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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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 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
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.
V6 SN95s are definitely slow, but they generally are pretty damn reliable if you don’t abuse them…I daily a 94 with about 180k miles on it. I have that and a 97 SVT Cobra. They’re night and day in terms of driver experience and power and it’s strange that on the exterior they’re identical.
Dude...the automatic Aspire took 16.8 seconds to go from 0 to 60. The 5speed might have pulled it to a 13sec 0 to 60 but that automatic killed that little car
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.
Why are the overwhelming number of your video titles "worst"? For a guy that says he loves cars....I see almost zero evidence. How about doing the majority of your videos about "the best". Can't subscribe. Love car channels. Don't require Pollyanna positivity....but watching 1 video of yours was enough.
These are still better than anything I can a-Ford.. I'll see myself out.. 🚶♂️🚪 Edit Although, given the issues with the Tracer's engine, Public Transportation is probably safer.. and quicker. 😜🥸😂
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
The cars you featured in the intro are I'm at a loss for words cars. 1991-1994 Mercury Capri...being Australian gives me Holden/Vauxhall vibes. And yes, the Miata is better. 1997-1999 Mercury Tracer excelled at everything but sales and reliability. Ford Festiva has genes from the Asians and has surprisingly strong reliability. The Ford Aspire sadly couldn't keep up. Ford Aerostar...my parents didn't lease one back then and the Windstar was actually better. My parents had the 3L V6, so the transmissions took less of a beating.
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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" 😂🤣
For the 90s through early 2000s, I really like a ford, other than that I don't like anyother flavor. I do have a Land rover, but it's a POS, but I like the way it looks and feels to drive, it needs a ford engine swapped into to it and a respectable transmission a 4 speed is a joke. But my other fav is International, Western Star, and KenWorth.
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
"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.
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
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
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.
The videos aren't controversial BTW... Those Aspires were AWFUL. 3 speed auto? What were they thinking? You might as well have a moped. The Aerostar was UGLY. Maybe not dustbuster van ugly, but ugly nonetheless.
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!
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.
Furd Aerostar= Aero Pig.embarrassment DeLuxe.Epic fail as Human Transportation,handled like the suspension was overloaded even when empty (brand new 400 miles) and you needed to pray coming on to an Interstate,absolutely gutless drive train.And now for the bad parts. The A/C would cut your available HP even more, Those poor little 2.3L and 2.8L engines mated to a french built Cruise -o_ magic were smogged out to meet EPA and Fed MPG legislation which meant a couple miles of vacuum hoses,relays ,sensors,ported valves, electronic transducers-enough crap to make a mechanic sell his tools
Ford should have never gotten rid of the Thunderbird nor the Crown Victoria. And they shouldn't change anything once perfected. You had two nearly perfect cars with comfort and reliability. Drank a little gas, but they just didn't break down. Good Solid Cars. You spent years making it a little bit better, a little bit better. And reach a point where you have a great car. Why get rid of it? If you have vehicles noted for reliability, they will sell. The Japanese makers don't dump their winning models for something that is "less". Ford was making better cars and trucks in the 1990's like every brand did compared to today. Who cares how great a car is if nobody can afford to buy it? Car Price$ have gotten just plain stupid.
I thought the first generation Mercury Tracer (1987-1989) was nice looking car. A very rounded version of the Mazda 323. There was also a Tracer station wagon. Both the Tracer and 323 were made in Hermosillo, Mexico. In 1991, the Mercury Tracer became a twin of the Ford Escort which was boring compared to the 80's Tracer.
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 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!
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.
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 loved the aerostar growing up. Made maintenance easy on it since it had the same engine as the ranger 3.0L
Nice work, informative and well presented ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you kindly!
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.
6:05
So THAT’S why I remember hearing those sounds on Ford’s when I was a kid!
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.
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
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.
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 an Aspire as a loaner as a kid. It was impossible to beat on, which is probably why they gave it to me.
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.
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.
I really enjoyed your video. Thanks for putting so much work into it.
Thanks for commenting man!
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 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 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
I really miss the 90s I also miss when we still had small affordable cars!
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.
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
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!
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.
Owned a 94 Aerostar put 375000 miles replaced water pump twice and that’s all! Loved that van!
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.
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
I live in so cal and I actually see a decent amount of first gen wind stars
Rust ate them most other places
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 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
My aunt had an arrowstar it seemed ok till we discovered the front diffrential was held in place by a flimsy piece of metal....horrible design.
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.
V6 SN95s are definitely slow, but they generally are pretty damn reliable if you don’t abuse them…I daily a 94 with about 180k miles on it. I have that and a 97 SVT Cobra. They’re night and day in terms of driver experience and power and it’s strange that on the exterior they’re identical.
The escort also had a 1.8 dual overhead cam it can in the escort lxe
Dude...the automatic Aspire took 16.8 seconds to go from 0 to 60. The 5speed might have pulled it to a 13sec 0 to 60 but that automatic killed that little car
The Ford Aspire looks a bit like a Focus mark 1 from Ford Europe.
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.
How dare you put the Aerostar as the main picture): those are cool vans
Very odd commercial. It's like a modern one where you're not sure what they're selling.
