Ford’s ‘Oval Phase’ of the ’90s, how to forget it? It was certainly a serious affectation at the time, appearing in some form or another throughout its range. And this lowly late ’90s 3rd-gen Escort wagon was no exception. Certainly, this little LX Wagon has a good deal of ovals, adding a friendly unassuming face to its otherwise humble body.
However, friendly faces aside, this little critter has a sinister side not so evident at first sight.
It’s true that by the time the Escort’s ’97 restyle arrived, Ford’s oval obsession was in overdrive. In all honesty, I have no ill will towards Ford’s ‘Oval Phase,’ but was certainly tired of the long-running ‘Jellybean Age.’ The defining styling characteristic of the ’90s. The ovals, at least added a bit of distinction to that monotonous era.
However, being a wagon, this Escort is not quite as jellybean-like as its sedan counterpart. After all, it carried much of the straighter-looking 2nd-gen. wagon body, with only the front receiving the full brunt of Ford’s ovoid period.
Styling updates aside, underneath the 1997 Escort was basically a carryover of the Mazda-323-based 2nd-generation that dated to 1991. It arrived on the market in 4-door sedan and 5-door wagon versions, in basic and LX trim. A ‘Sport’ version would also appear later, basically a trim package. Under the hood, the vehicles were powered by Ford’s CVH 2L engine, with 110 HP propelling the light little things.
Do ovals make the ‘Jellybean Effect’ worse or better? In all honesty, they almost get lost in the attempt. It’s kind of a byproduct of this era’s styling, where a lot of stuff has a melted-out look. Something the Escort’s ‘eyelash’ headlights seem to accentuate.
On the other hand, it’s obvious from Ford’s late ’90s output that they couldn’t contain their excitement with the ‘Jellybean Age.’ To begin with, they were pretty much at the movement’s forefront with the work their Ghia studio did back in the ’80s. And also, because it played so well with their logo.
Mercury Cyclone Concept and ZX2.
Talking about Ghia, the Escort’s lines had traces on the Carrozeria’s Mercury Cyclone 1990 show car. Watered down of course, but showing up more aggressively in the Escort’s hot spinoff, the ZX2, that appeared in 1998. Power on those came via the higher revving DOHC Zetec engine, with 130 HP.
With subcompacts falling in interest through the ’90s, these Escorts feel like afterthoughts. Nothing anyone thought much about at the time, either by its maker or its buyers. I honestly can’t remember anyone around me back in the ’90s saying: Gosh, a Ford Escort! That’s what I’m getting myself!
But such people did exist, for the Escort (in all forms) sold over 300K units in ’97 and ’99. Numbers dropped in ’99 when sales fell to 114K, the last year the wagon was available. Meanwhile, the 4-door sedan remained around for a couple of years until the model’s phase-out in 2002.
It’s no wonder the Escort’s luck was diminishing by then, as it was running on borrowed time. Its replacement, the Ford Focus, had already arrived on the market for model year 1998.
The 2nd and 3rd gen. Escorts may have been Mazda-323 relatives, but don’t seem to have enjoyed the same rep for reliability or fit and finish. Indeed, reading previous posts on the model makes me think there could be something sinister about these. Particularly in this sample.
If you doubt it, take a closer look.
There it is, in plain view. The spookiest-looking Escort badge I’ve ever seen. And with those dark tinted windows, is this friendly-looking wagon hiding something else besides mechanical gremlins?
If you can’t see the spooky badge clearly, here it’s up close.
Then again, we all have different references. To me, this looks spooky. To my wife, it looked like something out of Beetlejuice.
As we know, ovals and jellybeans do get old hat and are difficult to play with after a while. A reinvention was needed, both in style and concept. Coincidentally, that reinvention was parked across our Escort. The ‘New Edge’ Focus was a far sharper-looking number when it arrived in ’98, with its straight vs. curve theme bringing much relief to years of ovoid oppression.
