1981 Ford Escort GLX Test: World-Class Shrinky Dink

Car and Driver

11-07-2025

From the January 1981 issue of Car and Driver.
The editorial we have been feeling the hot breath of America on the backs of our necks while working on this road test. Everybody right down to the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker has been looking over our shoul­ders, trying to get a rating on the new Ford Escort. No Ford in memory has produced such widespread interest ("concern" may be a better word). Some of the concerned are potential customers looking for the latest development in fuel-efficient cars: they won­der if the Escort is it. Others have a more academic question: is the Escort the long-awaited import fighter from Detroit? All that heavy breathing ruf­fling our collars tells us you really want to know. So let's get down to business.
Conclusion No. 1: The Escort is indeed a world-class small car with a combina­tion of interior space and fuel economy that should make it one of the top choices in its class. It may not have the most interior space, or the best economy, or the lowest trunk liftover height, or the highest marks in any other category of small-car virtue you might name, but it's competitive on every front.
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Conclusion No. 2: The Escort is the first small car from anywhere to offer Mr. and Mrs. America big-car comfort and luxury in a small package. Moreover, the long options list will make them feel right at home. This is a cushy car that just happens to be small.
Conclusion No. 3: We don't want to sound elitist or anything like that, but we think Mr. and Mrs. America will probably be happier in Escorts than will car enthusiasts. This is no fling-about Fiesta, no rompin' Rabbit. There are no come-on-and-flog-me urgings coursing up the shift lever and the steering col­umn. The Escort is just trying to be another nice car in the Ford family of nice cars—a mini LTD.
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Naturally, we would have preferred an Escort with verve, but the mini-LTD personality has a charm of its own. You find it strongest in the interior. The test car is a GLX in a range of models that starts with a plain Escort and moves up in steps called L, GL, GLX, and SS. So it's not the grandest, but it's right up there. And the first thing you see when you open the door is American Plush. The carpets are deep. The door panels are soft. The seats are foamy. The in­strument panel is a big, bluff-faced molding just like those of the larger Fords, and it contains only a speedome­ter and a gas gauge, a layout also just like those of the larger Fords. And the luxo, poly-spoke steering wheel is out­fitted with thumb buttons for the op­tional cruise control, just as the larger Fords are. Can Toyota and Volkswagen match this? No way.
It's easy to be cynical about such frills, to say that if Ford had spent more time working on the basics like engine performance (which we'll get to later) instead of diddling around with the money-grubbing options, it might have produced a car we'd all be foaming over. But never mind. You can't get mad at the GLX when it's such a nice (well, it is) package. The seats are foam-­filled, have adjustable recliners, and are as good as the best Detroit has ever made. The dash has four big, swiveling vents to move air in a hurry. The top of the dash has been molded into a huge travel tray for cigarettes, sunglasses, or in case you need some place to melt your Hershey bars. This is American-car comfort and convenience all the way.
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You also get gadgets to play with. The blue-glowing electronic digital clock has buttons for date, elapsed time, and time of day. A map light on a stalk swings down out of the ceiling and swiv­els around in case you want to check somebody's tonsils. The AM/FM-stereo has a little button hidden down by your knee marked "Amplifier On-Off," and when you give it a pull, a pilot light comes on and the music gets really won­derful. None of this stuff has anything to do with economy or efficiency or en­gineering for the Eighties. It's just that Ford always made LTDs this way, so it's making mini LTDs this way too. What could be more natural? Sure, you can have a hair-shirt Escort if you want one, but that sort of low-calorie aspiration is not what made Detroit great. The Es­cort is an American small car.
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Not that there hasn't been inspiration from elsewhere. You can tell that Ford designers have been combing over the Honda Accord, trying to steal the es­sence of that car, to transplant its con­siderable appeal into the Escort. But typical of Detroit, they saw only the gimmicks. Honda's most notable inno­vation in instrument-panel design is the "pictograph," a green-glowing outline drawing of the car styled along the theme of a directional gyro in an air­plane. All it does is tell you when a door is open, the tailgate ajar, or the like. But it looks very space-age and makes first­-timers say, "Oh, lookit that!" So Ford swiped the idea. If you go GLX or bet­ter, you get a little pictograph down by your ankle on the console with warning lights that glow red for low fluids or malfunctioning head, tail, or brake lights, and yellow in the case of low fuel. Honda also dazzled the industry with its coin trays for parking-meter money. Ditto the Escort.
But getting back to the point, Ford wants you to open the Escort door and see American-style luxury and Japanese­-style gimmicks (called "product con­tent" in the industry): the best of both worlds, as they say. Thus overwhelmed, you then sign the check.
