Unsolicited Festiva comment in parking lot

[freshtiva]

Went to TSC ( Tractor Suppy Co. ) today to get some inner tubes for my riding mower. Figured I use tubes since the mower tires are like $80 each but thats another topic. As I was getting out of Redford a gentleman got out of a an SS Chevy pickup and approached me. He says "wow you dont see many of those anymore". I said " no unforturnately you dont, that one is over 20 years old". He said "I use to do some road racing and in their class the festiva was the hot ticket". I said " really?, I guess you can put a several different Mazda motors in them". He said" no we ran them stock." Wanted to talk to him some more but we got separated once we got into the store. Was going to ask which class festivas were in as I thought they were in a class of their own. Wish I could have got some more details as to the when and where.

[92festie]

thats cool

[Festiva_Fred]

Cool, I had a guy ask me how I liked my car at the gas station a few weeks ago, Then he said he used to have one and wished he had never sold it. I told him I had more of them at home, and he said "hang on to them, they're getting hard to find.."

[batstiva]

Cool stories. I guess with gas prices headed back up, people are starting to look at these cars again. Seems every time the price at the pump bumps up, someone wants to know if I want to sell them my Festy. Um, no, but thanks for asking.

[Evil D]

The news yesterday said $4 a gallon again this summer. I kinda laughed and said bring it on. Owning this car is a whole new world for me...i've been driving 15mpg for the last 10 years. I don't know what it's like to fill up once a week.

Oh, and i have a coworker who calls mine the mirthmobile.

[Bondfreak13]

I love going to the track with Eurotiva and having young kids walk up to us and ask us questions. the conversation goes like this.

Kid: What kind of car is that?
Me: it's a Ford Festiva.
Kid: a What?
Me: A Festiva?
Kid: I never heard of one.
Me: it's the Ford Version of the Geo Metro.
Kid: (still looking confused) Ok.

Or this one is my favorite

Honda Kid: So kind of motor is in that thing?
Eurotiva: It's a 1.8 BP
Honda Kid: Ok so it's an Integra motor

:angry2:

[darrenryall]

I got a similar comment about a week ago:

gent at gas station: "What kind of car is that"
me: "It's a Ford Festiva"
gas station owner: "We used to have them in all the time, but you never see them anymore."

It got me thinking of when I got my wife her latest truck (a 09 F-150). Had an '87 Plymouth Voyager minivan with a 5 speed in it, which was my second one (first being a Dodge Caravan with a 5 speed). Loved driving the things, good headroom, lots of legroom, handled like a car because they basically were. But it needed brakework and got traded in on a cash for clunkers program. Maybe that's the issue, the "for clunkers" type programs.

People treat older vehicles as "clunkers" and just trade them for the latest and greatest. I traded the minivan in because we were down to a single vehicle again, and my wife and I can't share a vehicle with her staying more or less local (with some driving towards the city or surrounding country), and me driving to the city daily. The clunkers program made the minivan worth $3300 towards the purchase of the truck, and she hasn't driven standard for years. So, it got traded in. And I'd bought the minivan for $150 originally and had driven it for almost three years. It was heartbreaking, but made sense.

The Festivas probably fell into the same boat.. older vehicles that became worth a lot towards tradeins, at which point they get crushed, mutilated and pulverized down to their base metals. (Yes, I still have a lot of lingering sadness towards trading in the minivan, how often did you see a 5 speed minivan? I still secretly call her truck Van Killer.)

On the plus side, the fellow that runs the other gas station/restaurant on the highway came from South Korea, and he recognized the Festiva as being a Kia Pride right off.. I guess he used to drive a Pride before he came to Canada. He tried explaining excitedly to his wife that I 'had a Kia Pride", but she just looked at him like some women do with the "tell me when it's important to me" type look.

I'm seriously starting to consider the same route as a lot of others.. getting another running Festiva, and getting a few parts cars. Getting tired of going through cars, and would like to hang onto something I enjoy driving and keep it on the road.

[Safety Guy]

Darren wrote:

"People treat older vehicles as "clunkers" and just trade them for the latest and greatest."

You don't have to be a rabid environmentalist to realize that we live in a largely "throwaway" culture, with very little pride of ownership of many of our daily tools. This can include cars, but is not limited to them. I'm no perfectionist, but my involvement with Festivas includes the pride of DIY, recycling, saving gas, and learning life skills such as auto mechanics and even some "craftsmanship" and "innovation."

I intend on improving as I get older. My theory is that with our gov't in the dire economic and political straits we are in, we'll all HAVE to become more savings oriented, creative and self-sufficient if we want to retain any quality of life.

As for "...Festivas probably fell into the same boat.. older vehicles that became worth a lot towards tradeins..." no, I dont' think so. I don't think Festivas got bad enough fuel economy to be included in the "clunkers" program. If they were, very little out there would have been an improvement. "Clunkers" helped some people get newer, more efficient cars, but at what cost? I can't really argue economics, though I suspect all the baillouts and stimili are not helping in the long run. I'd argue that OUR tax money was used to punish those who owned small, fuel efficient cars and rewarded those who owned big gas guzzlers!

Keep in mind I'm not berating those who needed larger vehicles due to large families or for actual work. I'm talking about all the single folks and couples who simply fell for the "bigger, faster, more expensive" vehicle buying mindset we've been in for the past twenty or so years.

I'll shut up now.

