Why did you buy your Festiva?

[big_ty2003]

I stumbled upon the festiva shogun concept on the internet while researching Taurus SHO's. I did some more research on how cheap it is to make a festiva a mustang slaying rocket. Found one on the for sale section of this forum, convinced the wife I was getting it because it gets 40mpg instead of my trucks 12mpg. Went out to Warren, MI checked it out, bought it, and drove it home. Nine months later here I am. Still on the quest for speed I might add, lol.

[Sparky]

Great thread...

I had been driving a 1983 Dodge Colt for a number of years...when it died, my wife talked me into buying a new car. I worked at a Ford dealership (wash bay), but they also had a Daihatsu dealership under the same owner, so I had a choice as to what I could afford: A Ford Festiva or a Daihatsu Charade. The Charade wasn't a bad car at all, but it cost $1000 more....I bought a blue Festiva and was taken by how much it reminded me of my old Colt, but without things breaking on it all the time. Loved them ever since...

[wybnrml]

My Dad was looking for a cheap car and he found the Festiva on Craigslist but it was 200 miles away, so me and him drove up. It was a 1989 Auto LX with A/C. I had never heard of one so I wasn't sure what it looked like. So we pulled into the guys driveway and looked at it before he came out. It didn't look bad, it was white and it had like a dirty mold covering. But the interior was in good condition. It needed a passenger side fender and the guy made his own custom taillight out of the broken one and a trailer light. The guy came out and gave us the keys for a test drive so we went down the road into town and my Dad said this is a spunky little car. So when we got back to his house we offered him $600 and he took it so I drove back home which was another 200 miles. The car was for my Mom and when I pulled up she started laughing and said I don't want to drive that. So we painted it white to get rid of the mold tint and didn't even fix the passenger side fender, and found a taillight. When we got the taillight in we noticed the one we got was ribbed and the one that was on it was smooth. It needed a radio so I put a radio we had laying around and I put XM radio in it. And when I was cleaning it I found the tray under the passenger seat. Since my Mom didn't like it I started driving it to school and she started driving my car. All my friends laughed at it except for one and he thought it was the coolest thing. We sold it about six months later because we were moving, and about six months after that I started to miss having a Festiva. So I bought the 90 LX I have now and found this site.

[squeethebee]

Always wanted one after I saw a youtube vids years and years ago and thought it looked like a hoot. After owning a turbo beetle and a supra though, I decided I needed AWD so I wouldn't have to deal with wheelspin (as much ). Now that my Impreza is almost done, I've decided I WANT wheelspin... I mean, economy. Plus, I found mine for a steal!

ed

[chrisofna]

I bought mine because I wanted a project car. Had a 1987 Toyota MR2 which never really let me down, but it had some dire rust issues so I never really wanted to use it for a project. Everyone I knew were into Hondas so I really wanted to do something different (part of the reason why I got the MR2, nobody had one). Picked up mine for $340, has been sitting in the garage ever since . But at least it has front suspension again!

[halac0ax]

I got my first one because it was all that I could afford. It was my first car that I bought, it was a 93 LX, auto, blue in color. Funny thing is when I was looking at cars I was looking at a mazda 323 hatchback, but the dealership said I didn't qualify for financing on that one but said the I did for the festiva. Still remember working on that car with my then 4 year old daughter. Been looking for one ever since, and I will have one soon very very soon.

[JPT]

I wanted something good on gas. A Festiva was the LAST thing on my mind, but then I found this site and a year later, a friend of my cousin's wanted to sell hers. $400.00 later, it's mine and you would have to kill me to get it away from me.

[sam.1956]

My first Festiva was bought b/c I was unemployed & dang near broke at the time. I needed really cheap transportation. Turns out, I could fix the car easily, it's a lot of fun to drive and it gets incredible fuel economy to boot.

I bought it for a ridiculously cheap price and I was able to repair it & get it on the road. It was my only car for nearly 2 years while I was trying to dig out of the hole. Now I don't think I could part with it.

[TominMO]

Bought an 89LX back in '92. Traded it for an 89 CRX Si for more fun. Last year I remembered how much I liked that Festy and decided to get into them again. Bought Blue, then Oliver, then Casper, then what came to be a parts car, now gone. Turns out I like my DD, Blue, the best, so trading Casper to Greg for a 1.6 swap/rear-turboing job on Blue.

[Stivadiva]

I got my first and still my only Festiva "Big Red" almost 15 years ago because my ex-husband said I should --- and he was definitely right about that! Thanks Senor!

[MONSOON]

^^ I guess the owner of the playground gets a pass on the MONSOON awards??

NOPE! Im an equal opportunity award giver!
Here you go!



I got my first one when I was looking for an inexpensive 2nd car. Seen it at a Mom and Pops used car place and thought "Thats kinda cute in an ugly sorta way." Took it out for a test spin, loved how zippy it was and bought it without a second thought.

[milehighbear]

My first festiva was given to me for a xmas present by my son-in-law. It was my grandson's and he took it out mudding one day and it broke down. They had just put a new clutch in it about two month's ago and thought that it had gone out again. They gave it to me cause they knew i liked to get me projects to work on during winter time. I started looking at it and saw the axle shafts were turning but not wheel so took wheel off and found the shafts to be broken and i bought new ones for each side, $150.00 and the car was on road again. Since the car was given to me, thats when i figured i would make a truck out of it and began hacking. So that was my winter project and now i have two of them. Second one will stay original. Plus i found this site and i was hooked also.

[blkfordsedan]

I had a '79 Fiesta that I had basically wore out after 200K miles and was looking for another Fiesta. By that time, the Fiestas were all but extinct. I saw an add in the local paper for a '91 Festiva loaded with A/C, cruise, power mirrors, spoiler, etc. for $2150. When I got there, it had been sold a week prior, but they had another one, a base '93L with only 23K miles that looked like brand new for $2600.00. I negotiated them down to the $2150 since they been using the add for the optioned-out Festiva. I liked the fact that it was a light weight "cracker box" design like the Fiesta, with little electronics or added features to add weight or give problems. The fuel injection and 5 speed was a big plus over my old Fiesta.

To be honest, although I really liked the car, I was a little disappointed because I thought it was just a KIA knock-off and not a "real Ford" like the Fiesta. The more I drove it, the more I liked it. A few weeks later I was talking to a friend who told me that it was basically a Mazda drive train and was only assembled by KIA with a KIA body. I immediately felt better, and after looking on the internet, I found www.festivamotorsport.com and www.fordfestiva.com. The rest is history!

My biggest fear now is - What will I do when my Festiva wears out? What will the next step be? Maybe a Focus...or the "new" Fiesta? They're both nice cars, but they're loaded with emissions, electronics, safety and comfort crap. Maybe I'll have to drag my rust free '71 Pinto Runabout out of the weeds and install a Miata BP with a turbo.

[eurotiva]

I bought mine as a beater, so i wasn't driving my mustang everyday. After driving it for a couple years I decided it was time to play with it, the rest is history.

[25Horseplay]

I bought mine as a beater, so i wasn't driving my mustang everyday. After driving it for a couple years I decided it was time to play with it, the rest is history.

Sounds like my story!