Faults:

Tires, brakes, struts, etc. All normal wear and tear items.

The car so easy to work on, I have repaired all problems myself.

General Comments:

These cars are built TOUGH! I highly recommend this car to anyone who can find a good one out there. Finding them is the hard part!

True 40 + MPG averaged over one full year. Cheap parts when you need to repair it.

Faults:

Replaced timing belt in 2004.

Replaced master cylinder in 2007.

Replaced clutch in late 2007.

Seats are falling apart.

Hatch broke a couple years ago and wouldn't open.

General Comments:

I absolutely love this car.

It gets fantastic gas mileage, upwards of 40 mpg in-town.

The size is more of a benefit for me than anything - it is small enough to park nearly anywhere but large enough to fit a ton of stuff.

It's reliable and easy to maintain.

Parts are cheap so I've never had a single repair that cost more than $200.

Faults:

When I bought the car it needed a few things to bring it up to snuff.

I had to replace one of the headlights as there was a bunch of condensation fogging up the lights.

The seats were in pretty rough shape, so I bought new seat covers.

The muffler also badly needed to be replaced. When I took the car into my mechanic I learned that the exhaust pipe also had a bad crack in it, so I replaced the exhaust as well.

There was also a leak in the washer fluid tank which we had to fix.

I bought the car for $1500 and ended up putting about $400-500 into it right after I bought it.

General Comments:

After initial repairs, this car has been awesome.

It has given me no trouble whatsoever.

It is very fun to drive and the fuel economy is awesome.

I've driven it through winter and summer and it has been a great all round car.

Faults:

Not much has gone wrong with this car since I have own it. I put a timing belt on every 75000 miles just for pre-caution. I changed the spark plug at 181000 miles because it would not run right on rainy days, it ran find other days. The rear wheel bearings and the Front CV axles, and the water pump at 262000 miles. The car still is mostly original from factory even down to the a/c and alternator belts. I have done very little to this car in 300000 miles and it still gets about 40 mpg.

General Comments:

This car handles and drives good.

Faults:

Minor rust around the rear wheels.

I had to replace the brake rotors and pads with an upgraded brand.

General Comments:

I have owned a large amount of cars; this Festiva is the most reliable /dependable, most fuel efficient car I have ever owned.

I have done several modifications to this car.

Upgraded to the tach dash, map light, door map pockets, 13" alloys, cargo cover, tail lights, upper hatch wing.

I would not trade this car for anything, this is my baby.

If you want more of this stuff, come and see us here at www.fordfestiva.com for all your needs, wants, help. 1,900 members worldwide :)

Thanks, I really loved reading this site.

Doug/packrat427.