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Ford Escort Wagon
How is the fuel mileage?
I'm looking to buy a 1994, is that year good?
I'm looking to buy a 1994, is that year good?
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I am the host here, but I just started so I'm still stumbling around a bit. Have you looked for information in "Used Vehicles"? Also, have you owned other station wagons or is this your first?
Having previously owned a 93' Escort LX wagon,
with 5 spd. and amenities, I can attest to the robust nature of the car. I traded mine in with
almost 94,000 miles on a 97' Nissan Sentra GLE.
I miss the versatility the most. Be warned that
the 1.9 liter is hardy, reasonably reliable, but
noisy even at highway speeds. The fit and finish
are not (or never were) comparable to most foreign
makes. However, despite these flaws you can
probably pick one up for about 3 grand less, used
than a used Corolla wagon.
If you can afford new, I'd check out the Subaru
Impreza or Suzuki Esteem wagon which is getting favorable reviews. The Esteem wagon is a bit
underpowered but more refined than the Ford
wagon. By the way, repair parts for the Escort
can be gotten from just about any AUTOZONE, NAPA,
Etc. not so with some foreign makes. Good Luck.
Is it possible to tell if the Escort has went over 100,000 miles, since the odometer only has 5 digits?
A good mechanic should be able to tell whether
a car has been used but not abused, i.e. the
odometer. Also, if it looks to good to be true,
then it probably is. A comaparable 1994 Escort
wagon, driven let's say 18,000 miles a year,
should only have about 72,000 miles total. If
there's more ask why. If less then you may assume
that the owner(s) possibly drove less or worse
case, the cars odometer was tampered with. My
advice is, get a good mechanic to give it the once
over before purchasing. The ownwer(s) shouldn't
have a problem with that if they've nothing to hide.
thx.
To my knowledge the line of Escort wagons from redesign circa 1992
to 1996 had improvements with each consecutive year. For instance,
the 1994 Escort wagon had, I believe, a driver's side airbag, the 1995
both driver's and passenger's airbags and an interior upgrade.
Each year, most automotive engineers will tweak a couple of little
things even though reviews will mention a 'no changes' year.
I don't think, if this the car you are looking for, you can go
wrong if it's been reasonably well taken care of. Parts are relatively
cheap (except alternators). Alot of the regular service items can
be bought, at savings, from Wal-Mart, Target, etc. I believe, it's safe to assume that the car progressively was made safer and somewhat better each year until the most recent redesign in late 1996 which
is quantumly, for an Escort, better than 91-96 models. Used Escorts
typically do not retain value so beware at trade-in time.
Even though my Escort was running well for a car with 95,000 miles
on it, no-runs, no-drips, no-errors, I only got 75% of what I wanted
for trade-in. Apparently, nobody wants good higher mileage cars.
As a prologue, I have a friend who has a 1988 Mercury Lynx (same as
Escort wagon). His wife has a 1994 Escort wagon. He prefers driving
his 1988 over the newer model, go figure. His little machine, with
regular maintenance just keeps plugging along.
I went searching for an answer to your question, but couldn't find much info. I did find in the Used Car listings that a 1996 Escort had a 6.6 rating for Safety and the Crash Test Results for the Escort are driver=average, passenger=good.
Of course this doesn't really answer your question, does it.? But stick around, I'm sure someone with the info will offer you some advice.
KarenS/SW Conference Host
Unfortunately, I was in two separate accidents
in my 93' Ford Escort which I recently traded in.
One was more serious than the other, but both
involved front end damage. I rear-ended a guy
on the freeway at a sudden stop. The damage to
the front of the Escort totalled about $ 2500.00
the crumple zones worked as the damage did not
move past the radiator at the speed I hit the guy.
About 20 mph, I believe. There was no permanent
damage to the engine/drivetrain, etc. The other
accident involved a front bumper/hood shear in
a parking lot. Not my fault this time. Another
$ 1500.00 later and the damage again was repaired.
No problems that I could see. I kept the car another 4 years and 65000 miles after that. The
metal may seem flimsy, but it's not much better
in any other car. Also, no rust spots at any time.
on the Escort. It seems true protection vis-a-vis
accidents comes from pure mass, i.e., larger cars
or is left to physics, dependent on numerous
other criteria. Still again, I felt reasonably safe in the Escort. If I had it to do now, I'd buy
a Subaru Legacy, Impreza Outback, or check into
other wagon entrants.
Well, I just bought me an 95 escort wagon.
It had 13,000 miles and 7 months before the MF warranty expires. I paid $6,500 from a private owner. So far I like the ford escort. I drive 45 highway miles one way to work, it get about 33 mpg.
