I remember seeing Tempos and Topazes all over the place when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s. They became a rare sight after the turn of the century.

As a kid of the 80s, I can confirm that these were everywhere back then. Very popular.

Currently driving a 1996 Mercury Mystique 2.0 5-speed with over 300k miles on it. Drives like new, doesn't burn any oil! Really fun to drive, 32mpg all day long :)

My family collectively drove a '93 Tempo 2.3L 2-door for 22 years. The ONLY problems we ever had with it were the harmonic balancer and heater core. That's it. I may be a Toyota guy but that Tempo was a damn fine, reliable car.

My wife and I tested a Tempo in 1989. Then we drove a Probe, based on the Mazda 626. Man, the contrast was night and day -- the Probe was so much smoother riding and more responsive. We bought the Probe.

My grandmother had a loaded 88 tempo that she brought in 89 as a returned lease from Hertz rental. Had under 20k miles when she bought it and was a fantastic car for the next decade. I still remember the comfy burgundy valour seats!

I drove an '86 Tempo in high school. My dad bought a '90 Tempo and I remember it being the only car I'd ever driven that had the automatic shoulder belts. So glad that feature didn't last long.

We owned 3 Ford Tempos and 3 Mercury Topazes. Ranging from a 1984 Tempo that we paid $110.00 for it to a 1991 Mercury Topaz. The most we ever paid was $600.00 for a fully loaded 1986 Mercury Topaz LS, which of course was the fancy model. Everyone of them were good cars.

We had a 1985 Tempo, 4 cylinder 5 speed. It was a great car, lasted a long time, held up with no repairs, just tires, brakes, a battery and oil changes. Great mileage on my work commute and on vacations. The trunk held a lot more than other small cars. I would buy another one, I sure am not going to buy a battery powered car.

7:10. The commercial was filmed in Ontario, Canada, on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Owen Sound branch. The scenic hairpin turn at 7:20 is on the Forks of the Credit [River] Road between Brampton and Orangeville. The CP Rail locomotive is pulling Toronto GO Transit single-level commuter cars of the period.

As I am watching this I am following you word by word with Wikipedia !

My wife and I inherited a Toespaz (as I liked to call it) from her dad. I think it was a '92. It wasn't sporty. It wasn't fast. It wasn't in any way cool, but it had a spoiler on the back and it certainly served its purpose. It was quite comfortable and fairly easy to work on. I repaired and refreshed a few things myself and had a bit of suspension / alignment work done. In the late summer of 2006 after I had just retired from teaching, we drove it from Vancouver, B.C. through Yellowstone and on to New York, Connecticut, Maine, through Vermont and into Sherbrooke, Quebec where our lad was attending university. We stayed in and explored the area for few days while we also transferred ownership of the car to him. We had him drive us to the airport and bade the car adieu. He used it for the next 2 years by which time its time had come. Good times. Thanks for reminding me of that wonderful road trip made possible by that good old toespaz.

I worked for Ford Motor Company back in the early 80's. Tempo/Topaz had so many driveability issues that Ford published a bound book of Technical Service Bulletins just on their driveability issues. Most got remedied with EFI.

...bought a '88 Merc..loved that car..2 door..fun to drive..

My mother had several of these and I had one myself, a 2 door Topaz with the flush lights and a 5-sp. I had good memories of them.

I bought an '86 Tempo GL 5-speed to replace my VW Bug when its engine let go. It had about 70k miles on it when I bought it; I kept it going for another 125k. Decent car, but its front end got chewed up by Denver's pothole-laden streets. I replaced the tie rod ends twice on it. But other than a leaking power steering pump, it still ran pretty strong when I sold it.

Listen, I'm, glad someone did this, and SO well. Wow. I'm probably the only American that's still craving a Ford Tempo as I actually was in the dealership as a kid when it was new in late 83. I thought it was the most modern looking regular car I had ever seen. I was IN the dealer lot, and sat in one with red interiors and it felt like a spaceship. The red swallowed you up. It had a little drawing of a car down low in the center console that notified you of doors, trunk, etc. being open. Coolest thing ever and as a kid I had to have that. Then I sat in a white one with blue interior and was immediately stunned at how a simple interior color change can change your entire mood when you entered the car. I was hooked. My father never did get to buy one but the longing for one is still in my blood. Revolutionary car and excellent video with factual information all around.

