Anyone here ever own a Ford Escort?

[MrPerson]

I bought an 1984 Ford Escort in 1984 brand new.

It had A/C (a mistake, it didn't have the power to run it)

The car went though a dozen alternators, and eventually died in 1990 after over 40 trips to the shop.

The brakes kept wearing out unevenly. It was a mess.

[skygazer]

1. I had one and loved it

It was a wagon - don't remember what year but it must have been around a 94 or 95. I also don't remember if it had AC (don't think it did).

I was working road construction at the time and used it as my work truck - loaded it up with grade stakes and drove it through areas that had recently been blasted. It was great though it didn't really have the clearance I needed.

But I didn't have it that long, either. Only a couple of years.

[mainegreen]

2. a 97 escort. A phenomenal car. Solid, cheap to run, and with stick shift, surprisingly peppy.

[MrPerson]

3. They must have gotten better.

[quakerboy]

4. the 85 was a MOST impressive vehicle

I inherited a maroon one in about 95. That was my first car. And I was a teen, with no instruction on how to keep a car working. And too much fear of father to ask what the noise meant. Turns out it meant that the car had burned through its oil, and had none left. in the end it ran about 3 months on very little oil, and then another 4 months with NO oil before I happened to drive my dad anywhere and got larned. By that point it was pretty well thrashed, fun pinging noises and whatnot. But for all that it ran 4 months with NO OIL, it still moved itself down the road. Thats impressive in my book.

We had a 92 and a 96 as work cars. Neither of did anything quite as stand out, but both worked adequately, particularly given the price my the owner picked them up for.

Its a car. Generally a cheap and yet still durable one. I wouldn't get one by choice, but you do what you gotta do to get to work.

[MrPerson]

5. If you had put oil in it it would have LEAKED out.

My Escort burned oil.

[quakerboy]

15. Well, that was the problem. Thats why I didnt have any

Still... how long have you run a car with no oil without having it seize?

[BulletproofLandshark]

18. My first car was an '85 escort.

I paid $300 dollars for it back in '96 and got over 10,000 miles out of it before it finally died 2 years later. Pretty good value if you ask me.

[Critters2]

6. I had one that ran to 300,000 miles. Greatest car ever!!

I had it when I was very poor, and couldn't have afforded a car that needed lots of attention. That thing ran like a Sherman tank. I loved that car!

It's the reason I have a Focus today. If they still made Escorts, I'd be driving one.

[bluedeminredstate]

7. I had a '94 wagon.

I loved that little car. I put a ton of miles on it and it gave me almost no trouble at all for 6 years. It wasn't the coolest or most powerful car on the road, but I loved my little Escort and would consider getting something like a Focus now that my kids are grown up and my need for a larger vehicle isn't there anymore.


:hi:

[Ikonoklast]

8. '85. Severely underpowered and overweight.

Was a real designed by "Hey guys, what do we have left in the parts bins?" school of automobile manufacturing.

Not exactly a fuel saver. You had to have your foot in the carburetor to get the thing to go.

Motor ran fine for being such a slug, but the rear strut tower mounts on both sides rotted away. Car was eight years old, had less than 65K on it, and was not repairable unless I wanted to re-work a lot of sheet metal with no prospects of success.

I currently own a '03 ZX2. This car is everything that the first one wasn't. Fun to drive, nimble for it's weight (still on the heavy side), adequate power, decent fuel economy.

[SallyMander]

9. My first car was a '91 Escort

Great little car! Her name was Nora. :)

[HopeHoops]

10. I bought a 91 wagon new and LOVED it - sold it when it had 150K on it.

The only reason we sold it is that we had a third kid and it wouldn't hold two car seats and a booster seat in the back (so we got a Sable wagon - same thing, just bigger).

I sold the Escort to a friend about 8 years ago when it had 150K on it and it is still running and up over 300K now.

INTERESTING NOTE: I used synthetic oil in it from day one (changed it myself as soon as we bought it). The engine NEVER gave me any trouble, but the damn Mazda transmission they put in it died twice in that time! The second one is still working, but geeze.

Other than that, it was an almost zero maintenance car.

[Starry Messenger]

11. My first car was an 86 Escort wagon.

I loved it. It was very low maintenance and easy to drive. It had a funny little elbow lamp over head for reading maps that was the envy of all my friends. My affection for it outweighed its quirks but eventually I mistreated it to the point I couldn't get it to go over 40 mph.

[JVS]

12. Grandma had one, hated it intensely, went back to a honda civic that lasted 20 years. She only...

lasted 10 more years. She had a civic before the escort too, but her sister in law, like her husband, worked for Ford and got her a low price on the Escort.

[GCP]

13. Got a 1980 brand new Escort Wagon when we moved over here from UK

It was a great little car that never gave us a problem.

[tabbycat31]

14. I had a 99

I liked the car very much, but it died very suddenly on me in 2007 with 116K miles.

[RiffRandell]

16. A 'Scort?

Embarrassingly, for like 3 months, in high school. Then I got my older sister's Honda Accord. That was sweet.

[cwydro]

17. Had a brand new one back in the 80's.

Loved it. I was living in the NC mountains and it took me in and out of hollers, up and down dirt roads - was a trooper in heavy snow. Wish I could find another car like it.

[Wapsie B]

19. The one problem on mine was the ignition control module.

Went out on my 80's Escort Wagon with no warning at all. Just no power to anything. That part went out twice on my car.

Edit: Well that and the fact that someone loosened the lug nuts on one of the front tires. Ran fine that day then slowly began making a noise that I couldn't figure out. All of a sudden wham! Driver's side front tire flew off and I was struggling to wrestle the car to the shoulder which I did. Don't know who I ever pissed off in Marshalltown, Iowa to deserve that.

