How can it be? We’ve never given the Ford Festiva the full CC love it so rightly deserves. I can’t think of another car that’s worked harder for the accolades about to be bestowed here. It’s determined to keep showing up in front of my camera until it gets its propers, although I’d hate to stop seeing them everywhere.
I’ve been shooting Festivas since the get-go, and some of these have been here before in Outtakes. But I just shot a few more this fall, so it’s time to gather them up in a Festiva festival. And I’ve invited an outsider to join, the world’s most famous Festiva. It’s got 515k miles on it, and it’s been used for years by a couple that live in it. Seriously. The Festiva is also the world’s smallest motorhome.
First, a wee bit of history, which is a bit unusual. Ford essentially requested that Mazda come up with a sub-compact hatchback. Or so the story goes, which seems slightly odd, although Ford’s the relationship with Mazda was a bit complicated at the time. But then Ford’s global reach was wide, and it would appear that Ford NA was clearly becoming intrigued with the idea of importing from Korea to lower its cost in a segment of the market that was notorious for generating razor thin profits, if any.
So instead of importing the European Fiesta, as it had done in the late ’70s, Ford created a partnership with Kia Motors, which already had a license to build Mazda cars and trucks. It all made a lot of sense. And the little hatchback Mazda cooked up was a winner, as well as zinger.
Even then it was quite small, but from today’s vantage point, it’s minute. A wheelbase of 90.4″, and overall length of 136.8″. That’s a full 19″ shorter than the Golf Mk1/Rabbit. Yet it was remarkably space efficient, thanks to a very upright and boxy body that didn’t waste a cubic inch anywhere.
That applies most of all to this Festiva, the PeaceLoveCar that was turned into a rolling home back in 2009, when it was gifted to the owner, Sam, who originally lived out of it by himself. Amazingly, he found a companion (Raquel) who was willing to join him on the journey, as well as share the little narrow bed that is mounted where the front seat used to be. Well, they are yoga teachers, and it would take a bit of advanced yoga to pull that off for years. The Festiva now has over 515,000 miles on it, and the owners have turned it into a successful blog.
Here’s the living space. Very carefully organized.
They’ve driven it all over the North American continent. A testament to its intrinsic durability. But they recently did replace it with a Japanese market used 4×4 van, so the PeaceLoveCar’s days are apparently over. It’s had a good run.
For those not looking to live in their Festiva, the accommodations are quite decent, although pretty basic in the low end L trim. The LX was decidedly posher, in relative terms.
Given the Festiva’s length, the rear seat is nothing short of amazing. Has there ever been a more space-efficient car? Perhaps. But this is a contender.
Given the Festiva’s near-legendary durability, one might assume its engine or other elements had been used before and were well-proven. Not so; this is a clean-sheet design, Mazda’s first go at a really compact FWD hatchback.
Now we come to the good part: The Festiva was quick, and a ball to drive. Although the 1324cc SOHC four was rated at a mere 58 hp in US trim, it managed to scoot the 1720 lb hotbox from 0-60 in a mere 10.2 seconds. And through the quarter in 17.8 seconds. Faster than just about anyhting in its price class. And of course get mileage in the high-30s.
And its handling brought just as many smiles per mile as did its performance, with the major limitation being the tiny 145SR-12 tires. But that could be readily fixed, with some bigger wheels and rubber.
Festivas have been working hard here to earn the status of ultimate shitbox (“beater”, in other words). They’re cheap, and apparently just keep on going.
And they earn their keep in all sorts of roles, including hauling unspecified long objects. Plumbing pipes? Hang gliders?
And here’s the other extreme: the world’s shortest roof rack. For purses, I presume.
Yes, they’re one of the consummate Eugene-mobiles, along with Corollas, old Subarus and of course the VW bus, especially so in Westfalia regalia.
It’s not hard to shoot them in multiples; there’s a blue one back there in the driveway. The only thing missing here is a good shot of one next to a typical SUV of the current times. the Festiva is the ultimate opposite.
The Festiva turned out to have a long lifespan in more ways than one, as it’s still being built as a five door sedan in Iran as the SAIPA Pride. And it was built in its original form until 2003, as the Kia Pride Y hatchback in China. Even in Korea, the Pride was built until 2000. A rebadged Mazda 121 version was designated for various other markets, including Australia and Europe. Yes, the Festiva has become a living testament to its good genes.
