WTF is this.

This car wasn’t “worthless junk” to begin with. I’m a dedicated enthusiast to this specific niche of cars and there are some seriously strange and interesting gems in this field of cars, I highly recommend digging into it more if you like the story of the Festiva

Man, I just went back to the 90s. My mom had one when I was a kid. In red with a 5 speed too. That thing was driven all over the place. They put over 300k miles on it. I remember my uncle transporting his motorcycle in the back of it once. Great memories from my childhood.

I remember seeing Jay Leno’s Ford Shogun and i couldn’t stop thinking about getting one. Nice reason to start wanting one again

the most fun i ever had driving was in a KEI-truck, full throttle everywhere, redlining 1-4 to go to 30mph. It was also my first ever RHD ive driven.

here's an underappreciated hatchback: the Geo Metro. they're tiny, economical, *cheap as all hell* and probably really easy to make them fast

Any car can be modified as long as you know what you want to modify it for.

A really good friend of mine has one of these. We had an exhaust manifold welded up for it and bolted on a small Garrett T3 turbo from a junkyard. Kept the boost really low, around 5lbs. It made a huge difference because the car is so light. We took it down the PA turnpike and hit 100 mph thru the Lehigh Tunnel. We cut the springs in half and gave it aggressive front and rear sway bars. Painted it Hyundai pearl white to make the car look a little bigger than it really is. 13 inch American Racing wheels and a 2 1/4 inch straight exhaust with a 12 inch cherry bomb resonator. Super fun to drive on the windy roads here in the Appalachians. Planning on a 1.8 Escort GT motor/trans swap in the spring with the same Garrett T3 turbo.

I'm from the Philippines and seeing these Kia Prides just scattered around town either left to rot or are restomods fills me with joy. Growing up, I've always told my dad I'll build a Pride some day or a 1st gen Yaris. I love those kind of cars. This is what I envision a set-up Pride looks like.

The Honda Fit is definitely underrated. With just a few mods, those things can handle insanely good and with a manual they are a blast to drive

“Any car can be modified” Me staring at my 2016 Legacy 2.5i: 👁👄👁

There is a dude in my city that has a yellow fiesta. Highly modify, he even swapped a turbo 4 cylinder from a 90s mercury into it. It was the coolest sleeper I have seen.

Under-appreciated hatch: Volvo C30 T5. You may have had one on the channel before. I think it was the coolest accessible car growing up.

My parents had a Ford Festiva when I was growing up. Guess she thought it was the best candidate to replace the 1983 fiesta. I had fond memories of my mom jumping railroad tracks rushing us off to school. Little wheels moderate incline short wheelbase and some speed = a good time. (think she thought it was a rally go-cart. ) It was also the car I took my drivers test in. Brother and I also enjoyed lifting and moving the car by the rear fenders and leaving it in hard to unpark positions for our parents. Fond memories for sure.

I have a 2014 Ford Transit Connect passenger van, and I freakin love it. So handy, have slept in the back a time or 2 at 6'3 no problem, can move all sorts of stuff, and it's an Uber workhorse. If they made an ST/RS version, I would totally get one. the 2.4 or 2.5 makes it very under powered, but the low center of gravity still makes it fun, and I have a b8 Audi s4 for speed anyways,

As an ex-supra owner, i concur with the owner's sentiments!

I had one of these as my daily when I used to track my S13! It was bright teal and I had a 15” sub in the back and it was hilarious

Yes! The ford festiva is the ultimate sleeper car, imagine toasting some Camaros in one of these babies

I have a carbureted 1987 Mazda 121 that I'm fixing up as my first car, I've been learning a lot of cool things about it while waiting for parts to arrive

I currently have an '89 festiva, it's my town car. It has 250+K miles and still going, yes I replaced all the suspension, the head, the stock carb with a weber, got rid of all the vacuum lines that it had, the bottom end need a rebuild (blow by) but it still gets about 33 MPG, it is fun to drive, I highly recommend. But my favorite hatchback ever was the Pinto! I had one of those, tried to kill it with 1st gear for miles, flooring it. That only made it run GREAT!! Loved that car.

