1994 Ford Aspire Reviews - Page 2 of 9

Exhaust repair at 80K miles.

It's a shame that this car isn't just made forever.

It's comfortable, efficient, inexpensive, and will go 65 mph all day long.

Outstandingly comfortable transmission -- always secure and accurate shifting.

REALLY comfortable driving seat for short to average-height people.

And the purple is completely fabulous. People constantly ask me how new the car is, and they're amazed when I tell them it's 12 years old. The car has taken its given name (Raspberry) from the color, and people smile when they see it.

I'll drive this car until they don't make unleaded gasoline any more.

Other than brakes and tire replacement...nothing.

This car is a underpowered and it could get a little better fuel consumption which is about 35 mpg overall.

It is very reliable and we drove it about 153,000 km in one year without incident.

Quite roomy for a little car, but quite noisy too.

Clamps that hold the heat shielding rusted out one-by-one over the first few years, but I simply replaced them with cheap hose clamps which are still holding today.

Automatic running lights stopped working around 200,000 km. Seems to be a shorted out wire that I have yet to track down.

Rear wiper motor burned out around 250,000 km when it stalled against my bike rack. I replaced it with a used motor for $15.

Emergency brake cable seized up a couple of times, but easy and cheap to replace.

I've replaced the brakes and rear shocks a couple of times, but they were relatively inexpensive since I did the work myself. The shocks probably would not have needed replacing if I wasn't frequenting rough dirt roads every summer.

Around 275,000 km, the speedometer was making a strange buzzing noise and the needle was jumping, but lubricating the mechanism in the dashboard solved the problem.

Lock cylinders have seized up a couple of times, but WD-40 easily fixed that.

Right now I'm leaking a bit of oil, but it looks like replacing some gaskets will solve the problem.

The only breakdown: around 250,000 km the fuel pump broke, which cost about $1000 parts and labor to repair.

I picked up my 1994 Aspire as an expired lease with 25,000 km in March, 1997. For 8 years I've been using it as a commuter car and recreation vehicle. It now has over 310,000 km and just keeps on going.

It doesn't have very much power, but it's mileage is terrific (35-40 miles/gallon) and I have never encountered a more reliable vehicle. It's been abused on rough roads and with infrequent tune-ups, yet I've had to do surprisingly little work on it.

It is comfortable with a deceptively large amount of interior space, especially with the back seat folded forward. I love taking it camping since it easily packs all my gear, plus my bike and canoe. An added bonus is that it's small size allows it to duck into places some trucks can't even reach.

Because not many of them are around, it can be hard to find used parts and Ford stock parts are expensive. Fortunately, little has gone wrong with it that requires more than a screwdriver, simple wrench set, WD-40, a Haynes manual and very (extremely) rudimentary mechanical ability to fix.

A) Battery dead, $85 CAD.

B) Key cylinder assembly, Ford parts will cost $400 plus, too expensive so just lube up with WD-40.

C) Catalytic converter, Ford parts $600 plus, but the muffler shop replace it with a generic converter instead, cost muct less at $200.

D) Liftgate hydrolic support broken, Ford parts will cost over about $80, but went to junk yard got a used one for $20.

I know this is a economy car, but the car parts are very expensive and not readily available, very little aftermarket parts so you are usually forced to pay Fords premium price, believe me the parts are really EXPENSIVE on this car!!!

The car is very economical, insurance is cheap. Car is very underpowered, I have a 5 spd and you learn to anticipate when passing someone or else you'll never make it. Don't buy one with automatic and air-conditioning because your car will be so slow you'll be better off riding a bike. Almost no aftermarket parts available, so you're forced to purchase from a Ford dealership, they charge an arm and a leg for parts, for example I need a lock cylinder for my car, Ford will only sell a lock cyliner assembly with everything else with it for over $400 plus labor, which is totally unnecessary, I guess that's how they make money. Tire is unique size so not many places carry them, or they have to special order so expect to pay a premium for one.