KarenS/SW Conference
The proverbial little-old-lady-driven-only-on-Sundays car. 66,000 mi auto, air, the whole shebang. $2700.00! Wow! The only problem is the trans. I've had an '87 Mazda 626 and a '91 Escort 2 door (both with the same trans), and they were nothing but trouble. Loved the cars, hated the transmission. Is the automatic transmission different on the wagon? (Please tell me yes.)
but hey.
I have towed a small trailer with it. The vehicle came with a hitch. No problem, though I would not think about towing over 1,500 lbs.
I'm looking for a newer vehicle that has good utility and a quieter ride. The Escort is no Civic, but Honda doesn't make a Civic wagon!
Does anyone have any experience with the 97' wagon? Is it significantly better. I'd be interested in one at the right price. Given their depreciation, a new one is not an option. I'd even take a 5-speed, which no one seems to like in these cars.
Thanks,
Lylej
It'd be really nice if the newer models had the same reliability. Depreciation isn't a concern for me since I like to keep cars until they die. (Unless, of course, they're problem ridden 95 Neons.....;^)
Chris
If you are going to or have paid $ 17,500 for
a 1998 Escort Wagon, that's way!!!! too much.
I'd only pay about $ 15,000 Max. with all the options you can think of. With the rebates that
Ford has going just about all the time and about
$ 100 - $ 200 over invoice for the
Escort you should be out the door. The salesmen
should've only had to spend about 1-2 hrs.
deciding on color, etc. Fast and efficient for you. Quick money for the dealership. Check out
any and all avenues for cheaper pricing before
purchasing. When I had my 1993 Escort wagon, I
was out the door within two (2) hours at the
dealership. Pretty painless overall. Good luck.
I'd pay an extra $ 1,000 extra if Ford could
develop a comparable, efficient, reliable AWD
system for the Escort Wagon to compete with
Subaru AWD systems. Imagine leaving the Ford
dealership in an AWD Escort Wagon w/Duratec
engine (125 H.P.) and Sport Pkg.., etc. for about
$ 17,000. I believe the market share to be there.
I'll bet, Ford, if desired could have this out in
18 mos. and sell as many of those as regular FWD
versions.
Over invoice bad. Speaking from experience on
the recently traded 93' Escort: $ 100.00 over
invoice with a $ 300.00 rebate to boot. Kind'uv
redundant, but turned out to be a good deal at
the time.
The deals are out there, just look. Particularly
with slower selling models.
Thanks.
Hi. I bought a 98 wagon with manual transmission last December. It now has about 11,000 kilometers (about 7,000 miles) and runs fine. The only problem I got, and still have, is the variable intermittent wipers (the delay changes by itself). This is my third Escort (a 91 wagon, a 95 hatchback GT, this 98 wagon). The 95 GT was more fun to drive but the ABS brakes stopped working after 18 months and the dealer wasn't able to fix them after almost a year of repeated visits. My new 98 is loaded, _without_ the optional ABS brakes... Differences between the 1997 and 1998? As far as I know, the choice of colors and the unavailability of a tachometer. I didn't like the idea of getting a manual transmission without the tach, but I got used to it. Would I buy it again? Yes. Good luck.
Do you have any idea if this is a typical problem with ABS on Fords? Anybody else know? I don't want to spend the dough on them if they are sure to break!
thanks again.
Karen
I paid $16,500 Canadian before taxes but including dealer prep, in December 97. The car has all the options _except_ automatic transmission, mags, baby seat (built in the rear seat), premium stereo and, of course, ABS. It has the regular AM-FM Cassette with 4 speakers, air, power group (mirrors, windows, locks), remote lock/unlock, alarm system, wagon group (roof rack and rear window wiper), tilt, cruise, cargo cover, carpets, smoker pack (an ashtray and a lighter!) and light group.
The price I paid is low (at least in Canada) because Ford agreed to sell me the car at dealer's cost when they couldn't fix the ABS on my 95 GT. Ford bought my car back for a little over $10,000 Canadian.
When I checked with the CAA (the Canadian AAA), before accepting Ford's offer, I was told the price of the new 98 was very close to the dealer's cost (a difference of $50) and the price of the old 95 was fair (the 95 cost me $17,000 and I got $10,000, or almost 60%, for a 40% depreciation in 3 years.) In the end, I feel I was treated fairly. Going to court would have been costly and painful (yes, I spoke to a lawyer).
Regarding ABS problems on the Escort, it seemed so few of them were equipped with it that it made the problem worse (in 95, only the GT could be ordered with ABS). And it's not because Ford didn't try to fix them. Sensors were replaced, master pump was replaced, central module was replaced, in some cases more than once. Even the wiring was checked and replaced: I saw my car stripped of all its inside (seats, dashboard, carpets, etc.) and parts of the engine (air conditioning, braking system, etc.) twice! To think it takes you 4 years to pay for it and to see it on blocks with half the parts missing isn't something I will remember with great pleasure!
