Talk:Ford Escort (North America)

Escort too small, even for Pinto replacement
This is asserted in the second paragraph of the article, with no citations for support. It also seems contradictory to the statements that this was one of the best selling cars in the US at the time of its introduction. Also, being 6 foot tall and having driven an Escort, it seemed quite roomy and comparable in front seat space to the Taurus. Obviously, the cargo capacity was smaller. So, this statement that it was too small, really needs to be qualified. If someone has a cite for this from a reputable source, feel free to add, otherwise, I'm going to take it out in a few days. TANSTAAFL (talk) 14:16, 15 August 2011 (UTC)


 * The article says the Fiesta, not Escort, was too small to effectively replace the Pinto. IFCAR (talk) 14:54, 15 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Ha, that's what I get for speed reading. Thanks. TANSTAAFL (talk) 16:23, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

To those who have been adding in information about the ZX2 to this article...
Please be aware that the ZX2 has its own page here. Add any further information about the ZX2 to that page, not this one. --ApolloBoy 20:00, 22 June 2006 (UTC)


 * That is no longer true. ZX2 redirects to this Escort page.
 * 75.36.10.114 10:27, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Pony/GTX/LX breakdown in Gen 2 only?
I'll admit I haven't researched the history of these cars much or anything, but if Gen 2 starts in 1991, then this information is inaccurate--the American models were broken down into GTX, Pony etc. by 1988. I have an '88 Escort "Pony" model myself, and auto part websites such as napaonline.com will ask for specification of which submodel the car is, even for the 1988 model year. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JSoules (talk • contribs) 14:45, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Merge North American and European
Why do we have 2 articles? Toyota Corolla manages to fit everything about the corolla from everywhere going back to the begining. Having three name spaces used for the Ford Escort looks cheesy and stupid --Cloveious 05:15, 25 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Disagree - The North American and European models share NOTHING but the name. Slickshoes3234 05:37, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Disagree also - The US and European versions of the Escort are very 2 different motor vehicles. Both versions, especially the European version have a long and proud history, especially in motorsport. Merging these two articles would be a monumentous folly! I strongly disagree... scancoaches 4/ nov/ 2006 01:42 (UTC)
 * Disagree - They are two completely different cars built during the same time period. Both articles are already quite long, merging them into one article would make it completely unusable. The Escort has a much more revered history in Europe than it does in America. Many Americans don't realise that there is another, competely different Escort apart from the little commuter car they are familiar with. --Sable232 07:30, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

The consensus is not to merge. 75.36.10.114 09:53, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Main Picture
I hereby move that the picture at the top of the page, which is of a second generation Escort, is removed. The three generations look very different. The picture makes the article look like it concerns only 1991-1996 Escorts. Slickshoes3234 05:39, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Diesel only 52 hp?
I'm not going to make the edit until I verify, but I doubt that it's 52 hp. I've seen references elsewhere to that engine being 66 hp, and besides... 52 hp is what the VW 1.6L non-turbo diesel of that vintage put out. Bhtooefr 15:09, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

-I agree, that the figure sounds very confusing. I are'nt sure either if it's correct or not, but the european Mark III Escort's 1,6 liter OHC diesel, introduced in 1983 and continued officially to june/july 1986 put out 54 (~52 imperial) horsepowers, so in comparison, the Mazda diesel is seriously lacking power. But if so, it must be tuned to low rpm since Ford's own LTA, LTB and LTC 1,6's made the power at max 4800 revolutions per minute...

European petrol is of a higher quality meaning the same car will have more horse power in Europe. the margin for diesel is even greater.
 * We know that here in the USA the diesel Escorts were dropped in mid-1987, but I would like it if I knew the exact date in which it was dropped. I'd be thinking January/February 1987. WikiPro1981X (talk) 19:58, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

IRS on second generation


First generation had IRS, so that the second had it too is hardly worth mentioning (IMHO). 217.205.121.71 (talk) 19:17, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

North American/European - so very different??
Wikipedia (who ought to know) have it that:  217.205.121.71 (talk) 19:22, 24 July 2008 (UTC)


 * - Well, if you look at the both articles there are some references to the similar models, but at the time the worldcar was not so practical an idea mainly because of the differences and strictness of legislations in Europe and North-America.


 * The third generation Escort of Europe was designed as a universal model so that it could be released in different parts of the world, like in North-America for example, but as stated in the articles the legislation differences among other things, not to mention the different tastes of different people, conspired to make the worldcar a useless idea for the time being. Due to the problems it was better and not so much more expensive to create vehicles of their own in the different continents for the specific markets, which can be seen if you compare the mid 90'ies model Escorts of both continent.


 * As far as I can tell, the Mazda based USA model is somewhat larger and considerably different than it's European counterpart and as in European perspective is not so much a "real" Escort than its built-from-scratch Euro-brethen of the same vintage, though I can't personally claim either to be better than the other. However, it seems that the worldcar-idea was not abandoned by Ford, since, again a European of its origin, the Focus has become a success propably in part because of the tastes of the peoples have become more similar and the safety and emission legislations are closer to each other compared to the situation 20 years ago.


