Sold my ECHO, going to drive an ESCORT-QUESTION

[johnnymac]

I had to sell my 2001 ECHO for economic reasons. I am going to drive a tried and true 1999 Ford Escort 5 speed 4 door with 206K on the clock. Made in Wayne Michigan 48184 USA.

I have owned several Escorts, and was very happy with them. I had a "Sport" with a 5 speed and the mags and trunk spoiler. It got 36- 37 MPG a few tankfuls and seemed to be good fuel miser. I was offered a tidy sum over what I had in it so I sold it. I have owned several automatics, 98, 99, 2002. They were good on gas, and I mildly tried to improve MPG. Then I found ecomodder and found I was not alone! The Escort automatics were good, but not like the 5 speed, so I finally got another. The most recent Escort acquisition has no spoiler, but is a very nice base model with a 5 speed. I am going to install the flat wheel covers, and block the grille, and I am thinking about skirts. It has pretty new Goodyear Viva tires on it, and I will pump them up and see how it does. I have a complete rollover 98 2.0L with 80k for parts on standby, and I will have an engine with new gaskets and everything I need ready to go.
The ECHO had a "dead zone" of airflow over the rear window.
Echo had no rear defogger. When it was snowy or rainy, the middle of the back window took a long time to clear. I have been reading this website for awhile and I am not an engineer or whatever, and don't pretend to know it all. BUT It looked to me like the airflow was skipping over the rear window to gather at the rear of the trunk to get that teardrop effect to its fullest. Does that make sense to anybody??

OK, my old Escort Sport with the trunk spoiler got really good MPG for how I drove it. Did the spoiler help? or hinder?? Car Craft put a spoiler on their Pinto MPG project, to help it extend the airflow to the rear of the car. So it would not cling to the car but flow over it smoothly? Is that right?

Will my "New" 1999 base Escort 5 speed show an improvement in MPG due to less drag, or will MPG decrease because it has no spoiler?

This is just a kind of moot question I have been pondering, as time will tell, and I will modify as necessary. Furthermore, with the inspiration and new info I have acquired from ecomodder I will well surpass the old Sport's MPG.

Any points of view, other than to tell me I am mindlessly rambling?

Seriously I am very excited to get this going and see what happens. I have been looking high and low for a new Escort. It had to be a 5 speed, 96 or newer for my scangauge, plus the newer r134. It gets HOT here in Oklahoma.
The new tires on the car may be swapped out for a set of LRR in the future. I am thinking about the Cooper GFE.

Thanks guys for all your help and input, and lets see more Escort drivers speak up. These really are great cars, and they should still be building them. In Wayne Mi. ( on a Mazda platform?)


Yours Truly
Johnnymac