Mk6 Escorts

[Squire_Dawson]

Pop had a basic spec P reg TD estate, lasted about 10 years before the rot took hold and he sold it on to someone with MoT who I expect kept it for a further year or two. But the tester must've said it wasn't going to last another year without uneconomical body repairs. Rust bubbled in odd places, like on the door skins where it was just plain with no trim attached. It was reliable though mechanically.

[Burnside]

Personally speaking I like the Escort's of this age. I've had a K reg MK5 1.4 LX years ago which was in ropey condition. Then later on I had a late MK4 1.4 L Escort that was in worse condition! I found both to be a alright car for everyday use it just depends what your expectations are. 

 

My brother had a early MK7? N reg 1.6 LX hatch for a while when he had his workplace do some repairs to his car. We really liked it with the Zetec engine in it, and this car had a FSH in the glovebox from Ford with almost 200,000 on the clock at around 10 years old. Yes even then it was starting to show some sign's of rust in the usual places but at the end of the day if it's a older car. Regardless of make there going to rust somewhere. 

 

If it was me I'd look at a Zetec powered Car as the 16V engines would be better for long distance etc. The SI and GTI are going to be the one's that fetch the better money in the long run too spec wise. Although anything LX or above should have have everything you need. 

 

But if your only pottering about then go full AS spec and get the older CVH or if you have no cares about getting anywhere in a hurry. A 1.8 D in Encore or CL spec is ideal.

 

As a example, a friend brought recently a 97 R Escort LX 5 dr with the 1.4 CVH for less than £350 off ebay. It had less than 80,000 and a long Mot. The body is really tidy with hardly any rust on it too! 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I just remember renting a couple from Perry's Ford around 1997/8 and thinking how miserable and depressing they were. I normally rented a Mondeo TD, a very pleasant way to travel. The feeling of meanness about the Escort, that it was just about better than the bus. The Focus was light years ahead and was without a doubt the best driving and handling car of its time - but I still preferred the Mark 4 Golf as a nicer car to be in.

[HH-R]

My brother had one in Orion form and it had some odd faults - turned out he had got two cars for the price of one, one red and one blue.

 

I doubt it saw the road again after he part exed it.

[overrun]

I had an 18TD hatch that ran on cherry and chip fat and sounded as though all the bolts in the cam followers were loose. It never missed a beat and went everywhere, carrying and towing all sorts.

 

I loved the 'time machine' advert for the run out models. Where matey set off in his boggo mk1 and it transformed into a mk6, in space year 1999.

 

A/C, CD, EW... Woah!

[Pillock]

Right, think I've got this.

MK1 - dogbone grille.

MK2 - straight grille.

MK3 - Sloping square front

MK4 - rounded lamps and droopy bonnet

Mk5 - the awful one that came out on a H plate

Mk5 Facelift - Leslie Joseph grille glued to the bonnet and bulbous rear lights

Mk6 - the last one with the same back end but grille was half in the bumper, half in the bonnet.

[sierraman]

I'd still like a Mk4 Escort Eclipse though.

[cobblers]

Purple or blue?

[Ghosty]

The only answer is convertible, surely?

[adw1977]

MK1, 2, 3 definitely different.

 

Have a look at a Mark 2 estate and a Mark 1 estate and you won't find a lot of difference, other than at the front.

 

Mark 2 saloons had a lot more new body panels, but still not a totally new car.

[I_am_Diesel]

I'd have one in van flavour. They are usually light grey (ex-BT) or red (ex-GPO) with the mighty 1.8 TD.

[Bren]

Drove a P reg diesel estate as company car.

It was so bastard dull even stopping at a little chef was a life affirming experience.

[UltraWomble]

Umm, no.

I cant say they do anything for me.

Still - it'd be a queer old world if we all liked the same things.

[trigger]

I've had a couple and driven loads, I didn't think they were that bad really, yeah there were better cars but you knew where you were with a Escort and if anything went wrong it wouldn't break the bank to fix it, like already said the best one's were painted black under the bonnet and were on a W-Y plate but personally I'd still like a nice 1.8 GTi Estate in red with the 1/2 leather sport seats or even better a RS2000.

[Pillock]

Have a look at a Mark 2 estate and a Mark 1 estate and you won't find a lot of difference, other than at the front.

 

Mark 2 saloons had a lot more new body panels, but still not a totally new car.

Neither was MK3 to MK4, or 5 to 6 but there were plenty of tweaks. I did wonder why they did a Mk5.5 when they slapped a new grille and rear end on, but then the Mk6 only had another new grille without an arse-lift but was still a whole new "mark".

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

MK1, 2, 3 definitely different.

MK4 was different enough, but I think others would call it a facelift. Lights, bumpers and interior. Maybe there were lots of changes but it just didn't look different enough and for a while you got crappy old Mk3s being fitted with MK4 bumpers and lights either to make them look newer, or because they'd been crashed and it's all they had in the scrappy.

 

Even Ford explicitly portray it as a warmed over MK3 in this (quite impressively made) ad:

 

[sierraman]

Let's be fair they were no worse than the Mk3 Astra, it was hardly a revelation either. Probably best car of that size/era was the 306 or a golf

[dome]

I fucking hate them.

