1989 Ford Tempo GL 2.3L 4 cylinder from North America

Summary:

Would rather take the garden tractor to work

Faults:

Rear wheel wells rotted badly.

Engine leaked oil from 20,000 +.

CV joints needed to be replaced.

Radio died, first the display, then the tape player, then the speakers.

Overheats after about an hour of driving.

Transmission sometimes won't move in drive, just revs the engine.

Paint sun bleached away.

Stalls all the time, even more if you don't put that expensive Premium gas in it.

Transmission doesn't like to shift.

Car will "Red line" at about 70mph on the highway; and vibrates horribly.

Floors all rotted out.

Generally the whole car rotted.

Suspension sags.

Pulls to the right really bad, did this from about 50k on, alignment didn't fix it.

I could go on and on...

General Comments:

The car was so slow to accelerate.

Gas mileage was horrible for a little car with a little engine.

Don't expect to live in an accident.

Ask most Tempo owners, these things suck!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 16th September, 2001

30th Nov 2001, 19:40

I totally agree with you, I had one... Piece of doo doo...

1989 Ford Tempo GL 2.3 liter from North America

Summary:

Has been a great car, and inexpensive

Faults:

Got it with a very slight oil leak in the front seal, which is still there, but manageable thru today.

Fuel pump at around 95,000 miles.

A/C at around 100,000 miles.

Fuel relay at 110,000 miles.

General Comments:

Got it when I was 16 as a first car. It has power locks, cruise, A/C, tilt steering and intermittent wipers.

The last time I checked was getting about 27mpg on the highway.

It has a Knight Rider light.

It doesn't have much at all in the way of acceleration, but tops out surprisingly fast. (Around 115)

It's been a great first car, and I'll probably keep it around another year.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th July, 2001

1989 Ford Tempo GL 2.3 from North America

Summary:

This was a great car that I will always remember

Faults:

The only thing that had ever gone wrong on this car was the tail pipe that fell off due to some rust.

General Comments:

This was my first car and it was an absolutely great car. I would love to still have had this car, but some jerk t-boned it. It stayed in great shape compared to the other man's Grand AM, which smashed into a little ball. This car took a lot of beating in that accident, but barely showed the damage. The one thing I didn't like about this car was the seat belts; the reason was that they were the automatic kind, which came up when the door was shut and only came undone when the door opened, so when the guy hit me he had hit the door so it wouldn't open. The seat belt did its job very well though.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th July, 2001

1989 Ford Tempo LX from North America

Summary:

Great 1st car

Faults:

Transmission started going bad this year and I got a new one put in.

General Comments:

This car has gotten me though it all, It's great car even though it's pretty old and not so good looking.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 10th June, 2001

1989 Ford Tempo GL 2.3 from North America

Summary:

I love my Tempo of Doom

Faults:

I must admit, to drive this car for as long as I have, with as many miles, and with as many deer strikes (I've hit three deer... they seem to like Tempos!) I have had to do some work on my car.

I've replaced the tranny, CV joints, tie rods, and alternator, but don't get me wrong, not all this happens at once.

This car is a work horse and if you take care of it, it will perform. Besides those replacements, oil changes, brakes, and belts come when needed and are not hard to do by yourself.

General Comments:

Please don't listen to people when they say Tempos are junk. Just because they are too stupid to have a car checked out by a mechanic before buying it doesn't mean the car is a lemon. My family has two Tempos and they run great. This is a great basic car. It may not have the speed, it may not be the flashiest thing on the road. But this baby packs on the miles and gets you to where you want to be.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 30th May, 2001

31st Dec 2008, 11:12

From what I have seen Ford Tempos are junk. The family of a good friend of mine bought a new 1986 Tempo off the lot with 12 miles on it. His mom looks back now, and says “I knew I should have taken it back when I drove off the lot and noticed a crack in the steering wheel.”

Two weeks later the speedometer, cruise, and the radio quit. They took it back and the dealer was not able to get anything to work.

My buddy replaced the radio with one from Wal-Mart and used the tachometer, which did work, to tell how fast he was going. The odometer did work, but the speedo never did despite all the parts the dealer replaced.

The cruise was dead from the beginning.

Things started falling off and the car began to lose what little power it had started with. You may think they mistreated this car, but they didn’t. They are the kind of people that change oil religiously, and they keep their cars in top shape.

The final straw came when the parents decided to take a trip. A hundred miles or so and the electrical system caught fire and had a major meltdown. Of course Ford replaced the wiring that was under warranty, but they had had enough. They drove the car to a dealer in Dallas. A few miles from the dealership the engine began making noises, which got worse the further they drove. They pulled in to a parking place and handed the keys to the salesman and got into the 1989 Honda Civic they had bought and drove home. The Tempo had about 30,000 miles on it. The Honda has over 250,000 on it and is still going with hardly anything replaced on it. So please tell me again how Tempos are great cars?