1993 Ford Festiva I'm guessing LX. from North America - Comments

I am the original poster of this review and I got rid of my 1993 Ford Festiva back in December. You say these are cheap cars and cheap to maintain? You're right about these cars being cheap because mine was a piece of garbage! My 1993 Ford Festiva was not cheap to maintain. I bought the vehicle on eBay for $1,426 in October which was a huge mistake and I'm still kicking myself. I invested well over $1,000 into this crap on wheels because it needed Auto Repairs weekly. After the Starter went, I finally said the heck with it and I traded "Crapstiva" for another vehicle that I don't own anymore. The Ford Festiva is the most un-reliable automobile I have ever encountered. Not to mention that the body is built by those numbskulls at Kia, the Engine is built by the "Let's make a car that lasts five years" folks at Mazda, and the Stereo is made by the "Let's cheat America with our vehicles built by six year olds" over at Ford. My neighbor offered me a free 1993 Festiva last month and even his needed $800 worth in Auto Repairs and he maintains his vehicles. Instead, I bought a 1990 Geo Prizm for $47 and it runs and drives great. If you want to buy any automobile, buy a Toyota!

Hardee harhar... just about three months ago you were praising your Festiva and giving it 10/10 ratings in every category!

So it goes. Good luck with your $47 Geo. Unless the person you bought it from was a moron, you'll need it...

I recently bought my first Fester and learned how easy it is to work on and how readily available parts are for it. I like the feel and savings. I would like to know more from the guy who wanted to convert his to electric! Is that technology out there somewhere? Give me an ounce of encouragement.

I bought Fester from a guy in the parking lot for $500.00. Had typical four corner little dents from parking lots.

I went to a tire dealer, bought thirteen inch rims and tires. Fester had front end damage under the bra. I went to a salvage yard and got another one. (Had minor damage on the other side, but was able to make it fit.)

Went to mechanic who also had a Festiva, and after he twiddles under the carburetor, I got 40,5 miles to the gallon first fill up, and 38.5 MPG Seattle to L.A.

-Um - the rims/tires were $583 - $83 more than I spent for Fester. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

When I got my '93 it was a great car, but the ride was limited. Then I upgraded the tires to 165's and the ride was amazing.

I truly wish every manufacturer, especially the American ones, would build cars this durable and reliable.

I honestly don't know if there is a comparable car like it today.

I have owned 2 Festivas and both make me believe them to be the most reliable cars on earth. The first one was an 88 and had 46,000 miles on it when purchased. When I sold it it had 416,000 miles and the only thing I ever replaced on it was the starter at 250,000 miles. Those miles were not easy miles either. I beat the daylights out of that car and it loved it.

The second was a 93 with 115,000 on it when I bought it. I owned it for 4 years and sadly lost it to being rear ended at 70 miles per hour while I was at a stop. Amazingly I was not hurt which is more than I can say for the guy driving the Dodge Neon that hit me. Both cars were pretty fast and I won races against most 4 cylinder cars on the road and some 6 cylinders. The manuals are quite quick. Though the top speed of the 5 speed is 88 miles per hour with a good wind at your back. All in all you can't kill the car. Racing off-roading it took it all. Try all that with a Tercel.

I've had my 88 festiva for many years and its served me well

It has 362,000 miles and still gets over 40mpg

and I can do all of the work on it my self since its very simple in design.