I suppose I could easily have waited another decade to give the Festiva its day in the CC sun, but why? We can do it again in 2031. I’ll wager now that there will still be one on the streets here.
Interesting to see even these had the automatic seatbelts.
Auto seatbelts are such a typical North America, short lived thing. It really deserves it own history write up. I am always amazed so many cars had these. Were they so easy to design / install for a car factory? It would need a special rail around the door aperture which sounds fairly expensive.
It seems everyone hates these, why? Seemed a practical solution to me but as having no experience with them whatsoever what do I know. But it is a fast disappearing act.
There was a federal passive restraint requirement that went into effect in 1989/90, all cars had to have either an airbag or automatic seat belts. It was considered easier to implement the belts until a full redesign could incorporate the engineering and testing required for airbags. No one liked them then (or now), but I had a 1991 Accord with them and they weren’t too intrusive.
“I had a 1991 Accord with them and they weren’t too intrusive.”
Having owned a passive belt car, I’d say intrusiveness is in the eye of the beholder. I never had a problem climbing in and out, but my passengers frequently managed to entangle themselves during entry, and they then expressed their feelings about “These damn automated belts.”
As far as I could tell, these folks raised their arm as the “mouse” zipped along the door frame, and managed to position the belt under their armpit. It wasn’t hard to fix the issue, but repositioning the belt every time was a hassle for them.
Was that the reasoning behind the seatbelts as found in the 91 LeSabre? They were door mounted so you could buckle them in and still open the door to slide out. The manual called them automatic seatbelts as I recall having read the manual in my 91 LeSabre
Yes, GM’s solution that would leave you essentially unbelted should the door spring open in a collision. I didn’t care for the auto belts either, and as they aged they would often get stuck in their tracks. I’m not sure about the timeline of the mandate, and how much lead time the automakers were given to implement a solution, but both of these choices were in my opinion poor workarounds for airbags.
My ex had a Tempo with automatic belts. They never bothered either of us.
Actually they were not used in Canada, so not North America, but only USA (not sure about Mexico). My nephew had a Canadian VW Passat G60 AWD wagon when he moved to Chicago, and he had trouble importing it because it did not passive belts. He eventually managed it, but it probably wasn’t really legal.
When the passive seatbelt law went into effect, manufacturers had two options. They could fit the tracks into the interior and the belt would automatically move into position when the door was opened. But this required redesigning the interior. If I car was near the end of its life cycle, they just attached the shoulder belt to the door and had a regular lap belt. I had this configuration on my 91 Prelude 4WS. The car was redesigned for 92. If you did not buckle the lap belt, you would submarine under the shoulder belt in an accident. The shoulder belt also stood just a bit off the shoulder. This car didn’t last me long. Nine months after I bought it, I was hit by an elderly driver with diplomatic immunity. I was stopped at a traffic light behind two other cars when he hit me offset at the left rear taillight. The impact threw me into the other two cars and totaled all four. The Honda crumpled in all the right ways and I lived to tell about it, albeit with a few years of physical therapy. The one place the car failed was the seatbelts. They allowed me to lurch forward and almost touch the steering wheel with my chest before they started to restrain me. I was thrown back into the seatback, which reclined and my head was in the backseat, dangerously close to the Taurus that had destroyed the trunk and knocked down the rear seatback into the back seat. The car was amazing and not one drop of gasoline leaked. Three of the 4 wheels were in intact and the car amazing still drove. The only part that failed me was the seatbelt.
Side note: somebody contacted me a year later and said he was buying the car. I assumed it had been stripped for parts and then crushed. He found my business card, which had been in a bin in the dash, but was now wedged in the radiator. The firewall was split. The only body panel not crushed was the drivers door. He bought three Preludes and welded them all together. He used my engine and center of the car. He welded on new frame rails and front end. Then he welded on another car from behind the front seats and through to the trunk. He then gave it to his girlfriend. He kept in touch with me “for questions”. I chatted with him for sheer curiosity. The VIN number for the “FrankenLude” was my old VIN. I followed it on CarFax and it was sold 9 times in 7 years. The salvage title was scrubbed and salvage disappeared from the title after about 5 years. I pity any person who unknowingly bought that car.