 * In any case, although it would be interesting to compare the differences and the similarities of the Euro 3 gen and USA 1 gen Escorts, it might need its own article because the history and the development of the two vehicles divorced to their own trails quite early and have ultimately very little in common in whole history or more properly in the histories of the marque. The straight merging of these articles, at least in my perspective, would have the benefit to clarify the similarity of the Euro 3 gen and USA 1 gen Escorts, but would cause the rest of the models and their history, especially the overlapping 90'es models of the different desing and origin, to become blurred and thus the article would not serve its original intended meaning, to deliver clear information of the history of the car as it was known in its market. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.223.93.188 (talk) 17:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

1.3L Engine
I have a source (a Chilton repair manual circa 1992) that has information and specifications on the 1.3L 4 cylinder engine. The article states that "A 1.3 L engine was designed and prototyped but did not see production due to lack of power". But I find it hard to believe that a repair manual would waste time and space talking about an engine that was never actually produced. Does anybody have a source that indicates that the 1.3L engine was not ever installed in the Escort?--Analogue Kid (talk) 20:12, 15 August 2008 (UTC)


 * -If you check the European Escort page, you will see, that there actually were two 1,3-litre units of which one was a Kent/Valencia engine (Originally 1960 Brittish derived ohv desing) and the other was 1,3-liter CVH engine. As the first generation American Escort shared the desing with the third European generation, both used the CVH engine family. If you compare the 1,6-liter CVH-engines of both U.S and Euro -Escort you can see that the American version puts out only about 2/3 of the power the European one does. This is probably because in 1980'ies U.S. emission legistlation was stricter than in Europe and propably in part due to the differences in quality of the available fuel. The 1,3 would have propably made only about 40 hp in U.S. version and because of the performance requirement of the public in the states it would have been a disastrous venture to produce as practically no-one would have wanted a car that could not be able to keep up with the traffic in highway, even if it had smaller fuel consumption... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.223.93.188 (talk) 12:54, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


 * That may be, but none of that information has a cited source. I really would like to see some third party say either yes the engine was available in North America or no it was not.--Analogue Kid (talk) 15:10, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


 * You are right in that my information is speculation and I have no legitimate proof. I have also tried to find clarity to the case from internet using mainly google, yet I could not find a single reference to the USA spec 1,3 (which would have most likely been a CVH series engine). I found two sources: The Carfolio ,and a finnish page: Ajovalo.net ,which contain the specs to the Escort's engine options. Unfortunately the Carfolio contains only the specs of European Escort and the finnish page has the specs of European Escort engines offered here in Finland. One interesting point is that a Brasilian version of the Escort was made available here and in few other European countries from 1983 to 1985. According to the page there were a third 1,3-liter engine in addition to the CVH and Kent/Valencia engines: One that was based on an old Renault desing which was used in the Brasilian model. That was as close I could get to North America with a 1,3-liter unit and I think that the Brasilian models were not available in the states even if they were in the same continent... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.223.93.188 (talk) 22:32, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Ford Laser
Does anybody know if Australian Ford Laser was the same car as the 1991 Escort or if these cars just looked similar? Honzas (talk) 10:40, 17 June 2012 (UTC)

Your best bet is to head to feoa.net and ask, those guys deal with everything 2nd gen (91-96)76.252.21.254 (talk) 01:46, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

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Proposed merge with Mercury Lynx
Mercury Lynx article is largely a stub, with little to no free-standing source information. SteveCof00 (talk) 05:44, 5 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Support The Lynx only spanned one generation, unlike the Mercury Tracer, so it will be easier to merge. There's precedent with the Mercury Bobcat. --Vossanova o&lt; 19:28, 5 November 2018 (UTC)


 * Support (albeit reluctantly) - I generally don't like the idea of merging articles like these, since the information on the one that gets merged tends to get buried, but in this case the Lynx article is a perma-stub and I doubt it will ever have enough content to stand alone. This is a rare case where the "sub-section at the end" merge would probably work. --Sable232 (talk) 20:11, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Articles like the Ford Fairmont already have the Mercury Zephyr merged into it. The same goes for Ford Pinto/Mercury Bobcat, Ford EXP/Mercury LN7 and Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique. Why should Ford Escort/Mercury Lynx be any different. The Lynx is just a badge engineered version of the Escort with different grille, taillamps and minor trim. It only spanned one generation and the design differences are not even unique enough to warrant it's own page, unlike the Taurus/Sable or Thunderbird/Cougar with distinct differences and generations. Watchdevil (talk) 08:17, 6 January 2019 (UTC)


 * Support (reluctantly as well) - I hate the idea of merging articles simply because of the use of rebadging, but Mercury Lynx is a perma-stub that does not stand on its own very well and its content could benefit this article (if done right). The ZX2 content is already here... --SteveCof00 (talk) 12:56, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Motorsport?
Most racing afficionados know that the European car that was also called the Ford Escort has had a rich history in motorsports. But I'm kind of curious if the NA escort has ever appeared anywhere (my mother, when I was growing up, owned an '86 Escort L in California. I actually look back fondly on it even though there's nothing glam about it). I can kind of imagine somebody campaigning one in, say, the old IMSA Firehawk "T" category. Golfs, Calais, Maybe Tercels or other things. Showroom stock was interesting to me as a kid.

Anyhow, I'l try to research this, soon. May or may not be an interesting add. YellowAries2010 (talk) 21:04, 6 September 2022 (UTC)