Tempo & Topaz: FORD Lost $$ on every one it sold
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ค. 2024
- The Tempo was a sales success for Ford. It was as one of the top ten best selling cars in the U.S. for its entire production run and was the top 5 list a couple of times. Yet Ford lost money on this car line for years and discontinued it 10 years after it launched. Was it a successful car or was losing money on each one of the cars a futile effort to gain customers? You be the judge and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
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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.
For sure. I was born in 83 so I remember these being everywhere as well. I always got the impression that they were better than the J-Cars from GM, but my parents were Ford people.
They were everywhere in the 90a also
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 :)
Very nice! Thanks for sharing your story!
Those were good handling cars.
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.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
If the car rode a little lower and had a little bigger wheels and tires, it would have been far more aesthetically pleasing. It had the lines right
metal knobs to open doors
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.
U made a very wise decision I bought my used ford probe in 2000 for $700 its now got about 240k miles on it and still runs great. I have never had to do major repairs on it.
A horrible name for a car.
The Mazda 626 was a very good vehicle.
yeah but the tempo has better back seats...
@@ivanlowjones I'd put some of those green alien head stickers on it.
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!
Thanks for sharing!
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.
The Honda Dealer had a Pubic Auction for Trade ins during the 1990's and a Tempo went for $25 and no auction fees, I bought a 87 T- Bird with the 5.0 EFI Engine for $450 and it was a great Car .
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.
Thanks for watching! Those seat belts went away because of airbags. Manufactures had to have one or the other.
I called them The Hang ‘Em High seatbelts (when they malfunctioned).
I had to have my drivers' side motorized belt fixed in my 1991 Escort at a dealership. I Don't remember how much it cost but it wasn't exactly cheap.😝
@@landonbenford8369 I'm sure it was cheaper than an airbag. At least back then. That's why Ford had them.
I liked the auto belt. Dnt need to put the lap one
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.
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.
Awesome thanks for sharing that information.
Yea soon to be a bike trail now since it’s completely abandoned now
Tempo was never sold in Chile. There was one red 1985 = was already fuel injected? .
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.
Thank you for sharing your personal experience and for watching my video. It is appreciated
As I am watching this I am following you word by word with Wikipedia !
😂
These GD TH-cam videos rarely have so much as an ounce of originality, from regurgitated copy cat DIY projects to plagiarism like this one.
Lmao, now you mention it, I just checked too & you're right! Just mix a few words around... This would not pass any plagiarism checks. Laughing here in Australia! =)
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.
...bought a '88 Merc..loved that car..2 door..fun to drive..
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.
Thank you for watching and sharing your experience!
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.
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.
Lol dude, as George Carlin would say, you're almost literally exploding with BS! There just plain ain't no way a 40 year old 2.3 tempo did 0-60 in 8 seconds, no specs I can find anywhere say it could go that fast even when it was brand new. Quit making stuff up to try and sound cool, we can all see right through it
@@Atari2600Gamer
Meh. I had one. It had the 2.3 ohc. Carb engine. Power locks, with air and cruise.
That first gear would hold on until the cows came home. It was awesome. I could not believe it. In winter it was a beast. Like it was awesome in the snow. Both wheels just went for it. Great traction and it was light as hell. 13 inch wheels so I guess it had more torque cause they be smaller.
I found some other people online who had one like mine. They had some stories. Did not take me long to find them.
I will say that most don't know that carb is very finicky in those cars. There is a vacum part that fails and will cause the engine to get too much gas thereby causing it to lose power and smell. lolz! A freaking 7 dollar part and it was FIXED.
So many of these cars be running around smelling with lost power. Crazy man!
@@macsvoltage5723 Sounds more like you have a REALLY optimistic sense of time and speed lmao. It might've been light, but it wasn't exactly a powerhouse either. If it was really that fast, how come nobody talks about it?
@@Atari2600GamerFord had great engineers back in the day and Ford's motto back then was TORQUE TORQUE TORQUE so I would not be surprised to hear stories of these little TORQUE MONSTERS!
@@Atari2600Gamer
You know, I don't care what you think. You have no idea how much fun that car was and no one cares if you don't believe.
It was the best beater I ever drove. The owner is a friend of mine and it was his first car ever. Then his mother bought it off him and drove it to work for like 20 years. I got it with less than 70 thousand clicks on the speedo.
