I had the tie rod ends wear out in both my '91 escort and the '98 I have now. The guy who sold me the parts says the same thing happened to his girlfriend's car and that is a common wear and tear item on escorts.
I had a rear spring break in my '91, like one of the earlier posts. I also had the alternator just go at 145K in my '98 escort. I don't know if that is a common problem or not.
But I can say my Escorts have been very reliable and the reason I got my first one was I knew a lot of people who had Escorts and abused them and the cars took it and still ran. I take care of mine, so I expect this one to go 200K miles. The clutch didn't wear out in either car. The '91 had 129K when I traded it in and this one has 146K.