1997 Ford Escort consumer reviews

I bought this car three months ago for my daughter when she went away to college. (I am a mechanic) It had 100000 miles on it, looked immaculate. One month later the tranny went out. As she was far away, we had a trans shop replace it.($1600) She drove it home for Easter break and it promptly dropped a valve seat in no. 4 cylinder, destroying the engine. It is now torn down in my garage with the engine block at the machine shop for a re-bore. The parts alone for this latest go-round cost over $1000. (My labor is "free"). On line I have discovered that this engine is notorious for dropping valve seats. I guess that FORD really does stand for "fix or repair daily.

'97 and later model escorts with the 2.0 L engine were the acme that earlier makes and models had achieved and been retired to the dustbin. The standard transmission gives better mileage 35-40 than the automatic 26-32. Other models of perfection, imo, included the '63 ford falcon and the '83 honda civic. I've had '83, '88, '93, and '95 escorts before these. The '80's models wouldn't go past 140k without head (gasket) failure. '90's models won't die.

BUT NEEDED SOME WORK, KNOWN BEFORE PUCHASE. GOOD WINTER CAR,GOOD ON GAS.HAD SOME RUST ISSUES BUT WERE A CHEAP FIX TO PASS INSPECTION.NO PROBLEM WITH THIS SALE OR FACILITY.

I purchased this vehicle used about 8 weeks ago with about 55K miles! There is absolutely no rust on the body which is saying a lot since it's been in Michigan it's entire life-time! I could not be happier with this car; low fuel cost, low insurance rates plus affordable maintenance and repair costs of this model! I will have this baby until its retired. Love it!

I went from a jeep to an escort and at first I felt like I was driving a go cart but now I'm used to it and I LOVE it! The mpg is awesome and its pretty low maintenance. Definitely a great college car!

I bought this car 9 years ago with 103,000 miles for $3000. It has 255,000+ miles on it and it still is running strong. I just now had to replace the clutch, but other than that, I have not had any real problems with the car. I still trust it more than cars with half the miles and it still gets 30+ miles per gallon in combined city/highway driving. You don't get better value than that!!!

This is a good starter car, i learned how to drive with the Ford Escort. ~Good gas mileage ~Compact ( so it's easy to park) ~Very reliable ~Good acceleration ~Easy to handle ~Easy maintenance (parts are usually affordable) Just take good care of the car and it should be very good to you; I've put a very good amount of miles in the car and it shows no sign of breaking down.

When my father bought this car, it was in really bad condition. The people who owned it where very "heavy", and the struts were broken. The car was so neglected that it needed a new engine, so we replaced the engine block and some other parts. After getting the car back into running condition, we drove it from Chicago to Dallas Texas, MULTIPLE TIMES. The car was very good, and never had any serious problems with it. We have put well over 120,000 miles on the car now and it shows no signs of going down soon. The parts for the car are very affordable, maintenance is easy, tune-ups can be done real fast, and the car gets good gas mileage. It's not a good-looking car but it sure does get you from point A to B and back. Just maintain it, like any other car.

Our 1997 Ford Escort 5-speed 4-door is an excellent vehicle. The fully stock 2.0 engine can still deliver 37-40 MPG on the highway with conservative driving. After having lived its whole life in states with salted roads in the winter it has very little rust, and none affecting the paint yet. It has needed the rear coil springs replaced twice and the tie-rod ends replaced twice as well. The only other maintenance has been a re-built alternator, brakes, tires, and exhaust. Otherwise this car still drives like it were new, it is nimble in city traffic and can maintain 70-75 MPH on the freeway with only some increased wind noise (turn the radio up). At 13 years old and nearly 200K miles its "value" is nearly nil, but I would need a car with a warranty to be as comfortable about its reliability.

I bought this car with 100000 miles on it back in 2005 for $1500. So far, i have put 43000 miles on it with no major problems. Just replacing engine oil regularly and brakes when needed is all it takes for this little baby to get you everywhere you want to go with no worries. Average mileage is ~26mpg combined driving with normal acceleration. Car has been so good to me, that i'm gonna drive it `till it dies and that (according to the state the car is in) won't be soon.