RE: Shed of the Week: Ford Escort Encore

[Kitchski]

That, is fking dreadful. Seriously, if someone offered to pay me £20 to have a go in one, I'd still have to think about it.

A neighbour/boss of mine 15 years or so ago had a red one, identical spec. He used to offer me lifts to work when I lost my licence, but I still took the train sometimes out of choice.
I can't explain it. The 'feel', the smell, the choppy ride, the firm seats with zero support, the plastics, the tappy engine, the stupid oval clock on the dashboard, the sound the doors make when you shut them.......*shudder*.

Mk5/6 Escort, for me, is one of the sttest cars ever mate. To think what Ford have done in the decade that followed makes you wonder just how many pennies they were trying to save when they designed these crocks of ste.

[Uncle John]

Awful,awful car.

Had one for a year. The wheezy 1.3 was terrible. Not enough power (hills in 2nd gear), not economical (hills in 2nd gear), sounded like a bag of nails, intermittent non starting fault.

Fisher price interior, 90's 'SPLASH' effect upholstery.

Terrible.

Go and stand in the corner SOTW!

[Fondue]

I had one of these as a hire car for a couple of days - I think it was a diesel estate version for the full awfulness. Even today, I remember the ONLY thing I liked was the triangular hands on the clock. That's it!

[Morningside]

SOTW and I don't think the S stands for shed either.

[KarlMac]

Nope. Nope nope nope nope.

Assuming Shed thought 'its so bad it's good/cool' in an ironic way.


Shed was wrong.

[r11co]

MarshPhantom said:

Being not as bad as some other Escorts doesn't make it a great car.

Everyone's a critic!

It was actually an objectively good handler for its time. The front suspension lower arms in particular were quite revolutionary because they used perpendicular bushes, so less geometry changes under load compared to the contemporary Golf of the time (which everyone raved about!)

It was a well designed car underneath. but early examples were badly executed and most of the engine choices (CVH, Kent) were arcane and terrible. If the car had been launched with the 16v Zetec engines they eventually got IMO history would have been kinder to the car.

The RS2000 4x4 was an engineering feat for the time, and the Range Rover Evoque owes a lot to its existence as Evoque's drivetrain and chassis can be traced back to the Escort via the X-Type Jag.

Edited by r11co on Friday 3rd March 12:24

[Limpet]

What a depressing pile of crap! Shows how far Ford (and small family cars in general) have come.

The only saving grace is that it isn't the 1.4 CVH which is equally underpowered, but vibrates all your fillings out when you try to get any sort of pace out of it.

[Toyoda]

Well it's 'pure' I'll give it that and the perfect antithesis to the overcomplication of modern motors oft discussed on here. It's certainly more a museum piece than a daily driver, a good example of utilitarian transport. Still a big heap of turd and worth about £75 though.

[jamespink]

Terrible shed choice... Ghastly car, horrid in every detail, it's even white for goodness sake. I would rather walk or take the buss (and I hate public transport) the most "grey porridge" car ever made (discuss). Quite spoiled my morning thinking how badly that would drive, especially with so many proper shed cars available at that price. Not sure why you did that...

[Fastchas]

Balmoral said:

In 1995 you could have bought something much better, like a Lada Samara or a Skoda Favorit, or even pushed the boat right out on something as amazingly cutting edge as a Daewoo Nexia.

The Samara was not better. A friend bought one, a hateful car. Worst car he ever owned he said, and he sold a Reliant Robin to buy it!

[Limpet]

If it was higher spec with a Zetec in it, it would be a much better proposition. Still not great, but better.

[jamespink]

Fondue said:

I had one of these as a hire car for a couple of days - I think it was a diesel estate version for the full awfulness. Even today, I remember the ONLY thing I liked was the triangular hands on the clock. That's it!

Dave Simmons, a friend of mine, held that there was always a redeaming feature in every car if you looked hard enough (like the dolls eye tel-tale lights in a Hillman Hunter). I think this Shed choice proved him wrong, if the clock hands don't do it for you!

[PHMatt]

I learned to drive in a mixture of 1992 Fiesta 1.1 (driving instructor car)
and my dads 1995 Escort 1.8i Ghia

When I passed my test the Escort was as good as mine, 2.5 years old and sort of decent nick. He'd had it from new .

I ruined it. Waaaay too fast for a 17 year old!!

Anything less than the 1.8i Ghia was a basic thing though.

And Shed - why are you writing about Sierra's in 1995 - they were replaced with Mundano in 1992?

[ShuthanVtec]

Despite the negativity in this SOTW topic and yes it wasn't a great car, it still sold in massive numbers so it must have had some sort of popularity back then. I visited a Ford dealership when these were in production and I thought how the Escort are just cars they just forgot to stop bringing out generation after generation.

Its hard to believe the same people who did this then had a reality check and brought out the MK1 Focus which is a great car, I still think in some ways it looks fresh even today, not the same could be said for the Escort.

[Vitorio]

ShuthanVtec said:

Despite the negativity in this SOTW topic and yes it wasn't a great car, it still sold in massive numbers so it must have had some sort of popularity back then. I visited a Ford dealership when these were in production and I thought how the Escort is just cars they just forgot to stop bringing out generation after generation.

Its hard to believe the same people who did this then had a reality check and brought out the MK1 Focus which is a great car, I still think in some ways it looks fresh even today, not the same could be said for the Escort.

Its not just about being an escort though, this is a woefully underpowered 1.3, white, 5 door. a better coloured 3 door with a 1.6 or 1.8 Zetec would get very different responses i would imagine.

[SimonTheSailor]

Most SOTW's you actually think about buying.

But not this one, no, no, no, no.........

[Triumph Man]

Whilst putting the quote the wrong way round. It is a no from me, I always look at this era Escort as just utterly depressing. How down on your luck do you have to be to run one of these? Even an early Focus would be better!

PoopahScoopah said:

I'm surprised Escort Si hasn't popped up yet to defend this. Always so eager to let us know how boring and crap every other SOTW is, even though every other SOTW that has featured....ever....has been infinitely more interesting than this one.

[ShuthanVtec]

Vitorio said:

Its not just about being an escort though, this is a woefully underpowered 1.3, white, 5 door. a better coloured 3 door with a 1.6 or 1.8 Zetec would get very different responses i would imagine.

Despite that, I think apart from an Escort Cossie or an RS2000, any ordinary Escort will still get the same sort of reaction of oh I rather take the bus or walk lol. However I think Ford should buy this and add it to their 'secret' hangar of classic/old Ford cars lol.

[Hub]

I like Fords, but the early 90s was not their finest era, and these Escorts were particularly rubbish!

Find a Peugeot 306 instead.

[Car_Nut]

macajc88 said:

I had an early 1997 one of these as my first car although it was an 'L' not Encore. No ABS, electric windows and those delightful black plastic bumpers. Did have a sunroof though!

Ticked over 100k in the time I had it but always needed some persuasion getting through the MOT (corrosion).

Got rid when having just driven from Manchester to Newcastle and back, a couple of days later the suspension failed while being test driven by a mechanic after a service..

You appear to have parked the car approximately 100 metres too far back in the parking bay.