They certainly seem to have outlived the younger Aspires (Expires?) that replaced them. In fact, I know of one that will last a few centuries to face off against the dildozer…
Here in Rustland I have probably missed my chance at one, learning too late what a blast they are.
Until reading this, I had no idea that Festivas were known as being fun to drive.
Maybe Festiva popularity varies a lot by region, but here in Virginia Festivas always seemed outnumbered by Geo Metros. That holds true now as well — I see several Metros every year, but Festivas are awfully rare. Rare enough, that I photographed the last one I saw, which was two years ago (below). This rather lopsided one was a 1993 GL (identifiable by the rear wiper, which was part of the GL package).
I owned an ’88 LX I bought new. As Paul’s article states the interior room was incredible. Four adults can fit comfortably, if necessary. Even with the rear seats upright there was enough room for a week’s worth of groceries. 40mpg city/highway, and fun to drive with the 5-speed.
The 12″ tires were not all season, which warranted a quick tire purchase after the first snow.
Quick & fun to drive? I didn’t know but I believe it’s possible with a manual.
Back when I was renting cars frequently I would make reservations at Hertz or Avis for the cheapest thing possible for my need of a car for just a day or two and maybe 20 or 30 miles of driving. Most often this would be upgraded to a class or two higher so I did not get the real penalty box car that I reserved. But not always.
So I did rent a red Festiva from Hertz at SNA/John Wayne airport for work in the area. And it was just fine and not memorable at all. It could not be described at all as a bad or horrible rental car (the worst was that Chevette from Avis in Little Rock). The Festiva I had was just fine.
The festiva was a durable car; by the time kia showed up here in the mid 90s as it’s own brand, it had nearly a decade of experience building cars for the american market. Yet the early sephias seemed just as woeful in quality and engineering as the early excels. I very occasionally see an early sportage though.
Whenever I see a Festiva in NYC which is rare but happens, I think of ultimate slacker commentator “Jim Anchower” from The Onion…
I knew an engineer named Steve who had an affliction for these, being very much of the mindset that by being the minimum viable vehicle for his needs, Festivas were the perfect car. He bought his first one brand new and continued driving them for 25 years, picking up replacements and parts cars along the way.
Eventually the availability of cars and parts dried up, so he switched to the Honda Fit sometime around 2015.
My Dad (6′ 2″, probably 210) had two of these back in the middle ’90’s, bought from the repo lot he owned at the time. He had been a full-size Ford man for years, then dabbled in Chrysler—that damned Mirada—and then settled on Chevy for a while. He probably got his first Festiva for the price of the impound fees, meaning to flip it, and then took it into town one day on a dealer plate for the mail. Within a week it was registered in his name. I drove it when I was home from college and remember it being huge inside compared to what it looked like outside, very responsive to drive, and frugal on gas. I don’t recall what happened to the first one, but I’d guess someone offered him the right price for it. The second one he had for several years until somebody hit it—he was fine, it was a well-designed car—and it was totaled.
Japan got a version with a 1.3 DOHC 16V that made 88 PS at 7K, which must have made this thing feel like a rocket. They also got the option of a power full fabric sliding sunroof. Mazda put way more effort into this platform than what we in the US were aware of, on the surface. Seems like most owners were rewarded with more than the expectations, always a good thing.
These were fun to drive, even auto’s. My mom had one in Chicago for about five years in the 90s. Excellent DD except for the rust. Not so much the body but the mechanicals. Brake pads, CV axles, exhaust repairs would be really expensive because the poor tech had to deal with massively corroded fasteners.
I seem to recall as these exited warranty stage that rear wheel bearings and hubs were for a time insanely expensive, no aftermarket solutions existed, they were on the order of $800 in parts. Apart from that, they were nimble little go-carts, especially with a stick.
I was driving East from Nashville one day on I-24, and noticed I was gaining on a small silver car with an MB 3-pointed star and a series alphanumeric in chrome lettering to one side of that. A Benz subcompact?? It was in the left lane, so I passed it on the right so I could see more … and it had the look of a genuine German product, down to the trim and the fine paint job, and after I’d passed there was a very contemporary rendition of your typical modern Mercedes front grille, writ small. I did recognize the car’s basic structure as a Festiva, one of my favorites at that time, and was sorry I had no camera (no smart phones back then) nor time enough to chase this guy down and talk about it!