Tempo sure did deliver on value for the dollar. My mom had an 89 and i owned four of them over the years. The automatic transmission one’s ate tie rod ends and muffler systems at an above average rate. But neither of those parts were actually expensive. The air conditioning was super powerful and the fuel injected ones gave adequate performance. Overall I cannot say that I had any serious issues with any of them. I did my own maintenance and oil changes, they were easy to service and the diesel version was phenomenal on fuel if you were willing to live with the slow acceleration in city driving. On the freeway the diesel was great. Many people hated them, but I think they were very good and enjoyed my experience with them.

I had two Ford Tempos and 1 Mercury Topaz. Even on the used car market back then those two were a lot of car for the money. The one I fondest of was a 1986 Tempo GL coupe. This one was a special order,as it was equipped with the 2.3 liter HSO(High Specific Output) version of the HSC engine. And as a bonus,it was equipped with the 5-speed manual transmission. It had the "two tone" paint scheme (red on top,with gray on the lower body and bumpers) and it had the trunk mounted luggage rack. That car was A LOT of fun to drive, something that couldn't be said often of Fords from that era. I still miss it.

Hey, it's my first car! I had a 91 Topaz GS, it wasn't stellar, but it was mine. Looking back, it wasn't the greatest car, but for its time, it was economical. Cash for Clunkers destroyed these time capsules

I just stopped driving one of these things. 1983 ford Tempo with the 2.3 - 4 cylinder could do 0 - 60 in 8 seconds. I kid you not. Best beater I ever drove. Raced everyone with that thing. Absolute beast in the winter. Got it given to me and drove it for like 3 years until the transmission failed from me stepping on it. It died last year. Was going to take it to the drag strip for confirmation on how fast it was. I was beating 4x4 trucks in the winter. Absolutely trashing some low power 4x4's with a ford tempo. Carb even. Best beater I ever drove.

My first car was a 86 Tempo I got it in 1994. Few years later I got a 1992 Mercury Topaz XR5 V6 5 speed 2 door. XR5 V6 only made in 92. Very rare and I never saw another one on the road. It was a fun car.

My dad had a 84 tempo with a manual transmission. Compared to my mom's 84 escort station wagon it was a rocket ship. I still remember going to Zarowni Motors to pick both cars up with my dad.They finally ended up selling both those cars in 2000. I can't believe i sat in those cars from elementary school all the way until i was finished with my studies

Learned how to drive on an 88' Ford Tempo..also an 88' Mercury Sable...cars my parents had in the 90s.

I owned 2 , one was a tempo & other was a topaz .The tempo was a daily driver , and topaz was a fix & flip car . I enjoyed both of them , always started & super easy to repair . Both of them had almost 200,000 when they were sold .

Had a 85 sport gl 5 speed. First new car we ever bought. I got 38 mpg on a highway trip. Averaged 31 mpg. Fought distributor issues and inner tie rod ends later on before selling.

The rush of power from the Vulcan V6 option was hardly felt, because V6's also got a numerically lower final drive ratio to keep fuel economy up. It did make highway speeds feel less fatiguing though (2000 rpm purr instead of nearly 3000 rpm roar).

The SalesMen & Mechanics at the Ford dealer I was a service Porter at in my Senior year of H.S. Would refer to the Tempo & Topaz as baby Sable&Taurus when they wanted me to go out back & bring one in for new car delivery prep

I had to replace the head gasket on my employer's carbureted Tempo with the 2.3L years ago; it was my first experience with torque-to-yield head bolts. A broken bolt caused the gasket to fail, but I lapped the head flat on a piece of plate glass with valve-grinding compound and installed new bolts to spec. Must not have screwed up too bad as the car ran good as new until it was traded...

Dad bought an 86 Tempo. The thing was a constant headache for him. Warped brake rotors, bent door hinges, rusted door panels, and a litany of other issues. It was always in the shop for major repairs - thankfully, always on Ford’s dime. Dad owned other Fords that had no issues. The Tempo was not one of them.

My father bought a 1984 topaz [4cyl] and my mother got a 1986.[4cyl] Both junk! the 84' was worse. It had a troublesome carburetor. Transmission failed at 40k miles. 3 speed automatics [but you could get a manual] 15 mpg,and the engine was screaming a 65 mph. Mufflers rusted out at 20 k miles. I could go on and on and on.......

