The famously tough Ford Festiva is one of a mere handful of subcompacts that earned a legendary reputation in North America. Most cars of such small stature are despised and mocked for being too cheap, too cute, too unsafe, too basic, too effeminate, too impractical, or any number of other creatively dismissive snubs.
It’s rare for such a small car in size-obsessed America to earn its keep through sheer tenacity, yet the Festiva persevered. However, not even the rugged little captive-import Ford could hang on forever. Time, careless owners, and perpetually low values are finally taking the last survivors off the road.
The design of this tiny hatchback began life as the Mazda 121, an ambitious ground-up front-wheel drive hatchback. Thanks to Ford and Mazda’s partnership, the Blue Oval saw an opportunity to expand into the very low end of the market. The last time Ford had fielded a truly small car in the United States was the first generation Ford Fiesta from ’77 to ’80. That car was earth-shattering in Europe but a mere footnote in the United States, where it quickly faded from memory and the streets.
By 1986, the Festiva launched in North America to surprising success, albeit with a twist. Prior to its 1992 debut in the North American market, Kia Motors assembled the 121 as their very own “Pride” in South Korea. Rather than the Mazda versions, Ford imported the Kia assembled versions to rebadge as the Festiva. Despite the shaky reputation of early Korean cars here, the Festiva was famed for being unbelievably tough in regular use.
At a mere 141″ long, it was significantly shorter than a classic Beetle and only 2 inches wider, yet boasted vastly more interior room. The Festiva was indeed astoundingly space-efficient for its small size.
This space efficiency was less of a selling point among America’s sprawling highways and frequently wide downtown streets; the small size did, however, help keep the car quite cheap. In 1993, its last model year before morphing into the sad Aspire, a basic Festiva L cost just $7,548, or $16,689 today. The cheapest new car in the United States today, the $18,160 Mitsubishi Mirage ES, handily beats it in performance, safety, and features, even for the roughly $1,500 price gap. Modern cars have come a long way, but do lack the rugged simplicity of this timeless design.
The legend of Ford’s gamble on bringing a properly capable subcompact to the US is enough to get through that we’ve almost ignored our featured car(s).
It’s over 30 years after the last Festiva rolled off the line and it’s rare to see one looking as clean and fresh as this example. But the car didn’t earn its reputation for toughness because of unusual pampered examples like this one.
This Ford is legendary because so many Festivas looked like this particularly post-apocalyptic example, hanging on for years or even decades before giving out. Small cheap cars are one of the most abused classes of vehicles on the road, and the Festiva could take the punishment.
Just about every iota of value has been extracted from this faithful commuting companion. Even in such a state, the owner left a pleading note for the inevitable tow truck driver. Is this a move out of pure desperation, or does it betray a certain appreciation for the dependable Ford?
Of course, such things can’t last forever. Eventually even the most well-engineered and well cared for car will give out. Without a major financial investment, the scrap yard beckons.
Yet even Festivas are beginning to age out of the junkyard ecosystem. I’ve only spotted a handful in my many trips scrounging for parts for my very own dependable 80s hooptie commuter. Many of the junked Festivas I’ve spotted have had close to 300,000 miles, despite being only a rung or two above the cheapest cars you could buy at the time.
Since we’re talking about this particular junked vehicle, let’s take a look at the basic interior these offered. It’s nothing special, but the hard-wearing cloth and durable plastics did hold up to abuse well. You didn’t get luxuries like a tachometer or a passenger mirror, but it wasn’t the worst surroundings ever put in a car. It’s intelligently basic rather than punishingly sparse.
Does the Festiva live up to its reputation? As no one appears to have written a COAL on a Festiva, I don’t know. They have long been cult classics, but absolutely no one is restoring them. What will happen when we run out of mint condition elderly-owned Festivas to snatch up for peanuts? Has that day already come? I suppose Festivas will become the new Falcons – too plain and pedestrian to restore, but too iconic to let die.
Related CC reading;
Curbside Classic: Ford Festiva – A Festival of Longevity, And How To Live In Your Festiva
I had a Festiva like this as a long term rental while my car was in the shop after an accident. Not powerful but peppy. The A/C worked great!
I had the successor. ((the “Aspire”)) Was a good runner, excellent heat and “a/c”.
I should have kept it longer then I did.
Rode quite, quiet for such a small car.
Also called Kia Abella in some Asian countries.
The Fiesta had more originality, in addition to being much more popular.
Not so in America at least. The original Fiesta never made much of an impact, but the Festiva carved out a niche for itself in the market and hung on for nearly a decade with little changes thanks to a loyal customer base. The later Fiesta that was brought here in the 2000s was more mainstream than either of the other two for sure.
The Mk1 Fiesta had a limited American career because of production capacity and CAFE.
The Fiesta ended up having limited utility for CAFE compliance because EPCA (the federal law that created CAFE in 1975) only allowed a limited number of imported cars to be counted toward automakers’ domestic fleet average, and only in 1978 and 1979. After that, they had to be counted as a separate “fleet.”
Because the was selling very well in Europe, there was also not a lot of capacity to spare for U.S. models without setting up a U.S. assembly line. Since the bigger FWD Escort was already on the way when the Fiesta launched, Ford U.S. figured that was the better bet. (Remember, Ford Motor Company was not rolling in cash in that period.)
So, the Fiesta was a CAFE booster (although not by as much as you might think given the statutory limits) for 1978–1979 and stuck around through 1980 so that Ford dealers would have a small car to sell until the Escort was online.
Huh, I had no idea about this import exemption. It makes sense though in an era of protectionist economic measures that they wouldn’t want CAFE to dump a bunch of imported cars on the road instead of actually cleaning up the big domestic gas guzzlers.