Karl

[freshtiva]

I’ve been getting a lot of Festiva comments this summer. More than usual . It use to be you would get comments from people who had owned one, usually a positive comment. Lately I’ve noticed a couple of new types of people who are commenting . People who may have seen a Festiva before but they never really paid then must attention to them when they were common and forgot all about them and have noticed them for the first time. And younger people who weren’t born when they were being made. Today I had to go get Festdiva retagged. Always a joy at the license bureau eh hem.( Seems like I spend to much time there but that’s another story. Need to reduce the fleet. ) On my way out with my new tags I get this conversation.
License Bureau
Stranger:
How many miles on your Festiva ?
Me :
140,000
Stranger:
Those were some great cars. We had two and put over 300,000 miles on both of them
Me:
Yeah, that’s not uncommon. The B3 Mazda motor is just about bullet proof unless you run it out of oil or get it hot.
Stranger:
Mine were some great little cars esp. considering what the cost. Its sure good to see another one again.
Wal-Mart parking lot
Woman:
That’s the cutest little car.
Me:
Thank you
Woman:
What brand it that ?
Me :
It’s a Ford Festiva, best car I’ve ever owned
Woman:
Really ? Id like to get my daughter one of those.
Me:
Well they are getting kind of hard to find.
Woman:
Well I guess I could search online for one.
Me:
Yeah ( I was thinking, good luck getting to it before I do )
Woman:
Does it get good gas mileage ?
Me:
Yeah about 40 MPG mixed driving plus its easy to work on. Don’t have to take it to the dealer to get something fixed
Woman:
Oh my, I bought my daughter a Mitsubishi and she’s had nothing but trouble with it. We’ve taken it back to the dealer several times and they just keep giving us the run around. That’s just what she needs. My husband tried to fix our Dodge Caravan and Etc, etc etc.blah blah blah. Well thanks for talking to me.
Me:
Have a good day and I hope you find a festiva. ( thinking: not really though )
　
　
　
O'reilly Auto Parts parking lot
Woman:
What year is your festiva ?
Me :
1993
Woman:
Really ? We had one a long time ago and it was the same color and year.
Me:
Did you like it?
Woman:
It was OK
Husband of Woman:
Wish I still had that car.
Me:
Laughing, yeah people try to buy mine everything gas prices go up.
Husband:
I put a lot of miles on that car and it was the most dependable and cheapest car to drive, wish I had another one.

Wendy’s Drive through
Cashier ( young man )
What year is your festiva ?
Me: 1992
Cashier:
Want to sell it ?
Me:
No, Id be losing money at the gas pump.
Cashier:
Does it get good gas mileage.
Me: Very good, can I get some Ketchup please.
Cashier:
Nice ride.
Me :
Thanks
Outside Quick trip
Stranger ( younger man )
Man that’s the cleanest Festiva I’ve ever seen.
Me :
Thanks, I try to take you care of it.
Stranger:
Awesome !!
　
And on and on, its almost a daily thing. I’m sure you guys get the same thing. I like the renewed interest in the Festiva, like its something brand new or that someone has never seen before. They are so old now that they are new again. Or someone had one and they miss it. Sorry for the rant , just sharing.

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

lol... i get my comments after racing... mostly something to the effect of "damn thats a fast little piece of 's'word" or what is in that lil 's'word box...that aint no stock festiva... either way no one acknowledges it as a 'good' car mainly just a lil beater... then again i have a gutted car with a rough body...

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Gas mileage on new cars is gettring pretty good. A few days ago, I drove a Ford econobox car I rented from Avis nonstop from Boston to downtown Manhattan and back. Even though I ran at the speed limit (55-65mph) most of the time, spent about a half hour each way in stop-and-go in CT, and had to stop numerous times to pay tolls, it STILL got 40.0 MPG for the whole 400+ mile trip. I'm sure the car weighed at least several hundred pounds more than a Festy. and, being a rental, it was an auitomatic. It went round-trip on 3/4 of a tank of fuel.

[bhazard]

They new fiestas are rated 40hwy with the 'powershift' auto. Im sure it wouldnt be too hard to get 45-50 mpg on a trip taking it easy. I didnt like the idea of the auto til I found out its actually an automated manual.

[Charlie1717]

lol... i get my comments after racing... mostly something to the effect of "damn thats a fast little piece of 's'word" or what is in that lil 's'word box...that aint no stock festiva... either way no one acknowledges it as a 'good' car mainly just a lil beater... then again i have a gutted car with a rough body...

After work about 20 of us all leave the park at the same time and over half of us take the same highway back home (30 minute drive) Basically it's a bunch of guys in a caravan. Basically it is always a race to see who can be in front. The fun really begins when we get into town and it turns into a 3 lane highway.

I've surprised many people with how not fast but agile my festy is. I'd let up and start to let the kid next to me think he can zoom up and pass me then I down shift and close the gap just to tick him off haha. I keep up with a souped up lancer, Honda Crx with Turbo, Two Grand Prix's, two rangers, CRV, 4runner, and others can't remember them all. But yeah it surprises everyone and I'm the only one getting 38 MPG even though I drive it hard 5 days a week.

** I want to say that we don't recklessly drive and rarely speed. Don't want this to come across as street racing haha**

[deathegg]

They new fiestas are rated 40hwy with the 'powershift' auto. Im sure it wouldnt be too hard to get 45-50 mpg on a trip taking it easy. I didnt like the idea of the auto til I found out its actually an automated manual.

But it still ACTS like an automatic - that is, It's not like a manu-matic in say, a Lambo Gallardo or Ferrari 458 Italia, etc, where it's a manual transmission with paddle shifters at the steering wheel. On the Fiesta you put in in D, and there you go. However there is supposedly a button on the shifter that allows quicker and more precise shifts. Not sure, but if the basic technology behind the transmission is the same as Ferrari etc, Ford could put paddle shifters on it to make it more fun? The reviews on the auto have been good, but they do notice it's not a fast car. I'd still prefer an actual "old-fashioned" manual.

[slacka_6]

everyone is always surprised when i tell them it gets 35-40 mpg! no way what year is it? as though a 90's car could actually get that kinda mileage!