Ford Escort MK3 - 1983 brochure review

A look back to May 1983 in todays brochure for the MK 3 Ford Escort

[@owensteele1645]

I owned one, my first car! Bought in 1989, sold in 1992. It was a very early 3dr Escort 1.1 not-even-an-L, KDW916W. It did have mudflaps, a passenger door mirror, and metallic Arctic Blue paint as optional extras. I loved it so much, and I was always cleaning it. Surprisingly nippy and economical. The greatest memory I had was pretending it had a CD player by hiding my Sony Discman under the seat, plugging two tiny speakers into the headphones socket and putting them on the back seat. So I had music in my car, at last! But they sounded very crackly and sometimes skipped when turned to high volume.

[@quarterlight]

Happy days - thank you for sharing

[@julienbee3467]

Was it as sluggish as they say ?

[@owensteele1645]

Yes. A same-age, same-engine Fiesta would be better. When taken out of town and in 4th gear it did struggle a bit. At one time, I managed to get 85mph out of it in 3rd, it sounded like it was going to jump out of the bonnet, so I put it in 4th with my foot down and it would just gradually slow to about 75. No wonder the 1.3 CVH was far more popular, it was slightly more expensive but was also much quicker and could happily do the magic ton. The OHV 1.1 was however quite good fun in town, it was at least nippy in 1st and 2nd.@@julienbee3467

[@owensteele1645]

It's interesting that front electric windows were listed as options on all Escorts except the ' base saloon' at this time, yet I've never seen any mk3 so-equipped, other than the white RS Turbo which came out much later.

[@quarterlight]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the steel wheels on an XR3 either - probably most people either specced it to have them or the second or third owner put a set on.

[@mattw8332]

One of my sister's first cars was a 1981 W reg Escort 1.3 GL 5 door (1989). Ford were quite mean with the spec on introducing this model as my sister's GL didn't even have head restraints! You had to go for the Ghia to get those in the first year or two. Furthermore, the base spec Escorts in 1980\81 only had vinyl seats. The XR3i was available with steel wheels. I never knew that!

[@quarterlight]

Yes Ford had a habit of increasing spec levels later on in production years.

[@owensteele1645]

I've just noticed that Ford listed central locking as an option on the GL, Ghia and XR3i, but it was NOT offered on the more expensive GL estate. That was a bit mean.

[@quarterlight]

Yes never noticed that - I think most people didn’t expect to have central locking on this class of car at the time.

[@sergeipohkerova7211]

Ford Escort is severely underrated. I mean the first generation until the 1991(?) Face-lift and of course not counting the 1996 bubble thing. Mustangs from that mid 1980s era are also pretty cool.

[@frothe42]

I like the UK version of the Escort better than the US version. It just looks more "premium", even with the base IP cluster. The US version was cheap, nasty. I think the US Escort has integral headrests as they were mandatory, the top range Escort had adjustable headrests.

[@quarterlight]

I agree - appreciate your comment 👍

[@anthonyperkins7556]

The Mk3 Ford Escort was a breath of fresh air. However I personally wouldn't have manufactured the 3 door estate, because I don't see the point in them, to get the usefulness and practicality, only to be hampered by passengers having to scramble everytime into the back seats through a (rather) tight gap between the front and rear seats. 5 doors on an estate is better for easier access and egress to the rear, without the palava of a 3 door estate car, where you have to scramble into the back seats every time.

[@nickyboy.]

5th