I need to run this today, because of the Lambo doors as well as the fact that Escort ZX2s have become quite scarce. I shot this one a couple of years back. have you seen one lately?
Sold between 1998 and 2003, it was initially called “Escort ZX2”, although the “Escort” was dropped for the last couple of years. its role was to replace the Probe, which frankly was a better looking car in my opinion. Like the rest of the Escort family, the ZX2 was of course a Mazda 323/Protoge under the skin. Under the hood, a 130 hp version of Ford’s Zetec 2.o L DOHC four motivated the ZX2.
This one has been the receiving end of its owner’s affection and money, but was for sale at the time. I’m guessing it’s gone the way of so many others of its kind, and its Lambo doors are now steel in some new building or such.
Lambo doors are as bad taste to me as continental kits. When these were new I was having my Mustang serviced and was talking to a salesman, I assumed these were popular with young kids and he told me because ZX2’s were 2 doors the insurance rated them as sporty cars turning off many potential buyers.
+1 on lambo doors. Im sure it was cool the first time it was done on a professionally built show car. But now its a passé faddish trashy mod hacked up by some redneck bodyman/insurance agent/street pharmacist using low buck chinese parts.
Wow, they had a Scissor Door and body kit kit for the Escort ZX2!? My coworker is going to love these photos indeed, thank you. Interesting what cars people choose to spend money on.
Pretty sure that’s a universal scissor kit, as in “Fits nothing out of the box, universally.”
We probably don’t want to know how much fabrication time was involved in this project, but that’s true of pretty every custom project.
Bolt on modifications can be cool, but all they take is money. Fabrication projects that take time and effort establish your technical reputation.
I haven’t seen a ricer modded with lambo doors yet that wasn’t a low rent butcher job. The welds look like my 15 y/o niece did them with a bottle torch and nothing fits properly again…about like the trashy body kits. Not that my welding skills are much better, mind you…
I recall a time where I went to Pep Boys or Autozone circa 2005 when I started driving and would see Lambo door kits on the shelves in the mod isle. I also have seen the installs, and not to generalize their owners but I’m not going to respek your “custom” work when the hinges are held in place with sheet metal screws and the open doors are waving in the air every time the bass hits.
No… Just No.
As abominations go, this one is actually done quite nicely.
+1
These were never on my radar screen at the time, but I kinda like this one. It looks like the two-door version of an ovoid Taurus. To my eye, this smaller size has better proportions than the big brother version.
(I’ll take mine with the OEM doors, thank you!)
One of my roommates in college had one with this exact color. The good: 130 hp doesn’t sound like a lot but in a car that light it really made the thing move. The bad: everything else. Terrible seating position, terrible seats, horrible ride and handling, lack of sound insulation. To make matters worse that coupe profile gave the thing copious amounts of blind spots. I imagine a Focus of similar vintage was far superior.
The ZX2 redefined NVH… boy, did they!
I don’t even think it’s just the lambo doors, although they certainly don’t help, it’s everything else. The body kit along the lower part of the car, the obvious and cheap looking aftermarket rims, the fact that the suspension looks like it’s been messed with (seriously, the wheel wells look they’re holding Smarties in there), this entire car looks like an abomination.
Those rims REALLY stick out with that cheap bling. Totally incoherent with the rest of the car. But any wheel that reminds me of the T-1000 liquid metal terminator immediately fails my acid test.
I had a 2002 ZX2…black with gray tweed seats, automatic. I bought it because I was in a hurry and it was cheap…bought it with 110,000 miles, put almost 100k miles on it in 5 years. Tough as rocks, lived through the abuse that two teenagers dealt it.
There was one noteworthy thing…I had the transmission fluid flushed every 20,000 miles, and it’s the only car I’ve ever owned where the transmission shifted differently after a fluid change…it felt like a new car for several thousand miles but over time would revert to just feeling like an old car.
The rust monster finally got to it…rockers went from being fairly solid to very frilly in about a year…it was remarkable.
Back when I was working in a Cadillac service department, we had a kid who conned his wealthy senile grandmother into buying him a CTS-V. He immediately put 20 inch spinners on it and lambo-style doors, then topped it off with glitter-tastic candy apple red paint. It was heart breaking to watch.
This ZX2 by comparison isn’t too bad. It somehow seems more appropriate to customize an Escort in this way, especially since preserving one in unmolested perfect condition isn’t going to be high up on most enthusiast’s priority list.
I have to ask, did you also have plenty of Escalades with that same treatment applied? It’s the only image I have of them anyway, so, I wonder how much is true and how much is exaggeration.
Interestingly enough, it was very rare to see one come in with modifications. If I ever saw any, it was a dealer-installed aftermarket item like a blingy grill or rims, but they were sold on the lot that way. Maybe that’s because of where we were (Venice, FL). The clientele were, shall we say, a little more advanced in their years…and tastes.
