Damn, nope, I can't drive all the way over to Perth for you to have a ride in my car, pity, anybody on here from the perth area willing to take Dan for a ride in their Escort to show them what it's all about?
Yes, I will admit I am biased, but it's not without some basis in reality. To me, there is more to life then driving in a straight line, and I'm sure other Escort owners will know what I'm talking about when I say an Escort is a lot more "chuckable" then a Falcon ever will be.
Your summary is spot on mate, the Falcon might have the higher top speed and finish the 1/4 mile quicker, but in every other aspect the Escort has the goods. So if you're after a 1/4 mile car, a Falcon is a better option, but if you want something that will be quick in day-to-day driving (0-100km/h, corners, etc.) then the Escort may be more your style.
I have done a lot of driving in a few Escorts (Mk I 1300XL, Mk II 1.6L, Mk II 2.0L), as well as a lot of driving in a series II EB GLi, and in my opinion, while the Falcon is the more comfortable car to drive for extended periods of time, it is nowhere near as fun to drive in a sporting manner. There is no way I would corner the way I occasionally do in my Escort (extremely late braking to scrub off only a little speed, full throttle around the corner) in a Falcon, in the Escort that's a recipe for fun, in a Falcon the same thing is a recipe for disaster.
The Escort will be cheaper, to a point, to do up, but there is a point where it starts becoming rather expensive, depends how far you want to take it. But it's like that with any car, the Escort is no different there really. But yes, the Escort would be cheaper then some other cars to do some mods to - put a decent exhaust, extractors and a nice cam in, won't cost you too much and will definately be a decent upgrade over a stock 2L, there will be a few other expenses involved with the cam, but nothing that will break the bank and for the performance increase, not to mention the awesome sound of a 2L with a good set of extractors bolted on, trust me, you would not regret a single cent of the money spent.
As has been said, no, the Escorts didn't come with an LSD (asides from the genuine Mk II RS1800s, but I seriously doubt you'll find one of those for sale at a decent price still with the original parts), and the diffs aren't too weak, as long as you're not subjecting them to 5 grand clutch dumps all the time and aren't trying to put 3 times the power of the original 2L engine through them. Basically, treat the drivetrain with some respect and it won't give you too much in the way of trouble in return.
So you're thinking of maybe doing something like this:
Mmmmm 2 litre EFI turbo... *drools*
: