Hey I'm a new member with a Festiva

[GasSavers_Kraig]

Hey,
This is my first economy vehicle. It's a '91 Festiva L, 5 speed, dealer add on A/C and it's Surf Blue. It took me months to find this car and I had to drive 7 hours to get it!! Needless to say I'm intersted in improving it's already good fuel economy. The previous owner said he got over 50mpg on the highway with the A/C on! I've been driving a '86 TBird Turbo Coupe for the last 16 years. It just rolled over 250,000 miles (original engine!!) and it's time for retirement for it. It got 27-29 mpg going to work and as good as 32 mpg highway. I received a free '95 F-150 Supercab and thought I'd drive it to work. Well that lasted about three weeks and I decided I couldn't afford to drive that thing on a daily basis. So I started to look for a 5 speed Festiva .......... and finally found one. Now I'm eager to improve it's economy (efficiency). I also own a '86 Comp Prep SVO Mustang (1 0f 83 made that year). It's been on the cover of MM&FF and in the same mag a couple more times.


Kraig

[Matt Timion]

Welcome Kraig! I don't know much about the Festiva, can you tell us more about it?

[XFi]

Welcome to the site Kraig! You will find a lot of useful info archived here that you can search through. I have personally had six Festivas over the past few years. They are a good economy car with the 5spd transaxle. Achieved 54mpg HWY on a trip with one (kept speed down around 55mph).

My more recent interest has been with Metros (more of them around), but would like to hear/see more about your vehicle and any planned modifications. Again, welcome!

[Mighty Mira]

Welcome!

[rh77]

Hi Kraig, welcome to GasSavers!

It's good to see a Ford vehicle here as there aren't many around. It looks to me that you have an excellent platform for a hypermiler. Keep us posted on any questions or plans

RH77

[XFi]

Ford/Kia

[rh77]

Originally Posted by XFi

Ford/Kia

Ford/Kia? Hmm, didn't know that. It makes sense, though. I just always figured that it was a carry-over of a European or South American-Market model. What's the history of it in North America?

RH77

[XFi]

Not sure what the history is exactly. It was a mutt (like most econos). Had something to do with being Mazda Designed, Kia Built and Ford Sold....if memory serves me correctly. Definately say manufactured by Kia on all of them.

[GasSavers_Kraig]

They have a 1.3 liter, EFI (later models) Mazda 4 cylinder and tranny. They're supposed to last 300,000-400,000 miles and the 5 speed ones get great gas mileage. They're very roomy inside for their size. And as I have found out, can be quite hard to find for sale! I plan on aerodynamic and other mods and hope to see milage well in excess of 60 mpg when I'm done .......

[SVOboy]

Any power numbers on that 1.3 beast?