---
title: '1995 Ford Escort GT: Regular Car Reviews'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=YEnIxOGkf6c'
video_id: 'YEnIxOGkf6c'
date: 2026-08-24
duration_sec: 1057
channel: 'Regular Car Reviews'
---

# 1995 Ford Escort GT: Regular Car Reviews

> Source: [1995 Ford Escort GT: Regular Car Reviews](https://youtube.com/watch?v=YEnIxOGkf6c)

## Summary

This video is a Regular Car Reviews episode on the 1995 Ford Escort GT, blending humor with a detailed analysis of the car's history, mechanics, and cultural significance. The reviewer highlights the Escort GT as a hidden gem of affordable performance, largely due to its Mazda-sourced engine and platform, and argues that modern manufacturers should revive such analog, budget-friendly cars.

### Key Points

- **Driving Experience** [00:03] — The Escort GT is best enjoyed at full throttle, with a 1.8L engine producing 120 horsepower, and the reviewer emphasizes the fun of revving it to redline.
- **Mazda Partnership** [02:21] — The Escort GT is essentially a Mazda Protege, sharing the Mazda 323 platform and using the Miata's engine, which explains its engaging driving dynamics.
- **Historical Pricing** [03:04] — Sold for about $11,000 in the mid-90s (equivalent to ~$24,704 in 2026), the Escort GT was a bargain, and Ford reportedly lost money on each unit sold.
- **Design and Production** [04:12] — The '95 model had a redesigned one-piece front end, while the '91 model featured separate side pieces; some parts were sourced from Australia, and the car shared components with the Mazda MX-3 and Protege.
- **1995 Buyer Persona** [06:15] — The reviewer imagines a budget-conscious thrill-seeker in 1995, needing a car that balances fun and fuel economy to impress peers without breaking the bank.
- **Handling Characteristics** [07:40] — The car handles brutally but is forgiving, with a tendency to oversteer that can be caught and corrected, making it fun to drive despite being front-wheel drive.
- **Ford's Risk Aversion** [09:31] — Ford's rough years in the '80s shaped its conservative approach, but the Escort GT was a rare exception, showing a willingness to take risks that later influenced cars like the Focus RS.
- **Escort History** [10:13] — The American Escort, introduced in 1981, was larger and heavier than the European version, but it helped Ford move past the Pinto's reputation and became a best-seller.
- **Second Generation Improvements** [11:21] — The second-gen Escort used the Mazda B platform, improving handling and adding features like four-wheel disc brakes, making it a significant upgrade over the first gen.
- **Engine Specs** [12:29] — The 1.8L engine produces 127 hp at 6,500 rpm and 114 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm, with EPA fuel economy of 28 mpg highway and 24 mpg combined.
- **Modifications** [13:14] — The featured car has a Mazda Protege front bumper (because Ford's plastic wasn't UV stable), V2 racing coilovers, and a timing bump requiring mid-grade fuel.
- **Legacy as a Donor Car** [14:24] — Escort GTs are often parted out to improve Miatas, which is its legacy, but the reviewer argues it should be seen as a 'common man's Miata' in its own right.
- **Track Potential** [15:24] — The car is used for autocross (E Street touring) and wants to be on the track, offering a top-down feeling despite being a hatchback.
- **Call for Affordable Performance** [16:22] — The reviewer urges manufacturers to bring back affordable, analog performance cars with manual transmissions, arguing that elder millennials and late Gen Xers have the money to buy their youth again.

### Conclusion

The 1995 Ford Escort GT is a testament to the value of affordable performance, combining Mazda engineering with Ford's packaging to create a fun, practical car. The reviewer's final message is a plea to automakers to revive this formula, as there is a market for analog driving experiences that digital technology cannot replicate.