Ford doesn't make the ThunderBird or Crown Victoria, but still makes the Festiva. wtf?
Dont you dare diss the ford aspire i fucking love those things
I take a Mercury Capri Convertible anyday over a ugly Mazda Miata Convertible.
Quality is Job 1.
Bronco II awesome in a very mediocre way
last generation capri & cougar were bad.
Without annoying background music could be best.🙄
Open to recommendations
Why are the overwhelming number of your video titles "worst"? For a guy that says he loves cars....I see almost zero evidence. How about doing the majority of your videos about "the best". Can't subscribe. Love car channels. Don't require Pollyanna positivity....but watching 1 video of yours was enough.
These are still better than anything I can a-Ford.. I'll see myself out.. 🚶♂️🚪
Edit
Although, given the issues with the Tracer's engine, Public Transportation is probably safer.. and quicker. 😜🥸😂
I feel like Krusty the Klown after that Capri commercial: “What the hell was that?!”
😂 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 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
What's a boath?
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
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!
I had a Aerostar loved it , bought cheap drove for 40.000 miles sold it same amount I paid for it.
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!
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.
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.
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? 🤣
The Aerostar was kinda ugly. But it was actually a pretty tough vehicle.
@@dmandman9 it's literally a Ford Exploder with a minivan body
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.
The windstars weak point was the transmission , they are absolute junk . The motors blow head gaskets , but you have to do coolant flushes regualry
hope you'll be doin brands from the rest of the planet at some point, i like watching these
My mom had a 90s Ford Aerostar. She hated driving it but it just kept going.
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.
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 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.
The cars you featured in the intro are I'm at a loss for words cars.
1991-1994 Mercury Capri...being Australian gives me Holden/Vauxhall vibes. And yes, the Miata is better.
1997-1999 Mercury Tracer excelled at everything but sales and reliability.
Ford Festiva has genes from the Asians and has surprisingly strong reliability. The Ford Aspire sadly couldn't keep up.
Ford Aerostar...my parents didn't lease one back then and the Windstar was actually better. My parents had the 3L V6, so the transmissions took less of a beating.
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
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.
@@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!
funny Ive had a ton of Essex V6s (Cougar Thunderbird Mustang Sable) and never had a problem. Maintenance could be the reason
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
Let’s talk about how the Probe was almost the ‘next generation Mustang’.. would’ve been wild. Great video, as per usual buddy. 💪 - Xan
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" 😂🤣
For the 90s through early 2000s, I really like a ford, other than that I don't like anyother flavor. I do have a Land rover, but it's a POS, but I like the way it looks and feels to drive, it needs a ford engine swapped into to it and a respectable transmission a 4 speed is a joke. But my other fav is International, Western Star, and KenWorth.
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
Dont think Ive ever seen a Mercury Capri in person
I see Aerostars ever once in awhile. But Windstars, I never see them.
"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.
Don't see any aerostars but strong astro vans are still roaming the earth
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
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.
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
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.
Meanwhile over in Europe there were a few forgettable Fords. 90s Escorts and 90s Granada? Watching in Ireland
I used to know somebody who had a first-generation Windstar
After a while he just parked in his yard and used as storage eventually
I actually liked the Aerostar van they were super comfortable and had a good ride. They were pretty reliable to, the Winstar sucked!
The videos aren't controversial BTW...
Those Aspires were AWFUL. 3 speed auto? What were they thinking? You might as well have a moped.
The Aerostar was UGLY. Maybe not dustbuster van ugly, but ugly nonetheless.
What's the difference between the Ford Festiva and the Ford Fiesta, which has been common in Europe? Just wondering
My Aunt had a windstar in green. I loved that thing as a kid.
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!
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.
Furd Aerostar= Aero Pig.embarrassment DeLuxe.Epic fail as Human Transportation,handled like the suspension was overloaded even when empty (brand new 400 miles) and you needed to pray coming on to an Interstate,absolutely gutless drive train.And now for the bad parts.
The A/C would cut your available HP even more, Those poor little 2.3L and 2.8L engines mated to a french built Cruise -o_ magic were smogged out to meet EPA and Fed MPG
legislation which meant a couple miles of vacuum hoses,relays ,sensors,ported valves, electronic transducers-enough crap to make a mechanic sell his tools
Ford should have never gotten rid of the Thunderbird nor the Crown Victoria. And they shouldn't change anything once perfected. You had two nearly perfect cars with comfort and reliability. Drank a little gas, but they just didn't break down. Good Solid Cars. You spent years making it a little bit better, a little bit better. And reach a point where you have a great car. Why get rid of it? If you have vehicles noted for reliability, they will sell. The Japanese makers don't dump their winning models for something that is "less". Ford was making better cars and trucks in the 1990's like every brand did compared to today. Who cares how great a car is if nobody can afford to buy it? Car Price$ have gotten just plain stupid.
I thought the first generation Mercury Tracer (1987-1989) was nice looking car. A very rounded version of the Mazda 323. There was also a Tracer station wagon. Both the Tracer and 323 were made in Hermosillo, Mexico. In 1991, the Mercury Tracer became a twin of the Ford Escort which was boring compared to the 80's Tracer.
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 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!
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.