I am looking for a small car for my son who is turning 16. We've looked at a number of vehicles. He saw a Ford Escort he liked. So, I thought I'd read some reviews here to get a "feel" for the vehicle.

The top review listed in the year model I checked was another model totally--not the one listed. The writer states that at the first of the review. That doesn't make it any more helpful.

The second listed and with a HUGE number of VH rates is based on owning the car one week. It includes all the sales spin. Again, that is no help at all.

I remember going off site when I bought my last vehicle in 2002. I'm sure there are some good car reviews at EP, but I'm not having much luck finding them.

I should also note that this was the FIRST car I checked. This was NOT a problem I noted after looking at loads of car reviews. This was my introduction to the car section this evening when doing research on a car under consideration. I just clicked from the top as I would imagine most consumers would.

Thanks for the tip, Cyndi. I'll look into it and see what's out there. Several of us have done some vertical rating in the car section but we haven't had a chance to get to everything. (I'm hoping that you stumbled across some older reviews that are in serious need of vertical rating. That's the best explanation, anyway.)

Anyway, thanks for letting us know!

--Bob

Thanks.

I found good info on other sites. I would prefer to use Epinions, but I'm not putting out $7 to $10 K on a used car without feeling comfortable with the data provided.

I've gone through old car reviews quite a bit, and I've found a lot of reviews that are for the wrong model years. I can think of a few reasons for this. Either long ago, it was acceptable to list a review for an older model year in the current model year because the proper category didn't exist, or if long ago cars were only categorized by model and not year, and these reviews were never properly split up, or if the reviews were originally published in the proper model year categories but the database was messed up somewhere along the line (categories deleted, renamed, etc.) and some reviews ended up in the wrong places. I feel like the later may be the main reason.

So, this is definitely a problem I've found, and its been like this for as long as I've been here. I go back and rate these reviews off-topic when I find them, but I'm always finding more and more. Another problem with this is that sometimes a helpful review that was potentially originally listed in the proper category is lost.

In this particular case, the listing was for the 2001 Ford Escort ZX2 and the top review is for a version other than a ZX2. However, this is the only listing for the 2001 Escort on Epinions; there are no separate listings for the ZX2 version and any other versions. The problem with creating a new listing now for a different version is that there are something like 40 reviews in this current listing and most would never be sorted out to the correct listing.

To be honest, it doesn't bother me that the listing is for the ZX2 but contains reviews of other versions. We all know that the listings on Epinions are problematic and car listings have been wracked with institutional changes that have buried good reviews and created many unwanted new listings. As far as I'm concerned, if it says "2001 Ford Escort" and there is no other 2001 Ford Escort listing, then any 2001 Ford Escort review can go in it. It's not an ideal situation but that's what we have.

There are good reviews in there but I can understand if you feel the need to look elsewhere for the advice you want. If you do find a good source of consumer car reviews, let us know.

--Bob

I looked around at MSN autos. Reviews are short but by owners. Many seem to be in the young age group. Skimming quickly I can see the major problems kids have had as far as repairs and what they do and don't like about the car.

There is another site (can't recall) that comes up at the top at Google (Ford Escort ZX2 SE review compare--search words) with all the basic info on the car. Professional site--charts and so on.

Doubt I'll go for the one we checked out this week--too high on the price. But would not rule the car out completely.

Thanks for the tip, Cyndi!

--Bob

Cindi,

I don't know if you are still looking for a car, as this was posted a while ago...however....

You will find what you are looking for at www.edmonds.com

It has been very helpful for me in my car search.

Good luck!