19th Aug 2008, 16:00
I bought mine this past April before the gas prices jumped up for $500. I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with yours, I love mine! The only wrong with mine is a small hole in the top part of the gas tank (so I can't fill the tank) and it needs a new exhaust, had to replace the front brake pads. All this I knew before I bought it. With the great gas mileage I get, I can still afford to go places. I hope mine lasts a long time, and I would get another in a heartbeat. It had 142,000 miles on it when I bought it.
17th Jan 2010, 15:24
You must be really hard on cars then. I have a 1991 ford Festiva I got for free back in Aug. It had 179k when I got it, and now it has about 189,500 miles and the engine just started ticking. Other than that, the car runs great, still gets great gas mileage and still starts every day. I even managed to drive the car through 8 inches of snow! I love this car, and it is probably the best car ever made.
26th Mar 2016, 20:16
Well most of those things are normal wear and tear, especially with that many miles on it, what do you expect?
Transmission broke 3 times? That's from bad driving habits and lack of maintenance.
CV axle failed, that's common on all front wheel drives. To stop that from happening, the rubber boot needs to be softened with a coating of white grease from the moment it goes on and every 3-4 months-ish.
Windshield washer broken, again common for that kind of mileage.
Battery died? Ummmm not even going to comment on that, it's not the car's fault. Everyone knows batteries die no matter what vehicle it is.
Rear brakes stick, again mileage but need to be serviced better.
Driver's door sticks, same again. Typical wear and tear.
Window's sticky, same yet again.
Exhaust rusted out? Same.
Light switch/turn signal, same thing!
Let's review this shall we? You bought a car for 700$ with 200,000 miles, what were you expecting? That it would run perfect and you would not have to deal with those kind of repairs?
Note: a lot of vehicles don't even run anymore at 200,000 miles and you find them dead in junk yards. I don't know what you were expecting, but when you buy a used car you HAVE to expect to put money into it either right away or shortly thereafter, and that's ANY car!
27th Mar 2016, 13:41
Really, the review was posted nine years ago; no one cares anymore. By now, most Festivas, probably including this one, have not only been junked but crushed already.
24th May 2008, 14:58
I agree with the other commenter - sorry for your luck! I've been the proud owner of a second-hand '90 Festiva for nearly 7 years now, and used it for my move from Indiana to Oregon two years ago with no incident! I love the gas mileage- all my friends are jealous - and the parts are really cheap so the few repairs I've had to do (normal things like replacing the timing belt, the clutch, the master cylinder) all tend to run at a maximum of $200 a pop. It's so worth it... best $600 ever spent, and it's going on 200,000 miles!