Why did you buy your Festiva?

[batstiva]

Not sure what this says about me, but I bought my new one pretty much so I would not have to show up at Madness not driving a Festiva. :roll:

Is that the one you drove to the meet or the one you had at home to fix up?

The one I bought cause it was cheap, small, and good on gas was Batstiva. Before the long night of drinking that was the catalyst for the bats. That one is in the barn, waiting for a few more parts. And Spring!! Come on baby.

The one I had at Madness was bought pretty much just so I wouldn't have to show up at a Festiva meet not driving a Festiva. Plus, I wanted it.

But, I am NOT addicted.

[posford]

Why I Bought My FESTIVA...

Needed a car, any car, My POS Ford (posford) wagon (spelled Gas Guzzler) died and I needed a car to get to work on Monday. Had my neighbor drive me to the local Ford dealer and almost bought an Escort when I spied it, the FESTIVA. Asked the salesman for a test drive and when we got back to the dealership I bought it. That was in the Spring of 1990. Cost me a whopping $6,000 and that's with AM/FM stereo and A/C. The best money I've ever spent !!!

[murrillcg]

I don't really have a good reason or know why I bought my Festiva. I guess there is just something about these cars that makes you like them. Anyways, a few reasons is that a friend of mine was going to trade it for some junk from a guy that was just going to scrap the car anyways. So I offered the guy $175.00 for the car and he took it. The wife called me crazy and didnt understand why I wanted the little thing and made fun of it, no matter how much I tried to explain the vision I had for it. Plus I wanted a project anyways (I prefered a 68'-71' Chevrolet Pick-up). Well anyways, I brought it home and it sat for a year due to a deployment to Iraq. Since I have been back I have done a few things to it and she has really started to come around. Once I get it running right (no time, and bad weather) I know she will not have anything to say but "VERY NICE"!!!! Anyways, thats why I bought my Festiva!

[brickdog2000]

I bought mine because I was going through a beater phase due to the fact I was spending 160 bucks in gas with my truck every two weeks. So I bought a 89 chrysler lebaron convertible then sold it. Then I bought my festiva for $1100. Why I paid that much I dont know. Probably cause I was looking for either a muscle car or a beater with a 5 spd tranmission in it. Go figure my festy has a 4spd, but ever since then I have been addicted to it. I now only spend at most 25 bucks for gas for two weeks. Plus I am having fun with fixing and molding my festy the way I want it. Now if I can find the time to fix my oil leak.

[resuwrecked]

I also went through a beater stage. All I had was my '91 camaro and needed something that was better on gas. Went to a shady little used dealer in Delmar de and saw the festiva. My initial intentions were to only keep it till the temp tag ran out then make a farm car/4wheeler out of it. I asked to test drive it and they tossed me the keys and said have fun. I fell in love during the first 1/2 mile. It has 150something thousand miles on it, awesome body, no rust at all, straight, good shiny paint, trashed tires and a nasty interior. They said $200 and it was MINE! When getting the paperwork straight, I noticed another one behind the office! I asked and they said it had no keys and wanted $100. I told them I'd give $75. They said no but I held firm and by the time I was finished with the paperwork they gave in and gave it to me for 75. It was also in great shape, straight body and no rust. I ended up selling the second one to my buddy for $35 (lol) after I stripped parts off it and he got it back on the road.
After my first one was lost in a tragic accident, I took a short break from the festiva scene, but was drawn back in by the car I now drive (the bpt) I bought for $700 and it was very clean, white, and auto. I got it as a spare when I still had the first one. I also acquired 2 carb cars for free back then. I am now hot on the trail of 2 more! I need 4 festivas to be happy. I'd like the bpt, One to lower, keep the 12's and mod for good gas mileage, a twin bpt, and a diesel swap. I wish i could get festiva_gtx's 1.7d but I'll probably use a vw rabbit drivetrain.

[Bazzy16]

needed a car for the daily commute to school and the 93 dakota 5.2L's gas mileage was not cuttin it so a guy my dad works with said is mom (85 years old) had bought this festiva new and hadn't driven it in the past couple years. I went and looked at it and the $500 price tag plus the 130,000Kms (81,250 miles) on it was to good to pass up. well turns out the day i got it on the road i was filling the tires up at a local shop and a mechanic told me he knows where a turbo engine is for one of them. to make a long story short later that night i found this site and FMS which got me even more intrigued. finally in october of this year ( one month after i bought the car) i had a 323GT donor car that ran and drove sitting in my shop for $250 thanks to an unedjucated owner and filling up my tires.

