The 350bhp MST Mk2 Evo-X Is The Mk2 Ford Escort You Always Dreamed Of

Tucked away in a quiet corner of North Wales, MST Cars is nothing if not busy. It’s spent the last few years cranking out the excellent reinterpretations of the first two generations of Ford Escort, and there’s also the small matter of its Audi V6-powered take on the MG Metro 6R4. Cars that very closely resemble old Escorts, but for legal reasons definitely aren’t old Escorts, are still its bread and butter though.

The company has just revealed its latest take on the Formula: the Mk2 Evo-X. That’s nothing to do with a mildly disappointing performance saloon from Mitsubishi. The Evo part means this is a visually amped-up take on the Escort recipe, and the ‘X’ part refers to the X-Pack from the original Mk2 Escort.

This was a series of special-order options available for the car back in the day that saw it fitted with – among other things – some very swollen arches. They’re probably the first thing you’ll notice about the Evo-X, too which evokes the later RS2000 version of the Mk2 Escort, with its distinctive shovel-nosed front end.

In the late ’70s, the RS2000 produced around 110bhp, a figure worthy of a proper performance car back then. Obviously, things have moved on rather a lot since then, so MST has come up with some power figures that are a bit more 2024.

There’s a choice of two screaming naturally aspirated four-pot engines, in keeping with the original car’s spirit. The ‘base’ engine is a 2.5-litre Ford Duratec, making 275bhp, while at the top end is a 2.8-litre Millington Diamond. These screaming mills have long been a go-to for early competition-spec Escorts, and in the Mk2 Evo-X, it’ll produce 350bhp. That can be sent through either a sequential or a regular manual gearbox, both six-speed items.

That’s all going to go to the rear wheels of something that’ll likely weigh well under a tonne, thanks in no small part to much of the body being made from carbon fibre, so everything else will need to be fairly serious to keep things in check. The Evo-X is set to have extra chassis and body strengthening versus MST’s other Mk2s, as well as six-pot AP Racing brakes and – something no rear-drive Escort ever had in-period – fully independent rear suspension, based on a setup originally developed with input from Colin McRae.

Should this be taking your fancy – and if it’s not, you may want to check your pulse – and you have a likely chunky sum of cash to throw at it, MST is taking orders now. Buyers can choose between a relatively plush road-spec interior or a fully stripped-out competition setup, and the company is aiming for deliveries next year.