1984 Ford Tempo GL from North America - Comments

As soon as I bought this car it needed a major tune-up, starter, oil pan gasket, and head gasket (which I had to rebuild twice in 10,000 miles).

Weak engine.

Fuel pump at 35,000 miles.

I hated this car. This was the most unreliable underpowered car I have known and driven.

When I bought this car in 98, it only had under 30,000 miles (not 130,000 or 230,000) just as it said on the odometer 30,000. It belonged to an old lady, and she had rarely driven it since her husband died back in 1991, and she said he hardly drove it either.

The body was in great condition with very low mileage. I thought I was getting a real excellent deal; 30,000 miles for $1800. Well it turned out this car not only drove like a slug, but many things needed to be fixed (most I fixed myself).

This was the slowest car I ever drove. My Ford Festiva with only a 1.3 engine was even faster than this car. However it did handle good except in bad weather.

I had an '84 Tempo that I bought back in '90 at a bank auction. '84 was the first year for the Tempo, and the car had an anemic 1-barrel carburetor. Add an automatic transmission, and the car barely had enough power to move much less accelerate. I was constantly downshifting into 2nd to gain speed. Sold it in '93 when I bought a Mercury Tracer.

I believe Ford added fuel injection in 1985 and addressed some other issues with the Tempo that turned it into a halfway decent car. '84s should be avoided like the plague though (not that you'll find many still on the road).

As a mechanic I can tell you EXACTLY why your car was not such a good deal. ANY car that has not been driven very much will go downhill very fast. Things AGE even when the cars aren't driven, and seals dry out. A good friend of mine thought he got an incredible deal on a 10-year-old Cadillac that a little old lady had owned. It had only 10,000 miles!! It proved to be a nightmare of leaking seals and deteriorated electrical parts. He sold it at a loss after 6 months.

As for power, the 4 cylinder Tempo is a pretty big car with a VERY small engine. It is SUPPOSED to be slow. If you wanted power why on Earth buy a fairly heavy car with such a small engine?? I know people who have put way over 200,000 miles on these cars with no problems at all. Don't blame a manufacturer for the fact that you bought a car that had deteriorated greatly from sitting up.

A couple of repairs of an 14-16 yers old car? And you call this junk based on this?..

Depending on how it's stored; a car deteriorates even if it's not used. Rubber rots and cracks, electrical components corrode, seals cracks and dries up etc etc etc.

Even some of the best cars ever built will do the same, like a 1994 Corolla a neighbor of mine had (from back when Toyota really knew how to build high quality cars). He scrapped it this year after it more or less completely fell apart after 13-14 years of service. It went from being a reliable everyday cruiser to a rust bucket that broke down more or less every month.

That's how cars are.

But the Tempo was really slow. But then you should have tried the 2.3 Fairmont - that was a seriously slow car.