I’ve been a Festiva, Escort, and tempo guy cause my dad and grandpa drove them. Sadly not anymore. Grandpa has a Kia Rio Hatch, Dad has a fusion, Excursion, and neon, and I have an Escort GT and a Focus ST. But yea the 121 and 323 platform are forgotten

I had one years back! Bought for like 200$. Had a ton of fun with it as a teenager lol. Always wish I hadn’t got rid of it as I’ve owned both a first and second gen SHO, and still have my 89. Always thought the SHOgun was super cool of coarse. Wish you’d review a 1st gen SHO. Another oddball Ford 🤘always enjoy your videos!

Favorite under appreciated hatchback - A 2007 Ford Focus S model. A barebones hatchback with a 5 speed manual, equipped with crank windows. Comes with a 2.0L Duratec powerplant putting down around 135 HP, but tons of room both in the trunk and in the cabin. Great after market, and it saved my life in a terrible car accident. Built like a damn tank, I know it's not an SVT but I'd do anything to get my 07 hatch again.

My dad had a Festiva. He commuted 2 hours each way to work. The family car was a Pontiac Grand LeMans Station wagon. These were the first cars I learned to work on and I can tell you, the Festiva... well, I was 9 when I first started working on it and it was the first car I learned to drive. They did last forever and were pretty forgiving as far as not needing a ton of maintenance. I owned an 86 CRX CURB. IF my CRX had been an FI, It would have been much more fun to drive BUT it was a CURB and I was always having carburetor problems with it where it would just not start or sound like it was being choked randomly. The last time I drove it, it decided to choke out leaving an intersection well into being in the lane of traffic... I was 1 month away from needing to renew the inspection and I decided I was going to get something different instead of paying for the FI swap (I was in college and working full time. I didn't have time to do it myself). My dad bought it from me for $300. He drove it another year (he was retired and only needed something for occasional store runs) and then sold it a year later for $500. It is true, it is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

I remember a guy had one at a dragstrip. He put a D series Honda motor into it with a small turbo. He beat on it like it owed him money was beating mustangs, Camaros and other V8 because he refused to baby it. He has a sticker on the back that said Fix it, Race it, break it, Repeat.

i love 2 door hatch's. especially tiny ones like this. imagine going awd. would be sooooo harrdddddd

“The best car is the one you have” Thats what my dad told me when I was younger!

My very first New car in 1987 was my Festiva LX ! I always wanted to mod it, with Mazda 323 Engine and RX7 rims. This car is awesome! My next car after this was a 91 Mustang 5.0 . Great video!

My answer to your question with a Honda Insight, first-generation. Very aerodynamic, lightweight, and rigid. Not to mention you can buy an inside for less than a Civic I'm currently in the process of putting a 3.2 liter V6 in my insight.

Clean I need to buy one again! Have so much fun with it more than any other car I've owned

I currently own a Mazda2. So fun to drive in the city. It's light and nimble which lets me peel away quickly on lights and keep a high marginal speed on turns. Even took it the canyons a couple of times and was a blast. Used to own Mazda3 08 and mk7 GTI

MY under appreciated car : 1987 Ford Escort Pony. Bought one new at that time. About 1 year after I bought, I had enough, I went to the scrap yard and bought Ford Escort GT seats and replaced their stupid vinyl seats they had. It was quite a fun car at that time, under powered, I beat the shit out of it, the car never failed. Not a classic at all, but fun to drive. If I had one now, no I wouldn't do a Coyote Swap, but I'd surely do some radical mods ;) - Probably once I'll finish my 3V Stang Project, I may look at this. Good video as always!!!

Never underestimate a stripped out Festiva :D Wish I still had my 88. Never thought about swapping the Aspire rear beam tho I did have the sway bar from one. swapped the 12" rims for 14" Forget what the coil springs where from to lower it. Hugged the corners and was super fun.

My junior school teacher had a grey 1989 Mazda 121 version, with a full folding fabric sunroof on it! But I remember the Kia Pride that was also sold in the UK, the first versions in 1991 had white wall tyres for that extra bit of luxury 😉 It was even available as a van here, and a 5 door hatchback too!

Ep3 is very under appreciated. Fun car that handles well, even with the anemic a3.