 

There was an article in (I think) Car magazine in the 1990s where someone high up in the ford hierarchy admitted (in slightly more subtle terms) that they knew they could stick the escort badge on any old shit and people would buy them. This was in response to the Mk4 as portrayed in Mr Conelrads video above.

 

The mk5 and mk6 were faintly desperate and, at least in the case of the mk6, at least vaguely successful attempts to drag the horrible handling, cheaply built piece of shit with that fucking dreadful cvh engine into 90s. The fact that the escort name died with the end of the mk6 says a lot.

 

We had a mk6 Escort and a Mk1 Mondeo on the fleet at work at the same time in the late 90s. It was hard to believe that the 2 cars were made by the same company. The Mondeo was, well, half decent...

[Christine]

Well now.. From ebay,  I bought this Lhd  Escort cab ,  about  half size , all steel body , formerly radio controlled I think ...golf cart leaf sprung chassis, diff , r.c. servo's ( huge ones !)   MM on the boot and grill ?... Dear little recaro seats  ..hood cover..apparently  built for Scalextric advertising  video?...apparently somewhere on u toob..never found it . Anyone know anything? Doesn't really matter now...

 

I cut it up as i only wanted the chassis          

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out that transverse leaf , fully adjustable , front suspension, and drum brakes !

 

[twosmoke300]

I'd have one in van flavour. They are usually light grey (ex-BT) or red (ex-GPO) with the mighty 1.8 TD.

You will be lucky

a) most of them have dissolved by now and

b ) gpo and bt wouldn't have had the TD - the standard painfully slow 1.8d I'm afraid . Also most of the civvy 1.8td's were low blows and weren't much better than a n/a one

[sierraman]

There's a 1.8D van on my road, it's only got a few scabs on it but I'm fairly certain underneath it'll be like the underside of Cleethorpes pier.

[twosmoke300]

I can remember welding those and ka 's up at their first mots!

[bub2006]

My van was ex post office. Was red inside door shuts, bonnet and cargo area but blown over white outside. A lot of post office vans where lc on the reg too. It wasn't fast but once wound up it would stay there.

[Split_Pin]

Here is a MK something something that I found 'doon the watter' yesterday. On SORN but in a lay bay seemingly abandoned, open and with the key on top of the dash.

[overrun]

There's a 1.8D van on my road, it's only got a few scabs on it but I'm fairly certain underneath it'll be like the underside of Cleethorpes pier.

52 plate?

 

I have always wanted a white mk5a XR3i. Fuck knows why! (I think they look good.)

[overrun]

Here is a MK something something that I found 'doon the watter' yesterday. On SORN but in a lay bay seemingly abandoned, open and with the key on top of the dash.

To me, that is a mk5b.

[Pillock]

To me, that is a mk5b.

I'm led to believe this is the truth as it's got the hastily applied grille

[cpjitservices]

I think they are dreadful. I had a H reg mk2 Orion 1.4glx (mk5 Escort shape) and my mate had a J reg Escort mk5 1.4lx.

My Orion was an absolute pile of dog shit! Fucking abysmal hateful pile of shit and I hated the bastard thing. It was rusting everywhere (literally!), the electrics were possessed and only worked if they felt like it, and it was unbelievably unreliable. I used to drive it to and from work for a few years, a distance of about 2 miles and it was a very very rare occurrence for it not to break down or cut out randomly on every trip. The seats were absolute wank too, awful to sit on and I could never get them set well for me.

In the end I got so sick of it I just weighed it straight in complete with several months MOT! It's the only car I was genuinely pleased to have seen the back of.

I replaced it with a J reg Volvo 340 1.7 which was the exact opposite of the Orion, a superb faultless car and superior in every way. This sounds even worse for Ford when you consider the 340 is a 70's car essentially and the mk5 shape Escort/Orion was 'all new'.

 

By contrast, my mates J reg Escort 1.4lx was a good car. It was very reliable, never let him down, and never rusted. It was still awful to drive and the seats were still shit but it was much better than my Orion version. I can only assume he got a particularly good car and I didn't.

Even so, I wouldn't have one given unless it was to banger race it! There's literally loads of far far better cars available to choose from if you want a 90's run around.

As much as I hate to admit it (being a Ford fan!) an Astra is a 100% better superior car in every respect.

 

I don't see how Ford could make such a good car as the Mondeo and such a shit car as the Escort at the same time tbh. Even the rot prone Fiesta of that era was a brilliant little car. What were they doing or thinking with the Escort!?

My old boy had the 1.6 Orion Escort thing, utterly dreadful!! 5 minutes after he bought it the exhaust rattled itseld to death and was gone by the time he got it home.

 

That should of been the first sign really, he persisted and came off worse for it. What a dreadful car.

[andy18s]

Did alright with my 5b rs2000 4x4......

[sierraman]

52 plate?

 

I have always wanted a white mk5a XR3i. Fuck knows why! (I think they look good.)

02 I think. I saw it while waiting at the bus stop today.