2001 Escort SE

Hey Guys, new member to the forum here. My girlfriend is thinking about purchasing a 2001 Escort SE. It has 75000 miles and it looks to be in perfect shape. I was curious if there is some stuff I should look into. I heard that 75000 is about time for a new timing belt and Water Pump. Is this true? How much would it cost? How reliable of a car is it? How Long will it last. Thank you for your time.

Timing belt is to be checked at 120,k000. Its got plenty of life left in it. I replaced it in my 97 at 75,000 and it looked like new. Changed it anyway because I was in there. Never replaced the water pump. She's got 145,000 on her now and pump is okay. With a little bit of preventive maintenance it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to get 200,000 miles. Escorts are very reliable. It would make her a good car. The third generatiion Escorts (97 on up) are good cars. Just when they got it right, they quit making them.

Thanks for the reply man, we took it for a test drive yesterday and all seemed well. Probably one of the slowest cars I have even driven but it drove very well. The motor seemed pretty audible from the cabin and seemed to have a nice little deep growl to it. The interior is in excellent shape and the exterior still looks brand new. We were hopeful it had some power option but this one didn't. No cruise or anthing, which is a bummer but we can live with it. We are still debating if we want it. I have a 85 Honda Prelude out in the garage that needs an alternator and fuel pump. Its only got 126k original miles and the whole top end of the motor was rebuilt at 123k. The timing belt broke so it smashed all the valves and stuff. Anyway, we are thinking a bout just fixing that up instead of purchasing a new car.