According to my ever-useful Oxford dictionary, the word Finesse means to delicately manipulate something. How this term can be used to describe this (or any other) Ford baffles me. Just look at the badge on the tailgate. The word finesse looks as though it has been haphazardly stuck on, rather than delicately worked into the design. In all honesty, finesse is a word that I would never associate with a Ford. you will see my reasons for this statement throughout this opinion.
I am writing this opinion in the main as an observer from the passenger seat. My father owns the car and he does the driving. I have had a sneaky drive of an Escort Finesse when I worked at Ford though. I will be able to give a good run down of the features of the car, but when I describe things like the handling, I am putting my father's views from the questions that I put to him earlier.
The car... Well, it's a standard W-reg Ford Escort 1.6 Finesse Estate. That is not a typo, although Ford stopped making the Escort some time ago now, most dealers still have several unregistered Escorts on the forecourt. This means that you can pick up essentially a brand new car at a real knockdown price. Most dealers are desperate to shift these Escorts, so they can make more room for the Focus range.
Why has the word Finesse been added on then? Essentially, the car is fitted with alloy wheels, spoiler, air-conditioning and a CD-player. Apart from that, there is little to differentiate from standard Escorts.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ THE EXTERIOR \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I will start my guided tour of the car with the bodywork and styling. There is nothing flashy about this car, I think that this Escort model is more stylish than the equivalent Vauxhall Astra estate. It is painted in a light metallic blue and has a slight green tint to the windows. I find the tinted windows a nuisance. Although they are there to serve a purpose, everything white inside the car turns off-white when the sun shines through the glass and I sometimes feel a little nauseous if the sun is alternately shining and then disappearing. The constant colour changes makes my head spin sometimes.
The spoiler on the tailgate is a nice touch in my view, but my father thinks it makes him look like someone who reads Fast-Car but can't afford all the upgrades. I suggested that I buy him a body kit for his birthday, but he said he would rather die than mess up his car with boy racer mods.
The roof is adorned with rails on which you can mount roof-rack bars if you want to spend loads of money on them. Again, there is a difference
in views. I think they look quite nice, while my father thinks they were put on after Ford did a deal with the petrol garage to increase fuel consumption.
The alloy wheels provided on the car are the standard triangle shape with double lines running out from the centre of the triangle faces. I have seen better designs, but seeing as they were fitted, I won't complain. My father would have a coronary if anyone suggested swapping steel rims for alloys, so I see that as a definite result.
Finally, the bumpers are colour coded. Not a big thing but worth knowing if you are prone to scraping at the car park. Again, I think they look great, but my ever-practical father makes a comment about boy racers. (Between you and me, I think he secretly likes all these boy racer things).
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ THE INTERIOR \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Getting into my usual seat, that being the front passenger seat, I have my first major gripe about the car. As most of the people reading this will know, most males sit with knees slightly apart. In the Escort, this is impossible. I am wedged in, with one knee firmly against the centre console and the other knee against the side of the car. Roomy is something that this car is not. The driver's side is slightly wider, given the space needed to operate the pedals, but even my father feels stiff after a long journey. I find it difficult to walk naturally after a two-hour journey.
The seats are for want of a better phrase, like boy racer bucket seats. When you sit in the seat, you have extra cushioning at the sides to keep you in place when cornering. This is needed for the back seats as well, but I'll get to that shortly. I find that the seat hugs me tight when I am wearing the seat belt, but my back gets very hot and damp when going on a long journey.
The seats are velour and are very soft. They wear quite quickly so it is advisable to buy seat covers to protect them. My father wanted plain cloth seats but for the price we paid for the car, he wasn't going to complain.
As I mentioned, the back seats are flat, the bench is split into one seat and a twin seat, so you have extra options for folding down seats to increase stowage space. It is very hard to stay put in the back seats when cornering at any speed. Most manoeuvres result in rear passengers cursing as they squash each other. This is even when wearing seat belts. Leg room is also limited in the back. I have to pull my seat forward so my knees are against the dash before my brother can sit behind me. The seating is designed for a steriotypical family of two adults with two smallish children in the back.
