Ford Escort 1.8 Diesel LX Review

Good Points
Well equipped for a car of it's age.
Rock solid and reliable engine.
Sure footed handling due to the engines weight over the front wheels.
Looks quite good (again for it's age).
Can take quite a load for the size of car.

Bad Points
Nearly the slowest accelerating car on the road.
Rust - The worst enemy of all british escorts.
The horn has never worked properly.

General Comments
The European version of the Ford Escort is the original jack of all trades. It does everything that's asked of it. Then again it doesn't do most things particularly well.



The Ford Escort 1.8 Diesel LX Family Car is not quick, with only 60bhp under the bonnet it's vastly underpowered and can be embarrassed under acceleration by a fully loaded HGV. But then, when I bought it I wasn't looking for a blisteringly fast 0-60 time.



The engine itself is also unrefined, so much so there's a lot of noisy vibration through the bodywork. Then, the engine is a very old ford design one that is very reliable and I personally have had no trouble with it.



The car itself looks quite good, it takes design cues from both the latest (and final) model of the Escort and the one it replaced. The front end clearly inspired by the old model rear end was used right up until the escort ceased production. My own car has a rather nice (and deceptvely sporty) rear wing that simply enhances what is already a handsome car.



Being a small family car it's not the most spacious in the room dept. With me being over 6ft tall rear legroom is at quite a premium. Having said that however not many cars in it's class can swallow up 3 adults a baby, a dog, a wheelchair, a buggy and a whole weeks worth of shopping.



The car handles itself quite well. With a 1.8 litre lump under the bonnet, even on the cheap tyres I put on, it sticks to the road like glue. With better quality tyres it should handle like it's on rails even at higher speeds (if you can ever get it up there!)



Equipment levels are also quite good for what is essentially a baseline model. The car has power steering, central locking, electric windows, a sunroof, seat hight adjustment, Ford's equivelent of deadlocks and even a rather loud (if basic) alarm system.



Being a ford there are literally millions of them on the road around the world. This means that parts are both cheap and easy to come by. Servicing costs are kept extraordinarily low because of this. If you can get a good one it shouldn't go wrong and will keep on going year after year.



Having said that however my own one does have a problem with rust and paint discolouration. Water and salt seem to gather in the area around the wheel arches and really do rot the car. Plus fuel spilt on the car discolours the paint (very evident around the fuel cap on my car). The fuel guage shows the level of fuel even with the ignition off but is not very accurate. Being a diesel (and an old one at that) it can be difficult to start in the mornings (even more evident during cold snaps!), however it will start every morning without fail!



In all this car does everything it says on the tin and it's likeable in, it's own way. However if I ever went for another one I'd choose a turbo diesel model as the normal engine is simply far too underpowered!