The car did not run great until the carb was fixed. After that was when I found out it had POWER. My buddy said it went like snot when it ran good but could never get it running great all the time. It always smelled when starting the thing cause it was flooding. This was COMMON for these cars and it was just the vacume thingy for the carb that failed. 7 dollar part and it was fixed.
If anyone has one of these cars with the carb, you probably need to change that part. After that, the engine woke up and had the power. No more smell when starting and the first gear holds until like 60 km/hr or something crazy like that.
I beat so many cars in my town. That white Tempo had a reputation.
A few people tired to run me off the road cause they be beat fair and square during the winter. lolz!
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.
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
The other reason Ford built these "loss leaders" is they needed the EPA mileage credits to build the vehicles people actually wanted to buy.
That's the story of all domestic smaller cars from the beginning of time
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.
Thank you very much for the kind words. It is very much appreciated!
I have a 1986 Tempo you can have for free. It still ran when I parked it in 2003. All four tires are flat however. 😅
We need more people like you. Especially where I live. Running or not, you're doing God's work my son lol @@browngreen933
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.
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.......
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 2nd generation Tempo/Topaz were good cars.
What second generation?!
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 .
Thanks for sharing
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...
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).
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.
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.
That V6 Tempo and Topaz is an overlooked car. It may have been the best one Ford made during the entire run.
That v6 was the same( Vulcan) as in the Taurus and Sable. I still have a 04 Taurus with the same Vulcan v6. Those are great engines.
I never saw a manual V6 tempo or topaz IRL. That was a very good find. I've heard a few people call the 5 speed manual tempo the baby SHO because it was actually more fun to drive than it should have been.
Test drove a diesel one in Jacksonville Fla. Never seem another one since. Drove great kind of wish i would have got it.
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.
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...)
Thanks for sharing!
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.
Thank you for watching and for sharing your experience.
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.
They like all vehicles that provided cheap transportation got used up. No one saved them.
I believe cash 4 clunkers destroyed A LOTTA cars that are in high demand now that new car prices are just out of control!! It seemed like a good idea at the time!!😫😫
@@landonbenford8369 I respectfully disagree. The jerks behind cash for clunkers were not the friends of ordinary people. Taking parts and used cars out of circulation is not in the interest of ordinary people
@@farfthi ...Or people who just don't have the money to buy a new, electric, or fuel efficient car.
@@farfthi let's keep it real. Ordinary people have always had the choice of private sale or trade in. But for many people back in the day C4C offered them more money than what a trade in would be while also avoiding the hassle some people get with private sales.
People with lower income were indirectly screwed, though, as many of these cars traded in C4C had some life left in them and could have served these families well. But there were also many ineligible cars for C4C due to having better than 18 MPG combined or being over 25 yrs old. And if you consider lower income people would be better served by a car with good fuel economy then you'll realize those vehicles did not go away during C4C.
Bottom line: Ordinary people have the last decision on what to do with their belongings, and if the government offers a way to get easy cash that sometimes exceeds their cars' value, wouldn't you consider it an option? It's your taxes anyway
As a teenager in the 80s, I always preferred the styling of the Mercurys over the Fords. No Idea why. Just did.
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. ❤
Thanks for for watching and for sharing!
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.
Thanks for sharing!
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.
Thanks for sharing!
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.
Now, idiot Americans wonder where all of the middle class manufacturing has gone. All foreign car manufacturing is non-union, genius. The Tempo was an extremely reliable car.
Your exactly right. I worked as a Chrysler tech in the 90s and watched it continue. Chrysler was king of the Mini Van sales that kept that corp flush with cash. By the early 2000s sales were falling to Toyota and Honda which took over and now dominate the mini van market.
Agree about Toyota and Honda. But Nissan was a much bigger player back then than Honda which was often named the littlest of the Japanese 3.
But Subaru, Mazda were not popular. If you ask their CEOs they would rather keep the popularity they have today with a much bigger lineup than they did back in the 80s and they're arguably more reliable now than back then.
The D3 never excelled marketing nor building a compact sedan, they didn't listened despite owning shares and forming joint ventures with Japanese automakers.
@@engineer_alvyes because amongst other reasons Gm and Ford have partnered with other brands. You may be thinking about the last few years but there were times that the Focus and Cruze have been extremely popular
@@jamesmedina2062 and now they're gone. The Focus was solid from 2005 to 2011 when they went all in with Duratec engines and regular automatics and pretty much all manual ones were good. And they were the best selling compact for a couple years.