Due to the air-conditioning, there is no sunroof. I see this as a bit of a down point, as we like to open it on sunny days, but the Ford designers decided in their infinite wisdom that air-conditioning eliminated the need for a sun roof.
After a little more questioning, I found that all the switches are in easy reach for the driver. Unfortunately, the console looks very plastic and lacks refinement. I wasn't expecting wood trim, but I have to say that I was a little disappointed with how plain the dash looks. The horn switch is located in the steering wheel. There are two buttons that are within easy reach of the thumbs when the wheel is in a neutral position. If you find yourself in need of the horn while turning the wheel, the buttons can be a little difficult to get hold of.
The gauges are easily visible, I can see them from the passenger seat too, so if you usually lie to the other half about your speed, don't buy this car as they will be able to catch you out. The dials are layed out in a group of three. The first (on the left) shows the revs, the middle dial shows the speed, in miles and km, the third dial shows the fuel level and oil temperature. There are various warning lights located between the dials, and if the car is poorly maintained, you can have a great disco in the evening.
I would love to describe the CD player to you but the dealer omitted to fit one. We ended up with a standard cassette player. We fought for a while but gave up in the end. I think we could have got the player but my father doesn't use CDs much and couldn't be bothered. The sound system isn't bad, but the speakers aren't up to the job and most music sounds tinny. They are OK if you just listen to the radio at moderate volume though. High volume is a definite no-no though, as the sound will break up.
Big safety features are the airbags. There is an airbag on the glove compartment and another in the steering wheel. Thankfully we have never activated them so obviously I cannot comment on their effectiveness (even I draw a line as to the lengths I will go to research an opinion sometimes).
The view to the rear is excellent. My father says that the rear view mirror is effective and being an estate, the rear window is large and gives good visibility. The door mirrors are well designed and give good visibility. They are manually operated in our case. Those nauseating tinted windows are electrically operated though. They are operated from switches on the panel between the seats. Why they couldn't put the window control on the door I will never know. I am only just learning not to reach for the door to open the window. The window motor is a cheap thing and makes a nasty whining noise as it moves the window. The rear windows are manually operated with the handle winders.
As you will have seen from the product name, our car is an estate. There is a large area for storage but the "stylishly" curved rear window takes away a little space that you have in the squarer backed Astra. There is a cover that pulls off a roller like a blind so you can cover items in the boot, but it limits you to storing items below the level of the seat backs. The cover is very robust and tends to get thrown in the boot when not hooked on.
While I am talking about the boot area, the spare wheel was only a steel rim in our car. You might get lucky and get an alloy, but if you are buying a "nearly new" car, the chances are that it has gone walkabout.It is easy to retrieve the spare from the boot just by lifting the carpet lining and turning the bolt that holds it down.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ THE RIDE \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
My mother specifically asked that I state her opinion of the ride. She says that it always goes boom-diddy-boom. She is a lightly built lady and feels every bump in the road through the rear suspension. My father and I disagree, we believe that there is better feel for the road with stiff suspension, but she wants us to get a limousine that is smooth as silk. We tried explaining the concept of inertia and rolling, but she will not hear reason. We say that if you tried driving that the same way as this Escort, it would be on its roof in minutes. Even though this car is softer than the last, she is not happy. She says that she can feel the bumps for hours after the ride.
That brings me nicely onto the suspension. My father had a company car before he bought this Escort. It was an Escort 1.6 SI and had low profiletyres and sports suspension. I loved that car as it went round corners like it was on rails. In comparison the "Finesse" feels sluggish and my father says it wants to under-steer quite a lot. From the passenger seat, I feel the roll when cornering and the way it tries to sag away from the turns. Compared again to our old Astra estate though, it handles quite well but it was definitely not designed to be handled aggressively. I guess that you have to handle with a little finesse (ouch, sorry).
I would say that this car would better suit a driver who stays well under the speed limit. My father drives at or around the speed limit and this car tells us through what feedback there is that it would rather be travelling at a slightly more sedate pace. It is not that my father is an over-fast driver, but he likes a car to respond quickly when he wants it to. I feel that the pitch and roll in the suspension is a bit too much. Roll on finding that money for the motor sport suspension upgrade.
