Worst cars of the '90s from Ford Motor Company!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ค. 2024
- In this week’s video, I go over some of the worst Ford cars to come out of the 90’s. These videos will always stir the pot in the comments. I want to be clear that this video is for entertainment purposes only and that I’m not judging anyone for what they drive or what they drove. I am changing my upload schedule to Sundays now, giving me more time to edit and create better-quality videos. I appreciate all of the support; this is a dream come true. Thank you all for watching and feel free to hit the like button, it really helps me out!
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 -Intro
1:21 -Car 1
5:01 -Car 2 Part 1
6:24 -Car 2 Part 2
7:05 -Car 3
9:32 -Car 4
12:01 -Outro
Music: by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
DISCLAIMER:
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I feel like Krusty the Klown after that Capri commercial: “What the hell was that?!”
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.
I never knew there was an Aspire such thing, but have seen a bunch of Festiva here in Mexico despite not being sold here officially.
@@alecb8509 Bambi was praying on your downfall
The aspire is just a festiva with a different body. Same engine
They called it the aspire because it aspired customers to own a better car😂
i freakin' loved my '91 extended aerostar v6! towed the boath, the family, and everything else (until the stepdaughter total'ed it. grrrr.).
Damn..😢
They were definitely awesome vans. My dad had two and when he got rid of the last one and got the Chevy Astro I hated it
It was comftorable but fell apart by 100k miles. Ford junk
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!
Our first new car was an Aerostar van. Best we have had to date. 12 years no repairs except tires and a battery. Fantastic value.
Every once in a while I still see an aerostar on the road and it always blows my mind 😂
You sure it's not the same one? 🤣
Where I live the "Mazda Ranger" was called a "B2000", then "B3000"
Also the B4000
Had a 97 B2300. Great truck despite being slow, it was rock solid reliable, and a little better looking than the Ranger IMO.
The tribute was where it's at 👌
What about the b2200 and 2600 foo
@@paulhoskins7852 you trying to bang on me for with that 4000 shit
Just saw 1 Ford Aerostar yesterday still running without rust for the last 10 years. Very rare sight
I have an 89 still runs like a new truck! There is nothing else like it being made today.
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 got a chuckle out of "orderves" in the Capri commercial. 😂
I know right hahaha hors d'oeuvre!
I got stuck behind a windstar going 30 in a 45 the other day, was the first time I saw one and now I see it in your video haha
Haven't seen one in a decade, surpriseed any are still around.
😂 I will take any of those old 90s Ford over any of the garbage they are making nowadays especially the disastrous Ecoboost engines.
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.
the only bad Ecoboost was that 1.6
Agreed 100% brother
@@themidnighttavern6784Yet neither of these EcoBoost vehicles will outlast my 1996 Ford F150 with a 5.0L (302) Windsor V8 in it.
@@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.
I loved the aerostar growing up. Made maintenance easy on it since it had the same engine as the ranger 3.0L
My mom had a 90s Ford Aerostar. She hated driving it but it just kept going.
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.
@@CathyHolton-jh1xv that's just s car fan
The windstars weak point was the transmission , they are absolute junk . The motors blow head gaskets , but you have to do coolant flushes regualry
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
hope you'll be doin brands from the rest of the planet at some point, i like watching these
I see Aerostars ever once in awhile. But Windstars, I never see them.
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 had a Aerostar loved it , bought cheap drove for 40.000 miles sold it same amount I paid for it.
Let’s talk about how the Probe was almost the ‘next generation Mustang’.. would’ve been wild. Great video, as per usual buddy. 💪 - Xan
The ford aerostar is amazing
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 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.
Aerostar rocked for me!
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.
@@jefferyepstein9210 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.
@@wanderingjackwolf9510
The Astros had the 4.3 very early on. Some even had 5 speeds mated to them.
Are you sniffing glue? Either that or your rose tinted glasses need a deep clean!
another great video. keep up the good work!
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.
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" 😂🤣
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.
I really enjoyed your video. Thanks for putting so much work into it.
Thanks for commenting man!
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.
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
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.
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"👍🇨🇦🔧
I actually liked the Aerostar van they were super comfortable and had a good ride. They were pretty reliable to, the Winstar sucked!
6:05
So THAT’S why I remember hearing those sounds on Ford’s when I was a kid!
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..
"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.
Nice work, informative and well presented ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you kindly!
Interesting video..now we love all of those cars just for golden memories sake.. even though we know some were not so good
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.
Cool vid 👍 , I still have a 93 Caravan with a V6 and 76K miles. I bought it for a back-up vehicle, that's why it has low mileage for it's age.
My Aunt had a windstar in green. I loved that thing as a kid.
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
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.
Dont think Ive ever seen a Mercury Capri in person
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!
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
Yess let’s go new greenhawk video
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.
Haven't seen a Ford Aerostar on the road in years however I do still see a fair amount of Chevy Astro and GMC Safari vans still being driven around.
The Capri is such a weird car, I often 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.
1:44
My mom owned that exact same model Mercury Sable! But then I remember she traded it for a brand new Ford Taurus Wagon!
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.
Don't see any aerostars but strong astro vans are still roaming the earth
Yay!! A 90s Ford video! This should be entertaining ❤
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 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.
Good continent im subscribed
Thank you
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.
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 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..
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.
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.
Retro time as I am workn on a retro 90 model pioneer receiver , cleaning the electrical boards with board cleaner spray
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.
