I just retired my 95 Escort 1.9L Auto and picked up a 2001 Ranger. The Escort was a good car and mine still has all of the original body and paint but the Trans. decided that I didn't need 3rd and 4th gears any more. It secided this at 72/74mph while the cruise control was driving BIG surprise suddenly going into 2nd at 70+. Anyway they said that the trans was a Mazda unit and would cost around $1500 plus labor to replace it (about $2K total) and seeing it had over 175,000mi. I said it's time to retire it. But the engine still runs just fine. I really got to like that little car.
But I like the Ranger better.