The Festiva WAS available with a tachometer and dual mirrors (power, even) on the LX model, but that was dropped for 1991. The 1991 GL did still get a passenger side mirror, though not a tach.
The cleaner red example I shot even has a luxurious rear wiper!
Noticed that !
I’ve been shooting and posting Festivas since I started doing CCs back in 2009. And there’s still a couple around. Tough little buggers. I suspect this will not be the last Festiva post here at CC.
“Everyone else thinks you are an . . . .”
But I enjoyed this entry very much.
Agree entirely with your sentiments, but was never able to own one.
Thank you!
(and just kidding)
I had one back in ’89. Absolutely wonderful car other than the Yokahama tires it came with were hard and incredibly slippery on wet roads. I was fortunate in getting the high end version with tachometer and slightly nicer interior. And memories of that car (I knew it was a Kia when I bought it) had a lot to do with why I was willing to trust Kia’s one to two decades later when looking for good transportation. Which they’ve always lived up to.
Mazda by KIA and sold by Ford.
Curiously, if Wikipedia (and its cited sources) are to be believed, rather than this model originating as a Mazda 121 and then getting rebadged as a Ford, it technically went the other way around.
Ford tasked Mazda (which they owned a stake in at the time) to develop these as a new Ford model, initially launching in Japan and America as the Ford Festiva, then only a year later also started selling them as the Mazda 121 in Australia and Europe (but never in Japan).
My one aunt’s last car was a red Highline 92 festiva. This was a lady who knew reliable cars. Her driving history included a 57 Chevy, two slant sixes ( one dart, one valiant) a Toyota Corolla and a chevette. It was a fun little buzzbomb to drive and was still on the road going strong when she passed away in 2003.
I’m not a small car fan myself but if I could find one in as good a shape as the first picture I’d almost be tempted.
The very apotheosis of a penalty box automobile. I’d hate to think of ever being forced to drive one of these tiddlers for reasons enumerated above: safety, economy &c. I don’t care how nimble, fun, thrifty, etc it may be imo it’s false economy in the extreme. While they may have had their place, and this perhaps is a top example of the genre, I’m surely happy not to have been forced into driving this exemplar of hairshirt automotive desperation. Better thee than me! I’d buy a used Crown Vic and swallow the gas mileage, and repairs on it would probably be lower over the long term. Definitely not my cuppa… cool to see one still hanging on though.
You are missing out! A well designed small car is a pleasure in itself – I drove a 41hp original Mini for years and enjoyed extracting the most from it every drive. One had to use its agility, plan overtaking moves precisely and keep momentum up at all times. It was like playing a game of chess – you had to plan ahead and be aware of everyone else’s moves. Immensely satisfying!
That Mini shared a garage with some properly fast cars, but I never tired of driving it, even on Autobahnen, when one would often end up in hilarious slipstreaming battles with Fiat Pandas, or 2CVs.
The replacement for that Mini was another one with about 85hp. This made it properly quick, as it only weighed 640kg and was short geared – an absolute hoot to hassle GTis with.
That old addage about it being more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow really is true…
It may have triple the power of an original Mini, but driving my 1985 Mercedes 300D in modern traffic is certainly a a different experience than any other car I’ve ever driven. You need all of its power all the time to keep up. It can do it, but it just needs a little more time. Admittedly, I also live in Atlanta, a city of gridlock traffic and Interstates nowhere near the 45 mph back roads it is happiest in. I tend to just floor it all the time.
I find I am often held up by 400+hp modern SUVs whils driving my 46hp Karmann Ghia, but I guess years of riding bikes has taught me to conserve precious momentum. Good aerodynamics allow it to run relatively easily on the freeways where it will sit quite happily at 80, and its fairly light weight means it’s probably a bit peppier than your Benz, though.
That 300D of yours has the lovely well damped ride and solidity that Mercedes were once famed for, so I’m sure it offers an enjoyable way to eat up the miles.
Actually, it’s not good for long distances. Mine in particular. Ordinarily, the incredibly heavy throttle pedal and need to use 95% throttle at freeway speeds would be enough to tire you out. Mine has ill sealing windows and many rust holes in the floor that conspire to also make it quite loud inside. And the seat is fairly creaky with a rogue spring that slightly pokes me in the back.
Plus the whole totally functional HVAC thing. The only setting is exterior temp defrost full blast. The summers are rough, but not as bad as the winters.
I’ve driven it 4+ hours before but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s not that the car will give out. It’s that you will give out.
No not missing out, I’ve driven a Geo Metro and had a Pinto for a few years that was modified to handle. Fun in it’s day but that day passed. Also having 3 kids eventually militated against owning automotive versions of tiddlers.
“One had to use its agility, plan overtaking moves precisely and keep momentum up at all times. It was like playing a game of chess”
I outgrew that driving style and learned that to “drive mellow” was far more pleasant and satisfying, figuratively “smelling the roses” while on wheels. I preferred the comfort, safety and reliability of big US 60s and 70s cars and was quite willing to sacrifice the gas mileage. YMMV.
Ps: if I wanted to drive a slow car fast I had plenty of MGBs in the garage for that purpose. No car better for that.
Several years ago I drove past a house that had 5 Festivas. It was during the day so it is possible the owner(s) were off at work in yet another Festiva or two. Of the ones present two were definitely front line cars in the main drive while the other three were off to the side but were still very presentable and looked like runners.
From people I’ve known who had them they were quite durable mechanically and fun to drive, thanks to those Mazda bones.
I was going through a divorce in 1991 so I had to reduce expenses. I traded in an ’86 Mercor XR4ti on a
new 1991 Ford Festiva Plus. It made to 119,000 in 1996. It was cheap, fun vehicle.