The real question should be, what didn't go wrong with this car.
The brakes went out, the motor had to be rebuilt, the transmission was replaced 7 times (no exaggeration, it had bad gas mileage, the motor never really ran right in the first place.
This car was the worst thing that I have ever had and I still have to pay off the loan for the motor to be rebuilt, and I don't even own the car anymore. If I could make an opinion about this car, I would say go foreign.
This car is really Fix Or Repair Daily!!
You had to replace the transmission 7 times in less than 30,000 miles?!? Ummm... I think you're got an incompetent mechanic/repair shop. I know 5 Ford Escort owners... two of which have the same engine/transmission as you. The auto transmission will be reliable as long as you change the fluid every 50,000 miles. If you don't do that, it will die a premature death. If you totally neglect the auto transmission, it'll likely die in the 60 to 70,000 mile range. The manual transmission is more robust than the auto.
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