As a technician in a Ford dealership starting in 80's....i agree, the Aspire was horrible, especially when compared to the Festiva. You could thrash on the Festiva and have a blast! The Festiva was the definition of "more fun to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow." The Festiva shifter was loose from day one but never missed a gear. I do believe that the Contour and Mystique could have easily made the list. The HSC 4 cylinders of the Taurus and Tempo had severe carbon buildup issues, some of that rolled into the nineties but was more an eighties thing.
I loved my festiva. I was trying to kill the engine to do a BP swap. Unfortunately, bambi jumped in front of me while i was doing 70mph and that ended my dreams. Now they are so hard to find in clean shape. I would love to pick up another to complete the swap. That car was a blast to drive.
Lots of people on here talking about the aerostar... I have an 89 - stil runs like a new truck! - that era of car making is over... you'll never get 35 years out of any car now.... everytime I get Gas for her, I always get someone asking about her or has a story about one in their family - I love that!
The Aerostar did not sell as well as the Chrysler vans, but it had a dedicated following who did not move to the Windstar. They went to the Explorer. The problem cars like the Tracer and Topaz had was they were created to give Lincoln Mercury dealers affordable options at a time when there were almost no Lincoln Mercury dealers left. Almost everywhere was a Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership. There was simply no market for the second trim level from base Ford with a Mercury logo. You are right about the Capri. It arrived at a time when there were a lot of convertible options, most better or cheaper than it!
I understand where you're coming from, but I feel like the aerostar from a 2024 perspective, is even more wonderful. Classic shapes are definitely coming back, it just depends if you can afford them or not.
Funny thing about the SPI 2000 in the Escorts... you could wire up a hat switch to the secondaries would snap open at WOT vs the usual slow gradual opening... really fun with a 5MT!
Dad had a long body Aerostar, one of the last made. First it was a business vehicle, but later we took a bunch of great road trips in it. It was incredibly comfortable and exceptionally utilitarian. Easily one of the best fomoco products.
My mom got a 98 windatar used in 99. That thing survived two teenagers learning to drive in it. We took that thing every freaking where. It was a great vehicle as long as you rotated the tires every 3000 miles lol. My mom drove it for over a decade.
I've had 3 Ford Tempos....My first one was a rare 92 GLS V6 but had a lot of miles on it. I was impressed enough to get two more because of the mileage, ease of working on and it always started (except when the battery died :) )
My Father had one for a while in the early 90’s. I don’t recall him saying much about it, so he probably didn’t have any major problems with it. He bought a 2005 Taurus brand new, so I would think he was still a fan. He drove it until someone hit the car and it was totaled. He was a big MPG guy, so he took the opportunity to downsize to a Honda Civic. Then, he got a 2017 Cadillac CTS and a 2023 Toyota 4Runner not too long before he died. It was very hard to categorize his tastes, as he’d owned manual Volkswagen Kharman Ghias, Chevy Impalas, Camaros and a Dodge Aries wagon in his youth. He had 3 Buick Century sedans in a row in the 90’s as well. He must have been hard to read as a consumer.
The only thing about the early to mid 90s Escort that was bad in my opinion was the build quality with its severely vibrating steering wheel at idle that I was told was normal. I used to have a 1993 1.9L and it was a damn reliable and capable car. Mine was a 3-door hatch but it really had spunk! I used it once to help my cousin move and packed all the boxes and smaller items in my car while the truck took the rest. Didn't even sag the suspension and my cousin and I rode in the front... and my cousin was a big lady. Also managed to fit an entire dining room set in there without disassembling the chairs. Owned that car for 7 years and it definitely broke a lot since it was already an old car when I bought it in 2007, but rarely did the break downs result in needing a tow. Even drove around on a blown piston ring, still got me to work and school for weeks. Drove many miles on a blown strut bearing that sagged a foot when lifted off the ground. Timing belt blew twice on me but being non-interference, I just slapped a new one on and kept going. Even the nail in the coffin when the transmission blew and got stuck in 1 forward gear... still got me home, albeit slowly. So, I'm glad you didn't put that generation escort on this list, not to mention it was excellent in the snow.
What I recall most from this vid as a tech in the late 90s was slinging lots of long blocks into Escorts with the 2.0s, not too far out of factory warranty, and anything with a 3.8. Honorable mention has to go the serviceability of the Aerostar. Couldn't get to much from under the short hood, and the little 'doghouse' access from inside was a joke. Spark plug changes required an ice cold engine, and skinned knuckles were a prerequisite. AWD models were $$ and even in Chicago, we rarely saw them.