My theory is that by the time they get the ghetto fabulous treatment, they’re probably on their third or fourth owner.
That’s a travesty. The CTS’ are similar to the Mopar LXs in that its a crying shame to butcher an otherwise great car with such nasty filth. It’s a free country and all but just cause you can doesn’t mean you should.
“its role was to replace the Probe, which frankly was a better looking car in my opinion”
I agree with you Paul. The 93-97 Probe is actually a very attractive car and with its Mazda underpinnings make the 5 speed version very tossable.
Here is my 1994 Probe with the 2.0 I4 and 5 speed manual trans. I bought it for $900 back in July 2016. It is stock except for the radio (the original one and its factory AMP departed for a aftermarket Bluetooth/USB stereo) with currently 195,932 miles on it. Car is great to drive and while no speed demon off the line it does keep up well with the traffic.
Most of the Probes that are still around have fallen victim to the ricer crowd (with the fart cans and big un-needed spoilers that are not the same color) so they look pretty bad but back in the day, these were expensive cars
“its role was to replace the Probe, which frankly was a better looking car in my opinion”
I disagree. While the 93-97 Probe was certainly an attractive car, the ZX2 were smaller, lower-priced sporty cars that competed in a different niche than the Probe. Sure there was some overlap between the two, just as there was overlap between the Probe and the Mustang.
The true replacement for the Probe was the 1999 Mercury Cougar hatchback based on the Ford Contour (Mondeo)/Mercury Mystique platform. Both the Probe and Cougar competed with cars like the Toyota Celica and Mitsubishi Eclipse.
The ZX2 was a throwback to the older Ford EXP, and competed with smaller cars like the Hyundai Tiburon and the Honda Civic Coupe.
2004 time capsule. Only thing missing are the spinners.
Why does the ZX2 remind me of a tiptoeing drunkard, especially on its stock wheels? They always looked out of alignment driving towards me, but I could never quite place it.
I’ve seen Chrysler 300s with these doors.
I’d rather have suicide style.
Yup same here…actually Ive seen all LX variants subjected to this. Usually accompanied by ghastly 22″ or more full chrome clown shoes. Its usually a low rent hack job on a 4 owner roached v6 model. But ive got a buddy in my Mopar club whose ’07 Magnum is a Seahawks themed show car. It’s definitely not my style but he put plenty of cash behind his baby and its done properly. He has dual action lambos but they’re specific to the 30/Magnum and his body panels line up. The fact that he has a swapped in 6.1 Hemi and 6spd (only known one in Oregon) helps offset that!
I’ve seen Panthers subjected to this torture…
The Escort ZX2 was an attempt to replace *both* the Probe and the Escort three-door hatchbacks with one car; it was closer to the mark with the latter for a couple years but once the Focus ZX3 debuted alongside the sedan and wagon the ZX2 was a surplus model and seemed to go straight to rental lots.
The Focus ZX3 was a strong seller until Ford made the same mistake *again* replacing it with a trunked coupe (really a two-door sedan) which was salesproof. So much for “Americans don’t like hatchbacks”.
The FWD Cougar was planned to be the 3rd Gen. Probe. I always thought the 1993 Civic trunk coupe, caught a few compact car sellers off guard. 2007 was the last year for Focus 3 & 5 door, and the wagon models.
i’ve been driving an 02 ZX2 MT for 2 years as my primary. other than being hard to get in/out without my knee banging the steering wheel it’s been one of the most dependable $1500 cars ever and fast enough to be entertaining. parts are cheap and it’s easy to work on if needed. put these on your list if you’re a solo driver who looks for a winter beater in the snowbelt.
I think any car culture is good culture. Even so called “ricers”. Getting my license in 2001, I was right at the genesis of this. (thanks Vin Diesel) bad or good, at least they invested in their vehicles. Nowadays it’s get yourself in a leased new Versa, take it to the dealer to change a light bulb, and wait to trade in
Cue “Silicon Valley”… my ZX2 has doors that open like this, not like this, like this.
“those are not the doors of a billionaire”
LOL ?
ZX2’s are like cockroaches around these parts, seems that nothing kills them. Still see plenty of them putting around here in n.e. Ohio, most of them, er, “well ventilated”…
That is a lot of money and time, to put into a car that likely blew its head gasket about 20,000 miles after this photograph was taken. The ZX2 is scarce for a reason, amd the same reason that many 1st Gen Focuses found an early grave: head gasket failure(which was likely attributed to the “Extended-Life” coolants being used, to compete with some other automaker that found themselves in a class-action lawsuit for a certain “Extended Life” coolant that destroyed the head gaskets on most of their models……
Not really my cup of tea, although since an early age I do tend to like all automobiles. I’m surprised no one else has mentioned this: the mudflaps look out of place with the lambo doors and body kit, at least to me.