Despite the fact I drive a Ford Escort, I am actually only 19. I bought this car almost a year ago now, costing me only £2000.

I will not go in to major detail here, i dont want to baffle you all with annoying "techie" language, but heres a quick run down of my "baby"!
Ford Escort 1.4i Special Edition "N" Reg (1995)
Tourmallard Green (Very dark mettallic green to you an me!)
1.4 Litre Engine, Electronically Fuel Injected
Power Assisted Steering
Electric Front Windows
5 Speed Manual Gearbox
5 Door Hatchback
Front Wheel Drive

One of the biggest advantages of owning this car over one with a larger engine is that it falls in to a lower insurance group, and it falls in to the lower tax band. In real terms this means that it wont cost you a great deal to insure (only group 5 out of 20) and it only costs £55 to tax for 6 months instead of £88 if you had a 1.6 or bigger. It costs me £1500 to insure "third party, fire and theft", but thats because im only 19, and also because i had a rather nasty accident last year (oops!).
In terms of petrol, i do mainly urban driving (round town), and i get around 300 miles out of £30 of petrol, which isnt amazing, but then again, the car has done nearly 150'000 miles now, so it can be excused. When I have done a lot of motorway driving, it has improoved somewhat to around 380-400 miles out of £30 of petrol, and I do tend to have a more than heavy right foot, so thats quite generous really.
Servicing is cheap (I serviced it myself for about £50 of bits and pieces), and more importantly it was really easy to do. Tyres are cheap for the standard wheels (they are a very common size - 175x14x60), although I have changed them to some much larger 17" wheels.
Parts are extremly cheap, as they are on most fords, so dont expect huge bills when something does go wrong.

As i briefly mentioned before, my car had already done 137'000 miles, now nearly 150'000, so it hasnt stood still for a moment, and im only the scond owner. It had a full service history, which helps keep reliability good, and the resell value as high as possible. Since I have owned it, I have had the following replaced:
Wheels (through choice only)
Lower wishbones and bushes (worn out bushes)
Front offside wheel bearing (worn out)
New Front Pads and Discs (worn out)
Minor Service after 6 months (to keep the warranty valid)
Full service after 11 months
Touch wood, it had never ever broken down, and has been as strong as an ox all the while I have had it. The last service I gave it really did help improve the performance, improving initial accelleration and top speed. It also improved fuel economy greatly.

As standard it was very smooth and reasonably quiet too. It has a top speed of about 115mph (although i have never driven it this quickly of course!), and a 0-60 time of about 13 seconds. it handled O.K. on corners, but not brilliantly, it tended to slip a lot, and there was a lot of body roll. Since I changed the wheels to some wider low profile ones, the handling has impoved 10 fold, feeling much more agile and stable on the corners.
It's biggest fault is its real lack of acceleration at higher speeds, from say 70 to 90. you really have to push it to get it to go, but then that can be expected from a 1.4L engine.

I love this car, its the second one ive had, and will probably have another one (although a newer more powerful model next time!). It has served well, and considering the price, looks and still drives very very nicely.