You did a great job again. You also did your homework once in this video. You really did a good job with the narration and information as well. It had to be hard work to put this list together. None of the cars on the list are shocking. That last Capri...... Oh boy. Is all I will say. There were a lot of Ford based Mazda models and a lot of Mazda based Ford models. They used each other for their own purposes. I liked that picture of that Grand Marquis too. It is a shame about that small engine in the Escort and Tracer. I was going to mention the GM minivans, but you said it in the video. Keep up the efforts.
Not a 1st gen, but my parents bought a 2000 Windstar brand new with less than 20 miles when I was in kindergarten. Burgundy SE trim with chrome and gold leather interior. Looked quite luxurious and felt like a spaceship for its time. I remember the Firestone tires put on in 02 still had full tread on it 14 years later. It had a little over 205k miles when it got totaled by a red light runner 2 years ago. Still miss it today
You just brought back the 2 WORST car memories in my lifetime!!!! One involving the Capri and the other one was in the Festiva!!! My buddy purchased the Festiva and the night he got it we went out to the mall to shop. On our way home we got caught in a bad rain storm!! I have never been more SCARED in a car than that particularl night!!! I thought we were going to KRASH multiple times!!! Every puddle of water on the highway the car would veer outta control ❗️😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫
Sorry to hear that ..my mom had a festiva...it was cramped. I don't know what she was thinking... unlike my grandfather who had a E-150..she never had problems parking...though hauling groceries was another story .this back when you can stock your kitchen for under $200..
Eh, the maverick is reliable, and Ecoboost engines are pretty reliable these days. It seems like the only product they have that's unreliable is the CD6 explorer.
@@CJColvin My dude, we've already had this conversation dozens of times. Your f-150 might be reliable, but if the 90s f series was as unkillable as you say it is, you'd still see them on every street corner. Hell, you stopped seeing them by around 2010, when they were around 15 years old. Yours is what they call a statistical outlier, it means your experience is uncommon, and not the norm. A lot of Ecoboost vehicles are 15 years old now, and still running great. Meaning they were lasting at least as long, if not longer than those 90s f-150s. Hell, even the worst Ford truck engines ever are still pretty reliable. The 5.4 was way less reliable than Ford's Ecoboost motors, way less reliable, and you still see those things from the early 2000s running around.
The shop I work at has an 89 Ford Aerostar as a work van. I can see why we use it still. When was the last time you saw one on the road. She still runs great
Another great video, but then they always are, nice one mate. Glad the Probe was mentioned without being on ‘the list’. As for the Ford Aspire, I think I was a bit sick in my mouth, horrible car! I guess they weren’t fully fledged Ford’s though. Interesting to see model names being used by Ford for completely different cars from your side of the pond to ours, i.e, Capri, Escort
Yes Hawk...That Capri Ad was weirder than those designer perfume ones you see! Fantastic vid as usual. You should mix it up and try to make a bad one some time LOL.
Very true, on my 99 I replaced the head with a rebuilt one out of precaution and it’s been great I have over 205k on mine still running strong. One of my most reliable cars
As a relatively new sub I think that you are doing an amazing job with these videos. Like any other channel's you will have trools. "F" em and just think you still get a watch. Ya that first commercial I don't have a clue what they were aiming but I can't say for sure but I think that alot of people are the same. On the topic of commercials you really need to check out some of the ones for the Festivea 😂😂😂. Hopefully this is it because I just couldn't wait until the end to comment. I'm as old as dirt so I probably think that I better do it right away because I will most likely forget. Keep up the amazing work and like I said before "F em"👍🇨🇦🔧
The 1st vehicle I learned to drive was a Ford Aerostar extended with the electronic E-4WD, I think it was a 1996 model. I liked the van, it was comfortable, drove nice and was good for a family with 3 boys. After my mother's husband of the time rolled it while going to work, which I saw on my way to school while riding the bus, we got a Chevy Venture, now that was a horrible vehicle.
I used to have a 1998 Ford Contour SE. I got it in mid October 1999 to late May 2005. It was a good 1st car. At that time that I wanted to get an upgrade.
In Canada at least, ad copy for the Capri said: "Think of it as a steel bikini." Yeah, right! I had that first Mercury-Mazda Tracer (c.1988) and it's still one of my most fondly remembered cars.
