Ford Escort 1.6 Hatchback

Yes the best selling car of 3 decades. But today im going to talk about the mk5/6.

In 1990, ford introduced the mk5 ford escort hatchback. The one tested (on top gear) was the blue 1.4 lx 5 door hatchback manual which jeremy clarkson drove. Of course being wealthy and not liking ford escorts in general, he critisized it quite vigerously although he's my faverite car magazine writer and motor show presenter.

Replacing the mk4, the new mk5 took a much bigger rise in the market due to its price tag and absoulute spot on value for money. Engines ranged from 1.1cc high compression swerl to its mighty powerful fire breathing 2.0 cosworth engine. There were also some diesels too which were 1.8 non turbo (60 bhp),turbo (75 bhp)and turbo intercooler (90 bhp) varients which really made sense if you found paying the bills a bit difficult. But these only came after the facelift (mk5b).

Although problems occured such as fuseboxes,bottom arms and light switches, generaly these were extreamly reliable and lasted along time unless neglected. Ford promised a new varient for the escort, yes the zetec engine. The basic varient was a 1.6 16v dohc 89 bhp engine which saw problems with hydrolic valve lifers due to lack of lubrication at the top end of the engine. Prodcutions ended in 1995 for the mk5 when ford decided to make its last and best model, the mk6.

In 1995, the last and final model of the escort lasted 7 years, til 2003 infact but vans mainly came off the production at this time. The new shape had a much rounder interior & exterior opposed to the more boxier type mk5. Specs (like the mk5) had, encore,L,CL,LX,Serenade,chicande,finesse​,flight,SI,ghia and ghia x.

Ford made its more improved zetec varient by removing the aluminium efi manifold and replacing with plastic inlet manifold which saw more bhp and changing oil specifications to 5w/30 instead of 10w/40 managing to quieten down and stopping hydrolic valve lifters from sticking.

Before the end of the productions in 2000, ford decided to fit digital dials to the escort and cut down on specs only keeping the finesse & the flight before the ford focus took over.

Overall the best car ford made in my opinion. Please note this is my first ever real and long review so be gentle :)

thanks for reading