3:00ish Dude in Blue: I’ve always had a fantasy of taking a Festiva and making it fast. Me: being that I am 38 years old, I remember seeing these around in my city with Mazda B6T swaps. That’s a 1.6 turbo engine from the Mazda 323 Gtx. Then things were pretty quick 🤷🏾‍♂️

23 years ago, I had a classmate that had the Mazda 121 and it already was a joke on its on and falling apart (note, I was driving a Panda and was laughing) ... it got so bad that he arrived at school with a missing exhaust... it fell off half way. But it sure had a cool sound thanks to it for some day. It was surely a car that was used uo back then and went to the crusher. So its really a rare sight to see a 121 over here. Greetings from Germany

The Mazda Protege5, wagon/hatch. My first driving car was a 2002 P5 5 speed and I loved it, I could smash limiter all day long. Just needed to add oil. Definitely wouldn't mind to get another one.

My first car was a 1990 Festiva that ran great and had ice cold AC. Mine was a 1.3 auto, but it would bury the speedometer. I had a Sony stereo, a CD changer, a sub, an amp, and it was given to me by my grandmother. One thing that alot of people did was to swap the Mazda B6T into it and it made it a rocket. That little 1.6 turbo put out 130 HP and 136 lb ft stock and could easily be modified to make more. You don't need any more than 175 whp in that car, but it'd be even better with 200 whp. I also owned a 1992 Plymouth Colt that I swapped a 4g61t into (the little brother of the 4g63t (which I swapped into the same car AFTER I got sick of the 1.6) and it would EAT C7 Corvettes.

I slung pies back in the day with a dude in a Festiva. Surprisingly reliable with how hard pizza drivers beat their rides.

Fell in love with them after seeing the SHO swapped one Jay Leno featured years ago💪💯🇩🇴

hatchback that no one talks about: the 2008-2012 Subaru Impreza. I had one for 2 years and it was a blast to drive with the 5-speed. With some lowering springs, bigger rotors and wider tires, that thing could take any corner at speed. definitely not the most powerful car, but zippy enough to be fun (especially in cold weather). I just sold it last week and I'm definitely going to miss it

I got a festiva recently from a friend it’s fun to drive and easy to learn manual but there’s quite a bit of problems the engine leaks oil thermostat needs to be replaced but like he said the parts aren’t that expensive so it’s a really nice car to just cruise around town 🔥💯

the delivery driver at the pizza place i used to go to all the time had a festiva. ever since i saw it i wanted one, i’m going to look at one tomorrow hopefully it’s mint. i want to swap a bigger motor into one at some point, with some nice struts and that would just be so much fun

That thing is dope, serious mini truck vibes with the fender flares and small rims. I really like this “weird car” series

Did someone say underappreciated hatchbacks? I swear nobody remembers the Subaru Justy. 4WD, 3 cylinders, under 1700lbs? Yeah, I'd say that's weird. Too bad they're almost all gone nowadays.

Never been in one but this is one of my earliest car memories. Mom used to have one and she said they called it “The Beer Can” and $11 filled it up

The first time I ever heard of one of these was at an autocross event in 2017, it actually did pretty well

Growing up it was just mom and I. She owned a blue one until I was about 10 and the only reason she sold it was i started playing football and we needed more room for all my gear. it was amazing little car braving the winters of alaska. I have a softspot for them if in the rare event I see one on the road it reminds me of being a kid.

I absolutely loved the Saturn Astra 3 door. I saw someone w a 5 door yesterday n went nuts. I remember going to the dealership n getting a brochure for it and everything tht car was cool af to me back then.

Favorite hatchback, 88 Subaru Justy RS 4WD. Shift on the fly from front to four wheel drive. 4wd button was on the top of the shift knob. 3 cylinder, 5 speed, 73 hp and 37 mpg's. Every snow storm I would tackle the unplowed hills before the snowplows, nobody could match the pace on the straight stretches. It was like a street legal side by side with a heater. Hey Subaru, Bring back the Justy!