That said, in the case of this pair, the Escort looks like the winner, as it seems far tidier. Even youthful. The more I think about it, the more sinister it all seems. Could it truly have some kind of pact with hidden forces? I know of some previous Escort/ZX2 owner who would probably agree with that idea.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic Lump Of COAL: 1998 Ford Escort ZX2
CC Capsule: 1996 Ford Escort LX Sedan – A Manually Shifted Clown Car
I always thought the sedanmania of the ’90s was the ruination of the Escort, this facelift on the wagon looked much better than the more thoroughly redesigned, much more oval and suddenly toylike-looking sedan while the same facelift applied to the 1991-96 hatchbacks would’ve been a handsome car.
Stephen King wrote Christine too early, she should’ve been young enough to weep industrial glue from her model badge. Still, it would likely be the work of a few seconds with an acetone- or Goo Gone-soaked paper towel to clean up.
It ‘s the face that spoils the look. Every thing else is all right (stylingwise). The rear view is almost nice.
All in all not exciting, but solid commuting for Mrs. and Mr. Everybody, I think.
With my not insignificant experience with this generation of Mazda based Escorts back in the day in mind I’d say they were good cars. I never liked the jellybean makeover. The prior aero styling was much better. I especially liked the hatchbacks. The weak point was the Ford engine. Escort GT and high end Tracers had the Mazda mill and were quite nice indeed. The motorized shoulder belts stayed around far too long but Ford was not alone in that regard. These were not great cars but neither were they garbage.
My neighbors had a white Escort wagon just like this one until quite recently, passing it down to their daughter as they switched to Toyotas that weren’t exactly new either. Finally the transmission went out and their daughter uses an eBike and occasionally one of the parents’ cars. Interestingly, the daughter’s partner drives a white Chevy … they were the only two domestic cars on the block after the guy across the street replaced his Saturn with a Honda. Now it’s just the Malibu.
We had a 98 Escort Wagon like this, bought new, ours had the 5 speed manual (which must have been unusual because most of the ones I’ve seen were automatics) Great car, incredibly reliable, had 196,000 miles on it with the original clutch when our younger son rolled it, fortunately he wasn’t hurt, car was totaled. Again it was a great car, I hardly ever see them anymore…
I purchased a new ‘97 Escort sedan after a little research and after I was less than impressed with the fit and finish of the Dodge Neon that I checked out. I owned it (my DD commuter) for 239k+ miles until my purchase of an ‘04 Civic Si 7 years later. Our daughter wrecked the Escort on her first day at college not too long after. It was a pretty good car requiring not much maintenance.
I never knew about the Mercury Cyclone – I always thought the ZX2 was a mix of the rejected “Jenner” and “Rambo” proposals for the ‘94 Mustang.
Well, styling ideas are tossed around and appear all over the place in a styling studio. There’s some “Jenner” and “Rambo” on the ZX2, particularly on the profile. The Cyclone’s styling mostly influenced the ZX2’s rear, rather noticeable on the taillight treatment.
To me the most unhappy thing is the cut between the hood and the oval grille, it deserved a better solution like the encounter of hood and grille in the first series Contour and the contemporaneous Euro Escort. It also seems Ford found itself without money enough to at least put new and funny tail lights to make the rear side looks also fresher.
I never heard of the Mercury Cyclone either. To me it looks like a concept for the Chrysler LH. Would have never guessed it came from FMC.
A little late to this post, but I saw a green version of one of these along with a Tesla Model X in the same parking lot back at the end of January. This one was in pretty good shape as far as ’90s cars go in my area. You can actually see BOTH of them in this picture! The Model X’s rear is sticking out in the background behind a GMC Terrain.
Here’s the Model X, with the roofline of the Escort still visible behind said GMC. My mom had a red ’97 Mercury Tracer LS sedan from 1998-2010, so I remember these late-model Escorts pretty well. She later had a white ’06 Focus SE ZXW (station wagon) that I wrecked by pure accident when going to college and now has an ’07 Focus SE sedan with a sunroof that is also white. The Focus had its own sub-names for the hatchback (ZX3, ZX5), sedan (ZX4), AND station wagon but this stopped after 2006.