We had a '96 Windstar as our family car for a brief time in the mid-2000s. I think my dad's cousin just gave it away to us. Apparently it wasn't very good, because shortly thereafter we traded it away for an '06 Chrysler Town and Country which we still have today. That thing still runs pretty good after 15+ years. 3:52 I love "orderves" 😂🤣
I agree with everything but the Aerostar. Other than the early V6 models in the '80s that had the terrible head cracking V6 from the Ranger, the Aerostar was solid and was a useful truck based van that could pull a trailer. The Astro was better along with it's strong 4.3L V6, but there was nothing wrong with the Aerostar overall.
"Ford Aspire..... So you could aspire to something better!" Drove an Escort Pony once, it had a 4 speed manual with an upshift light on the dash. The computer wanted to you to upshift into a non-existent 5th gear. Drove an Aerostar XL 4WD extended. Not horrible, but very slow even with the 4.0L. Drove a brand new Windstar with the 3.0L Vulcan engine. It was so slow it was dangerous. It couldn't get up to freeway speeds by the end of good length onramp. 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3, and it was almost "fast" compared to the Windstar 3.0. Our CG now has 167K miles and it's original transmission. Owned a 1984 Thunderbird Elan 5.0. Loved that car till it's alarm decided to go off whenever it wanted. Like at night in the middle of a housing tract. Up till then, it was a great cruiser. Hardly swift, very comfy, and could even do 30mpg on the freeway.
My parents had the pink (purple iris) 4 door with a standard. I remember the day it pulled into their driveway. I used to ask them to drop me off a couple blocks away from our destination so I wouldn’t be seen in it. Thankfully my older brother crashed it into a light pole due to icy conditions and it was write off. Aerostars were the shaggin wagons when I was In high school. My little brother lost his virginity in one. That Capri commercial was hilarious!
The Aerostar is easily one of the best minivans ever made. All good engines under the hood. Not necessarily fast, but good. That Essex v6 was a problem in every application.
The Asto vans destroyed them in reliability and longevity. I rarely see an aerostar today but i see Astros quite often. Ive also seen several with over 400K miles on the original engine. Hard to believe they stopped producing Astros 20 years ago yet there are still alot of them on the road. Aerostars are all but gone.
@@12yearssober I'm going to politely disagree with that. The Aerostar had the Cologne v6 and the Vulcan V6. Until the Astro and Safari got the 4.3, they weren't worth having.
i had a white 88 festiva 4 speed manual trans. i loved that car! i did everything in it, as you said parts were cheap to the point they were almost laughable. i drove it in mud, i drove it in snow storms. when i finally took a big hit in the rear passenger quarter, the insurance co totaled it for being a unibody. it had 73k miles on it. i bought the salvage title back from the insurance co for 73 dollars lmao. thus began the second life of that little car 😆😆 i turned it into a convertible and treated it like a 4 wheeler. honestly as cheap as the base vehicle was that thing held up like no other
I recall being 6 years old or so and at the place my mother was working a fellow co worker had purchased a new dark blue Ford Festiva. Being 6 and a boy I was pretty obsessed with cars and the idea of driving and liked to play pretend in cars. The fellow who's car it was didn't lock it at work so I just hopped right in and played driver. Flipping levers and buttons and basically everything that could be fooled with. The guy was not happy when he got in his brand new, still had the manroney in the window, car to full volume music and the wipers at full speed lol. He kept leaving it unlocked though for some reason and it happened a few times. I recall thinking it was nice and felt solid and looked great.
My mom had an awesome purple first gen windstar and my dad had a 96 town & country in my early childhood. They were both awesome for our family. I love mini vans
The ford aerostar is just an uglier, worse driving Chevy astro van. There might be 5 left. In my area they were known for rolling over, and being gutless, overweight, and horribly unreliable transmissions. They were abandoned for a reason. However a 88-95 Chevy astro van? People still rob the front diff out of old awd astro vans, and the awd transfer case. That transfer case, and front differential will hold up to all wheel drive transbrake launches with a 750hp LS/4L80 combo. Only thing that didn't survive in the rear end was the Factory g80 rear locker. Nothing on an aerostar is good for anything but scrap metal
@@ryurc3033 the aerostar has a Cologne 4.0 V6 and the 5r55e transmission they just are a ranger but van. I have one and never had problems. Also it has an independent suspension front and back, it can tow 4700 lbs and the seats are quick release making them great for putting furniture inside especially the XLT, also I get like 25 mpg on the highway yeah I know sounds like a lie but I just drove it to long distances to calculate the burn rate. Just don't understand the hate
The Capri is such a weird car, I often forget those even exist. I think the Aspire, Tempo & ‘96-‘99 Taurus are the worst 90’s cars from Ford. ‘03 was also the last year for the Escort, not ‘02 except in the last year there was the ZX2 version only.
