Its small dinky size and poor condition made it barely worth the $350 I paid for it. But I was broke and had to get a car on one paycheck.
I had to use a rock to park the car on a hill because the parking brake was worthless. I also believe that out of the four wheels, I only had really good brakes on my right front. So the car pulled like a drunk mule when I hit the brakes hard. The alignment was ok when driving, so I figure it had to be the brakes.
It was always out of power steering fluid. And even when it was refilled, it was sluggish and heavy. The suspension was OK, and otherwise this car did not break down or anything serious. But it was a base model with no AC, doors that you had to slam to get them to shut, and had a manual transmission. Eck. I sat in hours of delays on Route 28 in the hot Sun baking like I was in a sauna in this cramped horrible little car.
And it had an exhaust leak too that filled the cabin with noxious fumes when it was not in motion.
It was a quick little thing, though, and could chirp its tires on demand. However, the top speed was a salty 70 mph with it floored, though it did not complain. It leads me to believe that the clutch was about shot on it, considering how snappy and even sporty it felt at lower speeds.
I found the clutch really freaking long in this car and would often get leg cramps due to the sheer amount of travel my foot would have to do to simply engage it all the way.
No AC and no STEREO made this the worst car I ever owned. The damn thing was also that crappy red color that faded to a flat finnish brick texture with age. Horrible. No wax could revive the paint particles. I was told that the red paint for that car in particular was defective.
The dash had completely peeled, looking like the back of an aligator. I taped it together with duck tape and was pleased to look at the improved appearance coating a dash in tape has for such a crappy car.
The instrument cluster... never mind. Who cares? This car sucked.
Typical Ford reliability and durability.
I had to dispose of this piece like a dirty diaper as nobody would buy it even when I listed it at $125.
Eck.
Ford
Escort
LX
