Death of a Ford Festiva 1989-2003

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Specifically, a bright red 1989 Ford Festiva. It was the first car I ever owned, and it faithfully served mankind from the day of purchase through yesterday.

After surviving 10 years parked on the streets of Chicago and dodging city traffic, of being peed on by passing dogs and drunks and even that one night providing shelter for a homeless guy to sleep ("Hey, buddy - what are you doing in my car and how did you get in?), and the occassional break-in (apparently, the car is so uncool nobody wanted to steal it. Heck, they never even took the radio) we moved to Indiana and took the little trooper with us.

We had it another two years. Two years it lived in its own driveway but was much less molested although probably a little intimidated by the SUV’x and monster trucks on the road here.

Then we sold it to a friend of ours who needed a small car with good gas mileage (well, better gas mileage than his trucks, at least) and it faithfully labored in his service another two years. In return, he gave it the maintenance an aging car requires and, all in all, it was very much a mutually beneficial relationship.

Last night, our friend was driving himself and his daughter back home from band practice (they’re both in the same community band) on a state road when they hit a deer at about 50 mph.

Needless to say, this was good for neither car nor deer. Our friend reported hearing “lots of stuff break” during the impact, which pretty much tore up the car. When he got it home and popped the hood (which proved to be difficult, given the degree of managling) he said it was very apparent that parts of the frame had broken, the radiator was trashed, the front axle bent and pretty much the car was totaled - even if it had managed to stagger home from the accident scene. Smokin’ a bit and leaking fluids.

The good news - not a scratch on driver or passenger. Shook up, but not hurt.

Sure, folks used to laugh when I told them there was crash protection designed into the car, crumple zones and reinforced passeger compartment - HAH! It really is one of the safest sub-compact cars you can ride in.

Anyhow, even though he’s the owner, our friend called us up and sort of weirdly apologized for killing our car. He says a part of him felt really bad and wants to fix it, but really that just may not be possible. He is also thinking of buying another Festiva.

Anyhow, 14 years and close to a quater million miles is a good long life for any car. And the really important thing is that two human beings walked away from the accident unhurt.

2

It’s been a bad week for deer on MPSIMS.

3

Wow, that car had a good long life. My dad had a Festiva back in the day. I think of him on the rare occasions I see one.

4

I looked up some pictures of Festivas. Wasn’t that thing marketed as a Mazda as well? Reminds me of an early 90’s Mazda 121.

5

Glad to hear no one was hurt, Broomstick.

My boyfriend drives an early 90s Festiva. The exterior of the Mighty Festiva is sky blue and the inside is garnished liberally with little plastic jewels and glitter stars, courtesy of his young nieces. (He provided the glue.)

Sadly, the Mighty Festiva may be on its way out. It wheezes asthmatically on the expressway as a rule, and yesterday the brakes were sluggish, so he’s taking it in to see if the cost to fix them is worth it

6

I too am from Northern Indiana, and I’ll add this: The Ford Festiva deserves all the praise we can heap on it. I had one for a long time, and it was by far the best car I’ve ever owned.

Mine was a bright red '88, and I bought it in '91. The car never required any repair other than general maintenance stuff, like brakes and tires (which were super cheap because they were only 12"!). The car was made by Kia for Mazda for Ford. It was actually a Mazda 323 under all the Ford branding.

I beat the living crap out of it. I also created what I joked at the time was the world’s first Microvan. I took out the backseat, so when the hatch was open, there was flat floor all the way up to the front seats. I played in a band, and I used to load that thing up with the entire P.A. system, my bass rig, and the 300 lb. singer and drive sometimes great distances to gigs. It would squat that poor thing down so it almost rested on the tires, but it would still go, bottoming occasionally but never suffering any damage.

Finally I got a good day gig and started making some more money. After 8 years I was just tired of driving it, so I got a nice hatchback Saab. I’ve easily spent more money on scheduled maintenance on this thing then I did total on that Festiva. Anyway, I put it up for sale, and a nice young guy bought it, intending to deliver pizzas with it. As he drove it away, down the street, I swear I got a tear in my eye. When a car treats you like that for so many years, you can’t help but fall in love with it, like a faithful dog.

I haven’t stopped thinking about that car since. Oh, BTW, I still see it every once in awhile. How can I tell it’s mine? Believe me, I just know.

7

Are you serious? You got FOURTEEN YEARS out of a FESTIVA?

Go buy a lottery ticket immediately.

8

Coldie it was marketed by KIA/Ford. I think it only came in red.

I *loved * my Festiva. The day I sold it was a sad, sad, sad day. The day later when I realized I sold it with one of my favorite tapes in it, was even a sadder day.

Most reliable car ever. Best gas mileage ( 40 mph) .

It is by far my favorite car so far. ( at least for parking and zipping through traffic. For beefiness and parking space hogging, I thoroughly recommend Econolines.)

9

If I recall correctly, the last production year of the Ford Festiva was either '91 or '92. So the youngest of 'em out there is 11 years old - and you do see those things on the road.

If you bothered to do basic maintenance - oils changes when needed, brakes, wheel bearings (they do eat wheel bearings, so you’re best off replacing them along with the brakes) the darn things actually last. Around 110,000 miles we replaces all the shocks and struts, that was probably the most expensive repair we ever did on it.

Go ahead, make fun of it - but remember, KIA offers 10 year/100,000 mile warranty on ALL their vehicles, which are basically variations on the Festiva. Go ahead, laugh - I got great gas mileage and low cost for 12 years. We almost bought the equivalent KIA when it came time for a new car (we settled for a Toyota Echo, which gets even better gas mileage. In another decade I’ll let you know how it compares maintenance-wise)

Anyhow - it was officially declared deceased this morning, after an inspection in the light of day. It has now moved to organ donor status. If you know of someone looking for Festiva parts e-mail me and I’ll see if we can do some match-making. Keep in mind, the radiator is trashed and not much is left of the front driver’s side, but there are three good tires - and Festiva tires are getting hard to find in some locales. What else is good I don’t know, but it can’t hurt to ask.