4th Feb 2006, 21:56
Hardee harhar... just about three months ago you were praising your Festiva and giving it 10/10 ratings in every category!
So it goes. Good luck with your $47 Geo. Unless the person you bought it from was a moron, you'll need it...
9th Feb 2006, 22:10
I recently bought my first Fester and learned how easy it is to work on and how readily available parts are for it. I like the feel and savings. I would like to know more from the guy who wanted to convert his to electric! Is that technology out there somewhere? Give me an ounce of encouragement.
7th Apr 2006, 18:15
I bought Fester from a guy in the parking lot for $500.00. Had typical four corner little dents from parking lots.
I went to a tire dealer, bought thirteen inch rims and tires. Fester had front end damage under the bra. I went to a salvage yard and got another one. (Had minor damage on the other side, but was able to make it fit.)
Went to mechanic who also had a Festiva, and after he twiddles under the carburetor, I got 40,5 miles to the gallon first fill up, and 38.5 MPG Seattle to L.A.
-Um - the rims/tires were $583 - $83 more than I spent for Fester. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
8th Apr 2006, 10:26
When I got my '93 it was a great car, but the ride was limited. Then I upgraded the tires to 165's and the ride was amazing.
I truly wish every manufacturer, especially the American ones, would build cars this durable and reliable.
I honestly don't know if there is a comparable car like it today.
14th Jun 2006, 21:20
I have owned 2 Festivas and both make me believe them to be the most reliable cars on earth. The first one was an 88 and had 46,000 miles on it when purchased. When I sold it it had 416,000 miles and the only thing I ever replaced on it was the starter at 250,000 miles. Those miles were not easy miles either. I beat the daylights out of that car and it loved it.
The second was a 93 with 115,000 on it when I bought it. I owned it for 4 years and sadly lost it to being rear ended at 70 miles per hour while I was at a stop. Amazingly I was not hurt which is more than I can say for the guy driving the Dodge Neon that hit me. Both cars were pretty fast and I won races against most 4 cylinder cars on the road and some 6 cylinders. The manuals are quite quick. Though the top speed of the 5 speed is 88 miles per hour with a good wind at your back. All in all you can't kill the car. Racing off-roading it took it all. Try all that with a Tercel.
12th Nov 2010, 18:26
When I met my wife of now 16 years, she was also the owner of a 1988 LX with 5 speed manual Fester (her first car bought new in '88). We still have this gem of a car. Probably has about 285K on it now.
Drove it about 4 years without a working speedo. Found a new dash assembly at a local junk yard, and just swapped it out.
This car, like the ones described in the posts, is the best car ever made. Still have the 12" tires, and finding tires is the biggest challenge. Keep telling myself that I will find the time to swap out rims for 13"s.
Never been to a mechanic for this car. Do all the work myself because of the simple design. Does not burn any oil.
Gas mileage around town is about 36mpg. I don't drive it easy either. Zips through tight traffic. My Marine buddies were amazed at the ability of this little car to handle off road duties on the tank trails here at Camp Lejeune. Even drove it into a fighting position a time or two, and (4) large Marines have no problem in man handling it back out. This car is what Volkwagen probably had in mind in the 60s, but the festy is better. Can't tell you how many offers I have gladly turned down (especially when gas prices went north of $4 per gallon)... There is no quit in this little car.
I guess I am truly blessed with my choice of vehicles.. did I mention my other vehicle is a 1989 F-150 with a 300 I-6, which I also bought new.. Both of these vehicles are truly bullet proof.
Hope you guys at Ford are reading about these vehicles, and are dragging out the blueprints from those years in engineering and design for the next bullet proof model.
19th Oct 2011, 20:59
I bought a 1993 Festiva with the 5 speed trans; got it for $250 cash. The lady said the clutch was bad, all it needed was some adjustment.
I put in racing plugs & wires, a K&N filter system, a power chip. All of these parts gave the car from 63 to 105 hp & 7 more MPG, 57 MPG on a trip. Also used Lucas gas treatment; a 5.25 oz bottle every full tank of gas. I also use Lucas in the trans., & in the motor.
We have owned & drove this car for 7.5 years now, & it has 404,671 miles on it. The oil is changed every 3000 miles, & the filter also.
I have put on 4 sets of front rotors & 8 sets of front brake pads, 2 front axles, 2 sets of racing rear wheel bearings, 13 sets of new tires, and 1 airflow mixer unit on top of air filer unit.
I get all my tires from mavistire.com, I have 13 Festivas, they have never let me down. I have studded tires for the snow.
I just got a 1992 with auto for $200; it runs fine. 48 mpg after a tune up. Has 202,476 miles.
Also, just got a 1993 auto with 83,365 miles, can't wait to get on road. I also put heavy duty walker 16" glass pack mufflers & 1 size larger heavy duty exhaust system on all of the cars.
My wife of 28 years & two daughters love these Festivas; they are so easy to park, & if you get stuck in a ditch in snow, get two or three friends to help pick up the car back onto the road.
The least I ever paid was $75 for a 1988 4 speed 57 or 58 hp, & all it needed was a $65 axle from auto zone store. Took about 45 minutes to install myself, and drove it for 5 years. Was a great car after the tune up.
I also only drive 65 mph on the 4 lane because I get the best mileage.
The last auto show at Painted Post NY last Sept. 2011, there were 43 Festivas there. Thank you.
24th Oct 2011, 00:20
While the Festiva is the best car ever, you do no service to it with your wild exaggerations. The EFI Festys are 67 horsepower. The carbed Festivas are 59 hp. You cannot get to 105 with a tuneup, even if the parts are "high performance". You can get there with a turbo, or with many Mazda B Series motors. Pull the B3 and replace it with a B6, B6d, BDme, B6T, or BP will get you from 85 - 130 HP. Those can be found in the Tracer, Capri, Capri XR2, 323, 323 GT, 323 GTX, Escort GT, Protege, MX-3, etc etc.
And you will NEVER get 48 mpg out of the autos. 33 is normal. 36 is high for the auto, because it is a 3 speed. And 50-55 mph is how you get the best mileage out of a 5 speed Festiva. That gets 53 mpg usual best case scenario. 400k miles is great, and a little above average. 300k is average. I know of 11 with 500k, one with 600k, and one with 750k. We meet in Raleigh NC yearly on the first Saturday in October. This year there were 73 Festivas.
How do I have my info? 20 years and 25 Festivas as well as a wealth of info from ford festiva dot com. Join up for free!
3rd Feb 2006, 04:59
I am the original poster of this review and I got rid of my 1993 Ford Festiva back in December. You say these are cheap cars and cheap to maintain? You're right about these cars being cheap because mine was a piece of garbage! My 1993 Ford Festiva was not cheap to maintain. I bought the vehicle on eBay for $1,426 in October which was a huge mistake and I'm still kicking myself. I invested well over $1,000 into this crap on wheels because it needed Auto Repairs weekly. After the Starter went, I finally said the heck with it and I traded "Crapstiva" for another vehicle that I don't own anymore. The Ford Festiva is the most un-reliable automobile I have ever encountered. Not to mention that the body is built by those numbskulls at Kia, the Engine is built by the "Let's make a car that lasts five years" folks at Mazda, and the Stereo is made by the "Let's cheat America with our vehicles built by six year olds" over at Ford. My neighbor offered me a free 1993 Festiva last month and even his needed $800 worth in Auto Repairs and he maintains his vehicles. Instead, I bought a 1990 Geo Prizm for $47 and it runs and drives great. If you want to buy any automobile, buy a Toyota!