[esmith2039]

Originally Posted by metroschultz

I have three customers who own Festivas.
All of them have the same opinion;
wouldn't trade it for anything.
for some reason the little Mazda/Ford has a real appeal to the owners.
These were originally re-badged Mazda 323's.
But I have not heard of any older 323 owners with the same loyalty.
I am sure they are out there.
BTW
You can have as many cars as you want.
I am going to be getting rid of some of mine shortly(depends on weather and work schedule).
S.

Actually Festiva's are rebadged Mazda 121's or Kia Pride.. Kia Pride actually since they were first. You can put several motors in them from the 1.6L (SOHC or DOHC) in most mazda's clear up the 1.8L (SOHC or DOHC). Common swaps are the turbo models from the Capri's and the BP variety from the Escort. They still get 35+ but if your looking towards mileage I wouldn't.

Getting a stripper model and adding the Aspire head on the Festiva block would give you the most efficient engine setup. Aspire's use rollers.. less friction. The Aspire trans isn't geared as high as the Festiva's. Don't know if it would help any in the mileage though.