 I got this car from my parents, mainly 
because they severely disliked driving 
it.  While I am grateful for having a 
means of transportation, I would have 
rather had a good used car than a 
brand new Escort.  They had only used 
it for 2 years when they gave this car 
to me, and had taken fairly good care 
of it.  I only recently started having 
problems (when it was roughly four 
years old) with the transmission and 
the engine.  It has surges of powers 
and shifts very hard.  The interior 
and exterior styling is forgettable.  