1991 Ford Festiva LX from North America - Comments

Left front brake line blew at 130000km (replaced for very little cost)

Heater return pipe sprung a leak. (replaced with a rubber hose) at about 190000km.

Valve cover gasket leaked at about 120000km (routine problem with most older cars)

Exhaust system rusted out around 117000km (common problem with small engine cars)

Handbrake cable broke (again) around 125000 (probably a faulty cable to begin with)

I purchased this car from a kind old lady for $100. She had only driven it about 3000km since 1997-2003. So a lot of the problems listed above are probably due to inactivity and lack of use.

In either case the Festiva is a great choice for a first car, even if the insurance is astronomical.

They run on very little gas for quite a long time.

The ride is actually surprisingly supple and comfortable, even with the annoyingly high amount of road/wind/engine noise.

Although this is not a sports car by any means, the little Mazda-built 1.3 easily gets up to 140KM/H.

Well this is the owner of the Festiva from this article. I just wanted to make the accouncment that my poor car has finally seen it's end. Not by it's choice mind you. At 148000KM she got rear ended by 3 cars going 120KM/H whilst I had her stopped for Construction closures (Every lane was stopped) And of course, she got totaled.

I've made this to tell you that despite her small size she holds up well in a crash, the passenger compartment was left intact and the seat belts worked great. Considering I was hit with about 10,000lbs+ of steel going anywhere from 80-120KM/H (About 45-70M/H) she held up great and I'm proud to have owned her. I even had no injuries, no even a sore chest from the belt. In either case, she served me well, and now she can rest.

The Festiva is a wonderful car over all, not a winner in looks or speed. But for the fuel effiancy, and insurance cost there is no better car of that class and price, and it would make a supurb grocery getter or student car.