The quick facelift of the Ford Escort Mk5 – From the Old Box

Ford was there just a year earlier than the direct competitors Opel and Volkswagen with a new compact middle class. While Opel still had the Kadett E in the showroom and Volkswagen the Golf II, Ford parked a brand new Escort at its dealers. A nice lead you would say, but nothing turned out to be less true. Ford hadn’t been able to see what the competition came up with as replacements for their success numbers and probably freaked out in 1991. Both the Astra F and the Golf III immediately proved to be extremely tough competitors for the Escort Mk5. So back to the drawing board, Ford decided.

Ford worked quickly, because in 1992 a major update appeared for both the Escort and the then Orion sedan version. To start with, the front was sharpened to give the Escort and Orion a more modern appearance. The slatted grille of the pre-facelift gave way to an oval, more open one. On the Escort hatchback and Escort convertible, the rear lights were also overhauled. They got a spur in the tailgate and they also got more red glazing.

In the interior, the changes were less noticeable. In particular, a slightly modified steering wheel had to provide more safety in the event of a collision. The handlebars were made of softer materials to reduce the risk of injury and the handlebars also had to stay in place more in a frontal impact. More security improvements? Yes: the Escort and Orion got reinforced doors, sills and a floor plate that had to be better able to withstand a side impact. You guessed it: the Escort became a bit heavier (and therefore slower) and it also gave up some interior space. Concessions that Ford could apparently live with.

Another more noticeable pain point of the pre-facelift Ford Escort Mk5 was the lack of refinement on the 1.6. After all, that was still just the eight-valve CVH block, an engine that was also available in the Escorts Mk3 and Mk4. The Escort’s smaller engines (1.3 and 1.4) were also from that engine family, where the 1.8 was from the newer 16-valve Zeta series. Ford decided to replace the 1.6 CVH with a smaller brother of the 1.8 Zeta engine during the facelift, with the result that the 1.6 was now a more refined choice than before and you did not necessarily have to rely on the 1.8 if you want a modern engine wild. Important, because for many customers the 1.8 was a bit bigger than necessary.

Ford’s quick patch up did help slightly in the sales figures, but it could not prevent a large sales gap between the Escort and the aforementioned two competitors in the Netherlands. The Opel Astra was good for between 25,000 and almost 30,000 units in its first years (after more than 40,000 in its debut year 1992), the Volkswagen Golf III lured to the showroom towards 25,000 customers on an annual basis. The facelifted Ford Escort got stuck at about 14,000 units per year. It wasn’t until the arrival of the thoroughly revised Mk5 in 1995 (which was labeled as Mk6) that sales rose for two years in a row to just above 15,000 units on an annual basis. All in all, the last Escort remained a bit of a disappointment for Ford, which only really cleaned up with the first Focus.