Faults:

Rear wheel bearings have been a constant problem with this car. They are very difficult to adjust correctly. The torque values and readings are very unconventional. If these bearings are adjusted incorrectly they go bad very quickly.

The emergency brakes have also been difficult. Unfortunately emergency brake problems are easily confused with rear bearing problems. It is impossible to adjust the brakes without removing the drum, which makes it very difficult to adjust shoe dragging.

The brake disks cannot be removed from the front steering knuckles without a great deal of trouble. Make sure you get disks turned on the car during a brake job or you are going to be charged a great deal.

General Comments:

Other than the rear axle problems the car is great and very economical. It seems to usually get over 40 miles per gallon. In spite of the fact I am now over 126000 miles I am still on the same original clutch.

It is very reliable.

With its 5 speed manual transmission it is fast enough to stay out of trouble.

It is really too bad that this car never caught on with the public and Ford/KIA/Mazda did away with it.

Faults:

Only dings in parking lot...

This car NEVER NEVER breaks!

General Comments:

This is my second Festiva. I bought a Kia Sportage because Kia makes the Festiva for Ford, but I have NEVER seen anything like the Festiva for reliability. I now have 5 for my company as transport cars. Excellent gas mileage; Never break; Small and maneuverable; and you can put incredible amounts of stuff in one! I put a 6' step ladder in mine - can you believe that!

Faults:

Right rear brake shoe starting dragging last year - disconnected the parking brake cable from that hub assembly - now I just park it in gear.

Because of a hole allowing moisture into the right headlight assembly, I've had to replace the bulb three times.

Replaced the timing belt/water pump within a month of buying the car last September (2002). (Preventive maintenance)

Replaced exhaust from header pipe back - was very noisy/rusty.

General Comments:

This is my 5th Festiva - the first I've had with fuel injection/5spd/Air conditioning.

It is by far the best of the five due to its drive train and A/C!

I commute to/from Kentucky and Maryland every week, averaging about 3k miles per month - I've put 29k miles on the car in the last year (drove my 4x4 Ranger on a few trips when I had stuff to haul that wouldn't fit in the Festiva).

My goal for the Festiva is to reach 300k miles - at the rate I'm going that should take about 5 more years.

The seats are not the most comfortable, but for a 9.5 hour drive, they're certainly not bad, as long as I stop every couple hours to get out and stretch my legs - I'm 6'1".