## Transcript

There is only one way to enjoy a Ford Escort GT. That's full throttle all the >> Hey little me automotive, what do you got? Give me that 90 sound.
redline yet. There it is. Oh, that's great. Sounds good. >> Buy pills from a pale kid with frosted tips outside of a warehouse in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Shift your Escort GT only at redline. Use skateboard wheels
as engine mounts. Ring every horse out of this 120 horsepower 1.8 L engine. Pierce your ears with thumbtacks you stole from the art room. Drive your
Escort GT through the Lincoln Tunnel with license plates that you stole from your grandfather's Mercury Grand Marquis because he has late stage dementia. Good
luck collecting a bill from someone who thinks Soupy Sales is president. >> I'm happy to remind you that the giveaway for a Plymouth Prowler is still going on as the lovely and awesome Muzzy is displaying right here. Yes, this is a
giveaway car. Go to fanofdem.com and click the link down in the description. Go to fanofdem.com/regularcars, pick up some merch, and you're automatically entered to win this gloinky automobile. It's like the waspy
Ariel Atom. Nothing drives like this vehicle. It is hilarious. It is funny. And we're never going to We're never going to get to give away one of these things again. Able to get this from an
elderly gentleman, and everything works on it. And it's a car that's been driven. And believe me, I want you to drive this. Whoever wins this vehicle, drive this. Whoever wins this vehicle, please drive it. Don't squirrel it away.
these. Isn't that wild? I've been driving this thing for a month, not one other one on the road. Anyway, I could go on and on. Go to fanofem.com/regularcars. Links in the description. Pick up some
merch and someone's going to win this. And it could be you. This is not really a Ford. It's a Mazda Protege. Ford and Mazda were copying each other's homework starting in the second grade, but really
Ford copied Mazda's homework more than the other way around. Mazda just wanted a permanent invite to Ford's Merica parties. And if that meant giving Ford some engines and body platforms, well, so be it. For example, the engine in the
Escort GT is the Mazda Miata engine. No wonder this hatchback feels so fun and familiar. The only difference is this twin cam is spun sideways and driving the front wheels as opposed to longitudinally driving the rear wheels
in the Miata. Escort GTs sold in the mid-90s for about $11,000. mid-90s for about $11,000. Now, that comes to about $24,704 in 2026. And you think about that, wait a minute.
A revvy two-door hatch with a stick shift, a Japanese engine, a thicker sway shift, a Japanese engine, a thicker sway bar, and I get all this for under 25,000 new in '26. Now, that is a bargain. Imagine if they sold this thing today.
And yeah, it's a good deal. It's such a good deal that Ford lost money on every Escort GT they made. Normally, manufacturers take a loss or break even
they hike up the prices on their mid-trim and then just gouge you on the mid-trim and then just gouge you on the high trim models. Think Toyota GR Yaris, right? But Ford ate it with the Escort GT. This was the top-of-the-line Escort.
Why? Why did they lose money on every single one sold? Was Ford just that cool? Were Were they that down for the love of the game selling their hot hatch at a loss? Or did they not believe the Escort GT
was worth anything in the United States? Let me know in the comments. Does Does Let me know in the comments. Does Does anyone out there have inside info on Ford's pricing in the mid-1990s? >> For the '95 they had a completely
was basically just one piece and it was supposed to look more flowing and make supposed to look more '90s. This one is from a '91 Escort GT, which gives it these like kind of cool side connect pieces that are separate. Um they were
also more expensive to produce and these were made in Australia because the Probe or the uh not the Probe, the Laser um version of this Escort, which was just the same car but in Australia, um was where most of the like specialty
are also from Australia. A lot of the early cars have Australian stuff, but my dad worked for Ford and I He was there when this car was being produced and I you know, why did things change over so much between the years? It's just
on everyone that was made. >> Really? because the most of it was that these were Mazdas underneath. Like this is a Mazda 323, the same as an MX-3, and the same as a um
Protege. Underneath those are the exact same cars going up to 2003. Um the 2003 uh Escort and the 2003 Protege are the exact same frame. They they're almost identical. My dad said like he has a couple different things of
different kinds of fabric that Ford would make. He called these ones rat called in at Ford, and those ones were called like uh something like bag seats, where they're more like burlap almost. They're rough.
the side, I think it's slightly different. It's like BP something. >> Yes. Right. Yeah, there's a couple different things, at least with the um the intake. The intake on these has a variable
like on the side here, it's got a solenoid that's actuated by vacuum and >> I don't think they did for this year. They might have later cuz this was rated horsepower. >> a 1.6. 1.8. That's the 1.8.
