bought it... and within the 1st day of ownership my father cracked the speed clock cable... was going down the highway and cracked the gear back from 5th to second (meaning to go to 4th), and ground the teeth off the gear... now we have no second gear and no speed clock...

2 weeks later the flex pipe cracked off (let go at the header); that was an expensive month... so... now I've been driving for 2 years with no 2nd gear and no speed clock..

Would someone please contact me if they have any knowledge of finding a new gear box. My email is mad_money_mike@hotmail.com .. any help would be greatly appreciated.

I bought a 1998 Escort ZX2 new in 1997. It had 166 miles on it. I just sold it in July 2007, and it had over 130,000 miles on it. I had a few problems with it over the years, but nothing major. Before the warranty was up, I had the brakes replaced because they were squeaking and the power steering pump replaced because it was making noise. After the warranty was up, the alternator was rebuilt and the PVC valve went bad twice. All this happened gradually over the 10 years that I owned the car. It was regularly maintained and I never drove it hard. The transmission was a manual, and it never gave me any problems. I would still own that car today, but I had to trade it for a minivan because of my growing family. Would I buy another one again? As long as it wasn't drove hard and it was well taken care of--Absolutely! I loved that car!

I bought my ZX2 in 1999, it was a 1998 model and had 19,000 miles on it. From the start it leaked antifreeze, and I had to put a new radiator in. At about 60k I had to replace the fuel gage sensor. The car ran great until about 150k and the transmission was starting to slip. It would go dead at stop signs and red lights. It was so embarrassing. It made this loud screeching almost screaming sound. I never really had that checked out. The odometer stopped at 165k and didn't record miles for about eight or nine months. Also the speedometer at the same time. I feel like I got my moneys worth out of the car, I loved that car. Its been sitting in the yard now for about 2 years, we parked it because it was not dependable anymore. We hate to put any more money in it. But after sitting in the yard that long-we sold it and it drove off anyhow with a few glitches. The transmission still hasn't died.

I have a 1999 ZX-2, and I bought it used for $250.00 from a co-worker. It had 125000 on it.

The A/C doesn't work, but I don't care. This is a good car and I have a lot of fun driving it. (5 speed)

It has aftermarket header, turbo kit and exhaust system. My motor is pumping out 250 hp at 15 pounds of boost. And a new short shifter. All I know that my ZX-2 is a good car. I had lots of fun driving it. Imports break down a lot and cost so much to fix.