fordiort 40 The Ford Escort van now has the cheaper
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high-cube Courier as a stablemate. Our long term test reveals it to be competitive in its class and ahead on some points.
• When we tested the latest Ford Escort van against its rivals from Rover and Vauxhall last year, our verdict was straightforward; although the Escort had its faults — and some fundamental ones — the design of the new model had taken it ahead of its rivals in some important respects.
Since that time, we have been running one of the new vans in our long-term test fleet, and in most respects the findings of our group test were reflected in our experiences over the past year.
The Escort 40 with Standard trim, using Ford's own 1.8-litre idi diesel arrived with more than 3,000km on the clock.
Some 15,300km later, the Escort hadn't required any unnecessary downtime, fuel consumption averaged 6.7 lit/ 100Iun (42.4mpg) and oil consumption was minimal, so running costs were admirably low.
Ford specifies 6,000 mile service intervals for its diesels, so the van needed only a minor service during the time we had it; this was carried out without problem by the Star Group in Banstead, for V6.25.
The labour charge included 0.3 hours to check the rear door seal, which we had requested because daylight was visible at the foot of the seal. No fault was found, the gap remained, but the door did remain watertight.
Star Group could not find anything wrong with the way the lower dash moulding and the centre console were secured, so we had to put up with rattles and buzzes during idling.
Quibbles
Our only other quibbles with the way the Escort was screwed together arose from two isolated incidents: on one occasion the offside indicator unit popped out of its housing and the cradle carrying the spare wheel gradually worked loose.
The 1.8-diesel got on with its job in a workmanlike manner, but its comparative lack of torque and refinement meant that it never inspired affection.
Both drawbacks were highlighted by high gearing, which made it necessary to work the engine in the lower gears more than might be expected, particularly on motorway gradients.
We also think that Ford should extend the glow-plug period during starting. On cold mornings, the engine is only just able to catch when the warning light goes out, and it needs a long burst on the accelerator before it will idle steadily. under most conditions, but we were never comfortable with the rearsteer effects from the leafsprung rear axle, especially at higher speeds.
We did like the interior of the van, however, and though the seats could be more substantial (they tend to distort and move during cornering), the driving position is good.
Carpets
At i,430 more than the Popular, the Standard package won't attract the fleet buyers, but small businesses could be interested.
We certainly made good use of the well-proportioned load area, and the combination of floor mat, bulkhead and tie-down eyes sunk into the floor meant that even bulky loads could be safely secured.
The recent arrival of the cheaper Courier high-cube van means that Ford now has two competitive car-derived vans in its range.
This could mean that the Escort is no longer first on every buyer's list, but our time with the vehicle confirms its position as a solid all-rounder.