Faults:

This car was originally a Nevada car and was brought to Canada just prior to me purchasing it. Only think done to it was a new battery.

Fuel gauge hasn't worked since I bought the car. I know that the odometer can go 500+kms before I fill up.

Spent $1000 just over a year ago on a complete check up and tuning. Replaced all the brakes, new alternator, tires rotated etc.

Four months later the entire fuel system had to be replaced. New fuel pump, lines, tank. Spent another $1000 on it.

The paint is peeling badly on the bumpers.

Apart from general maintenance, this car leaks no oil and if you have the money and keep up with it, the car won't let you down.

General Comments:

The most common complaint is that this car is underpowered. I don't think it is, I find it has great pick up rides comfortably at 100km+.

Gas mileage is incredible, I average well over 40mpg.

The car is comfortable and impressively modern for one that is 13 years old. The seats are comfortable, the upholstery is still in tact and the ride is very smooth. If you drop the back seats you have a lot of cargo space (I'm a musician so this is great!).

The car handles and corners well, I find it amusing that the car is so high and the clearance in the wheel wells is so large, I was planning on lowering the car.

I'm only going to get rid of the car because the transmission is beginning to give me a headache.

Faults:

Exhaust repair at 80K miles.

General Comments:

It's a shame that this car isn't just made forever.

It's comfortable, efficient, inexpensive, and will go 65 mph all day long.

Outstandingly comfortable transmission -- always secure and accurate shifting.

REALLY comfortable driving seat for short to average-height people.

And the purple is completely fabulous. People constantly ask me how new the car is, and they're amazed when I tell them it's 12 years old. The car has taken its given name (Raspberry) from the color, and people smile when they see it.

I'll drive this car until they don't make unleaded gasoline any more.

Faults:

Other than brakes and tire replacement...nothing.

General Comments:

This car is a underpowered and it could get a little better fuel consumption which is about 35 mpg overall.

It is very reliable and we drove it about 153,000 km in one year without incident.

Quite roomy for a little car, but quite noisy too.

Faults:

Clamps that hold the heat shielding rusted out one-by-one over the first few years, but I simply replaced them with cheap hose clamps which are still holding today.

Automatic running lights stopped working around 200,000 km. Seems to be a shorted out wire that I have yet to track down.

Rear wiper motor burned out around 250,000 km when it stalled against my bike rack. I replaced it with a used motor for $15.

Emergency brake cable seized up a couple of times, but easy and cheap to replace.

I've replaced the brakes and rear shocks a couple of times, but they were relatively inexpensive since I did the work myself. The shocks probably would not have needed replacing if I wasn't frequenting rough dirt roads every summer.

Around 275,000 km, the speedometer was making a strange buzzing noise and the needle was jumping, but lubricating the mechanism in the dashboard solved the problem.

Lock cylinders have seized up a couple of times, but WD-40 easily fixed that.

Right now I'm leaking a bit of oil, but it looks like replacing some gaskets will solve the problem.

The only breakdown: around 250,000 km the fuel pump broke, which cost about $1000 parts and labor to repair.

General Comments:

I picked up my 1994 Aspire as an expired lease with 25,000 km in March, 1997. For 8 years I've been using it as a commuter car and recreation vehicle. It now has over 310,000 km and just keeps on going.

It doesn't have very much power, but it's mileage is terrific (35-40 miles/gallon) and I have never encountered a more reliable vehicle. It's been abused on rough roads and with infrequent tune-ups, yet I've had to do surprisingly little work on it.

It is comfortable with a deceptively large amount of interior space, especially with the back seat folded forward. I love taking it camping since it easily packs all my gear, plus my bike and canoe. An added bonus is that it's small size allows it to duck into places some trucks can't even reach.

Because not many of them are around, it can be hard to find used parts and Ford stock parts are expensive. Fortunately, little has gone wrong with it that requires more than a screwdriver, simple wrench set, WD-40, a Haynes manual and very (extremely) rudimentary mechanical ability to fix.