My parents owned a 1992 Red Tempo 4 door. By the late '90s with 120k miles on it the 4cyl engine was worn out. We lived in WNY so it had to always go up hills. They bought it used from Hertz when rental car companies sold their cars off with about 36k on the odometer.

I can’t tell you how many tempos and topaz’s I cleaned in the early mid 90s working at hertz car rental lol

these were all over the place along with the Escorts when I was a kid. They became, along with the Cavalier, the unofficial teenage pizza delivery car. I think cash 4 clunkers really finished these things off. Haven't seen one in years.

The 2nd generation Tempo/Topaz were good cars.

As a teenager in the 80s, I always preferred the styling of the Mercurys over the Fords. No Idea why. Just did.

Test drove a diesel one in Jacksonville Fla. Never seem another one since. Drove great kind of wish i would have got it.

October 1984 my family's lumber company purchased 3 Tempos to replace 3 Fairmonts. Two were used by outside salesmen, one was kept at the office for people to run errands. They were durable and reliable cars, accelerated way better than the 6 cylinder Fairmonts they replaced, and when you put snow tires in them, they could go until snow packed up under the belly. By 1986, my father was so impressed with them he got my sister a Tempo Sport (2 door) to drive to HS then college. Last Tempo I saw driving daily was my exbrother inlaws Deisel Tempo he got when a customer dropped it off at his shop and abandoned it. Tattered seats, failed paint, but the engine and transmission had never needed major repairs and it had 380K on the odometer. Barry named the car Los Tempos and his brother Chris drove it most of the time. As Barry once said, Chris could be given an anvil for Christmas and my New Years it would be broken. Well Chris met his match with Los Tempos - Chris passed away and the car was still going. Sure wish Ford built such durability and reliability today.

Great video! My college car in the 90's was a 1989 Mercury Topaz LTS. Car was actually pretty reliable and surprisingly good in the snow with proper snow tires.

I bought the Tempo GL manual in '87. Put 225k miles on it before it was totaled while parked on the street. Original clutch and never had an engine issue. My model appears @6:57. ❤

Hey Tony, I needed a car in a quick way in 88. I worked for a hotshot delivery company. It was the 1st year of Gen. 2..also a 2 door, so it had the back of Gen 1..Year I had the famous engine cut out, just cruising, and it took them forever to sort it out. 1st they claimed it was the fuel pump. It did it a few days after I picked it up & the service advisor told me the fuel injectors needed cleaning & on & on. I was 21 years old, and really got interested in fixing & figuring out my own problems. When a few years later, I found out this was happening to all the Tempo's, I was pissed. I'd had an Escort b4 I bought that Tempo. After that I bought Toyota's & 1 Honda, and never went back to domestic. BTW, the Escort b4 the Tempo was a pos too! Take care.

My old 1986 Tempo is sitting junked behind my barn. I got it free and drove it for 2-3 years. It ran okay but was kinda rusty. The muffler fell off. Then I got a 1995 Contour for $500 from my brother-in-law and parked the Tempo and never ran it again. The '95 Contour is still my main car with 180,000 miles on the clock. I don't drive much. It's totally rust free because I learned to squirt drain oil on the undercarriage to prevent rust. Works like a charm. It runs good. Still has the original exhaust and muffler.

My ex-g'friend from high school had an '88 4 door dark blue Topaz GS with manual windows and only an am/fm (no cassette player), and my friends' g'friend in college had a 1990 4 door Tempo black! At the time those girls LOVED those cars. I dunno how those stories ended. I know I would Always Smile when my girl picked me up as it was better than taking the bus!!!!!😎😎🤓

The sales continued to dwindle throughout the 80s and early 90s even with refreshes and redesigns. More and more people were going to Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Mazda and (even Nissan). Even Mitsubishi used be popular back then. American brands were selling to the same customers every few years and that’s how they got by. The Japanese, especially Honda and Toyota, where taking customers from American brands which is how they’ve managed to gain so much market share in the US. By word of mouth, people knew how much more reliable and fun Japanese cars had become.

My parents had 2 consecutively. We actually ran across the first one several years after we sold it. Still running fine.

Wow!!! My first car, 1985 Tempo White 2 door G 5 speed manual

The other reason Ford built these "loss leaders" is they needed the EPA mileage credits to build the vehicles people actually wanted to buy.

