Would a 92 Ford Festiva be a good trade?

[19Walt93]

They were good on gas and horrible for everything else. They held about 3 qts of oil and people would forever run them out of oil. The front wheel bearings weren't just press in and reinstall the hub, you had to set the preload using one of 52 possible selective shims, too loose and the bearing failed again, too tight and the bearing failed again. I didn't make up 52, that's really how many choices of shim there were and no parts room had all of them. To replace the rotors you had to reshim the wheel bearings and then they'd often fail. We didn't have an on car brake lathe at the time and it was cheaper for us to pay the Honda dealer up the road to cut rotors than to do it in our shop. The car was an obsolete Mazda design built in Korea by Kia. Keep the Bronco, gas is a bargain compared to fixing a Festiva.

 

[19Walt93]

The Festiva was succeeded by the Aspire, another Kia built P.O.S. but you could get 4 doors and an automatic. a 5 year old beat up Escort would cost less to buy and much less to repair.

 

[racsan]

Wow, I always thought they were a crap car. Aside from all the “fire” hype of a pinto, I thought they were a decent car.

 

[ireallydontcare]

19Walt93, thank you for the info. I told the guy I would have to pass.

 

[Dirtman]

What you need is a fiesta...

 

[Curious Hound]

What you need is a fiesta...

I thought that was just a newer rebadged Festiva.

 

[19Walt93]

Wow, I always thought they were a crap car. Aside from all the “fire” hype of a pinto, I thought they were a decent car.

I owned 3 Pintos in the late 70s' and early 80's, they gave me good service and no problems and I sold each one for a profit. They were no more fire prone than most cars of the same years but Ford had crash test video showing one exploding after a high speed rear hit and 20/20 got hold of it and blew it out of proportion. A lot of GM's in the 60's and 70's had the gas filler behind the rear plate, Jeeps had the tank under the driver's seat, pickups had them behind the seat back, and VW beetles had the tank sitting in the driver's lap effectively- the dash electrics were "protested" by a cardboard shield.

 

[racsan]

I liked the gas filler behind the license plate, I had a 77 nova like that, made a small prop stick to hold it open for refueling. It drives me crazy how some cars now have it on right side & some are on the left. Ive seen where its switched sides on the escape, not sure when the escape switched to right side fuel door, but its one of the newer series (after 2012) I remember gm trucks with twin tanks had fillers on each side.

 

[19Walt93]

I worked at a Sunoco station form 72-75. People would often leave their cars running while we pumped the gas, on a hot day between the exhaust fumes and the 260 fumes coming back in your face, you'd be light headed and woozy by the time it was full. For those too young to know: Sunoco had 8 grades of leaded gas- 190 was economy regular and we thought you were a cheapskate if you bought it, and it was 89 octane, 200 was regular and it went up by 10's to 260 103 octane super premium. I thought 260 smelled great and it looked like cranberry juice if you put it in a clear container. Only guys with serious performance cars would buy it because $.46 was too much for a gallon of gas. Keep in mind that minimum wage was $1.60 at the time.

 

[adsm08]

Ive seen where its switched sides on the escape, not sure when the escape switched to right side fuel door, but its one of the newer series (after 2012) I remember gm trucks with twin tanks had fillers on each side.

Gen1 and 2 Escapes (2000/2001-2012) were on the driver's side. Gen 3 and "4" (2013-2019) had it on the passenger side. The 2020+ I don't actually know where it is.

 

[racsan]

I must of seen a 2020 then , I knew it was a newer one and saw gas fill was back on drivers side. Im suprized the gas fill location was never a gov mandated thing, so much else is . All the escapes from 2013 on look pretty much the same to me. I really like the 2011 Ive got, I wouldnt want one newer than a 2012.

 

[Roert42]

I think I read somewhere that in japan the filler neck has to be on the opposite side as the driver.

My 2000 mustang has it over there. Everything else I’ve ever owned was on the drivers side.

I’ve drove a lot of rental cars, and most cars have a little arrow near the gas gauge that tells you which side it’s in.

 

[racsan]

I’ve drove a lot of rental cars, and most cars have a little arrow near the gas gauge that tells you which side it’s in.

Ive read that too, but whoever thinks to look at the gas guage for a arrow when you need fuel? before I got used to it I always would pull into the wrong side with the HHR. Ive considered trying to move it but the exhaust system would be right in the way.

 

[MikeG]

Drives me up the wall that I have two vehicles that have the cap on opposite sides..... there should be a law......

 

[Curious Hound]

I thought it had to do with which side of the road they drive on in the home country of the manufacturer.