A friend of mine had a brand new 1998 Ford Windstar GL until 2005. By 18 months in, the vehicle had almost everything that was mechanical replaced, but then, the electrical systems acted up. He traded it in at a Chrysler dealer for a leftover 2005 Town & Country and surprisingly, the Chrysler was far less problematic until recently. Chrysler gave him $1,500.00 for the Windstar with all of its 31k miles on the odometer. We took the Ford Windstar out one night circa 2004 and it had this issue that I’d never seen before or after. The interior and exterior lights would consistently flare in 2 second intervals. The car would stall when we turned on the air conditioner and it felt like something was going to break in half when making right turns. It was so bad that we had to turn around after driving a few blocks and take my car. I asked why they still had the car and the answer was obvious “I still have a few payments left on the thing.” The family was going through a period of financial uncertainty (which they rebounded from a year later - stock market money!) and they got a very good deal on the Windstar. I couldn’t believe how bad the car was. Believe it or not, when it comes to domestics, I’m a Ford fan!
I add the topaz, the bodies would crack and leak into the trunk, tempo had that same issue. Also the dashboard crack up do to poor materials. Worst was the crank windows would drop out of the tracks bad and the auto seat belts were a choking hazard. Crown Vic had bad rust issues, and we all know about the early exploders.
I remember as a 22 year old in the 1990s and seeing my first Ford Focus in Germany, and thinking damn, why are we stuck with the Tempo when the Euros get a hot hatch Focus.
My mom had an aerostar, it was my grandpa's and she got it later on... Very fond elementary school memories when I see this one and blown radiator and (other problems im sure.. can't remember what other problems it had at the time but... Sadly it was scraped) 😢
We had a ‘91 Aerostar that ran rough and stalled all the time. It had some sort of V6, and it was extremely slow. The starter made a high pitched whine just like a 2.9 Ranger. Maybe it somehow got a 2.9? It was a pre facelift model.
The Aerostar will always stick in my mind! The family was going to take a trip up to mackinac island in Michigan. We rented an Aerostar, and yes, it did have a 4cyl lima engine, not all were V6's. The thing was a turd. My stepdad had his toes thru the radiator trying to keep up with those big Michigan 10 axle "centipede " loaded semis going up hill and losing badly! They were blowing by us and honking. He was pi**ed! He was constantly complaining that his semi would outrun that thing loaded. It downshifted 3x on the hills. And then the fun began. All the idiot lights came on and steam was coming from under the hood! We had to stop several times because of overheating. The cherry on the sundae was when we blew a tire! He was so mad digging for the spare tire he threw my new bag of potato chips into the highway! Mom was trying not to laugh and whispered to me "if you dont want potato powder you better run out there and get those!" I played frogger and dodged semis and got them! I am dumbfounded to see now that the rated towing capacity was 4700 lbs! Long trip! Still Laughing now 30 years later writing this! It didn't help when I said "next time we will take dads '73 Chrysler newport with the 440, ride in comfort, and never use the 4bbls to hit 100mph and not downshift on any hills!" He actually thought about it! I'm a mopar guy at heart but I had a 1991 mercury grand marquis, and now I own a 2001 mercury grand marquis. You can't go wrong with the panther chassis! You don't see any big rwd V8 cars from the 1980s or 1990s on the road except panther chassis Fords around here. I see at least 4 every time I go to town. I can't remember the last time I saw a bathtub caprice.
One thing nobody thinks about with the Aerostar, especially the Eddie Bauer edition is that there was an option for a secondary controller for the already crappy radio, you also could not disable it. This made it so that the kiddos in the back could play with the radio indefinitely causing parents worldwide have just that much more aggravation and buyers remorse.
The Windstar was not well made at all. We had a converted 98 Windstar for a delivery van and that was an absolute nightmare. Electrical issues and drivers door would lock at random
The Capri was a hairdressers car, the Miata could be owned by hairdressers, but with the great driving dynamics we preferred to buy it off hairdressers.
When I worked at a Ford Dealer from 2020 to 2022, someone traded in an aspire. Thing had trash everywhere except the driver seat, covering the windows. And both tailights were hanging out by the wires, almost touching the ground.
