Nothing ever broke on my car.
The car was the best car I have ever owned.
The a/c never needed charging. The clutch never needed adjusting. The valve cover gasket never needed replacing. The clutch was original. I replaced the timing belt at 220,000 miles. The timing belt never broke. The only thing to ever fail was the dome light.
My dome light is out too. Only had to change spark plug cables before that tho. Initially, my MPG was AVERAGING 45mpg. I've kept my mileage low. With all the good reports here, I think my Festiva will last a long time.
I wrote the initial review, am driving a 1990 Geo Prizm now that is basically a toyota corolla and it is doing fine with 212,000 miles. The Festiva was great and I miss it.
I am the original poster. My Prizm was going to need more maintenance than I wanted to spend on it.. CV joints, an oil leak near the timing belt, and I sold it to my mechanic for $300... they stripped it and turned it into a race car. The big oil leak was simple... Wal Mart did not replace the oil drain plug right and the washer fell off. They race it and won three races.
I just got a 1993 Festiva L with no air and a five speed manual with only 99K for $1450 Nov 7, 2008. I had to pay a lot because of the low miles and very good condition it is in... still smells new inside.
There is a Festiva club www.fordfestiva.com and I went to it last month and there were 26 cars there. I had to get another one... I had two 88 L Plus four speeds, the 88 LX mentioned here, and a 93 GL... so this is my fifth one... I intend on keeping this one forever!
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