The Cruze sold well at the beginning but had problems before they switched to the LE2 engine in 2016. And in typical GM fashion once they made a solid car they chose to discontinue it
I drove one of these for a couple of months back in 1985 as a rental when some girl backed into my 1980 Mustang that needed to be repaired. I was surprised how nice this car was and how zippy it was. Was definitely nicer and quicker than my 2.3 Mustang Coupe. It's crazy how you don't see any of these on the road anymore at all!
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 probably got scammed tbh my 92 tempo is till running strong and reliable even till today
I worked on them at Lincoln dealership and I concur.
Went through a throttle position sensor yearly. But the A/C breaking constantly made my wife go bonkers. Got rid of it.
@@danax-zo2skLIAR
Wow. You got a bad one. My sister had one, my cousin had one, my Dad had an early one, and a friend had one. They all ran forever with no problems. They weren't particularly attractive nor fun, but as basic transportation they were aces in my book.
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
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.
Does nobody live in authoritarian areas where Democrats require "Inspections"?
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.
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.
Thanks for sharing!
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.
Use to draw these cars when I was a kid. There is something about that first gen of cars that look charming !
Another informative Video detailing the history of FMC. Keep these coming. Well done. Many thanks for all you do Tony!
Thank you for the kind words and for watching!
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!
Thank you for the kind words and for watching!
I had a 1984 Mercury Topaz for a company car, a 2 door, with a manual transmission and the fancy Michelin tires and rims. It wasn't a great engine for a manual and felt like a truck when it revved, but it was ok. The one I had was a grey color at 3:00 into the video.
My parents had 2 consecutively. We actually ran across the first one several years after we sold it. Still running fine.
Outstanding!
@@TonysFordsandMustangsmy parents driveway could have passed for a Ford dealership at one point. 2 Tempos, 1 Taurus, and 1 Aerostar. All the 80s/90s boxes checked. My mom insisted on getting a Contour to stay with Fords and hated it. All GM products (Dads choice) from there on until her Fiesta a few years ago. She is past her driving days now.
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.
Sorry to hear what you went through. It was a bigger issue in warmer climates. It was frustrating for the dealers as well as they didn't know what the issue was either and were just tossing parts in and crossing their fingers. Things have gotten better over the years for the most part but I can understand how you feel.
I had a 1981 Escort. Even with the four speed it was gutless. Not a very good car.
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.
Glad you like them and thanks so much for watching and for the kind words. I have owned a few AMC's over the years. A Rambler 770 and a couple of Javelin's but that was back in the 90's and they acted as cheap daily drivers for me. I liked those cars however I was always able to turn them for a profit after driving them for a year or so and I did just that. GM products have never been kind to me. The ones I owned, and I have owned several, constantly required me to fix something so I soured on them. That could be just the luck of the draw I guess. The only GM cars that were good to me were the 3 Buick Grand Nationals an 84, 86 & an 87 but those fell into the same category as the AMC's I owned. Drove them for a year or so and got more than I paid for them so I moved on.
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.
Thank you for your comment and for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Wow!!! My first car, 1985 Tempo White 2 door G 5 speed manual
Very cool!
Right on, the manuals were much better than the three speed slush box auto. I had the 88 LTS 5 speed.
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.
The Falcon used a straight 6, you im becile. Not even close to the Vulcan V6
Spoken like a true car salesman 👍🏼
Was popular older people of the time, who used to get Mavericks and Fairmonts with the old I6. Young kids got them 2nd hand and dumped them as soon as they could.
These were aimed at the "car as an appliance" driver. Someone who wants to get from A to B with minimal drama. Similar to people who buy a Camry or Accord. Toyota and Honda offered more exciting versions, but the vast majority of sales were in the low/mid tier range. Car companies knew they wouldn't make much per vehicle, they just planned to sell a lot of them.
Ford and GM helped boost their sales numbers through fleet sales. The Tempo/Topaz twins were all over rental lots.
It was perfectly adequate for the 55 MPH national speed limit in effect at the time it was developed.
In 1987 my best friend got to drive his mom's then new Topaz coupe. Back then having any car was extremely appreciated. I was driving the first car I bought myself for $700, a 1978 Datsun 210 coupe with the bottom of the doors rusted out.
Agred, My first car was 73 Toyota Corolla which was completely rusted out as well. I was 13 and traded my Schwinn 12 speed for it. I used to drive it in the corn field side trails around our house. Thanks for watching!
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.