A last good word for Ford: all the time my car was in the shop (once for two months), I got a loaner for free. I got to drive a Taurus (with which I was rear ended on the freeway: solid car), a few Escorts (of course) and a Windstar (for more than a month; I just loved that van).
That's about it. Sorry for the long message. NRC.
KarenS/SW Host
Bought '97 Escort LX with 5-speed in Feb 97 for wife - she commutes 40 miles a day to work and back. She prefers a stick - before the Escort she owned an '86 Tempo LX with stick that had 98K miles on it.
So far, we've put 18,000 miles on the car, with no problems at all - just oil changes. No, it's not a hot rod (not with 110HP), but it's satisfactory for us. As mentioned above, I wouldn't own a stick w/o a tach - fortunately, the one we decided on had a tach as an option.
We've been talking about an Escort Wagon when the lease on my car comes due (Feb 99), but I've heard that the Escort is being replaced with the Focus in Aug 99 - no wagon planned ! What does anyone know about this? Not sure I want to purchase a car that is being discontinued 6 months later.
i bought a 93 LX wagon in sept. of 93. it went from florida to upstate new york to michigan to pittsburgh and then to bloomington, IN. my wife and I have put about 65K miles on it, and it worked in 100 degree orlando days. it's also started in new york at 25 below. the only thing i have ever had done to it was to replace the alternator (and that was under warranty). (well, i did have some body work done because of an accident, but that doesn't count.)
i have noticed some minor rust near the back doors, but given the winters it's been through and the road salt it has seen, it's done pretty well.
i've been fairly religious about changing the oil, but i've let other maintenance items slip. we can still get 40 to 42 mpg on the freeway (max was 46). the only thing i've noticed is the stick is little stiff, but that's probably due to the fact that my personal car has a much easier stick.
overall, i'd say it's held up great. heck, it beats out my piece of crap 95 dodge neon sport coupe. if you're looking to buy one and can find a good one at a good price, i'd say it's worth it. on the other hand, the 94's had airbags and the CFC-free a/c systems, which is something you might want to consider.
chris
I live in Toronto, Canada and am thinking of buying a Ford Escort wagon with an automatic transmission. I would appreciate any advice as to what the best price is for this car (not including rebates, taxes and delivery charges).
ESCORT OR ELANTRA ANY COMMENTS?
MUST BE STICK SHIFT.
Thanks
how the newer Escorts hold up in crashes?>>
Below are two links that may help you find this information.
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
KarenS/SW Host
Was in two (2) accidents in a 93' Escort wagon.
Repaired twice and driven for an additional
75,000 miles and four years. No noticable problems. 'No' light vehicle will fair too good in
accidents. However, I came out of both, albeit not
serious, accidents with only minor injuries.
I would venture to guess that 95'-97' Escort wgns.
are even safer d/t airbags and stronger, more
rigid bodies.
However, if you'd like a larger wagon, consider
a used Subaru Legacy or Honda Accord wgn. Both
seem to hold value and reliability well.
As for it's being a "program" car, remember the difference between a used car and a rental. The rental has been ruined by being driven by dozens of different drivers, while the used car has been ruined by only one or two drivers ;-).
the mercury sable GS stn wagn vs Ford Taurus Stn
wgn? which has lower maintenance?
I test drove both of them and wondering what was different.
Do anyone have any inputs on these choices or any other?
thanks
KarenS/SW Host
jfs. The Sept. 1997 Consumer Reports had a review of 5 wagons: Ford Escort, Subaru Legacy, Ford Taurus, Subaru Impreza, Volvo V70. An eclectic mix to say the least.
The average car has fewer "sample defects" (i.e. obvious ones, right from the factory) and better reliability than the average car of 10-15 years ago. So, yes indeed, even owning a newer car, with average reliability can be a step up.
RDeschene@recorder.ca
1999 Ford Escort SE Wagon
KarenS/SW host
We've had our 94' Escort for about 5 months now
and I'm pretty happy, but maybe you can help with
these two strange things: The vehicle BEEPS at me
whenever I open a door. No key in the ignition,
she just beeps until all the doors are
closed--even
rear passenger doors. Does yours work this way?
Also, the AC works beautifully (altho a power
drain), but I can't seem to locate a setting for
airflow that is not chilled. I'd just like air
blown in and not run the AC. Isn't this doable?
Something's not workin', eh? Any
suggestions/comments greatly appreciated.
Tom Hurd
I thnik there is probably no real way to compare these two cars, however, does the escort seem like it will be a reliable...not in the shop, tough car. We are good about the regular maintainence stuff.....
also, if buying from a fleet saleman, and buying a new '98 (big rebate...supposedly no updates from to the '99 besides new colors maybe-is this true?) what would a good price be approx....for a manual?
thanks for any help!
Wagon because of collision damage.
What other wagons are comparable in
terms of size , performance , safety and price ?
Would appreciate inputs.
Denny