A mate of mine's got a 1998-ish (R reg) Escort 1.6 (Halewood, natch) which is making a knocking noise and also intermittently juddering and losing power. Most of the time it's fine, and the problems don't seem to be related to speed/cornering etc. Fuel consumption seems OK.
I've only had the symptoms and noise described to me and I'm guessing it's the cat. The car passed its MOT a couple of months ago, although I'm aware that cats can go from fine to knackered very quickly. It's recently gone round the clock.
The car only has to last a few more months but obviously ignoring the problem and having the thing conk out in the outside lane of the M1 isn't all that desirable.
Any thoughts on the above vagueness appreciated (although I think the Escorts aren't as good as Focuses/Focii thing has probably run its course by now).