Can someone post a pic of an Orig. Festiva window sticker (i.e. mileage, etc.)?

[festyxfi]

The fella that bought my 93 Festy asked if I could find him at least a picture of one, if not a version I could print out for him. I know someone has one. I found an orig. XFi sticker in the glovebox once, still have it: 53 city, 58 highway.

Thanks,
Brenton

[m715]

Would one for an 89 be OK?

[festyxfi]

Absolutely!...

[m715]

I'll try to take a pic tonight, then I will send it on. BTW, it's from Shtinky.

[Axlander9289]

I have one for my '89 as well, though it's a 4 speed, so the numbers may be a bit different, 38 city, 40 highway if i remember right. I'll try and get a picture of it today.

[freshtiva]

An automatic with a/c

[festyxfi]

Wow Fresh! Those #'s are low. Hardly worth driving a festy for that.

Thanks a bunch for posting. I'll have to explain to him why he'll be getting much high MPG.

Brenton

[muscle_Car1]

Well its a 3speed slushbox. What do you expect.

I think axlander has one too

[freshtiva]

Autos and 4 speeds suck. My five speeds do much better. The RPM on a four speed or auto @ 50mph = the RPM of a five speed at 70mph. Its nuts, a big festiva screw up. Dont know why they wound the 4 speeds and autos so tight ??????????

[warlocke]

my auto aspire at 65 was pretty wound, i had it up to 95 once, but i was going downhill, had a wind to my back, and it was REALLY wound then, i got a consistant 29mpg tho. even with ac on and pedal to the floor.

i believe it was a 4spd. its been about 8 months since i had it so im not positive on the gears.

[Safety Guy]

Fresh asked:

"Dont know why they wound the 4 speeds and autos so tight ??????????"

Simple. With only three speeds and no lockup in any gear, the autos have to have low enough gearing to get the car going at reasonable acceleration rates. Top end efficiency has to be sacrificed in order to do that or else you will have "gaps" in your acceleration ability.

The four speed is simply a five speed without the top gear, which I believe is either an overdrive or a 1:1 relationship.

Aspire autos added a lockup torque converter for the top gear. Unfortunately, they also added a lower final drive to help accelerate the 200 pound heavier Aspire from a standstill.

If you could build an ATX with the Aspire lockup and keep the Festiva final drive, that would maximize the technology, so to speak.

The four speeds are definitely superior in mileage to the autos. The five speeds are best, of course.

The autos were EPA rated at 31 city/33 highway.

I think the 4 speeds were 35/40?

Karl

[Axlander9289]

I'll post the one from my 4 speed tomorrow. 38/40 if i remember right, which is actually pretty close to what i get. Anybody know the ratings for a 5 speed?

[freshtiva]

"If you could build an ATX with the Aspire lockup and keep the Festiva final drive, that would maximize the technology, so to speak. "

Amen to that !!

A four speed auto would have been perfect !! An engineering mistake. Good for around town I guess.

[Safety Guy]

Warlocke, your Aspire auto was a 3 speed ATX. Aspires didn't have 4 speed autos, they just had a lockup torque convertor for third gear.

Fresh wrote:

" four speed auto would have been perfect !! An engineering mistake. Good for around town I guess."

The Aspire was a "mistake" in several ways: It had an increased weight, but used the same power engine as the Festiva. The ATX was essentially the same old 3 speed, when 4 speed autos were becoming the standard. I think the only way to explain the Aspire was that Ford wanted to maximize profits on the little car using already existing technology and parts. I'm not sure that explains the use of the B3 though, when the B6 was readily available. By '97, when it was discontined, I guess it was asking too much for Ford to design in the Z5 engine and a 4 speed auto. Heck, they probably knew around '95 or '96 that the Aspire was to be dropped. They probably didn't like adding OBD-II during the '96 model year, but for some reason felt they had to do that mod.

I don't know. But we all do know what type of vehicles became popular after that, and that we have a lack of true "small cars" now.

Gov't safety regs and consumer demand are probably the culprits here.

We had the Xfi that was rated at over 50mpg. Just think if we had used the technology to keep the weight down and increase engine efficiency and update electrical/computer controls what we could be doing now. Probably small, more powerful and flexible gas engines that do 50 to 65 mnpg in 1600 to 1700 pound 2 and 4 seater cars!

Plus mini diesels and HYBRIDS that go way beyond that...

Another problem is that we are using our technology to create ever increasing COMPLEXITY instead of more efficient SIMPLICITY.

Reduce mass, reduce expensive materials and parts, increase recyclable materials, increase ability to do simple repairs, decrease cost of crash repairs by creating modular replacement ability, etc.

Instead, we create "more efficient" 2 ton SUVs with increased luxury features!

Most of this is a "human behavior" issue.

Think of this:

Add maybe another 100 pounds to the Festiva design for upgraded body ridgidity and crashworthiness, make the body shape a bit more aerodynamic, use more expensive lighter materials sparingly, develop cost effective replacement parts and parts groups (tending towards "modular" and "cheap" for crash repairs instead of insisting on "10 or 15 mph bumpers"), use the best designed seatbelts (possibly with pretensioners), and keep the small wheels and tires (probably go to 13" for better compatability with larger compacts), etc.

Imagine a 1900 pound Z5 powered 5M or 4A "Aero" Festiva that would have plenty of power and yet get the same or better mileage as a stripped, hypermile driven '93 5 speed.

Now imagine a 1.3 liter "Z3" engine for a lightened, stripped 2 seater Festiva "Xfi" commuter package. It would ride on Miata quaility lightweight 13 X 4.5" alloys (say, 9 pounds each instead of the Aspire alloy 13 pounds--yes, I weighed one of mine) with LRR 145/80-13s. Probably get around 70 hp for a 1700 pound car and over 45-50 mpg highway real world.

Now consider advances in LED lighting, advanced drum brakes (no drag), etc.

Hell, I'm just rambling...

Karl

[jglutz]

Safety Guy.....you mention many great points. The 1996 inclusions of OBII was required by law.

I have followed Detroit for years and tried to make sense of the decisions....thou not with much sucess. Recently I heard a comment that did rationalize some of the mis-cues coming out of Detroit....that is...they are about selling style...no more...no less.