Might be a good car or investment
I might enjoy the Ford Festiva more if it was not so had to find parts for it. I have called all over and looked online and don't see anything for the car. if anyone knows a place that has them please let me know. I am half tempted to just junk it because I am getting tired of looking.
owned a couple
Very reliable, great gas mileage, brakes are no problem and suspension is just fine. After 20 yrs the wheel bearings go bad which can create a slight shake but if the bearings are replaced "properly" they will last years more. It is a base Mazda 121 and is very reliable if maintained properly as many cars will. Most problems can be directly related to improper care or sham mechanics. The car has an excellent suspension and is very cheap to repair. unless you take it to a disreputable mechanic. Motors generally last a couple hundred thousand miles.
Festiva L 1992
My Festiva has always been an excellent car to own. The 1.3L motor could use more punch, but has a BIG deal when fuel mileage is mentioned. 35 city 49 highway. Reliability of the Kia-made Festiva was great. No cons to be said.
Good Little Car
Out of all the cars I've owned over the past 18 yrs, I would say the Ford Festiva was, by far, the most reliable little automobile I drove... It handled steep grades (mountainous terrain) and rough roads with no problems and was just a good little car. I replaced the distributor cap once...Besides that, it ran great! I would run 432 miles from college home on a little over a full tank! Good car a college student!
Bad Choice
I bouth this car in 08 because of my new job i'd be driving over 100 + miles a day. It only had 60k miles on it and had been taken very good care of. No real issues until i hit the 90k mark. in 09 i had spent ove $1920 dollars in repairs, all of it being suspension. The parts are not that expensive, but it's the labor on the back horrible design. The brakes also keep locking up and i've skiddid into the intersection multiple times. Every repair shop i've taken it to says that it isn't my breaks. The only good thing is the amazing gas miliage but you know i could have bought a ton of gas for 2 grand. Also I had to rip out the radio because it kept shorting out my lights, and even after spending all that cash on it, it still shakes like an over loaded washing machine on bad gas. DO NOT BUY!
My little blue gas sipper
My Festiva has been a very reliable little car. It is 14 years old and hasn't needed any major repairs in the first 90k miles. There really isn't anything fancy about it, but it handles well and it gets from point a to point b. All that and 45 mpg on the highway.