Despite the fact that I end up praying that we will make it round the next corner, the ride isn't bad. After riding in the Focus with its independent rear suspension at work though, I feel that the Escort is definitely showing its age.
That's the suspension, so what about the engine. My father wanted a 1.8 but we just couldn't find one that hadn't been hammered by previous owners. In the end, we had the 1.6 Zetec and we both have to say it isn't bad. If we suddenly found a few bundles of cash, my father would fit sports suspension and low profile tyres again, so he can actually make use of the power.
This car has the potential to accelerate well. But from the passenger seat, I can feel a very definite pitch as we start moving and this hampers acceleration somewhat. As for accelerating out of corners, forget it. My father has to wait until we have straightened up before applying the power or the under-steer kicks in. To sum up the engine, There is plenty of power there but the standard set-up of the car fails to utilise the potential.
Another sticking point is the braking. When my father brakes during cornering, the car rolls like a boat. Admittedly, this is down to the suspension rather than the brakes, but there is so little feedback that the car feels like it is all over the place. We have had this car for about a year now, and the brakes are going off. I was surprised about this. My father says that he is losing braking power compared to when he got the car. It is going for a service sometime this month, so I will try to update when we have diagnosed the problem. I think the brakes just need a bit of a clean and maybe new pads, but my father has a feeling that the brakes were not bled properly when it was serviced last.
To compensate, there is power steering. The steering can actually be very light. I don't particularly like the power steering though, as it takes away some of the feedback from the road. I actually like standard steering and feeling the wheels pushing back at me as I turn the steering wheel. I personally think that the power steering takes some of the fun out of driving. My father likes it though, as it makes things easier on his joints and makes journeys a little less tiring.
As far as security goes, it comes with central locking and a key-coded immobiliser. There is an alarm fitted as well. This is pretty standard for Ford. I'm not going to go into more detail of our personal security by my father's wishes for obvious reasons. But I can say that the standard alarm is activated by unauthorised entry to any of the doors, tailgate or bonnet. The standard immobiliser prevents the engine starting without the code from the key. The central locking system has a standard operation for all doors, but if you give the key an extra half twist in the driver's door, deadlocks will be activated. We found out about them by accident when my father jokingly locked the doors and went to the shop and I couldn't open the door from inside. Oh yes, ha bl**dy ha.
I don't really believe in fuel consumption statistics but the manual says that this engine in the estate will cover from 25.7 to 42.8 mpg depending on the road conditions, the weight of the car and a dozen other variable factors. Just think, that extra cup of tea before leaving for work could add to your fuel consumption.
Price-wise, you can get a good deal if you shop around. We got ours for less than £8000 but some can be as much as £9500. Make sure you don't get caught on the CD player though. It is supposed to be fitted to the Finesse but some unscrupulous dealers often wait for you to ask about it before fitting. My recommendation would be to get one if the price is right, but look out for the escort 1.6si. It is a lot better and handles like a dream and should be snapped up on sight.
To sum up my opinion of the Ford Escort Finesse, I would have to say it is a standard ford with a few extras bolted on so it can be given a fancy name. I like this car but I cannot get excited about it. It is like going for a test drive in a Porsche before driving home in your family car. It is not bad, but it just isn't good either. It is... "Normal".
Good points: Spoiler, alloy wheels, electric windows, air-conditioning, and power steering (father).
Bad points: Soft suspension, slightly spongy brakes, tinted windows(me) and power steering(me).
My father's closing statement: A practical and fairly stylish car that does the job it is meant for.
My closing statement: A practical, BORING car that has some stylish elements bolted on to try and cover up the blandness within. Finesse by name, not by nature. It is a workhorse car that does its job well but should have been called "lump", rather than Finesse.
Thanks for reading.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Once you've had power assisted steering you wouldn't go back to unassisted, except perhaps in a lightweight classic sports car.
rockandrollstar 08.11.2002 14:11
hmm, my old man has one of these and i thought it was great. doesnt handle as well as, say a Golf but it was never meant to for the price. Good info though, do a few more miles in it and may do an op myself...
sue.51 23.02.2002 14:36
Would be enough to convince me - although wild horses wouldn't persuade me to buy a Ford - good op.
Sue
Feb 5th, 2002
very helpful by (100%):