>> Um and the the Miata of that year was rated I think 117. So, it gave you like a little bit of a bump and I think that was just from that variable-length intake runner. >> 1995 Ford Escort GT, the junior staff
thriller. I'm a budget-conscious thrill-seeker in 1995. I'm making adult money now, but not enough for a financial advisor to take my phone call. It's 1995, so there's no social media for me to show off whatever I got. So, I
have to stunt in person. So, I need a car that splits the difference on fun and fuel economy, so I can justify the lease while I work my way up the ladder at Endless Paperwork and Sexual Harassment Corporation. I went to
business school and majored in brainstorming. I have an idea for a business where you rent out your house like a hotel and then require tenants to then charge them a cleaning fee anyway. I need a car that wants to be revved
like a leaf blower in Sleepy Hollow and enjoyed like a domestic fight without Japanese internals to smooth out the corners of American half-assery. Something that can impress a receptionist, but leave me with enough
ice cream at Chi-Chi's because it's 1995. 1995. Ah, the Escort GT. Driving this is like wrangling a second-grader who just got their first taste of Surge or Fun Dip or
County. It's I want to go I want to go I want to go I I want to go I want to go I want to go I want to go. Now, I spin spin spin spin.
handled brutally, even though it's a front-engine, front-wheel drive car. And when you catch the rear end and straighten the Escort GT back out, it in the first place. No, I wasn't going to spin. It was like when I was a
School District. I covered all grades, mostly high school, but occasionally I was in the middle school and I had to cover sixth grade. And I'll tell you what, those boys, it's like if I had a classroom for a day and I'm out in the
hall watching people and I'm watching a kid I'm watching a sixth-grader and he's getting closer and closer to that fire alarm. And then he sees me, he sees me looking at him, and he goes, "I wasn't going to do it." Yeah, that's
right. That's what I thought. "I wasn't going to do it." I wasn't really mad. Sixth-graders, they're just They're getting their first taste of adrenaline, first tastes of testosterone. They're just exploring the limits of their
world. And that's what the Escort GT does. This is an economy car with a much better engine, sort of better suspension, and it just is exploring its world. I'm an Escort GT. I'm not going to pull a 180 all of a sudden when you
try a Scandinavian flick on me around Philly City Hall off Broad Street and onto Market at 2:00 in the morning. No, I wasn't going to spin. Ford Escort GT, I can't stay mad at you. Rosy palms aren't embarrassing when
they're caused by too many high fives. This is a great Ford because it's really a great Mazda Protege. It's fun without the baggage of performance expectations because it's really just a hot hatch from a company that's been arguably the
wizard of American hot hatches longer than any of us had been alive. I mean, than any of us had been alive. I mean, you don't get the Ford Focus RS without the Escort GT. The Escort GT is cool in a way Ford hasn't cared about being ever
2010s. Because even if they didn't need government bailouts like Chrysler and GM did, they still had some rough years that shaped the kind of risks they were willing to take over the last 40 years. Case in point, during the financial
turbulence of the early '80s, before the Ford Taurus pretty much rescued the company, Ford was looking at building a world car as part of a joint venture of their European division. And this sporty little econobox would end up becoming
the Ford Escort. Now, never mind that Ford Europe had been selling cars under that name since the late 1960s. This was presented as mostly a new thing. While the American and European model shared the same general silhouette, the
American Escort was bigger and heavier when it arrived on our shores in the year 1981. Because Diet Coke didn't arrive until 1982, while the Big Mac had existed since 1968. And the Escort immediately had value as a way of
changing the subject from the Pinto it replaced. Remember those scenes from Mad Men? If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation. The rear-wheel-drive Pinto was gone, and the front-engine Escort was its replacement.
And a good thing, too, because the Pinto and its reputational damage left Ford's earning report looking redder than a freshly smacked ass. The Escort also packaged the European vibe in a more appealing way, as this would be one of
the best-selling cars in America by its second model year. And I think a lot of that had to do with the Euro influences. Yes, it was bigger than the overseas counterpart, but it wasn't exactly huge. It had this more aerodynamic Euro
hatchback styling. It was front-engine, front-wheel-drive, new. It was presented as a car with European handling dynamics rather than the heavy, clumsy familiarity of your standard American hatch. But the problem was that Ford
wrote a check that the car couldn't cash. With some critics noting that the steering was numb and the suspension was softer than its European counterparts. It was like Ford promised a barrel-aged single malt, but just served cut water