THANKS Paul N. As the neighborhood “weirdo with 5 festivas” it’s refreshing to read an article that actually champions the little guys instead of the usual uninformed derogation slung for cheap chuckles. At least one of those 5 is more than cheap and basic.
I never imagine this is one of most loved Ford products, bear in mind it is not special version of Mustang or Ford GT. No wonder Ford gave up making car. Also other similar products like Geo Metro, the later version of Tercel and Civic first generation of Fit and Mazda 2 can not match the status of this Ford. Note Geo Metro has a three-cylinder engine, in today’s concept, is advanced. Before BMW changes its mind to jump into electricity wagon, it was bidding on three-cylinder engine to reduce Carbon emission, a sensible way to help global warming. We don’t need powerful car if we think deeper.
My dad had a 1992 Festiva, bought new, which replaced a 1978 Buick Skyhawk, also bought new. Mom made dad get rid of the Skyhawk after I fell out of it (it was taking apart in Minnesota with rusty latches, disintegrating seats). He was such a skinflint he wouldn’t have done otherwise. I recall stuffing 4 year old me, my 7 year old brother, and 10 year old older brother in the backseat. As I recall it want half bad. I do remember thinking it was the coolest thing to push it slightly down the street without it running; it was a manual. Apart from that, I don’t recall much about it, other than that it was the ubiquitous turquoise. Dad later replaced it with an Aspire, which I gather was the second generation.
Am I misremembering, or were these offered with 4 doors for awhile? I recall one of the itty-bitties of the era offering a 4 door version that looked silly.
Not one but TWO people living in the PeaceLoveCar has to be Guiness record. That’s zen level living for sure. Kind of like Yoda’s Hut and landspeeder hybrid. Yoda’sYogaSpeeder.
There’s probably not many people doing it anymore but it’s apparently a fairly straightforward swap to stuff the DOHC 1.6 turbo engine from a Mazda 323 GT or GTX into these. That would be a pretty quick Festiva. They actually called the swap the Fastiva back in the day.
We have a 1.6 323 in the http://www.PeaceLoveCar.com 🙂
My buddy is half owner of one with that motor I think. They run it as a Lemons race car. Pretty badass. They actually have a sticker on it that says Fastiva
I just saw the Mazda version on TV. In the first season Australian TV series Jack Irish the hero drives around in a borrowed Mazda 121 Fun Top (purple with a Webasto style fabric roof) after is Studebaker Hawk is stolen and totaled.
Also don’t forget the ultimate Festiva, the Shogun, which had a Ford Taurus SHO V6 mounted in the rear Renault R5 Turbo style.
Great article on a car I have a lot of respect for. Eventually a lot of other brands realised this kind of tallboy style was ideal for hatchbacks this small.
These really were well-packaged!
I havent seen a Mazsa 121/Festiva in a very long time and I spend all day in our traffic stream, the easy availability of small recent Japanese x JDM replacements for such cars has taken them all off the roads it seems, small Mazdas are everywhere but they simply arent this old.
I written about this car before, and have sung its praises here as well.
My first new car was a 1988 Festiva LX that I bought at the end of 1987. The LX had the 5 speed, wider tires, the nicer interior, and all the options available. $6995.
I thought it was a disposable car. Nope. Instead I drove it 240,000 miles until 2000, when I traded it in and then saw it run around Springfield Illinois for the next ten years. When it finally was found at a corner used car lot, I took a look. Worn out in every way. Easily had over 300,000 miles on it. Selling for the same price I got when I traded it in 10 years earlier.
It was an amazing car. A box on wide 12″ wheels. Driving it was like driving a Honda Fit or any minivan – right up on the action. So you felt like it was going faster than it was. The 5 speed permitted the light body to rev and gain expressway speed without issue. I drove that Festiva to each corner of the Continental USA without a single break-down.
When it was 7 years old, the Festiva took me and two German buddies and our three huge backpacks and camping gear, across the US during the summer of 1996. I took them from Chicago, to Kansas City, Russell Kansas, Denver, Telluride, Salt Lake, Arches, Canyonlands,, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Los Angeles, Coast Road, to San Francisco – then back to Chicago. A four week trip. No problems. Three adult men and all of our gear. The guys slept in a tent, and I slept in the Festiva. We went from Monarch Pass at 10,000 feet to Death Valley below sea level. From snow to 117 in Bullhead City Arizona. The Festiva gave us about 45 MPG. We were never uncomfortable living in it during that time.
