Small car ???s

All the mini cars had expensive to rebuild engines. Thats why I like Festiva cause even though engine is too expensive to be practical to rebuild it, you can bolt in the 1600cc version of the engine used in many somewhat bigger Mazda built cars and good used ones findable at junkyards. Just go and try to find used Metro or Justy or Starlet engine in good shape for any kind of reasonable price. There is nothing else that fits in those cars unless you want to do lot of reengineering.

They arent super roomy especially if you have more than 2 people in the car. I even beefed up rear springs so I could handle 4 or 5 50# bags feed without bottoming out, but then I drive alone. If you had two adults and two kids in a Festiva, at best you might add two bags of groceries, but thats about it.

And will say though I doubt there is a better around town grocery getter to scoot in and out of traffic (very peppy going through gears at lower speeds), out on freeway with a semi on your rear bumper, its little bit hairy and people arent very polite. Tiny car with tiny tires and frankly you really dont want to get it over 65mph. You can but it feels very unstable at such speeds. And if you do lot hiway travel, definitely want a 5spd.

Oh and people were mentioning fuel mileage. My '89 with 4spd and carb engine gets around 44 or 45mpg on long drive. With 5spd might hit 50. Think some with fuel injection have topped 50mpg.

__________________
"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Well they did sorta. Ford replaced the Festiva with the Aspire. Same drivetrain, little fancier body. But people werent buying enough of them so Ford ended it. KIA that made the Festiva and Aspire for Ford, also sold same car under the KIA Rio name. However as I mentioned in another post, KIA went bankrupt toward end of the 1990s and was bought by Hyundai. Hyundai continued with some KIA models but gradually replaced them with its own models just relabelled as KIAs. Not sure when the Rio was replaced with a Hyundai model keeping Rio name, but sometime in early 2000's. The Rio, original KIA version had simular drivetrain to Aspire/Festiva but used the larger dual cam 1600cc version of the Maz\da engine I think. It didnt get great mileage considering size and weight of the Rio. Probably mid 30s at best.

And if you lived outside USA there was also the Mazda 121/Pride which the Festiva was a copy made under license by KIA.

__________________
"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Mazda Protege.
Recently bought one, that is the way to go.

__________________
We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....