The assumption is that Americans will buy comfort, they'll buy features, they'll buy flash, and they'll buy economy as defined by EPA mpg numbers. So those areas are where the design effort was concentrated. And in those areas the Escort does very well. But driving fun? What's that?
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Just the way the clutch works says a lot about the direction of Escort engi­neering. The pedal has a rather long travel, but the machinery all hooks up in the space of about an eighth-inch: clunk. And pedal effort does not dimin­ish in a predictable way as you let out the clutch either. You just have to feel it out, feel it out, feel it out: clunk. Mr. and Mrs. America probably won't no­tice, but you will. And you'll conclude that the Escort is transportation rather than fun.
The numb-clutch syndrome is also apparent in the suspension. It acts as though it has very little free travel. A brisk boogie on an expressway ramp has it rocking laterally, feeling very much as though it was bouncing off the bump stops. Put a couple people in the car, encounter a modest chuckhole, and again it recoils off the bump stops. Even straight down the freeway it's a little bouncy ("vertically active" in engineer talk). The Escort's suspension just wasn't endowed with the resilience and precision an enthusiast hopes for. How­ever, ultimate cornering forces are not bad at all for a front-drive car, particu­larly a new-generation Detroiter with tires optimized for low rolling resist­ance. The Escort circulated the skidpad at 0.71 g, which is a laudable accom­plishment. Some of the credit must be given to the optional alloy wheels, which are 5.5 inches wide, up a half-inch from the optional steel wheels and up a full inch from the standard equipment.
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The Escort's 1600 cc hemi engine is another component that falls short of the enthusiast's hopes. Ford went to a lot of trouble with the hardware parts of this engine—an aluminum head, an electron-beam-welded intake manifold, a crossflow port arrangement with an­gled valves and fully machined combus­tion chambers—but then tried to get by without the sophisticated on-board computers that all GM and many Chrys­ler models are using to optimize fuel flow, spark advance, EGR, and the like. The results have been nearly disastrous. The Escort does reasonably well in economy—30 mpg EPA with a four-­speed manual transmission and a short options list—but the sacrifices necessary to get economy and meet emissions without the aid of a computer have killed performance dead as a hammer. The car is very slow—zero to sixty in 14.6 seconds, standing quarter-mile in 19.4 seconds at 69 mph. This is more leisurely performance than even the Honda Accord's, which typically brings up the rear in small-car acceleration.
Moreover, the Escort labors mightily to attain whatever speed it can. Under hard acceleration, the engine climbs through several stages of roar—like a Weed Eater progressing from quack grass through the petunia patch and into a stand of maple saplings. This mastication is accompanied by vigorous buzzings transmitted up through your leg by the accelerator. The sound-level meter reports 89 dBA at the driver's ear during such a forced march, and that is louder than almost any other small car in the class.
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Yet here's the contradiction. We think Mr. and Mrs. America will find the Es­cort a quiet car. For one thing, they won't run it to 50 mph in second gear in fits of enthusiastic driving. And that sort of flat-out operation is the only circum­stance in which it is really noisy. Every­day driving for everyday citizens con­sists mostly of idling at traffic lights and constant-speed cruising at speeds below 65 mph. Here the Escort is quieter than most of the competition. And this, in turn, means that one of the main annoy­ances associated with travel in small cars—the auditory assault factor—just isn't a problem in an Escort.
The other problem with small cars on long trips—lack of interior space—is also handled nicely in the Escort. The hatchback lifts to expose an uncommon­ly deep trunk, the sort of compartment that allows you to stow suitcases verti­cally; and if this isn't enough, the rear seat folds flat in typical hatchback style to open up just over 30 cubic feet of luggage space.
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If your cargo is just people, they fare well too. The universal standard for people packaging is the VW Rabbit. We find the back-seat room of the Escort to be even better. Headroom is slightly less, but still good enough for six-foot­ers, and the Escort has better knee clearance. The VW achieves much of its comfort with "chair-height" seats and a high roofline for head clearance; the Es­cort provides a similar feeling in a lower car by depressing the floorpan in the area a back-seat passenger uses for foot­room. This is an old Detroit trick, done for years in low-roof coupes, and usual­ly the depressions were about the size and shape of dishpans and just rein­forced the feeling of cramped quarters. But for a small tunnel, the Escort has a low floor from sill to sill. Your feet are treated to as much room as the rest of you, which is to say, a very generous amount for such a small car.
So much for the coach-class passen­gers. Those up front have royal treat­ment, at least in a GLX-trim car loaded with options. On the surface, however, this complement of extras seems contra­dictory to the concept of a small car. How are we going to know if the Escort is successful as an import fighter when we're looking at an example loaded like the typical domestic?