[Blue Diadem]

25. Yep, happened on both of our 84's repeatedly. Did you know there was a class action lawsuit?

http://www.autosafety.org/ford-tfi-module-national-class-settlement

I just googled and found it. I remember there was a big stink because it was something they knew about but didn't want to admit. We had extended coverage so ours was covered but damn it was dangerous when you were driving down the road and that thing went out.

I can still remember the dealer using different names for it and trying to get us to pay for it. Our coverage had it listed as one or the other( TFI or ignition module) but the dealership always called it the opposite and told us it wasn't covered. That would result in a big arguement and then they would cover it. My DH once threw the keys at them and took off walking with 3 little kids in tow. He stopped at a neighboring business to call me so I could leave work to pick them up.

I later learned from a former mechanic who worked for them that they were known to double dip, collect from the extended coverage plus charge the customers.

[Wapsie B]

30. Oh and I just remembered another thing.

One morning I went to start the car and turned on the rear window defroster to clear the frost off the back window. All of a sudden I heard a pop! The rear window splintered into a million pieces. I went to a Ford dealer in town and asked whether there was one of these hidden warranties on these problems. But the sales manager was about as helpful as nuts on a priest.

[dembotoz]

20. 98 escort wagon

loved it

number of mechanics told me that the escort wagon
was very different from a escort sedan

a much better vehicle than the sedan

i believe it

[Kali]

21. My family has had several and a freind had a wagon

great little cars that could hold more stuff than a pick-up! I still have a Tracer hatchback sitting in our "lot" that I would like to get running again (heater core needs removal or replace and now after sitting for years I'm sure it needs pack-rat exterminating/electrical inspection - :mad: )

[Blue Diadem]

22. '84 Mercury Lynx wagon.

I fit 13 people(9 team members, my 3 kids and myself) in that car to drop off at a ball field. I was the last to show up at the drop off point and everyone had dropped off their kids so I had no choice but to load them up and take them all to the game. Talk about sardines.

It never had the power either. We had that and an '84 Mercury topaz which could twirl circles around the Lynx for power. Unfortunately, both vehicles had some serious issues and the darn dealer had them more than we did.

We leased them and even tried to buy out the lease so we could get rid of them. Thank God we only had them 4 years. Never had another Ford/Mercury product since then.

[AwakeAtLast]

23. Ex FIL had the very same one

with the very same problems. That may be why I've always shied away from Fords. :shrug:

[RebelOne]

24. Nope, but I had a Ford Cortina.

It was in the late 1960s. Terrible car. Everytime it rained or it when through a puddle, it stalled out.

[BlueCollar]

38. I think I bought that car...

Last seen in Phoenix, Arizona circa 1986

[Mad_Dem_X]

26. I had one from 1989-1998. Biggest piece of junk.

I bought it brand new in '89 and had problems with it almost from day one. I spent more money on repairs than you could believe in the nine years I had it. I was glad to be rid of it.

[RubyDuby in GA]

27. I had an 85 Ford Tempo.

Hands down the biggest POS ever made. Hands down. Don't even try to make an argument for another car.

[Hangingon]

28. I had a 97 wagon

It had ac, was a stick. Great car. 80,000 trouble free miles.

[cloudbase]

29. I had a '98 that was good basic transportation.

At 150k miles, it started to nickel and dime me on repairs, so I donated the car to charity.

[MrScorpio]

31. No, but I've had two Tempos

It was all I could afford.

I really wanted a T-Bird

[achtung_circus]

32. Oh yeah,

a 1999 ZX2 with 5 speed. A basic and sweet little car... great fun to drive. The other vehicle was a Chev 1/2 ton. A decent combo.

[Shell Beau]

33. They don't make those anymore, do they?

I have only had Hondas.

[KG]

34. bought a '99 new. it was a POS.

assembled in Mexico - buy american! :eyes:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

35. My first ever car was a 86 Escort.

It first belonged to my sister, but by the time I got it, it had 120,000 miles on it and was rather worn down. You could hardly go 20 miles in it without the engine flooding. I ran over a freak shovel head in the middle of the road and killed the power steering, which meant turning it was a bitch. By the time my dad took me to buy my new(er) car, we somehow got them to buy it in a trade in. Needless to say, after my dad had signed the contract and we were driving away, we saw the dealers in the parking lot trying to start it and it was just dead.

I assume that in its younger years it was probably a decent and reliable car, but by the time I got to driving it had seen its day. Hence, that is why my "first car nostalgia" doesn't attach to that car but rather the 1994 Dodge Shadow which I replaced it with. That was still my most favorite car I ever had, and objectively one of the best.

[TreasonousBastard]

36. Knew a lot of people with Escorts who loved them, but my...

only real experience was getting caught in a humongous blizzard in a rental '83 hatchback.

It started out as a little uncomfortable to sit in, but when the snow started seriously dropping around Binghampton there was me and a Saab alone on the road and kinda racing down 17. I have never been in such a good snow car before or since, no matter how many wheels were driving.

The road soon closed, and I stopped in a local hotel-- the entrance was a long ramp up a hill, and guess which was the only car that made it up the hill. And I left a bunch of people with 4WD pickups down on the bottom of the hill.

(For some reason, the guy stuck in the Camaro was blaming me for his problem.)

[LynneSin]

37. My grandfather had a Ford Escort

My grandfather had enough money to buy a decent car but always came home with the cheapest thing out there. He got the Escort from the estate sale of someone who had passed away so the car was about 5 years old but less than 10k miles on it. After my grandfather passed away my brother-in-law inherited the car and he ran it for another 10 years. (Inherited as in he bought it from my mother, the only child of my grandfather. Technically he was married to my stepsister)