In 1990 my new wife wanted a new Ford Tempo. So I bought her a brand new blue 4 door. The first summer we took a trip from Washington State to the Penticton British Columbia area. The air conditioning promptly broke while we were driving all around the Penticton area. Later when we got back to Washington State the ignition module went out. It took them a while to figure that one out and our dealer had to replace three different things to get the car to run. One day when the car had 13K miles the serpentine belt broke right while we were driving past the local Ford dealer. Jeez what a joke. Then at about the 15K mark I took it in for an alignment and Les Schwab said it needed some front end parts replaced so they could align it. Later that year at about 18K miles I drove in to town to pick up some groceries for the family and when I reached the city limits the brake pedal went to the floor. I had it towed to the dealer and they said it had catastrophic brake failure. So a bunch of money later we got to drive it again. Oh and by the way the air conditioning broke every single summer but warranty only covered the first summer. So my wife said after four years maybe this Tempo was a lemon just buy me a new one. Stupid me I went and tried to buy her a new one and the dealer wouldn't give me hardly anything on trade for the old Tempo on a brand new one. So I said enough of this and bought her a brand new Accord and never had any further car worries. The Tempo was junk! I bet I lost more than Ford did on my Tempo over the time I owned it.

I was working for Ford at the time. I took a brand new Tempo off the truck and floored it on a road test. The vehicle tried to dive into the ditch. I then immediately let off the gas pedal, and it tried to swerve back to the left. Torque steer light crazy, handling like garbage. And to think Ford sold them for 11 years...

Wow what a blast from the past! My dad had an 84 Tempo manual transmission. That’s what I learned to drive on! Thanks for a great video!

My pop gave me his 93 Topaz. Drove it for a couple of years. In the same week the rack & pinion and the engine died.

Senior year i dated a girl who drove a 92 GLS V6 Tempo. I liked it enough that I went out and bought a 93 Tempo LX V6. I replaced it with an 88 Taurus.

I never thought they were a bad little car! I only knew people that had 4 cyl engines

I bought a brand new Tempo L (base model) in 1986 immediately after graduating college. It provided solid dependable transportation for years. I sold it to a neighbors high school kid in 1999 for $200. That was a great car for the money.

We had a Fairmont wagon. It was decent car. Dad's generation was tubes and am radio with seperate amp. That was car with none,we bonded over selecting cassette deck and speakers I got to install for him. He trusted my judgement, that meant a lot at the time as well.

Great video again. These were such mundane vehicles back in the 80s. I was of driving age in 1985/6 and dad was quite loyal to fords and mercury's. I fell in love with the escort along that time and eventually buying a 90 gt. I couldn't help but quietly cheer these cars on as a ford enthusiasts at the time. Watching their evolution was satisfying and somewhat exciting with the v6 models. The only sad thing about these in my opinion is they were to closely engineered with the escort/lynx and therefore they weren't much roomier for being a larger vehicle. I also believe the forthcoming contour didnt puck up where the tempo left off but rather reset that model spot until later in its model life. Thanks for another informative video and a trip down memory lane.

I had a brand new 1985 Tempo. Very reliable car, but I had that module you spoke about died on me twice. That 2.3 engine took a beating delivering Domino's Pizza. Car never came close to 34-28 mpg. 18-19 combined best.

Thank you. Have been a long time AMC and GM guy and h "Hated" Ford's. Your videos, which I have now binged watched 10 of them, gave me a new perspective and appreciation of Ford's. Thank you for these awesome and informative videos.

We had a Tempo as a rental on a 3 week family holiday in Florida in the 80s. Really liked it.

Wife and I bought an '86 Tempo LX demonstrator with 9,000 miles for under $6,500. Car was loaded with every available option for that year. Never had any major issues except it would always stall in reverse and turning the wheel fully right when parallel parking. Had a great sounding high output cassette stereo. Great gas mileage and great in the snow. Only got rid of it in '92 for a '89 Chevy Caprice Estate wagon because of our growing family.

I recall these well...the main problem with both these and the following Contour, was that Ford was constantly discounting Taurus, and for only a few hundred dollars more, you could buy much more car in a Taurus...and Taurus offered an excellent wagon

Had a 94 tempo. Was a great car.

