1999 Ford Escort ZX2 from North America - Comments

Vibrating heat shield, possible front shocks clunking.

This is by far the best car for the money. For $11,500 out the door one gets an extremely responsive, very well performing car which is both versatile and gets very good gas mileage. Needs refinements however.

Notice the other reviews never gave it a bad performance rating. The problem is not with the car or the manufacturer, it's with the dealers.

If you want a car that out accelerates a Probe GT, Taurus SHO and everything in its class and still gets 36 miles per gallon (average 33) highway after break in then this is your car. If you want one that out slaloms a corvette and a car that has enough cargo space to fit a mountain bike with only one of the seats layed down this is your car. You can't beat that for such a low price any where.

If you need to make quick commutes or travel long distances without damage to your wallet yet still have enough performance to get clean out of the way of rude mergers and truck drivers then this is what you want.

Just wanted to clarify just one thing about this review. First let me tell you that I am currently in the process of trading my Taurus SHO in on a ZX2. I am doing this only from an economical standpoint. I'm in agreement that the ZX2 is a fine little car, but the allegation that it out-accelerates an SHO is completely absurd. My SHO with no modifications ran 0-60 sprints in 6 seconds and would send you to 140mph pulling all the way. I will greatly miss my SHO, but I will appreciate the economy that the ZX2 offers.

Eric from OH.

The ZX2 did beat the SHO in the 1997 Motor trend road test.

They said "...the ZX2 we tested outperformed the SHO in every category except for braking, at about half the price. This puts the Escort name in a fresh perspective."

I really do like the ZX-2, but it does not come close to out-accelerating the original Taurus SHOs. A ZX-2 needs about 8.5 seconds to hit 60 mph and an SHO can do it in 2 seconds less time. The newer SHOs (of which Ford sold very few) were quite watered down, so maybe it can out-accelerate one of those. I am also skeptical about the claim that it out-slaloms a Corvette, at least a C5 or C6 Corvette. That said, the ZX-2 is a nimble little car and seems to be an outstanding value for the money.