By the summer of 2000, my new bride and I decided it was time to trade the Festiva in on something larger. I got a new Ford Ranger. The dealer was impressed enough with the Festiva that I got $500 trade in on it, and he bought it for his sister. It lasted another decade.
The Festiva was fun to drive, a Swiss-Army-Knife kind of car that could do anything. Thanks to Mazda engineering, it lasted decades and hundreds of thousands of miles. I am pleased that Paul has finally given this car the valued recognition it earned thirty years later.
I forgot to mention a neat Festiva feature on the LX – it had a storage bin that slide out from under the passenger seat. It was a plastic drawer, so if it got stuck, which I don’t recall it ever doing, it was flexible enough to open without any breakage. I kept my emergency auto stuff in it. I also had the optional cover for behind the rear seats that sealed the hatch from the rest of the car. It was a quality cover that actually sealed, keeping the interior a bit quieter. After I sold it, someone cut a huge hole in it for a big bass speaker. Sad.
I kept the interior covered with throw blankets, so the interior stayed immaculate. It was a very sunny car, but the tinted windows helped keep the sun damage out.
I had the fog lights too, and it had Festiva mud flaps. These mud flaps helped make the car look more substantial, because even with the widest tires available, the car looked a bit silly from the back. The Festiva mud flaps covered that up.
As to those tires, you had to spend top dollar to get the best 12″ tires. Without the wide tires, the Festivas I drove seemed tippy and unsure. The wider LX tires made a big difference in handling and corners. I could change a tire in that little car within minutes, because the wheels were so far to the corners of the car, there was very little in the way to remove them. There was an even tinier spare tire that I swear I could have put into my mom’s dishwasher to clean.
I had company cars at the time, so I kept the Festiva so that my parents could use it daily. Both parents loved it. They also had a 35′ RV and the Festiva became their tow vehicle and they spent summer in Colorado cruising around in it. The five speed was a hill climber. It went to the top of more than one 14,000 Colorado mountain without a problem.
It was a great city car. No parking problems in Chicago. Many times the Festiva was our party car for cruising bars on Rush street. It was perfect for San Francisco as well. My buddies and I never lacked for a parking spot anywhere in Boston, Washington DC, or Seattle. One of my buddies is a 300 lb weight lifter and bar bouncer on Rush Street, and when he dropped into the passenger seat, he didn’t lack room, but the Festiva didn’t respond as fast as it normally did! It was a perfect city car.
Drawback? Nothing I could think about. What was a bit shocking however was after adjusting to the POV as a Festiva driver, seeing another Festiva on the road. You didn’t feel like you were in a tiny car, so when you did see another Festiva racing down the Dan Ryan or the Kennedy, it was a bit of a shock to think that the car you were driving was that small. I just didn’t seem small on the inside.
My fiance/wife loved the Festiva, but was always afraid of riding in something that tiny. It didn’t have air bags, and since it was a 1988, it didn’t have those horrible automatic seat belts, just legit three-point belts that actually worked. I struck two deer in this car, and the first deer had nothing to stop it but the windshield. It really cracked up the front end and I had to plead to the insurance company to not total it. Luckily with the LX options, I saved it. The deer died, but the Festiva live on. The next deer slammed into the passenger side and I had to have the dents knocked out of it. Consequently, the Festiva was repainted twice. It was always perfectly clean. No rust anywhere. The open fenders permitted me to wash and wax the insides of the fenders. A car that small could be spotless.
That’s it for now.
I’ve always had a big soft spot for these, more commonly seen here in the UK as a Kia rather than Mazda. And the last new car ever to be sold with white wall tyres as far as I know…..
The Festiva was a great little car. It was replaced by the Ford Aspire. It aspired to be a car, but it didn’t quite make it. The read seat headroom was especially bad with the rounded shape. The boxy shape of the Festiva was much more practical.
Had a green Ford Aspire; successor to the Festiva. Both were good running transporters.
Hola, I’m from Nicaragua, I have a Ford Festiva LX 1988, recently it started giving some type of problems with the bobina or something electrical while it goes running, it stops and it seems there is a electrical shorcut. Now it is in maintenance. I really love this car. It comes with me wherever I go.