1990 Ford Festiva L review from North America

Air Intake Sensor

Both CV joints

Exhaust

Fuseable links

Distributor

Brakes

Hesitation during acceleration

Wheel bearings worn out

Windshield washer spray motor stopped working.

These cars are fun and surprisingly peppy. Other drivers would always take it so personally when I would beat them across the intersection. The shifter and clutch have good feel and it's easy to get a good launch. The handling is nimble, but could be better. It's hard to find good quality 12 inch tires (I was too cheap to buy 13" wheels/rims).

It also had a 900 watt stereo in it.

When I cranked it up, the bass from the two 12 inch sub-woofers would give you a back massage even when sitting in the front seat.

Surprisingly, the alternator never needed to be replaced.

Finding parts is much harder compared to a Ford Escort and the repair costs are more expensive. Partly offset by the excellent fuel economy.

The CV joints were originally quoted to me at $500 each - and I couldn't get a better price even after calling around some other shops. Bought used parts instead. Still cost $100 for the parts and $500 to install.

Had an intermittent problem where the car wouldn't turn over (as in the starter motor wouldn't come on when trying to start the car), fixed by replacing 3 fuseable links.

Since the Festiva is basically a Mazda 121 manufactured by Kia in Korea, combined with the fact that these weren't high volume sellers, Ford dealers aren't very familiar with these cars.

I had a horrible driveability/sputtering problem that took the dealer quite a while to fix. First they replaced the O2 sensor which didn't fix the problem (didn't pay for it). It turned out to be the air intake sensor. The part was something like $400 from the dealer. Bought it used for 1/4 of that.

I also seemed to have to replace the distributor and spark plug wires on an annual basis or they would short out in wet weather. I even had one distributor fail completely and left me stranded at work.

Also, if you are in an area that gets snow, the exhaust seems to be somewhat delicate. I replaced the exhaust once from the cat back, and a little over a year later, an exhaust leak had already developed. I suspect it was caused by going though snow.

And speaking of snow, the Festiva didn't handle deep snow ruts very well mainly because it's a light car.

In all, I have fond memories of my Festiva because it was fun and it was my first car.