[Charlie1717]

needed a car for the daily commute to school and the 93 dakota 5.2L's gas mileage was not cuttin it so a guy my dad works with said is mom (85 years old) had bought this festiva new and hadn't driven it in the past couple years. I went and looked at it and the $500 price tag plus the 130,000Kms (81,250 miles) on it was to good to pass up. well turns out the day i got it on the road i was filling the tires up at a local shop and a mechanic told me he knows where a turbo engine is for one of them. to make a long story short later that night i found this site and FMS which got me even more intrigued. finally in october of this year ( one month after i bought the car) i had a 323GT donor car that ran and drove sitting in my shop for $250 thanks to an unedjucated owner and filling up my tires.

That's awesome! You were destined to be driving a festy!

[Oren09]

Mine was given to me by a family friend. I live with my mom and we just have my truck, so the friend decided to give us her son's old car as an economical second car and so she'd be able to drive if I was out of town.
I paid $60 for the registration and title. I'll do permanent tags next year for $100 or so.

Its a completely stock base car (no power steering, no A/C, not even a radio.
I will be having fun fixing and modding

I just drove to Kalispell and back this weekend and used half a tank for ~180 miles.
Would've been about half a tank or more in my truck, but with a 26 gallon tank
I'm in love <3

[Tim]

When I was 16 I had my driver's license but no car. So I pestered my neighbors to sell me their old beater, which happened to be a Festiva. $200 later I was the new owner, and thus began my addiction.

Six years and a dozen Festivas later, I'm driving my current Festy because it happened to be the right price at the right time. It's been an excellent, reliable car - perfect for a broke college student. Needless to say, I'll be hanging on to it for a while...

[getnpsi]

I bought a 1997 aspire ($400) from a friend of a friend who needed the money in late 2006. I came on this site looking for tweaks to get that extra 2hp and more mpg's out of a tired smoking engine. Since then ive had one 1988 festiva that was given to me (no papers) that i parted out, and bought a 1995 aspire ($700? cant remember) that I drove 10 months then parted out as well. Now currently on the lookout for a white 5 speed but I am trying to be picky before I leap.

[Tim]

I bought a 1997 aspire ($400) from a friend of a friend who needed the money in late 2006. I came on this site looking for tweaks to get that extra 2hp and more mpg's out of a tired smoking engine. Since then ive had one 1988 festiva that was given to me (no papers) that i parted out, and bought a 1995 aspire ($700? cant remember) that I drove 10 months then parted out as well. Now currently on the lookout for a white 5 speed but I am trying to be picky before I leap.

Come up to Spokane.

In my small college town there are no less than 20 Aspires and 12 Festivas running around, all of which are in great shape. Even saw a few of the rarer fully loaded (lol) models.

[getnpsi]

Theres a white with blue stripes that doesn't run really closeby, I haven't talked to the owner yet. Unfortunately I need to dump at least one vehicle before I get another Festiva. Currently i have:

2004 dodge srt-4
1989 mustang gt
1989 merkur xr4ti
2006 ford ranger - my truck her DD, job only 2 miles away
1993 toyota camry - her car but my DD

The old lady would kill me if i brought another orphan home. Thinking with tax return ill trade both the camry and truck in for something nice and more comfortable that all the kids fit in. Doing this would open the festiva doors back up, and keep her taken care of.

[letdtst99]

Ive known these cars as Kia Pride, they were 4 doors models in asia but I was more amazed that it was sold as Ford in North America, the first time I saw one on the street about 2 years ago, I fell in love and scoured Craigslist for the cheapest most convenient deal, finally got one about a month ago, it was a Blue 92 festiva L, it has 182,000 mileage, a bad valve cover gasket, and minimal dings and scratches, I put $7.00 of gas and drove it home for 25 miles and the fuel gauge didnt move a bit,, awesome fuel economy!! still trying to fix all of his flaws, but this festy will be ready to hit the streets very soon!

[kd874]

Got mine cause I wanted to build something smaller than my hemi to beat these stupid civics. Still lookin for a donor car with an engine though lol

[festiva351w]

i bought my gf one for college (88 4-speed) i drove it some liked it, then in fall of 93 i bought a 90 for a winter beater ( cause i take 93 flareside off road in winter) but drove it most of the year for 5 years, put about 100,000 on it, the heater sucked, and was bad in the snow, got sick of it and trades in in on new escort, then found out a friend was selling the one he built and i bought it to drive and race