Festiva reliability questioned on Ebay

[donna]

I found this on ebay, item # 290139485152, the seller says;
"Bidders have been considering, if successful, driving this vehicle home, sometimes quite a distance. We cannot make any guarantees. Even though we have tried to describe things well, it is a used vehicle. We have pointed out the issues we know of; plus there can always be something beyond our knowledge or expertise as private owners. Buyer’s: use your own good judgment when making transport plans. A cross-country trip going 75 MPH on interstates is probably not advisable in our opinion with any type of Festiva! "
...
..
so, to the members here, how far have you driven your Festiva? And at what speed.... :?:

[Axlander9289]

Used to drive my '92 back and forth between southern IL and central KY, about 300 miles, all the time when it was about 13 years old with 160k to 175k miles. It had no problem running at 75 to 80 mph all day long with the five speed. I'm taking my '89 4 speed on its first long trip this weekend. It seems more comfortable at 65 to 70 mph without the extra overdrive, but I think Festivas are surprisingly good road trip vehicles. It sounds like the seller is just trying to stay out of trouble on the off chance that somebody tried to drive it home and something did go wrong.

[Tom]

75 is a little fast but it would probaly do it just fine. A lot of people don't realise how good these cars are. A lot of people still think that a car is pretty well worn out at 100,000 miles. Festivas are like tanks and can be run hard and fast for years and years.

That said, 65 and 70 miles per hour should be plenty fast. That car should have 150,000 and more miles left to go. 300,000 miles is not uncommon if taken care of properly.

A Festiva is a Mazda powertrain in a Kia Body. Both top notch cars. Some of the best made.

[Pu241]

Let them question the reliability all they want!
Means we should be able to pickup other festiva's cheap!
Because they are unreliable! :lol:
However, with gas prices as they are, they are getting harder and harder to get cheap!
But because they are unreliable people should be giving them away!
I'll personally remove them from peoples yards, for free! :lol:

[freshtiva]

Re: Festiva reliability questioned on Ebay

so, to the members here, how far have you driven your Festiva? And at what speed.... :?:

Id have no problem topping out any of my stock festivas right now. 100-105 mph Id guess. I probably wouldn't do it for more than a few miles though. I wouldn't want to break any laws. :wink: esp if I got caught. I have had the speedo buried before for 20-25miles with no problem. I have all EFI five speeds.

[worfdog]

took mine out west last october.went 5356 miles in 18 days. no problems what so ever and did 70 to 80 mph for long periods of time.only burned 1 qt. of oil.planning on doing it again this october. car is showing 184,376 miles and is a 1988 model with a 5 speed i put in it 3 years ago.

[warlocke]

i have an aspire but the farthest ive driven it is about 155 miles in one trip and it had no problems AT ALL. tried to talk my dad into letting me take it down on a 3 hr drive but he wouldnt go for that lol. it will be going to my farm when ever i get a chance, and on this new job, if i work the same sched as my bud, id have off sun/mon, so id leav sat night for the farm and come back monday day lol. that wouldnt be bad.


and just wondering, is there a reason this is in the repair help forum?

[Big_P]

I took mine to about 95mph


...down a hill, but 95mph nonetheless.

[quaddawg]

I regularly drive longish distances, 40-50 miles, each way... 70-80+ all day long. Mine has a B6, but a stocker will do it fine also.

I would bet money that I could park it on 85mph and run it through tank after tank of gas, if only it were legal...

I used to think my Festy wasn't a daily long commuter... due to it's mods.. but boy was I wrong...

I sure am glad I didn't sell this one!! It has been a great little car to commute in.

[neanderpaul]

I used to ride my first 89 L 4 speed for an hour straight with the pedal to the floor. Never any problems with that. Temp gauge riding at 1/3 like always. I did the same with my 93 efi five speed with the same results. I think they are great on the road. Sat night we rode my buddys efi automatic at 70 for a 3 hour round trip. Same results.

[wrestler3025]

When I had my first 1990 festiva back in 97 I took it from Minneapolis, MN down to Tampa, Florida. I drove about 80 the whole way there. The car had 115,000 miles on it already. I did the same thing on the trip back to MN. One way was 1584 miles so I did a total of 3168 miles on the highway at about 80mph. This is the best part though...gas for the whole trip was only $80 :-) Last year I took my 1990 from Atlanta to Minneapolis and then back...not a single hiccup.

[donna]

What turned me on to looking for a Festiva, there was a maintenace man at the hospital that i worked at, and he would tell the story of how people on the highway would look at him in awe because he and his wife and two kids were towing a pop up camper that was longer than the Festiva. He always praised his Festiva on its performance.

[packrat427]

I just took a trip to Colorado in mine in June 2,200+ miles and 90+ mph on the way home .

I drove 4,500 miles last year to Festiva events .
I have been driving mine for 4 years ,
and.. It is by far the most dependable car I have ever owned .

I would not be afraid to take it anywhere , I am always hammer down.

Festiva is the best kept secret .

[GenevaDirt]

^^somebody has a golden pass I see....lol 90+..thought that was the year of your car at first

[WmWatt]

I've driven my carb'd '89 from Ottawa to Raleigh and 3 times to Nova Scotia on month-long camping trips. The owner's manual warns not to drive at high speeds and that anything over something like 75-80 (I can't remember the exact number just now) would be dangerous as the car might go out of control. It lacked power and was slow in the hills of Pennsylvania and New Brunswick but otherwise fine. I've also slept in the car on trips.