1998 Ford Escort Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Best little car I ever owned, fuel economy is excellent. It was ahead of it's own time. The Money saved on gas is worth the down size for everyday use. Makes a great second car or a car for a Younger person for school.

its a great car with lots of boot space and room in the back for passengers. the engine sizes range from a 1.3 to a 2.0 turbo charged cosworth engine it can be a fun car to drive if you spend alot of money on the car

This car has good performance, REALLY good gas mileage, is comfortable (for a compact coup) and is fun to drive. It looks sleek and fun, it is cheap to own, but cost to purchase and cost of gas. It's zippy and can do 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds. For in I4, it's a great little car. I miss mine. :(

quick acceleration, (7.4 )0-60, handling above average 4 cyl, solid build and only needs to be maintained, owned car for 3 years only spent around 800$ on total repairs. Average mpg was 30-32. The interior is good quality and really only suffers with the back seats which are small like any other coupe Very weak automatic transmission, exterior styling is 90's and shows it.

Fourth Escort I've owned and I would quickly buy another. Never given me any major problems in the time I've owned it. It has no options on it as it was a fleet car originally and that is great.

I appreciate the good mpg. With a mix of highway and city driving I'm always around 28-30 mpg. Straight highway pushing 60-70mph it puts out about 32mpg. Low maintenance, reliable car. It maintains tires very well compared to other cars

Bought this car in 2001 in Ohio, I think it had about 60K on it. Worked like a charm with low maintenance. No frills, manual windows. Simple and clean, plaint lasted forever and shiny even though it was never in the garage. Got about 34 miles a gallon. Junked it in early 2012 because the undercarriage started to rust and they said the parts would fall off eventually and not be held togehter wll. Mechanic said I should have done a better job of washing the undercarriage on a regular basis at a car wash, and I only did it four times total ever since I had it, so he was right. Not sure if that was the only cause but oh well. The only repairs for 11 years were in 2005 a trasnmission switch (but not the transmission itself) they say always fails in those cars for $700 including labor, a new radiator for $400, and some type of loud notice in the muffler pipe for $500. Other items were regular maintenance of couse. Power steering belt of comonent died in 2010 but the car drove fine with out it manually since I am a fit female in my early 30s turning a stiff wheel was not all that hard. didn't have money for repairs. In 2009 the struts and springs kept giving problems once a year, $900 for that and 800 again in 2011. It may have been my fault, I don't think I had my tires rotated enough and it threw the car balance off. I assumed the oil change shop was doing it for me, I didn't know much about cars as I know now. In 2012 it stopped working at 189K becaue it needed a feul pump and components for $800 so I said forget it the underside is rusting and the struts and shocks keep going and junked it. Since most of the things could have probably been prevented I say it's a great car. Started up and ran no matter how cold it was and seems like it was easily cured with fluid. Engine and transmission still strong and perfect the day I junked it. Too bad the body went bad! Hope this post helps others learn a little more about cars. Too bad they don't sell it anymore, because it lasts long which I guess is the reason they don't offer it due to their greed, you won't need a car for about 10 years if not 15 with perfect maintenance you have this one.

The car isn't very quick but it has a bit of kick to it. She's currently sitting with a bad connecting rod after 197k miles. I can't wait to put another engine in her and start having fun again :D

I own one of these. Have not had a problem in the 5 years I have owned it. Good performance, good fuel economy, fairly spacious. I have enjoyed owning it.

my first brand new car never put a cent on it and lasted me 8 years and still runs great

I like the fact that I can depend on the car, it gets me were I need to be with no problems.I dislike that the car wasn't built bigger on the inside But its a great car and very dependable

Good car! Handles great, stops great, and accelerates hard. It'll pull hard. 190,636 miles, tranny shifts a little hard but nothing a little Seafoam Trans Tune didnt fix. I always have a blast when I get behind the wheel. Some squeeks and rattles but its got almost 200k on it so thats expected

Pretty quick for only 110 HP excellent milage no A/C (amazed they still sold cars without it) no ABS (manly men don't need it) ManTran (see above) stock stereo was I believe just an AM/FM stereo (college poverty what what) never had any issues with it looks like a 2/3rds scale Taurus of that era, which at the time I thought was cool (no I wasn't on crack)

Doesn't list one here but it was a 1.8 Gti with the ever reliable Zetec engine! Was lots of fun to drive, bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing off the lights. Sounded beautiful with the age old combo of a powerflow stainless exhaust sytem and pipercross induction system. Was a brilliant car until the time it rolled three times into a field. Ok that was my fault, and a lucky escape at 110mph!

Hello everyone this is my 1998 Ford Escort ZX2 sport. It is pretty sweet. It has a five speed standard transmission. The exterior has a new black paint job it looks great. The brakes work great. I love the handling in my car, especially around courners. This has been a great first car for me.

