Mk6 Escort?

[Hendry]

How bad are these really?

 

Me and the mrs (well fiancée really) are hoping to move soon from our private let flat into a house with a runway/driveway and maybe even a garage and I want a car for messing about with as she's warned me no pissing about with my Clio as she's seen how dismantled I used to have my Astras when they were my only more of transport and I suppose she's right as I don't want to take it apart then have to rush it back together to get to work the next day, plus as its not needing anything I could tackle myself done other than an OCD valet I've got planned its a bit pointless.

 

But I really want a car to arse about with, nothing better to do on a nice day off, plus there's loads of Escorts still about too and cheap for good ones now and I could manage most of any repairs it might need whilst teaching me a bit more about fixing cars without having to worry if I break anything or the cost of repairs on a daily driver as ill still have the Clio for that.

 

My old man had a '91 H plate mk3 Orion for almost 6 years from 3 years old and I know they are almost identical but unfortunately I don't remember much other than:

- Ford tibbe keys are shite

- Door locks were shite

- Timpsons / Mr Minit (remember them) copy Ford tibbe keys are even worse

- Any time the door locks froze up it was impossible to get in without breaking the key

- fuel cap was a pain to break off when some arsehole burnt the fuel cap lock rendering the lock useless

- Central locking motors used to regularly fail

- they were joyriders favourites/People used to regularly try and break in, door/window seals, the rear screen seal and the door locks had had a go a them

- Early ones with no immobiliser were easy to steal as was proven when we came ou of the hospital after visiting my mum to find the car gone, later turned up burnt out

 

So yeah other than things related to keys being problematic I know/remember very little about them, heads up please? If bought would ideally be looking at a V/W/X plate Finesse or if one came up a slightly earlier GTi/Si/Ghia, certainly not a 1.3 or any of the base/shit spec ed models like the Encore/Osprey/Mexico/Cabaret

[red5]

Meh. Lube locks as per spec and replace worn keys when needed = no problem. Spent more time rebuilding locks that were drier then the proverbial on Good Friday. Then interminable whining from mouth breathers who couldn't spray a smidge of grease in once a year, or that their garage said that they all do that because their top quality service never involved lubing locks and catches.

 

Key related rant over.

[Pete-M]

Mr 5 is correct about lubing the locks. Petrol cap especially.

 

Last of the Escorts were much better than the earlier FWD jobs but there still not a patch on the Focus - which is in the same price range for an early 1.8 Zetec.

[Ghosty]

Beware rusty rear arches - as with Fiestas and Mongdeos of the same era (and Honda Civics). The body is welded to the chassis just inside the arch lip.

[Noel Tidybeard]

tibbe keys were the good shizzle fitted to grannys escrotes and sierrras had chubb locks ( ironicaly when the chubb locks came out on the sierra they tested the security vs std flat key on mk1 sierra iirc "thief" broke into old lock in 30 sec and new lock in less than 10!!!)

[Richard]

I had one. The newest and most expensive car I've ever owned, and by far the worst- and I've had some shit.

[Noel Tidybeard]

my mate had one you could sound the horn by flexing the steering wheel- it was that flimsy!

[UmBongo]

How bad are these really?

 

Pretty bad.

 

I had the RS2000 version and had several ongoing issues including fuse box faults, ignition barrel stickiness and dampness in t' boot.

 

I was pulled in by my love for the moniker, but alas my dreams of fast motoring were dashed by shoddy build quality.

[twosmoke300]

A car where every single companant has been sourced from the cheapest possible supplier. Just terrible.

[fordperv]

I had 2 1.8 si one a 1997 the other a 1996 and they were great cars, I would have another tomorrow if I needed a motor, the only thing I would moan about is the front lower arm bushes being made of chewing gum so they fail repeatedly

[HH-R]

They're probably pretty rare now, I might only see a handful a year and they all look utterly knackered.

 

My brother had a mk5 Orion which he liked. He later found out it had been in a massive crash and was made from a red one and a blue one... it was scrapped soon after!

[Cavcraft]

Awful.

[cort16]

I thought the mk6 was okay it was the mk5 that felt like it was made out of egg boxes. I recon a 1.8Zetec would be a pretty decent and they can be picked up for buttons.

The focus is a much better over all proposition though.