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Let us answer this way. First, the Es­cort isn't really intended to be a bot­tom-of-the-market economy car. The Honda Civic, Toyota Tercel, Toyota Starlet, and Datsun 210 come in under it. And second, we suspect the real role of the Escort is less to fight imports and more to provide a next step for Ameri­cans who wish to downsize. These motorists are accustomed to a certain level of comfort and luxury; the Escort offers it in a smaller package with better fuel economy. In this regard, the test GLX is enormously successful. And for that reason, we're going to keep it around for another year as a long-term test car. We'll report back to you from time to time on its durability and on how well it adapts to life in a changing America. Watch this space.
Counterpoints
Do we have an irreversible inferiority complex over here? The home team has again failed to grasp the importance of building good small cars. Ford, oblivious to better examples, has fallen into the trap of building merely small cars, think­ing that would be good enough.
This Escort should have been called the Squirrel. Its handling and braking are thoroughly unpredictable, having been rubbered to death by the ride brigade. Performance is anemic, and mileage is nowhere near the best. The steering is wishy-washy on the highway, the clutch snaps over center with a clunk, and the shifter plings like a fingernail on a tin can. And Ford should get some sort of perpet­ual prize for coarse engine harmonics.
High marks (these are compliments, now) for seating comfort, driving posi­tion, roominess, and outward visibility. Too bad you have to go inside the cheap-­looking interior to find a few high points. Fortunately for Ford, the low points will probably creep right under the noses of a multitude of Escort buyers, who will go home thinking they're safe for the winter, nuts gathered by Ford's Squirrel. —Larry Griffin
Somewhere in the management ranks of Ford Motor Company North America there must be a man who gets paid a lot of money to insist that Ameri­cans will be most comfortable with little cars designed to be just as out of touch as the big cars they replace. If there is such a man, the introduction of the new Ameri­can Escort is his finest hour. Our test car is well appointed, quiet, and comfortable at rest, but a sore trial in motion. It suf­fers from a nasty pitching moment, a fore-and-aft hobby-horsing that is guaran­teed to bring back carsickness as an adult affliction. The little devil's engine and drivetrain would be delighted to cruise all day at 75 or 80, but the ride quality makes that almost unendurable. Europeans are now getting their first look at Escorts that go faster, ride more smoothly, handle better, and are infinitely more handsome than the one done up by the troubled technoids in Dearborn. My advice to the reader would be to go buy a Fiesta. My advice to Ford North America would be to call Ford Germany and ask Bob Lutz to come over and make our Escort as nice as theirs. —David E. Davis. Jr.
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This is one unhappy little lump of a car. The fit and finish of the interior are be­low par. The engine drones. The steering is rubbery. The ride is undisciplined. The tall gearing works against the engine. In general, the Escort reminds me of an ado­lescent, all awkward and self-conscious.
All of this tells me that Ford's American design team cut too many corners, think­ing the masses wouldn't notice, or that the product planners misjudged what America expects of an econobox, or that the engineers simply lacked the know-­how to create a world-class world car.
This is not to say that the Escort is without merit. The overall packaging is excellent. Rear-seat comfort is exception­al. And its gas mileage is good as well. So the Escort should do well enough in the workaday world, serving people who think of cars as nothing more than travel appliances.
All of the ingredients for a sparkling small sedan are here—on paper at least. Let's hope Ford management has a change of heart and sees fit to finish what it started. —Rich Ceppos
Specifications
Specifications
1981 Ford Escort GLX
Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door hatchback
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $6476/$7789
Options: air conditioning, $524; aluminum wheels, $183; cruise control, $128; AM/FM·stereo radio, $100; rear wiper·washer, $94; premium sound system, $91; power brakes, $76; tinted glass, $70; cloth and vinyl upholstery, $27; heavy-duty battery, $20.
ENGINE
SOHC 8-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head
Displacement: 97 in3, 1600 cm3
Power: 69 bhp @ 5000 rpm
Torque: 86 lb-ft @ 3200 rpm
TRANSMISSION
4-speed manual
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: struts/struts
Brakes, F/R: 9.3-in vented disc/7.1-in drum
Tires: Goodyear Arriva
P165/80R-13
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 94.2 in
Length: 163.9 in
Width: 65.9 in
Height: 53.3 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 47/39 ft3
Trunk Volume: 16 ft3
Curb Weight: 2140 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 14.6 sec
1/4-Mile: 19.4 sec @ 69 mph
80 mph: 31.8 sec
Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 15.2 sec
Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 20.4 sec
Top Speed: 87 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 217 ft
Roadholding, 282-ft Skidpad: 0.71 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 24 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 33/28/44 mpg
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED