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This car got me through college and during my loneliest years in my early 20s. Everyday that I was able to turn on the engine, was a day I was grateful it worked. I don't know what I would have done if that car had broken down. I was very poor.

How did I know a good old criticism of oil temp and voltmeter omission was coming? Thanks for not disappointing, JD!

I remember both the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz were offered as prizes on "The Price is Right" in the early 1990s.

I see a mint Tempo driving around my neighborhood every once in a while. I live in a rust belt area too so he must think he has something special. I guess its special enough for me to post about it.

I bought a 1990 charcoal grey Tempo L brand new upon returning from my honeymoon. That car was fantastic and was a true tank! Had it for 11 years and was still in great shape when I sold it. Great memories!

My very first car was a 1990 Ford Tempo 5 speed and bought it with my own money 5 months before I turned 16. It had 162,000KM, needed work to pass the safety check, which I did myself and basically it was just brakes and a couple light bulbs. I drove that thing from 1997, I was in grade 11 and one of the very few out of all my friends that owned and insured their own car, which meant I could go where ever I wanted when I wanted, which meant every high school party. It wasn't uncommon to have 6-7 people in there at times lol. It was no sports car but it was MINE. I taught so many of my friends how to drive standard on that car and I never had to change the clutch. Never once did it break down and it always started even at -30C without being plugged in. I finally got rid of it in 2003 when I bought a 1991 Ford Thunderbird LX 5.0L High Output that was fully loaded. Still the amount of fun I had with the Tempo and the memories that were made still makes me smile. I've got many picture of it at parties off in the background (I had a decent stereo in it so it was used as a DJ booth on wheels). All in all it wasn't anything special but man oh man did it get us around and was super good on gas.

I have been enjoying watching the weekly broadcast of the old episodes, and I love the retro reviews!

My parents bought an identical red Ford Tempo new in 1988, skinny whitewall tires and all. It's what I was brought home from the hospital in. They kept it until 2003 remarkably, but over those years, it left us stranded many times. I remember the alternator failing at least a couple times. Died on the side of the highway once on a trip from Pittsburgh to Detroit. Wouldn't start on various occasions, including on a hot summer day after coming out of the grocery store, ruining anything we bought that needed refrigerated. My dad was so happy to finally be able to get rid of it and has sworn off Ford ever since. This video still brought back lots of great childhood memories in the Tempo though, so thanks MotorWeek for posting this one!

My father in law owns a Mercury Topaz stick shift. Considering how long he's owned it it's been a good car to him

I borrowed my dad's 1989 Tempo for a semester in college back in the early 90's when I had to sell my Civic EX. His Tempo was pretty rare as it had push button AWD. Everything worked, it was comfortable and I can confirm you could fit a ton of tennis balls in the back floorboards. The A/C worked great in the Georgia heat too! It wasn't fast (my girlfriend at the time had a Corsica with the V-6 that would crush it and also V-6 Camaros of the era), but it was reliable, comfy transportation. I have fond memories of it.

My first car was a 1992 Ford Tempo GL 2-Door with the 5-Speed Manual. I loved that car and it got way better gas mileage than the three speed auto.

Fun fact: Unlike the 2.3-liter overhead cam engine in the Mustang & T-bird, this 2.3-liter overhead valve unit was basically a cut-down version of the old inline 6 that was used in the Falcon back in the day.

Once I was being chased by an axe/chainsaw murderer who was driving a blue Ford tempo with gray cloth interior. It was a beautiful, fuel efficient car. I was in an iroc-z and I couldn’t shake this guy. He powered up steep hills and cornered switchback mountain roads like he was on rails and kept up with me for over 100 miles in a high speed chase nearing speeds of 62mph. With his quiet comfortable interior, the chainsaw murderer’s ears were spared some of the loud decibals of noise coming from his wildly revving chainsaw. He was able to recline comfortably in the bucket seats that provided superior lumbar support as he cornered through mountainous terrain. He finally succomed to asfixiation from carbon monoxide poisoning because of the fantastically airtight interior and plunged to his death into a mountain ravine. The 1st generation airbags saved his poulan chainsaw from even the slightest of damage.

I just purchased a '94 Tempo six cylinder as my daily driver. Very nice car and every thing works except am radio. The car is silver and looks more like a six-year-old car than a 26-year-old car. No emissions inspection required here in NJ for '95 and older. 80,000 miles. Everything is so unrefined and retro-fabulous compared to any modern car.

That is some INSANE body lean around 0:48

In all my life I never realized that the two cars had different rear glass!

My dad had a 92 topaz with the 3.0 V6. That was a great car and very reliable. The V6 greatly improved acceleration.

Omg we had a red 1990 Tempo, what a flashback. Loved the push button climate.

My parents bought a used, somewhat base model, manual transmission '88 Topaz in Black with maroon interior in February 1995. We used it to tow a fully loaded U-Haul trailer from Michigan to southern Missouri! It somehow made it through the hills and valleys of the Ozarks with a trailer! It was a tough car. Dad ended up totaling it in mid '97, falling asleep at the wheel, hitting a telephone pole head on.

Nowadays, it’s getting harder and harder to find a Tempo or Topaz on the road, but what’s probably harder? Finding one with the optional airbag.

I had a 93 Tempo GL with the 3 liter V6. That really woke these cars up when it came to power! They only offered that engine from 92 to 94.

My family growing up drove a '93 Tempo until 2001. I can't even begin to describe how embarrassing it was when every other kid's dad in our neighborhood had some sort of luxury nameplate. Looking back, I feel shallow for hating it so much. It was an honest car doing what it was built to do, and I understand why my dad was in no hurry to sell a reliable, paid-off car. It only had 53k miles when we sold it, so I hope some other family got some good use out of it.

The Tempo/Topaz twins, then replaced by the Contour/Mystique. The old cars sure seem a lot roomier! Wish my Mystique was the LS trim. The GS has a nice interior, but no power locks, windows, or even cruise control! And those rear windows that only roll down half way are still annoying haha

I never owned one but rented plenty from Hertz on business trips way back when. I became quite fond of them and oddly the Chevy Corsica.

I had 4 used Tempos, all manual trans.over a period of about 13 years, many years ago, 2 for me and 2 for my daughter to drive to school. They were actually pretty good cars with no major problems and got good gas mileage. My brother has had his '93 Tempo for 17 years now, and it is suffering from old age.

We used these cars in drivers ed. back in 91.

Worked on these at a Ford dealer. Easy to work on, few problems aside from regular wear and tear, inner tie rods, brakes. Owned a couple of them over the years, I never changed the oil in one of them for close to 2 years, couldn't kill it even when I tried!!!!!!!!

They had to add an extra 10 minutes of this episode to be able to fit in the 0-60 segment.

4:28 John: WARNING LIGHTS ARE NICE, BUT WE'D RATHER HAVE AN OIL PRESSURE GAUGE AND VOLTMETER! LOL

Back in the day when people bought two door cars for their family.

My grandma had a new 89’ Tempo with the 2.3L “high swirl combustion “ four. I remember it to be very torquey and sufficient because the cars were so light.

A pretty modern interior actually! I drove one with the V6 once and it was totally reasonable.

Okay, so it wasn't a screamer on the highways. But for me, the Tempo beings back memories. My mom had a 1987 Tempo, and I drove it every chance I got. I passed my driver's test in that Tempo in 1991, at the age of 26. It was the happiest day of my life!

I love the Tempo. Used to rent it all the time when I was studying in Canada. Reasonably priced, roomy, uncomplicated, economical on gas (by North American standards, that is). I even managed to influence a few of my Canadian classmates to buy it. I also love the factory sound system, the cassette deck even includes Dolby B noise reduction! I won't hesitate to buy one, even today. Gauges? Yes, I agree with MotorWeek. Nothing beats a set of good gauges over idiot lights. When the lights come ON, damage has been done.

'89 Ford Tempo was my first school car, wasn't very old and had very low miles. 30 mile round trip, easy on gas. Never have cared about speed or being "cool". It was totaled when a truck crossing the highway decided stop signs were optional. Replaced it with a '91 Lumina Euro.

Buddy of mine had one. He would race my 90 Cavalier and I beat him everytime, but honestly we both lost. We didnt even break any speed laws. It got a rod knock, breaks started to fail, and then he started treating it like red headed step child.

I have an 89 Ford tempo GLS 5 speed I still use as a daily driver, 2nd owner, all I've done is basically standard maintenance, runs strong, transmission and engine are great, comfortable and not a bad looking car, the 5 speed with the GLS trim has a decent ride and a little sporty. Good mileage, reliable and not expensive to own, parts are cheap and readily available, easy to work on, overall a pretty solid vehicle, its overheated on me a few times, when I had a heat sender go out, a coolant leak and another time when a fan switch went out, but that cast iron engine has held up. The 2.3L HSC/HSO is one of the better engines Ford has made over the years.

Had an almost-new '91 "program car" Tempo GL sedan when I was in high school. Two things I remember were how loud the engine was on the highway and how underpowered the radio was. The red velour interior was comfortable and it was my first car with power locks, power windows, tilt, and cruise. I also installed a Motorola cellular telephone with a glass-mount antenna. I often pretended to be using the phone because, at 60 cents per minute and only 20 free minutes each month, I couldn't afford to actually use it.

Early 90’s in high school there was a Tempo I used to see driving around on some gold Dayton wire wheels with a loud booming system.

Every time I see a Tempo or Topaz of this generation, it brings back memories of me learning how to drive (and CONSTANTLY fix) my buddy's '94 sedan in Oxford White with the four cylinder and automatic. Thing was as slow as snails mating after vasectomies but I give it credit, it was fun in the most unusual way.

I worked at a BMW dealership in the 80s and we had a couple of these as loaner cars. We used to call them "The Ultimate Tire Squealing Machine". To be fair, I'm sure that was mostly due to the bargain basement Hankook tires we had on them. They really had a soft and wallowy suspension though. My wife rented a V-6 Tempo from Enterprise or Avis for a week once while her car was in the body shop, and it really wasn't a bad little highway cruiser at all.

When I was a kid, as a car enthusiast, I hated seeing these everywhere, especially in autumn, when it would get in the way of the beauty of nice cars on the orange backdrop. ... Now I miss seeing them, Astro’s, Aerostar’s, Sundance’s and Dodge Aries’ everywhere... I’d give anything to see a day of my childhood over a new Ferrari, any day of the week.

Those rear glass/window nods are subtle, and barely noticeable. A nice design cue towards their respective brands, setting them apart. Back when they actually cared enough to try to set the brands apart.

My high school used a Ford Tempo for their Driver's Ed car. I drove that Tempo in the summer of 1989 and passed easily. But I was glad that the car I would be driving daily was a very stylish and comfy V6 Buick Skylark LE.

Also, 4:30. You knew it had to be in there. JD is a freaking legend.

My mom had a 1984 mercury topaz in metallic brown & tan leather. Beautiful car. Very classy back in the day

I have never met a man who loves oil pressure and volt meters more than John.

My first car was a 93 topaz. I put rims and a big coffee can muffler on that thing and drove it till the wheels fell off. Also put a crap ton of speakers on the trunk.

Describing these cars like "watching ice melt" is generous, it's more like watching bread go stale.

We've been spoiled with all day retro marathons for many weeks on Thursdays. Now all we get is the Tempo/Topaz.

My first car was a '91 Topaz GS. Nice college car until the transmission crapped out my senior year in 2002. No one said it was quick or reliable but the 2.3 I4 did what was intended - which was push me toward imports when I started working.

My mom bought the new 1988 Tempo LX same color as in video. The 2.3L HSC was very torquey but lacked on power, roomy as stayed, the upgraded audio system, bass was hard hitting, I got into sooo much trouble in that car. If she only knew. My first speeding ticket was in a Tempo of all things lol. My lead-footed starts kept breaking the motor mounts(ooops)

0:51 "Much improved" Tempo & Topaz: *manic screaming*

My 89 Topaz LTS had over 200k miles. Just disliked the loud, 3 speed engine on the highway. The tach was 3,000rpm just at 60mph. Overdrive would've made this car almost perfect. But yes, as John said, there was almost zero road noise, that was nice!

My parents bought a lease return 1991 Tempo in 1992. The car was incredibly reliable and comfortable. The only problems I remember were the windshield wiper switch broke off but it was easy to replace, additionally, we went through 2 or 3 starter solenoids. After the first time, the starter solenoid failed I learned how to jump it and start the car. One day when I was probably 11 or 12 years old the Tempo wouldn't start in a parking lot. I remember begging my Mom to let me jump the solenoid and at the same time trying to convince her I really knew what I was doing. Finally, she let me jump the solenoid, and the car fired right up. That was one of the few times I really impressed my Mother. I even had my Mom take me to the Ford dealership and told her what part to buy and I replaced the solenoid myself that evening. I went on to become a mechanic and I have had steady employment since the day I graduated high school due in part to the experiences I had fixing my parent's cars.

Co-worker has her late grandmothers '89 Tempo with 30k original miles.

Cute little car! I had the Ford Taurus! Lots of problems with it. Half Shaft rods from the transmission. Two on both sides. One shaft rod on each side. Had to replace the CV joints, and idler arm. But, it was a pretty car! I never wrecked it. I washed it all over it's sheet metal. I loved that car! But, the engine fell out and I couldn't drive it anymore! I cried when they towed it away!

These cars were affordable and Bulletproof...i miss the old days..2.3 was made for many years and improved through the decades...Cars is 2022 are too pricey for poor people..

I had a 92 Topaz 2-door back in the late 90s. As far as cars go....it was one of them.

Can totally see 2000s crown Victoria front end inspiration came from the tempo here

Ah the automatic seatbelts always fascinated me as a kid. Hell they still do.

My dad had a red one like this after he sold his talking LeBaron.

I'm from Toronto, Canada and I rarely see these cars now but I did see a Tempo two years ago( it was a 4 door) and it was in mint condition, the owner took really good care of it.

First car I ever owned. Bought a 1988 Red Ford Tempo. Exactly like the one in this video. 1997...so many problems...but it got me to where I needed to be.

I had an '87 Tempo Sport GL coupe in white. I drove it for 6 years and beat the crap out of it. It got me through school and tough times. I achieved 40 mpg with the 5 speed at a steady 50 mph on trips in Maine. I wish I had taken better care of it because I don't see any of them around these days.

First vehicle was an '88 5 speed Topaz. I loved that big booty beauty.

My brother had a maroon topaz 4 door just like this one. It was in perfect shape. I'm not a lover of those cars, but I miss those times.

It’s funny how neither car they compared it to were actually in the Tempo/Topaz class. Both the Cavalier and Sundance competed with the Escort. For 1988, the Tempo and Topaz competitors were the Aries/Reliant and Corsica/Grand Am/Calais/Skylark.

In the 90s they were considered boring. Today driving around in one of these would be a hell of an experience. #oldcarsmatter

The Tempo was the first car we had when we moved to the US in 88. I really liked it, but I was a kid, so what did I know lol... but I think my family was very happy with it too.

My mom had a late 80s Tempo. I would usually get annoyed in the rear seat with the windows not going all the way down. I remember seeing a lot of Tempos and Topazes around, just like the Taurus and Sable. I barely seeing any Tempos and Topazes anymore.

My first car!! 88 Ford Tempo, Burgundy, exactly as shown!!! It was pretty good; got me thru my senior year high school and first year college.

I used to see these cars alot where i live back in the 2000s, now I'll see a tempo on the road once in a blue blue moon.

I had an 88 and 93 tempo it was very reliable and very smooth riding. I miss those little cars

5:30 I find it a little odd that MW wouldn't acknowledge or simply not realize the rear windows not going all the way down, is actually a consequence of wheel-well design. Imho, it was nothing more than clever marketing for manufactures to suggest they had the safety of our children in mind so people would see this as less negative aspect. I cant think of a single car that utilized this "half way down" feature when they didn't need to.

Years ago a older lady at our church used to have a 1992. She kept that car very clean. She didn't drive much and had that car for years.

A great car for blown head gaskets and broken input shafts.

I owned a 1989 brown Ford Tempo as commuter car in college. It served its purpose.

The family car for 10 years was a 91 navy GL... we kept it running for 20 years before someone bought it to sell on their lot... and did a nice job on the referb!

Back in 90's, my neighbor had a Tempo, which had small issues here and there. Later I had a 95 escort with the same situation. Although I enjoy fixing cars in garage, no one likes to carry any worry for a trip.

Comparable models should have been Chevrolet Corsica and Plymouth Acclaim, not the smaller Cavalier and Sundance. Otherwise, I always enjoy these old reviews!

Looks about a similar length to a Toyota Corolla and Ford Europe's Sierra Sapphire. Watching in, Ireland.

Cavaliers z24 has a good handling for the car off its class size and the price and good acceleration too for what it is ❤️

There was a reason for the rear windows to not fully go down. I remember that reason was for any children, in the rear, not to stick their body out, or their arms, when car was in motion. Sure Ford could of put in a device where the driver could operate to allow the adults to fully roll down the windows, perhaps.

My grandma had a Tempo of this style in beige. The only thing I remember about it was the automatic belts not being too friendly with my 9 year old height. She traded it in for a Windstar when those were launched.

Note the HSC 2.3 engine is actually an old "Thriftpower" inline 6 with two cylinders lopped off. This is not the Pinto/Lima 2.3 engine used in the Ranger and Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. They made this engine due to needing more four bangers than the 2.3 plants could provide in the early 80s- they also kept the 200 inline 6 around for rear drive vehicles due to V6 demands- they sold Fox Platform vehicles (Mustang, Fairmont, etc) with the 200 inline 6. So it having poor NVH when revved makes sense when you realize it was based on a very old at the time inline 6 engine. But that old engine design made it durable and easy to work on at least. FWIW- the best Tempo was the 90s model with the 5 speed manual and 3.0 Vulcan V6. It was a baby SHO and sold like ice in Alaska. They should have added the 3.0 Vulcan V6 earlier, but I assume didn't want the Tempo to be quicker than a more expensive normal Taurus.

Cool, my 1 st car was a white with blue interior Ford Tempo sedan, it had cruise, power locks, auto transmission, roll up widows, I enjoyed it Good memories 😀

Like Jackie Stewart said, it's a rrreal driver's car!

I had an 87 GLX four-door with a 5- speed loved that car ...... I would love to have another one...

I had an 86 (pre-improvements but at least not the original front end styling) Tempo 2dr ex-fleet car with few options beyond AC and the Jensen I transferred from my exhausted Honda. Drove it thru law school when I ate pot pies and noodles to scrape together rent. An absolute non-entity, uncomfortable, claustrophobic, tortoise slow and with auto, got horrible mileage - granted I lived in the city. Never knew what became of it in the end - it lost 3rd gear and I couldn't get it to the dealer where I'd bought a much more interesting SHO 5spd with a payment book. Let it sit on the street for a couple months and one day it was just … gone. Plates were current, wonder what the thief thought when he hit 40-45 mph and that was it. I'd get parking tickets every now and then on it, which I ignored. Of all the cars I've ever owned this (OK, the Chrysler E class that was a hand me down) is one I wouldn't want back in any form. I do eye the SHOs from time to time though :)

I was nothing no signs of me anywhere back in 88 but love that decade. I was born months before 9/11.

Had some good times renting those back in the day for the weekend.

I have a fantasy build: A 2nd gen Tempo coupe with AWD, a V6, and a 5-Speed. While all the pieces were available on the Tempo (at least until AWD was discontinued in 1991), you couldn't get all of them on the same car. Imagine that, but with a higher power engine than the Vulcan V6 (would the SHO V6 fit?) and you have an (extremely) poor man's Audi Coupe quattro.

Lol my aunt and uncle owned 4 of these Mercury Topaz's over the year's my aunt got the new one my uncle got the old one ,all 2 door's and their 3 kids got one every time they traded up lol they had a 84,87,90,93 they still drive the 93 . I remember my cousin got the 84 topaz in 1994 for his 16th birthday his brother got the 87 in 1998 for his 16th birthday and their sister got the 1990 in 2002 for her 16th lol My uncle loved his 93 and still drives it my aunt got a 97 Probe GT Which she still has lol

I want a SHO powerd tempo sleeper. You would never see it coming

Back in the day i had a 88 tempo gls, and a 90 gl with 5spd, fun times....

My greatest regret is that I didn't buy a Tempo or Topaz when I had the chance, said no one ever.

I had a neighbor who bought a used 88 Tempo in 93. I was owned by Roseanne Barr. The used car dealer showed her the California title(pink slip). Must of been a grocery getter.

I love watching these retro reviews, shows how far technology has improved. 12.4 seconds to 60 haha😂