I worked closely with a guy who had a blue festiva. He blew the motor. Insurance totaled it. He bought it back and sent it to the community college for the students to rebuild. It was there for six months. He got it back and drove it for years. He loved that Festiva. Meanwhile, I have a 1989 VW Fox wagon. It’s not a hot hatch. It’s better. So slow. So much fun. Letting it pull in second from 5mph to 40 is about as fun as it gets. What car is a blast at 35mph? Mine!

The Honda Fit is super slept on. I drive my buddy's 2009 Honda Fit and it's all stock but such a blast to drive because it's a 5 speed manual and from factory the steering is tight and there's little to no body roll so it's almost like a go kart. Oh and ofc VTEC 😆. I've seen videos of them k swapped or boosted and on coilovers and whatnot so they have so much potential

This Car proofs that the Marlboro Design works on EVERY car. 😍

I loved my 2.0 liter ford escort as a kid growing up. Loved the episode you did on the white 90’s escort, definitely would peg it as an under appreciated platform. Have a 97 Civic CX now and it reminds me of that car so much.

Somewhere around 1997 me and my buddies found an abandoned Festive with some bullet holes in it and the battery ripped out. But, the key was in the glove box. We decided to wake it up....shenanigans ensued.....it's a fun car.

I think in the us the Mazda Mx3 and technically the mx6, I've been trying to find a Mx3 that has been 2.5 KL-DE swapped (typically the majority of mx6's had that 2.5l V6) because they're just absolutely nuts with the swap. They go from around 120hp with the 1.8v6 to about 170hp and about the same tq. It's apparently a very popular swap in PR.

My boi Stephen! He owns the Supra I shot on my channel! Such a cool guy!!!

Damn this reminds me of my uncle's Chevy Chevette. He loved that little shit. He had it modded out for the time. I was a little kid so I thought it was the greatest car ever. He did love driving it. He would terrify me on curved highway on ramps.

Abarth 500s are super underrated. I own one, and anyone who drives them loves them left and right. But the only time anyone mentions one is when they are driving one. That's underrated in my books

Chevy Chevette. I remember Hot Rod magazine used to shove every Powerplant they could in my 1st Car (White, '82?, Manual of Course, no Radio or A/C). MANLY Exhaust Leak! One of the Best Cars I ever Broke.

I've seriously thought about buying a festiva and doing the full Aspire suspension/Mazda BP Turbo swap numerous times. You get a little hatch that's 10lbs to every horsepower.

I worked at a Chevy dealership in 2016, I needed a new car (but, little funds) asked for the cheapest car on the lot. A brand new 2016 Chevy spark (built in South Korea, by Daewoo) for $12,500 (no employee deal either) I have fallen in love with this little car (go cart fun)

My buddy Chuck drove one to college back when we were in welding school together lol. It was manual & bright ass blue.

My dad owned over a dozen ford festivas, but my favorite of his hatchbacks was a fixed up 88 the Yugo GVX.

Back in 1990 I drove a company car Festiva w/manual and a/c daily. Had a blast. Drove it like I stole it every day. Not a single ticket :) . On the interstate, 3rd gear between 70 and 85 was a rip. Easily beat by just about anything else, it could go where few dared. Steady traffic was your best friend. Very good times.

This guy lives in my town. He’s had a few Supra’s and turbo is300 and I love seeing this more then any of his other cars

thats what I always say, slow cars are always much more fun than a fast car, i love em

One time during the 80s a guy I know took his festiva down on the beach and buried it! Luckily for him it was so light, about six of us picked up the front end and set it out of the ruts and he drove out

Literally sold my 26k og miles mazda 323 hatch to this guy. Guy has some sick cars

I own 3 festivas. One with 250k miles, one with 205k miles and one with a whopping 345k miles. I use them for work commute and get 40 mpg. Can't complain for 1 being $400,1 being $800 and one being totally free. I did own another that was painted up to look like general mayhem and took it to the zip tie drags and has use by David Freiburger in a few of his Instagram posts and was used by roadkill as a cover photo on their Facebook page

love this thing. my first car was a mk 3 fiesta. ive had a micra k11, 2005 ford ka, corsa b, corsa c and many more small hatch's. ive also had twin turbo bwms and various other cars. the small hatch's were always my favorite.

STILL want one of those for those exact reasons!!! ( RCR did a nice review of the Festiva too).

