I bought an Aspire

[budthedog]

Couldn't help myself, it was too good a deal to pass up. I've had my Festiva since 06 & it's been arguably the most reliable car I've ever owned. Lately I've been taking more long rides to the VA (100 miles away) & the high speed shaking is getting harder on me & the car. Just can't seem to keep the wheels balanced for long. The Aspire rides very smoothly at over 75 MPH. I still haven't decided what to do with the cars, it is prohibitively expensive to license & insure both of them in the cesspool of corruption known as Illinois. I may have to, at least for1 year, just to make sure the Aspire is as good as the Festiva, but it does no car any good to sit unused for a long time. The Aspire is a 96, 5 speed, 188K miles.
My question is, what specifically should I be looking for on the Aspire? Any known issues with them that did not apply to Festivas? Any comments or criticisims will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bert]

Having done the Aspire swap on to a Festy I have noticed that Aspire-specific parts are 2-3 times the price. My supplier says that's because there were many fewer of them made and sold and considerably fewer still on the road.
The highway-shaking Festy business is likely related to ever-increasing lack of quality in 12 inch tires. In 8 years I don't think I ever managed to field 'round' 12s on a Festy and was of the opinion that Festys themselves couldn't roll smooth, until I moved up to premium Nokian 14s after doing an Aspire swap.

[TominMO]

Agree on tires; move up to at least 13" good-quality tires. 1995 and later JY Metro rims will help get you there cheaply.

[zoom zoom]

2 facts of life,

1)aspires are just as good or better as daily commuters and the parts dont cost much more than festiva stuff
2)bert will smoke himself dumber every day.

[shadetree]

2 facts of life,

1)aspires are just as good or better as daily commuters and the parts dont cost much more than festiva stuff
2)bert will smoke himself dumber every day.

bahahaha oops I'm, yea line one is correct also !

[defprun]

Found an Aspire with 126000kilometers on it and the chassis is so clean it hurts, however it is an egg and must die for the greater good. I too can't afford to have both my Festiva and the Aspire on the road at the same time...and one would have to go to the scrapyard and Id probably cry if it was the Festiva. Ive got some Rio stuff and Im going to see if I can use the calipers with the Aspire rotors. Its got everything I need to fix my festiva and recoup some money in the process. Cant wait to get this party started.

Sent from the trash can.

[budthedog]

Thanks for all the info. I went ahead & got it legal, for now anyway. Great heater! I think I'll be using it a lot for winter. Rides real nice , made 2 VA trips already & get around 42 mpg so far. I'm gonna look for some 13s for my Festiva, though.

[zoom zoom]

I don't think wheels alone will fix all your vibrations but I guess it's worth a shot. Check out mercury tracers for Festiva bolt pattern 13" steelies.

[neanderpaul]

I love driving my aspire. If they weren't so flippin' girlie looking....

I will always love festivas best. Especially a beefed festiva.

But the aspire is fun, dependable, durable, and practical. I've heard reports of 48-49 mpg on fordaspire.com. I've seen them with 300-400k also. I have however seen several aspire manual transmissions break though.

[Safety Guy]

According to Roger at FMS the Aspire manual transaxles were made in Korea and not from Mazda like the Festy manuals. He said the bearings were not as good. All autos were from Japan though, so no differences there.

Paul, send me a PM if you haven't sold your Aspire yet.

Karl

[old yellow]

ya, i have not had much good luck with the 5 speed Aspires.... even the "grandma" car we had lost 4th gear

[old yellow]

According to Roger at FMS the Aspire manual transaxles were made in Korea and not from Mazda like the Festy manuals. He said the bearings were not as good. All autos were from Japan though, so no differences there.

Paul, send me a PM if you haven't sold your Aspire yet.

Karl

mazda seems to know how to build a 5 speed! never lost gears in any festiva.... on the other hand, the aspire looses 4th faster then you could emagine