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) 😢
I really miss the 90s I also miss when we still had small affordable cars!
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.
The Aerostar was a beast that was built on the F150 platform so it was much more capable. The Windstar was a serious step down.
Exactly.
The Aerostar was badass!!
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!
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
A friend of mine worked at a ford dealership in 93. He said the tempo and topaz were the best thing ever built for the parts and service departments.
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 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.
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.
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 93 Escort wagon good little car but mine was built on a Friday and the uni body started sagging. I would routinely get 42hwy with mine. The Windstar was a bucket of bolts the ones I've rode in had many rattles and were noisy.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh The good ol' SPI engines... I had a 2003 Ford Focus, and it started rattling at about 91k. Traded it straight for a '78 Mercedes 300D. Much happier. Lol
I live in so cal and I actually see a decent amount of first gen wind stars
Rust ate them most other places
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
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.
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.
Great vid. Then end it with the worst civic. 😂
I owned Fords Chevys Buick during this timeframe all needed. Continue repairs.
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.
Known as the Ford Mondeo in Europe.
@@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.
I’m happy the mercury cougar wasn’t inlcuded on this list as it was a great car. Yes I might be a little biased as my grandmother purchased one new in 2001 and it was the last car she would ever own, but Jeremy Clarkson himself said it was a fun, reasonable and good car in period. Unfortunately it sold better in Europe than North America. Doesn’t even deserve to be an honorable mention if you ask me.
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
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.
Neighbor had a 1986 Aerostar, by 1987 the engine needed to be replaced. A friend at work had an Asprire as a rental car. I thought he had bought it. I count stop laughing, my mom had a lime green Geo Metro as a rental that was junk.
Also for Ford in Europe the 90s were kind of an all time low. The brandnew 1990 Escort was a "cynical car" as Jeremy clarkson called it as it was outclassed even by it´s way older competition from VW and Opel, Ford made weird design experiments like the ´95 Scorpio and the quality went downhill with reliability and rust issues. I grew up in various Fords from the 70s and 80s but the 90s completely killed them of for me and my dad stepped over to Volkswagens.
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.
Edit: It's also the only one I've ever seen. And it had the manual.
I had a 99 ZX2 with the 2.0 Zetec that’s one reliable engine
Aerostar came out in 1985 windstar was new for 1994 same with Contour. My Dad had a red 96 Windstar was a great van that ironically replaced our 1990 Aerostar which both were bought used, Aerostar was bought in 93 was 3 yrs old when we got it and it started rotting out by 95 and died by 98 and was donated. The 96 windstar was bought in late November of 2000 it had the 3.8 V6 the headgaskets were replaced as part of the deal when my Dad bought it and it never gave us any trouble ever during the 6 years we had it! Was donated also as a tax write off due to not being able to pass e- check anymore but still drove good and looked good unlike its Aerostar predecessor which gave us trouble and fell apart! That van had the 4.0V6 and was rwd. Windstar had the 3.8V6 and was fwd with the loaded GL trim. Handled like a tank in the winter also, my Dad replaced that van with a 2005 Kia Sedona which was nice and loaded with the Lx trim but wasn't that good of a van as the Windstar was! Till this day that Windstar I'd say was our best family van.
The 3.8 usually was a lack of maintenance thing. If you flushed the cooling system before 36,000 and flushed (or at least drained and refilled) the coolant every other year you wouldn’t have head gasket and overheating issues. This also applies to any vehicle made today. The problem is coolant doesn’t usually get nasty looking like it did in the past. Don’t listen to the manufacturer recommending it’s good for over 100,000 miles either. The coolant will look ok but it gets REALLY acidic over time and that’s what screws up gaskets and aluminum and plastic parts and causes leaks. You run a motor too hot EVEN ONCE and the motor is usually never the same again. Keep your cooling system clean and it will run a lot longer. If you want to test it,go to a store that sells tropical fish supplies and get test strips. Dip a strip in your coolant and see the results in seconds. Fresh anti freeze and water should be on the alkaline side…. I’m sure if you haven’t changed coolant in a couple years you’ll be off the scale of the test strips. I know they make strips for cars but I don’t know how to get them easily. I’m a recently retired auto technician with over 40 years professional ASE certified master tech and over 50 years experience with cars and lt trucks.
The Aerostar was a direct competitor to the Chevy Astro and GMC Safari minivans. Still see a few of the GM minivans but haven't seen an Aerostar on the road in years.
Capri xr2 best most reliable car I owned had it 20yrs ! All I did is oil changes ...brakes ...and tires!
Granted every manufacturer was in serious competition and striving to make much better cars in the 1990's. And car and trucks achieved a level of smart safety features, good engines, good chassis, and then stoppoed. We haven't seen any true improvements in gas mileage since the 1990's and fuel injection and OBD II, airbags, ABS. Some did make some "decent" traction control units, most car companies didn't. And still don't. We reached a level of car in the 1990's that has not been surpassed 30 years later. Certainly no improvement in Gas Mileage. Certainly, not enough to matter. Cars should easily be getting 50-70 MPG with the cars we drive today. It's not the engine, it's how the fuel is being introduced. It should be a vapor, not liquid.
The escort also had a 1.8 dual overhead cam it can in the escort lxe
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.
I thought mine handled pretty well in the snow.
Yep, that was shameful what they did to the Cougar.
Push, pull or tow cash for clunkers, $4500 for any vehicle it was better to crush them, than sell or save em.