My first car was a Ford festiva and I loved it. Also they didn't just come with a 1.3L they also had an Ls model that came with a 1.5L. I want another one so bad. But are hard to find now

Mazda MX3 GS, a forgotten about hatchback that may or may not have shared the same rear window with the RX7. And it also had the smallest displacement production V6 ever made. I had one years ago and it was the most fun car I’ve owned next to my Fiesta ST. Dare I say that it handles BETTER than the FiST!

I owned an 81 Escort L new. Manual transaxle AM radio. A blast to drive and an 86 Mercury Lynx version of Escort GT.

I had a 99 Geo Metro for a while to learn stick with. Had a lot of fun in that car

My Ford Probe V6 was definitely slept on in its day.

Crazy thing bis..back in 2010-2014 when I lived in Raleigh NC there was actually a Ford Festiva Club..lol

I have a modified manual turbo supra which is a blast in the country roads but my daily is a classic mini clubman. 99% of car people dismiss the mini as lame but holy shit its fun as fuck! Its only a BPU 1098cc but some sticky tires for the 10" wheels and the cooper S brakes make it an absolute riot to hoon around in-itis only 650kg after all. If more people got to drive a modded mini they would gain a lot more popularity I recon, you are never gonna get to 280kph down a strait like the supra can but ithe engine makes all the right noises and every input feels perfectly raw-you just cant help but grin while driving it even after 4 years of ownership!

I love that the classic Marlboro livery is blowing up.

An old teacher of mine had one of these in my time at school. Probably still has it too.

Before Hyundai bought Kia in 1998, Kia worked with with Mazda on just about everything. The first gen sportage, built for Baja racing and was extremely successful in Baja, has a Mazda FE-DOHC engine or Mazda RF diesel, Aisin automatic with a married transfer case or a GETRAG manual, Mazda Bongo fully boxed frame, RX-7 rear solid axle, iirc it’s a Ford front IFS but don’t quote me on that.

Backing around 95 or 96 my wife worked with a guy that had a festiva in his wife called it fast Eva. I liked it was pretty cool you got it fixed up a little bit

5:04 Nerf dart antenna cover 🤣🤣🤣

the marlboro reds rearview mirror accent is a nice touch

Underrated hatchback - 2000's toyota yaris - 2200 pounds, mostly forged internals, fantastic handling for what it is, dead reliable

The SHO-gun was awesome.

Hands down my favorite is the 96 Ford Escort RS Cosworth, my absolute DREAM CAR!!!!!!

Mk3 golfs, they're bulletproof fun little buckets, that are easy to work on. They're so much fun even without the VR6.

every time i see one of these it just reminds me of my 323 gtx, the dash is almost identical to the festiva's, i would imagine a lot of parts are interchangable!

I use to have ,4 Festivas, 5 Escorts 3 GT's and a Contour SVT. Loved them all. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Honda crz, such a fun drive. lead foot still gets 30 mpg.

I have a 1992 Festiva.... It needs a water pump and some TLC. Great little car. Gets like 40+ mpg.

Got a 91 Fest with 154k miles, 5 speed manual. My favorite car to drive everyday

I rode In a engine swapped festiva years ago and have been on the hunt ever since. It was the most fun thing I've ever ridden in but also the most terrifying

I had a VW polo from 95, with a 1.3 spi engine, and I turbocharged it, had so much fun in that car

Please review a modded HHR SS if you like weird wagons, they are quite fun to drive!

I had a festiva back in the day. I fit 12 ppl in it as a joke...that car was built proof. I bought mine from a guy that worked for Ford when this was released, he said they made prototypes that had a rear engine 5.0 liter...could you imagine that? Wicked right? Too bad Ford didn't put that into production.

A buddy of mine and i once came across an older guy with at least 5 running or nearly running festiva’s for under 500 each and im still sad we didnt buy the lot. Such funky little cars and dangerously light stock. Its like driving a refrigerator box. People used to swap mercury/ ford capri xr2 turbo engines in them. Think it was a semi bolt in job. Another quirky weird international parts bin ford car from the same era! Always wanted a festiva! Bought a fiesta and sold it. Think id rather find an old civic or festiva for sure.