Thank you John for watching and for the kind words.
We had a Tempo as a rental on a 3 week family holiday in Florida in the 80s. Really liked it.
Very cool!
I continue to enjoy your content very, very much. most of these cars are ones that I have an affinity for. your videos are very well presented. keep up the good work.
Glad you like them, thanks for watching!
I never thought they were a bad little car! I only knew people that had 4 cyl engines
The V6 was a one year only option. Nice little car actually.
@@TonysFordsandMustangs It was a nice little car if you got the 5 speed!
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.
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.
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.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience Beth!
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 remember the Tempo being one of the first cars where my impressions were different from others. Because of where I grew up (Midwest) these seemed like good cars because so many were around. But when I visited my Mom's family in LA and my uncle showed up in a rental Tempo, things were different. 7 year old me excitedly asked "How's the Car?" My Uncle Clem in only the way he could, goes "Oh it's a piece of shit." Hahahaha.
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.
Not the 3.8 V6, though, I hope.
@@DUCKSAREEVILLLLLLLL
Nope. The Tempo and the Taurus both had the 3.0 V6. As far as the 3.8 went, my dads Windstar had it.
@@Hobotraveler82 The all iron 3.0 Vulcan has a good reputation for a reason.
I think my mom's Ford aerostar had that engine
I remember my Tempo adventure….skid, skid…Sky/Road/Sky/Road/Sky/Road/Ditch…
Thank God you were ok. I like your description of a rollover crash, but scary.
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
That was the biggest issue trying to sell a Contour for sure and the reason many dealers wouldn't order a loaded up Tempo/Topaz. The Taurus/Sable which was a much nicer car was only few hundred to a couple of thousand more. Thanks for watching and for your comment.
Ford was discounting Taurus in the 80s when they were extremely popular?
@@piggy310 There were constant rebate programs and buy downs on interest rates on the entry level cars. Both of those items ate into the profit margin Ford had on these from the factory. They still made money on the Taurus and on the bigger cars Crown Vic and on the trucks so it's not like they were in trouble in the mid to late 80's. They wanted market share dominance to gain to stockholders. They are currently losing money in EV market but once again they want to show a larger market share in what is perceived as an up and coming market by Wall Street.
@@piggy310 I recall a stripper version, the Taurus L....I think it was intended to bait the buyer into better equipped models, but it was well equipped with a 3.0 V6, handsome cloth interior and far more room than a Camry or Accord. Great value
@@jimeditorial there was a base model 4 cylinder stick shift I believe although I never seen one in the wild but I was about 5 when these came out!
Had a 94 tempo. Was a great car.
Had a 94 in 2009. TRULY a great car. Never let me down. Had 58,000 miles when I bough it
NO
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.
Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience!
I remember as a kid, my neighbor had a blue V6 5 speed AWD one. I thought it was the coolest car in town at the time.
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
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.
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.
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.
Those pizzas had to be on time so I guess 19 combined is about right!
Jokes aside those little pushord 4 cyl engines were based on the good old Thriftpower I-6 from the Ford Falcon with 2 cyl chopped off so they were as solid as they could get
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.
We had a white tempo sedan when i was a kid 90 or so. Dad called it the pig.
There are none for sell on facebook. Those sport coupes would make a cool cruiser.
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.
Thanks for sharing your story!
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'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 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!
Thanks for sharing!
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.
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.
My parents paid, I think $10k for a brand new '84 Tempo GL. It was a nice little car that got great fuel economy, was a pleasant to drive little car and was fairly reliable but it did have issues. My parents passed it down to me and I drove it for about two years. It was not a regretful purchase but its unfortunate that FMC lost $ on this platform.
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.
Excellent retrospective. Love the treatment of a popular non-enthusiast car.
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
Nice job dude! (thumbs up)
Back then I worked at Thrifty Car Rental here in Vegas. They let me take a Topaz home if it was hot because my old Jeep had no AC and they didn't want me sweaty every time I got to work! They were fine cars for the period.
Thanks for the kind word and for sharing!
I remember a family friend that had a 1984 Used Tempo in 1986 when I was 11. Even back then I thought that that car was somewhat tacky with the overdone plastic chrome. I do have to admit, that the 1992 last generation looked nice. And seriously, Ford wanted to git' the younguns' with the Tempo/Topaz? 😂 OK.
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.
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.
Thanks for sharing!
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...
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 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😂
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!
Thank you for watching! It is appreciated