Great car if you don't have a heavy foot
Blown head gasket, CV joints, heater fan speed resistor, blowing headlights.
Love these cars; the Ford Telstar and Mazda 626 clones have great power and smooth pick up, nice sound and smart looks.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 5th August, 2017
An excellent freeway cruiser
Inlet manifold gasket leaked and was replaced.
Front control arm bushes had to be replaced due to normal wear.
Distributor cap, rotor and ignition leads had to be replaced due to misfire on occasion. Problem solved. Dealer said it was a faulty distributor. Lucky I got a second opinion!
When turning the steering feels like something in the suspension is loose, but no problem can be detected and no abnormal wear on the tyres can be seen.
This is an excellent family sedan and was seriously under rated in it's time mainly due to very poor marketing by Ford in SA.
Performance and fuel economy is above average for a car of this size and weight.
The engine and the engine management system feels very smooth and refined.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 4th January, 2006
Good family car
Central locking failed to function after 100 km - assembly defect. Service dealer rectified it.
Front suspension produced "click" sound going over bumps at slow speed at 20,000 km. Service Dealer never found the source of problem, but went away after a bit of adjustment and tightening of bushes.
Cooling system leaked after 130,000 km. Repaired in time without any overheating.
Very comfortable for long distance driving.
Generally very good mechanical reliability.
Fuel consumption very good on highways, but rather poor in city driving.
Assembly quality disappointing.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 18th November, 2005
15th Nov 2010, 13:48
I drive a Ford Telstar 1997.
I replaced CV joints and nothing else. This is truly a wonderful family sedan. My Ford has got about 330000 km on the clock, uses about a pint of oil on a 1000km trip.
It's one of the best cars I have driven so far. Good going Ford.