I would have put the Contour / Mystique on this list. They were decent enough to drive, but they gave new meaning to “biodegradable”. By the time they hit 5 years old, it was more common to see them rusting and laid up on a driveway with one or two wheels removed than on the road. In talking to a few owners, they seemed to be prone not only to major rust issues anywhere that snow/ice was a problem, but the engines didn’t do well in the cold either, with lots of complaints about hard starting and electrical failures in the cold.
@@gregoryleo4640 Correct. I don’t know why, but Ford of Europe designs have an annoying habit of being really nice cars to look at, but they don’t age well over here. It’s really quite unfortunate.
Those 90s ford vehicles looked cool especially the rangers and F150s and the Taurus but I love how all these companies used to work together, now it’s kind of lame that nobody colabs
My 90s worst car was a 90 Thunderbird. The drivetrain was good. But I had all kinds of electrical problems with it. One of my dumbest things in life was trading in an 84 Lincoln Continental for that T-Bird. Absolutely stupid!
I still remember a guy who was renting from me in 2009 went and bought a white aerostar......for 5600$ he made payments on that turd for 3 years, it only lasted 2. And the whole last year it sat there with a bad transmission while he continued to make payments. I remember thinking to myself, how did someone think that they could charge that much for it, and how did they talk him into this? I drove it about 800 feet and that was enough for me. I don't understand how they didnt constantly roll over.
Had a 1990 Aerostar back in the day. It was a long version and all wheel drive. It was tough as nails and a tank in the snow. The only problem was that it was a pain in the a$$ to change spark plugs. I drove the heck out of it for years.
The Capri was designed and built in Australia and used Mazda 323 mechanicals including the engine. It seems quite apparent the Ford Australia developers had no clue as to what Mazda themselves were developing around the same time, until of course it landed on Aussie shores. This was one of the only Australian made Fords that have been exported for an LHD market. Maybe a LHD Falcon (with the Barra) may have faired better?
I had a 97 Aerostar a few years ago loved it. You still see more of them than you see windstars/freestars. Aspire, horrid vehicle. Capri was kinda fun, wasnt made to compete with the Miata.. Tracer completely wrong car for Mercury. No one shopping for a cougar or grand marquis wants a tracer. the oval Taurus was pretty bad looking..
I think the mercury tracer had a sport version with a larger, more powerful 4 cylinder. My brother-in-law bought one with a manual and it was quick for a small car. He never had a problem with it.
I loved my contour. It had GREAT gas mileage. It was comfortable and fit great for a short gal.Too bad they don't make them anymore. I had no problem with it.
I owned an Aerostar in the '90s and the rear spring angled rear springs were horrible. When they broke, they woul pierce the rear tire sidewall, completly destorying it
Actually, I liked 5 automotive companies as a kid, which were Ford, GM, Toyota, Hyundai, and DaimlerChrysler. Nowadays, it's just three automotive companies I still like Ford, GM, and Toyota
My then brand new 1990 Aerostar--- sudden dashboard sparks and fire at 13000 miles. totalled. Then I bought a new 1992 Aerostar. Before 8000 miles, rumbling brakes, slipping transmission , and an engine miss. I wouldn't buy a ford again for 20 years, til I bought a used Taurus, and the rear springs broke on it.
What they did to the Capri name after the Fox body generation was cold. And oh god, that Cougar XR7 at 1:44 is horrible, similar situation to how they perverted the Cougar name from what it was in the past. At least the Capri doesn't look as offensive as that Cougar does, but the drivetrain on both is the antithesis of what they used to be about. There's a kind of famous yellow fox Capri in my area, if you're a gen x muscle car guy anyway. It was featured heavily in the muscle/drag magazines back in the 90s & 00s, it's Strollo's car if that rings a bell to anyone. A friend back in high school during the early 00s had one of those Cougars, it was god awful. Man, this vid really reminded me how much I absolutely hated Ford's styling in the 90s & early 00s. That goes for GM & Chrysler too mind you. What were they thinking? Just look at how much better anything from Honda, Toyota, or Nissan looked during that time period.
Festiva - reliable yes, but in heavy-snow zones the narrow wheelbase meant one or other row of tires would not fit normal car tracks. Hard to handle! A friend sold his for that very reason.
Yeah, the four-wheel-drive Ford Aerostar, or the Chevy Astro or fantastic especially the Chevy express and the early to mid 2000. They offered an all-wheel-drive very briefly. Oh my gosh, I’d love to get my hands on one.
I had totally forgotten about the Aspire. The best thing about the Aspire is that Ford allowed it to Expire. The Festiva had moxie and was fun to drive even if it was an econobox. The Aspire was just dull and uninspired.