I worked for a rental car company in 1984. The Goodyear Vector tires it came with would cup to the point of being trash after 10k miles.

I bought a 1991 GL 4-door sedan because I was fed up with the 1983 Chevy Citation I was driving before that (and frankly, two-doors were no longer practical because of a growing family). Drove that car almost a decade--and my daughter drove it another year or two after that...I really got my money's worth out of that Tempo! (I remember seeing an article in the Toronto Star calling the V-6 Tempo "a baby SHO," by the way...)

My mother had a 93 Tempo with the optional 3.0 V6. That was a really good car for what it was, and pretty quick too with the V6. It had somewhere north of 140k when she traded it for a Plymouth Breeze in 99 or 2000.

The first car I drove with a permit was my mom's red 92 Tempo. It was a pretty good car. They had it long enough for the paint to fade to pink.

Use to draw these cars when I was a kid. There is something about that first gen of cars that look charming !

My parents had 2 Ford Tempo's - a base 1986 GL and a loaded '87 GL Sport. Both cars had the 5-speed manual. My siblings and I all learned to drive on those cars. No problems with either car in the 5 years or so my family owned them.

They had a reputation (not a good one) amongst us Gen X'er s. They were known for poor quality control and being absolute turds on the road. The 2.3 was an absolute gutless engine. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the 2.3 Lima engine (which would have been a step up), but a shortened Falcon Thriftpower 6 (by two cylinders) that was every bit as cheap as the old Falcon 6, and was a pushrod engine. The engine was because the Lima plant was running at capacity. The chassis was Escort based. It should have been better. We loved the Escort, not so much the Tempo. It was definitely aimed at middle aged people who wanted creature comforts and didn't care about moving down the road in a timely manner.

I had a 1986 Tempo "Sport". Wasn't great, but not bad for a 1980's vehicle. Certainly better than anything GM or Chrysler produced in that era. Even better than the Corolla. I then bought a 1991 Explorer which was crap. Essentially a Ranger with hundreds of pounds of extra metal with no upgrade to the drivetrain or brakes. Must add that I'm still driving the 2001 F-150 Supercrew.

My mother had a 1985 Ford Tempo in white with blue interior. I even practiced in driving it in fall 1986 to 87. The first time that I drove was in Driver’s education class in high school was a 1986 Ford Tempo in red with red interior. In class later that year gotten a new one in blue with blue interior. Even my sister did drive one in high school and she did a lot better than me in driver’s education. She ended up driving my mother’s car a year and a half. It was on a leased. I gotten a 1998 Ford Contour SE as my 1st car in mid October 1999. I’m a Ford gal since I grew up of both of my parents having a Ford vehicles.

My first ever car, in which I took my driver's license test in 1991, was a black 1985 Tempo with the red stripe in the side. Had it for 3 years, and really miss it now. Loved that car.

I've had 3 different optioned Tempos. I had a 90 4cyl 5 speed, a 1992 GLS V6 and a 1992 4cyl Auto. and I loved them all but the 5 speed was not surprising the most economical but the GLS...man was amazing.

I purchased a second hand 1988 Topaz LTS 5-speed MTX, loved it it was comfortable I could shift up into the higher gear for highway cruising, adequate power and got the job done. I purchased it with 62k sold it with 198k. Blue and silver it was nice. Did not like the front wheel steer and it pulled the front end up when you accelerated didn't like that otherwise it was great.

I bought new a 1993 Tempo GL with an automatic. I was attracted to the looks and the interior. Initially the engine noise was loud inside the passenger compartment and it took several attempts to fix that. Then my muffler went out at 30,000 miles and I live in Georgia! But the clincher was the warning chimes going off by themselves but only on long interstate trips. They wouldn’t go off until the car rested overnight. Dealer could not replicate so no fix. That’s when I traded it in. I have not gone near Fords since.

My parents had a Tempo TX in the mid 80s - not sure what model year. The dealer had two of them, they were Tempos with dealer-added trim to make them look sporty, they only had two. It had a rear wing, front and rear valances, side skirts, and TX graphics with lines. Completely a looks package, no performance. The car was red, and the TX package actually did make it look interesting.

Bought a used '84 Tempo upon returning from overseas duty. That one had intermittent engine troubles I was never able to correct. I did not make enough money to even consider taking it into a dealership for work! Traded it in on a new '88 Tempo in red. That car ended up being fantastic - not a problem one. Thanks for taking me back on a trip in the wayback machine Tony!

