Are Festivas a good car to learn on?

[Carnoobe]

Hi all. I've never understood why people were obsessed with their vehicles until recently. I have been bitten by the auto-bug. After watching a ton of Custom this, and pimp my that, I really want to try and do some work on a car.

I have driven past a Festiva (that is broken down) on the Hwy for several weeks now, and every time I see it, I think, that looks like a fun car. So I started searching the net tonight and find all kinds of cool cars like the "Pimptiva"

In your opinion, Is the Festiva a good car for a beginner. I mostly would like to learn about engine mods (mostly for improved mileage - but a little speed wouldn't hurt either) and think it would be a ton of fun to add all the body kit stuff - air scoops, spoilers, sun roof. etc. If everything went well, a cool paint job.

I can MiG weld pretty good, and am a decent metal fabricator, but have no real experience with cars. I know which pedal is the gas and which one slows me down

The prices on Ebay motors seem quite reasonable - whaddya think? Is this the car for me?

[Festiva_newbie]

I find them easy to take apart... I am just starting out. If you plan on getting better gas mileage, you may as well get a pedal bike, cause it doesn't get any better than what the Festiva has to offer!

Personally, I wouldn't invest too much money in mods and stuff on mine, because god knows how long it will last. Ive seen festiva's go on HUGE mileage, but maybe I've got a monday morning car? I wouldn't risk it personally, but that's me. I'm cheap. I put a giant coffee can exhaust tip on my other car for fun (it actually sounds different too).

I'm gonna quit talking before I become "the guy" to pick on

[danwheeler]

hey, i'm new here too. I'll be trading in my 02 WRX for a nice old sh*tbox festiva come this fall. I have yet to come within 20 feet of any Festiva let alone drive one but I'm pretty much set on making it my project car. It meets so many of my requirements and I think it will make a great project car and an excellent commuter.

i say go for it - they are so cheap you dont stand to lose much.

[rotinaj13]

I'll be trading in my 02 WRX for a nice old sh*tbox festiva come this fall.

ummm are u nutz or is there something wrong with the wrx?!? here u can get a festy for like 300. and don't let kitty hear u calling a festiva that. the tail may be wagging but the claws are still out for that word... lol j/k

[Pgh5spd]

Is a Festiva a good car to start with? ESPECIALLY for you, since you can weld, YES!!!

Despite my Newbie tag (which I find somewhat insulting after having contributed many times before this thing moved to another server) I've been driving Festivas since 1990. I bought my daughter her own Festiva for her first car, on the argument that I didn't want someone learning to drive stick on a brand-new gearbox. It got her thru 4 yrs of college and she's still rather proudly driving it.

With a Festiva you have what the rest of the world regards as a disposable econobox, but on the other hand has a cult following. Many other econoboxes would be envious of the latter. Festivas were built to withstand the third world, and they do a good job of it. The weakest points are aspects of the body, and if you can weld you should be way ahead of many of us. If I were you, I'd look for a fuel-injected one mainly since from my experience they seem to rust less. Places to look hard at: sub-frame where it intersects the body, and underneath the radiator support. Otherwise, components are way more rugged than you'd expect for a bottom-of-the-line offering.

On top of that, with everyone falling over themselves to pay - what - 25K(?) for a Prius so they can get 45mpg, you can get a Festiva for next to nothing and get the same mileage without all the electric motor system to contend with.

If it was me, I'd start by getting one running nicely and get all the infrastructure (any sub-frame, brake lines etc) fixed first before getting into the mods stuff. Most project cars never hit the street.

Tip: If you ever give anyone a ride in the back seat, they'll likely say something like "I can't believe I'm riding in this." Pre-emptive solution: remove the back seat and put it in your living room/den/basement. Now you have a true mini-van. I removed mine last year for a trip and haven't put it back yet. Best thing I ever did!

[rotinaj13]

LOL same here my seat is in the workshop! gets better millage 2

[SooprmanX]

I'll tell you what dude, I started learning how to work on cars back when I had my Festiva. I was only 14 at the time and man I learned so much in that car. I did the B6 swap first then I was also one of the first people to do the B6T swap. Techno has my B6T now. You can see pics of the engine work I was doing at the time here ( http://www.sacslan.com/ext/festiva/ ) I had so much fun on the car and it was just a great way to get me into cars.

Since then I have been really into cars and have done tons to them. I am into European cars now, you can check out my website if you want www.StrictlyEA.com, but I still check out these boards all the time. They are definitely a good car to at least start on and get to know the basics of engine work.