in a champagne flute. So, by the second generation, Ford got rid of the counterpart and used the front-wheel drive Mazda B platform that the Mazda 323 had. And the GT got you wider tail lights, alloy wheels, a different grill
shape, and four-wheel discs instead of old drums. It took a great premise and George Clooney's Ocean's Eleven. It's not a perfect movie, but in every respect, it's a thousand times better than the one with Sinatra. And the
second-gen Escort is special that it overcomes the natural deficiency of being a Ford in the '90s. At a time when the company was fat off the profit buffet of the Taurus, the Explorer, and the F-Series range, to where they didn't
have to try as hard because Americans were bending over backwards to keep the company rolling in dough, like a pizzeria next to a dispensary. The Mazda engine in here is a multi-port fuel-injected 16-valve dual overhead cam
1.8 liter inline four making 127 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 114 pound-feet of torque at 4,500 rpm. The EPA fuel economy is a solid 28 highway and 24 miles per gallon combined, which is of
course less than the base Escort, but it makes more than the 88 horsepower and 108 pound-feet of torque that the 1.9 Ford four-cylinder gets. For what it's worth, Connie bumped up the timing, so now it has to run on mid-grade 89
instead of the 87 it was supposed to run on, which is interesting to have a car gas. Uh-huh. Connie also added V2 racing coilovers and a Mazda Protege front bumper. You notice it doesn't have the
everybody associates with the Ford Escort GT. Well, that's because Ford didn't use UV stable plastic, but the Protege bumper did. But other than that, it doesn't have many options, if at all. This is basically stock, right down to
the wheels having this dumb, slightly skirted look that I guess was supposed to help with fuel economy by improving aerodynamics, but it's like Ford didn't actually want to fully commit to making this aerodynamic in any way that would
matter. Now, granted, this is way more aerodynamic than the cars of the '70s that it replaced. It's got the power to be locally impressive, but with only another model year for the Escort GT after this one, it was clear that Ford
really didn't care about improving the experience beyond what you already got in the second generation. This is a really fun car that feels like it wants to give you more than it can. It screams at 60 mph, even in fifth gear. It's
happier at 45, but it can go. That Protege LX and Mazda MX-5 drivetrain makes itself known. Do you want to own an Escort GT? Well, I know you do, cuz you made it this far, but parts are becoming difficult to find because
people were parting out these Escort GTs in America to improve their Miatas. That's its legacy. A donor car for a dentist's weekend cruiser. But, I also understand how it could end up this way. Since Ford didn't seem to put nearly
enough into marketing the performance of this car as they probably could have. Were they scared that this thing would interrupt sales of the Probe, or God forbid the Fox body Mustang? Maybe Mazda had something to do with it. Maybe Mazda
didn't want to cannibalize their Miata sales, since the two companies were simpatico. But, honestly, if they just presented this as a common man's Miata, they might have sold a whole lot more of these than they did. After all, Miatas
always sell at a premium. And this thing is still fast. It's a contender. It's not any kind of production homologation car, but Connie still uses this as an autocross machine for E Street touring. This machine wants to be on the track.
It wants to rev. It wants to give you that top-down feeling. It can sound trite to say that cars still sell a feeling, but that's been true since the dawn of the automobile. That's how car culture survives. So, rather than
feeling muted and disposable, Ford and Mazda provided a car that doesn't prioritize utility. Yet, still a hatchback. It's still a daily with solid fuel economy. Hell, you baby this, you'll get into the low 30s, but that's
not the point here. Even if Ford wanted it to be. It's actual value in 1995 was it to be. It's actual value in 1995 was how it gave the 9-5 life a bit of color, so that the gray-scaled world of postgraduate pencil pushing was a little
bit more tolerable until you reached the point in your career where the college degree justified itself in a way that it never does now. But, today in 2026, the Escort GT is evidence of an old thought experiment in the American auto
thought experiment in the American auto industry, affordable performance. Imagine if they made this car today. Affordable performance
for under $25,000. This car is a gem. They should make cars like this again. I hope they do. I hope manufacturers hope they do. I hope manufacturers figure out that what we really want
is a four-banger that revs like crazy, a manual transmission, and nothing else. Give me that analog feeling.
We want this feeling back. Do whatever you can to repackage this. I promise you can to repackage this. I promise you, people will pay a premium to have a feeling that cannot be represented digitally.
If there's anybody in the manufacturing industry, listen to me right now. Elder millennials and late Gen Xers have the money to purchase their youth again. This is where the goldmine is.
Make something like this again. Get as close as you can. You'll be a close as you can. You'll be a billionaire.