I had an 88 Ford Tempo 5speed. It was one of the best cars I've ever owned. Not the nicest or most luxurious, nor the fastest. Yet it always started, was fun to drive & I put a nice stereo in it. The only thing I ever had to put into it was a new clutch. Eventually the body rusted out due to all the winter salt they put out here in Ontario winter's. Modern cars are too complicated.

My '91 Escort 40 MPG but had as much HP as a moped. My Tempo, had a blue two door that looked great. But was a tractor with the shell of a car. LOL In the Ad they show the Tempo passing a semi, yeah only downhill and a tail wind!! I never had too many problems with mine ,mechanically. But both cars were like driving a lawnmower or a tractor. Very crude machines. I bought my '91 Escort new with air conditioning it came to $7,000. I skipped the power window option. lol

We had a 1991 Tempo GL, which was eventually replaced with a Taurus. When I bought my first car it was a 1991 escort.

First car I ever bought was a 1988 Tempo GL. At first I loved it, until it started just "randomly" failing. I made it all the way through high school with that car, and against my will got pretty good at fixing it when it would crap out. Eventually I just got tired of dealing with that piece of crap and sold it off for salvage value just so I could stop looking at it. Got me a '91 Cavalier Z-24 and that car never caused me any headaches, it just worked until a guy ran a stop sign and totaled it.

Intermediate exhaust pipe 48263, seemed to be the most popular replacement part on those things. One year the fuel pumps started going out about the same time the fuel blend went from summer to winter.

A coworker bought a new 1986 Tempo for his long compute to work..his 2.3L engine never broke in correctly and it burned oil all the time. He averaged 300 to 400 miles per quart the 3 years he was at the consulting firm. He fought Ford for years and they said still needs to be driven more.. He and a guy with a new 5.0 1986 mustang both had engines that burned oil and the consumption never changed. Yet another coworker bought a new 1986 mustang with a 5.0 and it did not burn oil like mad. Ie got 2k to 3k miles per quart. Both oil burner coworkers got new cars since wanted a new car. The 5.0 mustang oil burner guys can came with no oil in its manual transmission and it seized up in the first tankfull. He had to wait 6 weeks to get a new transmission and rent a car. Both oil burner guys bought oil by the cases and the cars never stopped burning oil. The tempo oil burner car guy was commuting and driving 50k miles a year since bought a house in Palmdale and worked in Ventura county.

I traveled a lot on business during 1986-87 and rented Tempos lot. I didn't like them very much until I rented one with an adjusted steering wheel. Made all the difference in the world! I loved driving that particular car. I'm a bog-standard man of 5'10" and I figure Ford missed badly with ergonomics on the interior.

I had 2 1988 Mercury Xr5's. Both Black/Grey with 5sp sticks! Loved both of them. Also had a Contour SE 24v V6 5spd and 3 SVT 5spds. Great lil cars!

Another great clip, thanks again mate! I always found the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz to be nicely styled cars, especially the first generations. A shame though that there was never a wagon offered. Here in Australia, Ford Australia had been building Ford Cortina's and then in 1981/82 Ford Australia dropped the Cortina and started producing the Ford Telstar, which like the Ford Laser/Mazda 323 twins at the same time, was a differently styled Mazda 626 in 4dr sedan and 5dr hatch! Later on there was also a Ford Telstar wagon, but that was only available in Japan and New Zealand. Between 1989 and 1992, Ford Australia had also entered into a brief partnership with Nissan Australia, to produce another mid-size car, which was called the Ford Corsair, sold as a 4dr sedan and 5dr hatch. It was a rebadged U12 Nissan Pintara/Bluebird - also sold in the US as the Nissan Stanza. The Corsair and Telstar were sold along side one another, with the Corsair being the entry level midsize car from Ford, as the Telstar was now an import from Japan and more expensive. The Corsair would be dropped in 1992, this was also the year Nissan Australia stopped building vehicles in Australia and became a fully imported brand, the Telstar would be dropped in 1995 and replaced by the first generation Ford Mondeo - imported from Belgium. Fun fact - Australian Ford Cortina wagons were assembled by Renault Australia, as Ford Australia didn't have the capacity to build them.

