new guy, new toy

[garylau]

I had been watching for a cheap beater to drive so I can start tearing my daily driver 92 Jetta apart to replace the clutch, rebuild the shifter, do some body work, and perform various other repairs. My new girfriend happened to have a friend with a Festiva sitting all winter. I will be able to pick the car up for $100. It runs, but needs a starter and has a hole in the exhast manifold the size of a quarter. The car has about 236k on it. I plan to give it a more thorough inspection soon. The more I've thought about it, I might fix it up a little and keep it around assuming the floor, strut towers and other structural components are fairly solid. Who knows, maybe a swap will even be in it's future. As a noob here I'll definitely have a few questions along the way. For starters, are these cars getting kinda rare? I never see them around anymore and when I searched online for Festivas for sale, just for comparison, I found nothing. If they're getting as hard to find as I think, I'll definitely have to keep this car around. I'll be doing more research, but any advice on the car such as budget upgrade ideas is always appreciated.

[hawkdoc60]

Welcome to the site. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here to answer your questions, as well as plenty of threads that may answer some already. The Festivas are definitely not as prevalent as they used to be, but they are frequently found on eBay and Craigslist. I think more are coming out of the woodwork because of the fear of gas going back up. It's good to see a new member.

[cubstiva1]

yes, welcome, you've come to the right place. now that you have one you'll notice more and more.

[Jimmy812]

Like all used cars, they are getting more rare everyday.

I see them fairly frequently for sale, but I don't think that it's that they are getting exceedingly rare, it's just that people that have them tend to hang on to them.

They're like Herpes. Before you get it, you don't really WANT it, but once you do get it, you learn to live with and it just becomes a permanent part of your life. Eventually you won't even remember what life was life before you got it. (not that I'm speaking from experience on that)

[garylau]

I've only seen one other Festiva in my area, but I like that. I hate driving the same car as everyone else on the road, even if it is a laughably small car for a fairly tall guy to drive. The funny thing about this car that I forgot to mention is the home-made trailer hitch. I might get some pics tonight, I'll put them up later.

[knux511]

speaking of your area, you should update your location, so if theres anyone close to you and you need help

[garylau]

will do.

[festivaWES]

Welcome to site. One action required due upon signing up with ff.com is to post PICS of your ride! Show us the good stuff!

[Damkid]

Welcome to the site!!!

[knux511]

STEVENS POINT!!! another wisconsin person!! score!!

[packrat427]

Welcome !!
Looking forward to pics of the car .

Have lots of fun here , it is a great place.

[garylau]

This is a pretty friendly forum. I have yet to pick the car up. It was raining tonight when I was out by it. Hopefully I can get some pics tomorrow. I inspected it a little closer, though. The interior leaves much to be desired. The passenger window is screwed up and does not stay up and the seats, door panels and much of the interior trim pieces are in poor condition. Oh, well. At least mechanically these cars don't look like they're too hard to work on. The tow hitch makes me giggle though. Oh, by the way, my grill is broken. What options do I have for replacements? I see a few different types on here, but I didn't really find any info with a search.

[garylau]

STEVENS POINT!!! another wisconsin person!! score!!

Ah, I was wondering if there were other wisconsin people on here.

[packrat427]

Some on here may have a grill for sale , and there is always grills on E-bay , cheap price , just watch the shipping prices .

Post a [FS] want to buy Festiva grill , in the For sale forum .

[garylau]

Okay, here she is.

The worst of the rust


Minor front end damage

The upper part is a little tweaked. I'm kinda concerned about that.

The interior is rough to say the least, but the dash is in great shape considering the condition of the rest of the car.


Previous owner has taken it offroading. I really hope there's no damage from this that I have yet to notice.

Bad homemade trailer hitch


Opinions? Do you guys think this car is worth putting the time and effort into?