Cars I have owned - No 11: Ford Escort Mk IV 1.6D L

Diesel cars were something of a rarity back in 1986. There were a few French models  about - mainly large Peugeots, but they were slow (really slow) and not very satisfying to drive.

Ford was the first mainstream manufacturer to try to introduce diesel engines into its small-car fleet and about 1985 it launched diesel versions of its Escort and Fiesta ranges.

Compared to today's diesels, these were absolute dogs, but I was interested in diesel cars and I wanted to try one to see if the economy in real-life use was as good as it promised to be. I wrote a long-term test report on the car for my motoring column.

We got an Escort 1.6D L three-door. I chose to have the three-door because I liked the looks (the five-door's lines were very untidy) and it was a mid-blue colour. The first week we got it, Margaret put it in the garage (amazing to think we could get a car in our garage these days - it's so full of junk) and she ran it against our upturned wheelbarrow, putting a tiny dent on the leading edge of the bonnet. She denied all knowledge of the incident, but the car kept that dent all the time we had it. I think it gave its face some character.

The engine was normally-aspirated (no turbo), so it wasn't especially powerful. I think maximum power was around 55bhp. It would cruise happily at 80mph-plus and there were bags of torque compared to a petrol engine, but it did take a while to get up to speed. There was an initial surge of power and then it would fall off as the revs rose and you'd need another gear. Once in high gear, you just had to let it get to your desired speed in its own good time. The engine didn’t like revs, it would get to a certain point and everything slowed down, almost like hitting a rev limiter.

Overtaking required careful judgment, but you soon learn a car's shortcomings and adjust your driving accordingly.

The biggest problem with the car was its lack of power steering. A front-wheel drive car with a relatively heavy diesel engine was a pig without power steering. Parking required strong wrists and the natural tendency of front-wheel-drive cars to understeer was exaggerated by the extra weight up front. If it had been more powerful, it might have caused problems.

Economy was the main reason for choosing a diesel and the Escort always got close to 60mpg, perhaps double what you'd get from a petrol car (economy wasn't as good back then). Diesel was also cheaper than petrol because it didn't have the extra tax piled on that it does today.

Our biggest trip in the Escort was to Interlaken in Switzerland. We drove there through Belgium (staying overnight in Liege) and Germany. In Switzerland, we did lots of touring. It was early June and we managed to do the Three Passes route (the Susten, the Furka and the Grimsel). They were only just open and we followed a snowplough up one of them. It was a great holiday, with magnificent scenery.

Margaret was five months pregnant with Max, so this was the first car he rode in.

On the way back, we had a long run of German autobahnen into Belgium and we stayed overnight in Brussels before heading back to the ferry at Calais. That was a long drive and it was something of a challenge to find our hotel - no sat-nav in those days, but we did have a street map of Brussels with Margaret navigating (always a recipe for trouble as she's not the world's best map-reader).

Also see:

Ford Popular - click

Bedford HA Van - click

Morris Mini - click

Vauxhall Viva HC - click

Citroen GS Club - click

Morris Marina 1.3GL - click

Talbot Horizon 1.1 LS - click

Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L - click

Datsun Stanza 1.6GL - click

Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L - click