The bodywork developed major rusting after just 5 years.
The diapragm in the carb was always breaking, causing the car to stall when declutching.
The cam belt blew after 50000 miles, leaving the driver stranded in morning rush-hour traffic at a busy town junction.
It needed new dampers all round after 5 years.
Engine began to smoke like an old hack not too long after the cam belt blew. It needed valve seals, rings, and bearings. It also needed a new distributor and carburetor.
The car was bought from new and stayed in the family for 7 years.
It was quite a pleasant car to look at, both inside and out, and drove reasonably well. Running costs were modest, and would have continued to be if it hadn't started to fall apart at the seams.
Unfortunately, the pleasant experiences of its early years were overshadowed by the succession of failures and deterioration.
I would never have bought another Escort after this, and replaced it with a Peugeot 205.
The 1.3 litre engine fitted to your Escort was an overhead valve unit.
It does not have a cambelt.
I beg to differ with the above comment. The 1.3 fitted to escorts between 1980 and 1985 were CVH overhead cam engines and DO have a cam belt, therefore the author of this review is indeed correct.
It was only 1986 onwards Mk4 escorts which were fitted with the overhead valve engine. Sorry, but the comment writer is mistaken!
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