Some Questions from An Aspiring Festiva Owner

[malcolmjason]

Hello all!

I joined this forum because I am strongly considering purchasing an early-90s Ford Festiva. This may sound strange, but I have driven by a Festiva that has been for sale on my way to work every day for weeks, and every day I feel drawn to it! I stopped the other day and took a look at it, and I really liked what I saw. Early 90s, only 80k miles, body and interior were in good condition.

That said, I've never driven a Festiva before (I'm a little young to have any remembrance of them when they came out), so I had a couple of questions:


-The one I'm looking at is a 3-speed automatic. How will this do on the highway? I don't know if I've experienced a 3-speed automatic before, so curious how that will work.

-How durable are Festivas? What am I looking at as far as repair/maintenance? Not necessarily a deal-breaker if I have to (get to!) do some work on it, but curious what I might be in for.

-Anything else I need to know? From the outside, it looks like a fun little car that would be a joy to drive, but curious to hear some additional perspectives.


Thanks in advance!

[ryanprins13]

Festivas are great cars! Rarely break down if maintained.
Are you able to drive a manual transmission? They get better gas milage and are a lot more fun in my opinion but there are a few people on here who like them. They do rev a bit higher on the highway than the manuals, but you can get taller tires.
A festiva was my first car and i am still daily driving one 10yrs later. First one rusted out and i parked it last fall at 465,000km. A guy here has about 1million km on his, another guy has 850k, a few in the 600's.
Rust if the biggest concern for longevity.
There has been a few threads by newcomers like yours asking about what they need to know and they got a lot of help. I will see if i can find a couple of those and link them here.

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[malcolmjason]

Thanks! I would definitely prefer a manual, but Festivas seem hard to find, and the one that is for sale near me just happens to be an automatic.

Love to hear that they can last a while given good maintenance - hoping that getting one with 80k on it will mean I can have it for quite a while. Would love to see those additional threads - I'll go looking through the forum for them as well. Thanks!

[ryanprins13]

I just spent half an hour looking and cannot for the life of me find the thread im thinking of and now I have to go. Maybe tomorrow ill look some more. but check out the for sale section of the forum and look on the facebook group to see if there is any for sale in your area. 80k is nothing for a festiva, but they can be rusted out or abused just like any other car. is the one your looking at for sale on craigslist or anything that we can see the ad?
things to look for are rust where the rear axle beam mounts to the frame.

[malcolmjason]

I haven't seen it on a local ad, it's just parked in a lot on my way to school. I do have one pic I took of it (but obviously not a whole lot to see here).

Also, I texted the owner for the price, but haven't test-driven it yet (out of town until Monday). I also don't know for sure what year it is- any way to tell from looking at it?

IMG_0462.jpg

[ryanprins13]

I haven't seen it on a local ad, it's just parked in a lot on my way to school. I do have one pic I took of it (but obviously not a whole lot to see here).

Also, I texted the owner for the price, but haven't test-driven it yet (out of town until Monday). I also don't know for sure what year it is- any way to tell from looking at it?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21519[/ATTACH]

Ok, some guys can tell what year but i cant. I found you one good link so now i feel ok going home, lol. https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60311
Just ahead of the rear wheels on the rockers is another common rust spot so it looks decent from that photo.
Again, rust is the biggest problem, everything else is cheap and easy to fix or replace.
I mean, buying an auto and putting a manual trans in it is a lot of work and harder than travelling a bit to buy a festiva but it can be done.

Check these out:
https://youtu.be/WzM_5lY20Wo https://youtu.be/fZUXkn0xFv8

Trying to overheat a ford festiva towing: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...N-aof6GoivAPaJ

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[ryanprins13]

https://youtu.be/L6Z2cxes1_Y

https://youtu.be/XYfJ7oVq3xI

https://youtu.be/C4ecGlVdyCU

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[ryanprins13]

Oh, cant forget the $500 festiva that can keep up with track prepped corvettes https://youtu.be/7Z7yXQRj2Uk

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[malcolmjason]

Sweet! Thanks for all the help!

