Let’s delve, once again, into the world of small cars thanks to this short festival of Kia Prides found in San Salvador. A model that you all knew -at some point- as the Ford Festiva in the US. We’ll start with this 4-door sedan, a version that never reached US shores.
Want another view?
Here’s another, showing us its face in a shopping center. All these Prides were shot around town last year, a sign that the Pride/Festiva’s fame as sturdy daily transport is well-earned. Despite their modest appearance, these have proved to be long-lasting. How else to explain their degree of persistence over time? After all, subcompact owners are not known for devoted maintenance, nor gobs of cash to keep everything to factory spec.
Here’s as most know it in the US, though this one is wearing Kia badges. Car history is not something that Central Americans really engage in, so I’m not entirely sure for how long these were sold in the region. Kia assembly of these lasted from 1987 to 2000 and would remain in production in Iran under the SAITA badge until 2020. As for power, it came in the form of Mazda-derived 1.1 and 1.3 B3 engines.
The Pride’s conception, as far as it’s understood, was a Ford-Mazda concoction. And the Mazda connection with Kia is a long one, with the latter’s early products being of Mazda origin. So there are a lot of family trees to trace when trying to figure out the little car’s history.
Here’s the 5-door station wagon version. In the back, a burgundy Kia Rio of recent vintage shows the company has come a long way since its Pride days. Still, the model was a defining product in the company’s ascendance; a people hauler that earned the appreciation of many families in many nations.
This once again sends us into the chapter of the multiple lives of cars: the first world’s econobox –as it was known in the US– vs. the developing world’s family hauler. Roles that the Pride executed rather well.
That said, these boxy and efficient cars are both innocuous and ubiquitous. When it comes to Prides, I have to make a very conscious effort to look for them, as their shape just gets easily lost in this city stuffed with Asian offerings. Finding one is not hard, once one sets its sights on one as today’s post proves. But my mind has to be fixed on the task.
Of course, their owners couldn’t care less about any such thoughts. To them, these are intended as daily drivers, not attention-grabbing possessions. And as such these Prides have excelled by being useful for far longer than most expected. Another attribute that I’m sure their owners don’t mind at all.
Related CC reading:
Cohort Outtake: 1987-2000 Kia Pride – The Festiva Continues
Cohort Pic(k) Of The Day: Kia Pride Station Wagon – The Five-Door Festiva
Curbside Classic: Ford Festiva – A Festival Of Longevity, And How To Live In Your Festiva
Curbside Outtake: Ford Festiva – The Festival Is Still Going
It’d be neat to see a 2-door sedan or wagon with the longer doors of the 3-door hatch.
I never knew the five door wagon existed. Neat but the looks are rather rear heavy.
I did see the four door model in Cuba a few years ago.
Wow, I’ve never seen those. Or noticed them, they must be in Mexico or Costa Rica but as you said they don’t really stick out.
Amazing how these supposed disposable cars have lasted. Well done Kia.
I love seeing version of cars I’ve never seen before. Like David above, I never knew the 5-door existed – to me, it looks a photoshop image… recognizable, but altered from what I’m used to.
These Festivas did seem to be pretty durable; I still see them occasionally, though mostly in rural areas.
I lived in South Korea from 1995-1996 and then from 1998 to 2004. At the time, the Pride was still on sale here. All my Korean friends swore by the Pride, claiming it was tough and could take the kind of abuse Korean drivers could dish out.
There is still a Pride three door in my neighbourhood. It appears well loved, too.