I ordered my ZX2 from the factory, and have driven it every day since, and still love it. The car is still solid, and running very well. It's needed very little more than oil changes, brakes, and tires changed on it. 216,000Km and still running strong. Sadly after 230,000km, I was hit driving down the freeway and my ZX2 was totaled. It was a great car, and never let me down.

Car still performs the same way as when I bought it 50,000 miles ago! This is my emergency vehicle, and I trust it to get me to my patient QUICKLY!

I am the primary driver of this car. It is the sport edition of Escorts. It is built well and has only had some minor repairs done to it while owning it. It gets pretty good mpg (25) for what I use it for. When I got this car, it only had 68,971 miles on it!!! It was a car that was used in the military. I really love this car. It's great!!!

This car is a great car to drive, it handles really well and is pretty quick for a 1.6, very reliable had no problems with it yet. The interior is nice, has electric front windows and official ford CD player/radio, power steering and air-conditioning. overall this is a very good car.

Pretty good diesel engine .Acceleration is good and braking and handling too.Very low mileage cost and haven´t need any bigger service yet.Only the disc brakes have been change and one wheel bearing.Very nice to drive and cheap to own.

Cheap, realiable, great on gas, pretty peppy performance for only 140hp. Good sporty handling. Modern look for its time.

It really picks up speed fast when u step on d accelerator. Braking is great and it handles well. Not had any problem with it in terms of its build. Looks great on the eyes, inside and outside. Fuel economy is great for a 2.0 litres and maintenance is okay, higher than average tho. It sure is fun to drive.

Well-built car, ballsy 4 cylinder engine, but 5 spd trans. revs out too quickly. No leaks/ticks or knocks. Could use better gearing to improve high revs/fuel economy. Car is 0ver 10 years old, and only has one rust spot on it's original paint.

This car, I LOVE it, its got such good pick up and the speakers are amazing. Normally not a fan of fords, but seriously awesome! Owning it isn't too expensive its pretty cheap on gas,its so much fun to drive too, the way it handles and shifts, oh my, ;)

It's a nice car that respond well to the road and that have good performance for that type of car. Never had proble to start the engine in winter and didn't need to make any major repair.

I love this car to death! its so fast and reliable .. shifting at 3 grand with the manual transmission my 0-60 is 12 seconds regular beating 0-60 is about 7. I beat a Sentra SE-R 5 speed 1-3 gear ... bye bye.

My first "New" car and a great buy as it turned out. Solid build, good 1.6v engine. A bit sporty, but not enough that you would know or that would effect your insurance. Nice cabin space and leather bits and bobs

Leaves some to be desired in performance, but it's obviously not built for it anyway. Since it's a 4-cylinder, it gets good mileage, about 25/30mpg. It hasn't needed any major repairs, and should keep going for a while yet with ~117K miles.

i have had my escort now for 3 years and never really had any major problems with it. had to replace the timing belt just after purchasing it only regular maintenance now can't complain

Performance: Ok, nothing special, brakes in this one were very wooden with no feel at all and the handling wasn't very confidence inspiring. Build Quality: Again, Ok. Appearence: Nice. Cost of Ownership: Good on fuel, more expensive to insure than it should be as Escorts are very easy to steal. Fun Factor: This one, not great, it was a bit wooden and felt very tired.

Bought This car at the end of 2005, Performance blue exterior, totaly stock 1400cc engine. Throughout the time, the paint started deteriorating and the engine went from bad to worse , due to my driving learning. Had a smash this january (which wasnt my fault) and got it repaired using another 1800cc escort. Engine swapped it fully repaired its body work, added electric windows, electric mirrors, K&N cotton filter, resprayed the whole car in Ford diamond white and added a nice set of 16" rims. Took 7 months to repair it all since it had really bad back wing damage in which an escort's case it would be part of the chasis (considered as a total loss in my local ford garage).

300000km and no problems need I say more

a fine car, but with a short life

Nice engine but slow, good handling but cv joints and bushes wear easyly. Lots of parts about and cheap to run.

I bought the ZX2 as a winter car, because after many years of driving a Mustang, I just couldn't do it anymore. I've had the car for 3 months almost 4, and thus far as been very reliable. It definately does not have the most pick up and go, but in time it will get up to speed (in its own time that is). I shouldn't really complain though, for a cheap 4 banger I shouldn't expect to much out of it.

It's is always in the garage and I never get to drive it. I can't drive it in the rain, during winter, or when its freezinggggg

I had this car for about 2 years. I bought it with 101000 on it and someone had shade tree fixed the radiator before i got it. The engine blew 65 miles after i got it. It was peppy for a 4cyl. seats 4 uncomfortably. It had better handling than what I thought it would.

nice little car, all the options work, slow, not bad mileage

I have owned this car for 2 years and i have not had one issue with it was so ever. it is exelent in the snow. handles anything i throw at it. It is great on gas as well that is a huge plus with the price if gas today.

It's fun to drive but not the most comfortable ride due to the lack of interior space. There were a few costly repairs, namely bad bearings and a hard-to-get-to belt that had to be replaced twice. Other than those issues it is a reliable, fun, good little car.