[ryanprins13]

Festivas are literally the greatest car ever made
As they are they get 55 imp mpg and are super cheap to maintain and reliable. Great in the snow and for offroading. Fit a ton of stuff inside the back.
Can be modified to tow a lot
Can be modified to beat nearly any car on a paved track or ice track, do very well in autocross and dirt/rally.
Can do decent on a 1/4mile, i think carlos's car is still a street legal fwd doing under 10seconds.
Theres a guy who has lived in one for 10yrs, so they can be a house...
And on and on, lol.
Cant forget the plc Road To Wanderlust: The Peace Love Car: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...Cnwyjy9RVmAtOZ


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[ryanprins13]

Sweet! Thanks for all the help!

no problem. to answer your 3 questions as best i can:
1: I dunno, I like 5 speeds and hate automatics but only drove an automatic festiva 5 minutes one time and it was fine. Some guys here like them. A member here has towed over 2000 pounds on the freeway with an auto festiva with the stock engine, they are durable- seem to handle increased power well.

2: festivas are very durable, very easy to work on and parts are very cheap. As in a part thats $50 on my civic is $10 for the festiva.

3: These are very fun to drive and enjoyable cars. Ive done a lot in mine. Great for long road trips and enjoying driving as well as commuting. Ive done long road trips, commuted 1hr each way to work for almost 10yrs, it was our wedding car, did a honeymoon road trip in it, been stuck in a lake, gone mountain climbing pushing over 8ft tall saplings, plowed through a lot of snow, a lot of mud, pulled a lot of vehicles out of the ditch... biggest was a dodge 2500 with a 20ft double deck stocktrailer stuck in a snowbank, but that was pretty hard on my clutch and took a few people sitting on my hood to do it.... Ive had 700 pounds of sheep wool in the back, did all my house renovations using it to haul materiel, pulled lots of trailers, raced it at the local track, beaten the whole bottom of the car upward off-roading. I was really, really hard on my car for 9.5years and it just kept going and going and wouldn't die. I drove it for 3years not doing any maintinance other than oil changes just waiting for it to die and it wouldnt.

a guy has lived in a festiva 10yrs and driven all of north america in it, put almost 700,000 km on it himself and the car is still going.

festivas can be made comefortable and quiet daily drivers, loud and fast, sleepers, haulers, whatever. With the manual transmission and my car running right I would get 55 imp mpg without trying city/hy combined. best tank i ever had was 62.7mpg, some guys here have done better.

check for rust, if the car drives nice and ist rusty its good, lol.

The bad:
-the heater doesnt keep you very warm below -25c ambient. there are fixes but it requires work. Ive daily driven hours at a time in -35 to -42c. A festiva will start in -42c unlike my 2005 civic...
-the headlights are ok but not fantastic. Ive had stock headlights for 9 years and drive 2hrs a day in the dark 6 months of each year. There are fixes, it just takes a little work and like $100-200
-front rotors are a bit of a pain to change, but there are simple solutions
-they rust. Thats preventable and you can also slow it down if you want to take the time.
-the headlights are glass meaning stones will crack them every 50-100k if you drive gravel roads a lot. ive taken steps to prevent that and so far so good.

thats all for the bad. the list of good could go on for hours. heres a few of my favorate photos instead

renos


stuck in a lake


was dark, was plowing so much snow it piled over my headlights and i couldnt see and drove part way into the ditch and i stopped. this was the next morning after the plow went by.




have chains, will explore


wedding car

[jawja jim]

As for autos, I have 2 autos and 2 manuals. I love driving the auto in town and the city gas mileage is very comparable to the stick. On the road, not so. It will handle freeway speed with ease, but will be wound up tight. With the 3-spd, if I ease off from a stop it will be in 3rd before 25mph and from there on, it's just winding. If you accelerate more spiritedly, it won't shift to 3rd until 45+. The auto will tach at 55 what the manual does at 70, and the mileage reflects that.

[ryanprins13]

As for autos, I have 2 autos and 2 manuals. I love driving the auto in town and the city gas mileage is very comparable to the stick. On the road, not so. It will handle freeway speed with ease, but will be wound up tight. With the 3-spd, if I ease off from a stop it will be in 3rd before 25mph and from there on, it's just winding. If you accelerate more spiritedly, it won't shift to 3rd until 45+. The auto will tach at 55 what the manual does at 70, and the mileage reflects that.

Have you tried taller tires on the autos to help on the highway?

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[jawja jim]

All my cars have 13s. 155/80 on all but Pedro. I just don't expect much from the autos on the road. They do fine, except for fuel economy.

[Studebaker]

That car appears to be a 89 auto. The only Festiva I will not buy. Parts of the engine is a one year only. It is so much different from the others its hard to work on.

As far as autos go, with taller tires you can drive 55 mph with out straining the engine to much. You only get 35 mpg verses 45 with a manual. If you can find a parts car its easy to convert to a manual trans.

But if its cheap it may be a good first car.