[saucedoctor]

I had a Mk6 Si 3 dr. 1997. Someone gave me a wee squeezy bottle of graphite powder for the locks, which worked well. I really liked that car. Pretty fast and not a bad looker, just like my ex-fiancée, who wrote it off.

 

We had a number of pool cars when I was at ICL. "House staff", who weren't normally in the field used these cars if we had to go and give the field team a hand when they got stuck. Among the pool were a couple of last-gasp 1.3 pushrod Escort Encores. TERRIBLE car. Thumped and banged over any road surface (despite the cars being pretty new), horrible interior, no get up and go. I had to drive one to Strabane once, and when I got back the skin on my hands was weeping from the horrible moulding ridge on the steering wheel.

[CortinaDave]

They're alright. I liked them at the time. Mk6 is 11.6 billion percent better than the. 5.

 

Last one I had was a W plate diesel finesse bought for. £200 from the auction , lasted a year or so which is fair doos.

[Richard]

I thought the mk6 was okay it was the mk5 that felt like it was made out of egg boxes.

 

They must have spent a fortune on hookers and cocaine to get the motoring journalists to put that rumour about. The Mk6 might have been better to drive but the Mk5 was much better built. Every single Mk5 I looked at in scrapyards was in better condition than my 5 year old Mk6, unfortunately almost no parts were interchangeable.

 

Things broke on that car that I've never had to fix on any other car since I started driving in 1987. The self-adjusting ratchets in the back brake let go, the shoes wore in a wedge shape that pushed the shoe off the wheel cylinder under heavy braking, the driver's seat padding disintegrated, the alternator casing broke because it was too flimsy to take the belt tension, the 16000 mile old timing belt failed, it needed two sills and a battery tray by the time I got rid a couple of years later, it lost the left channel on the stereo. That was in addition to the more usual problems like broken springs, bottom arms, battery etc.

 

Last seen dumped in Asda car park a few months after I sold it, still well under ten years old.

[cort16]

It was a later zetec one I drove I dunno how this compare against the bog spec ones but it felt much better put together than the mk5 I had a shot of it. The mk5 was brand new at the time and remember being amazed at how flimsy it was. Saying that driving one a few time versus actually owning and living with it it a completely different experience. Also the mk6 had an clock in the dash, what more do you want?

[Hendry]

See I don't like Focus', or should it be Foci? Never have, plus they're a bit too modern looking, I've already got a modern so I want something that looks a bit more dated but is still relatively newish that it won't be rotten to the standards of an 80s car id have absolutely no chance of repairing, it still has most creature comforts eg central locking, power steering, electric windows etc and of the V/W/X plate Focus and Escorts I've seen not only does the Escort look more unusual in my eyes similar age Focus have all been much more rotten.

 

I don't really fancy a Jap car, they do nothing for me, and I've had both mk3 and mk4 Astra before so I'd get bored tinkering with these pretty quickly, plus bits are cheap, loads of genuine Ford stuff still about and I can even get bits to make it look showroom fresh, in addition to dealer plates and stickers DMB graphics even do they original door window stickers for the Ford key code radio, Ford alarm, under bonnet air con/battery stickers, and getting a car looking original is what interests me, that and tinkering for a hobby, this car wouldn't be bought to be used much on the road, more a mini project which needs a little tidying and some niggles/minor faults ironed out and some replacing trim etc.

 

Only other car which really interests me for this type of thing is a Corsa B 3 door SXi/Sport/GSi etc

[Pete-M]

Pretty bad.

 

I had the RS2000 version and had several ongoing issues including fuse box faults, ignition barrel stickiness and dampness in t' boot.

I did 30000 miles without any problems* in my Mk5 RS2000. Replaced it with an E34 that I thought no better.

 

Mine was only 3.5 years old when I bought it though. Ex-British Gas, of all things.

 

*The petrol cap lock seized, obviously.

[Cavcraft]

I don't like the Focus but I don't reckon they rot like the Mk6 Escort did.

 

Besides there being no redeeming features of the Mk5/6/7/119.1 Escorts whatsoever, they also rotted, the seats self destructed, the bumpers were made of egg shells, the interior plastics were just horrible, the interiors smell of misery, the interiors ARE misery and driving one makes suicide seem a better option.