Believe it or not growing up in a Jamaican 🇯🇲 decent family we were taught to drive Japanese or foreign vehicles but these were one of my favorite American cars growing up as a kid i was born in 89 so i remember seeing these everywhere i liked the 1st gen the best

My grandma had a 4 door Tempo in a tiny town in South Dakota. All the cousins drove it around town as soon as we were able to reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel. Not enough power to get into any real trouble. Super reliable though.

My first (running) car was a 1992 Tempo GL. Couldn't get into too much trouble with the 2.3/3spd auto. Had power locks and mirrors, but crank windows. Mine had the driver's airbag. Downside is that the horn button was the turn signal stalk. Upside is it had conventional seatbelts instead of those godawful electric seat belts. The worst problem it had was a warped harmonic balancer, and the only time it left me stranded was because of corroded battery terminals. 32-oz Coca Cola took out the heater control buttons, and my new CD player. Sprung for the OE cassette tray mounted cup holder after that. After 3 years, I traded it in on a 1999 Jeep Cherokee. Funny thing is the similarities between the two, since their original models were both "class of 84" vehicles.

My first car was a red '89 Tempo that would sometimes shut off, but only if I were driving at highway speed for more than an hour or so. The car was over 10 years old when I first got it and I was in high school, so I really didn't NEED to drive that far in the first place. The car lasted me through college when I just had to get rid of it because the frame had rusted all but completely through. The engine was still in perfect running condition when I sold it to the scrap yard.

I remember my Tempo adventure….skid, skid…Sky/Road/Sky/Road/Sky/Road/Ditch…

I had a new 1987 Tempo 2 door in black with a 5 speed. The ignition module did leave me stranded once. Other than that, it was an okay car. Traded it in 1991 for the Mercury Tracer.

These cars especially last generation were so well styled. Just a simple and attractive car design that aged pretty well in my opinion. I had a 92 Tempo coupe for a brief period of time in the 2010s. It was very dilapidated but I learned a lot about engines working on that car.

My parents bought a brand new maroon 87 Ford Taurus wagon that always seem to have something wrong with it. Transmission failures, AC, Electronic gauge cluster would go out suddenly, And the thing that freaked my mom out the most and is the reason we only had the car about 10 months is because randomly while driving in the rain the car would just shut off. That's a problem here in Miami when every afternoon brings a torrential downpour. I was only 8 but by then I loved cars so I was totally coherento what I was looking at or writing in and I remembor going back to the Ford dealership usually Lee sitting in the middle hump of a tow truck seat seat and trying to guess what tempo loaner We would get And whether or not it had a tape player. I remember 2 of the loners having issues with with 11 having a slipping transmission and the other having a bad AC and a slipping transmission. I know that was the problem because my mom was too scared to drive the car and made my to work instead leaving her with his Toyota 4x4😂

The front suspension on these hated meeting Mister Curb (my daughter got to drive my Topaz to work daily after getting her newbie drivers licence). Instead of bracing the front wheels with an A-arm (like any K-car), Ford held everything together with a trailing L arm. Every month or so the front right tire mysteriously went bald, needing a new unkinked arm to solve the massive toe-out. Daughter always claimed it was from potholes...

Had a 92 Tempo 2 dr. Had it for 4 years and was pretty much problem free other than normal maintenance. Was my first new car btw.

Thanks for this video. I had an '88 Tempo GLS, that I remember the salesman telling me the GLS trim level was Ford's intention to compete with euro sedans, like the Jetta. I enjoyed that car and I thank you for the nice memory your video has brought me.

Had a New 86 Tempo manual and rally liked it . Traded it around 70 K with no problems. Auto transmissions were a different story - DOGS. Lucky to get 60 K on an Auto without a replaced Trans.

I bought a 1986 Tempo 2 door sport. White in colour with stripes new when l was 24 years old. I had me a good one, drove it like l stole it for 4 years. Only thing l did was oil changes and brakes oh yeah tires too. It was a great little car. Last ford l ever bought though. Cheers people

My mom had a 91 tempo and years later I had a couple 91 chevy cavaliers. 1 cavalier was the 2.2 and the other was a 3.1 convertible. The domestics made simple cars back then. The tempo hated cold starting in damp weather, the 2.2 cavalier needed a head gasket which I did myself. These cars weren't without their quirks but they were fairly decent overall