Photo submitted THE NEW Aspire replaces the Festiva as Ford's smallest car. For a base price of $9,995, standard equipment inciudes: dual airbags, a 64 horsepower 1.3-litre four- _cylinder engine, 5'speed manual transmission, : ; Festiva replacement offers dual airbags, more Greg Wilson TEST DRIVE FORD’S PINT-SIZED hatchback, the Festiva, has been restyled and renamed for 1994, : The new Ford Aspire has a more acrodynamic look, added safety features, a roomier interior, and a new price. The base price has jumped from $8,295 to $9,995, mostly because of additional standard features such as driver and passenger airbags and body-colored bumpers. The Aspire is the only car in its class to offer dual airbags. ‘It's also the only car 7 its class to offer optional ($800) four-wheel anti-lock brakes. an active safety ‘feature that improves steering con- trol in panic sitaations, Like the Festiva, the Aspire was designed and engineered mostly by Mazda, is built in South Korea by - Kia, and marketed by Ford in North America. The Festiva has a good track record for reliability and owner sat- isfaction, an indication that the Aspire probably will. too. _ The Aspire’s low hoodline and multi-fastback styling is much slecker than the boxy Festiva. though it’s still rather tatl. It doesn’t look bigger. but the new two-door Aspire is 31cm (12 in.) longer and 6 cm (2 in.) wider than the Festiva. The Festiva was available only as a two-door hatchback, but the Aspire contes in two and four-door body styles. The wheelbase of the four-door Aspire is 8 cm (3 in.) longer than the two-door model and that extra length provides more rear legroom and headroom. In addition, the four-door model has rear side-windows that wind down, instead of fixed windows. And of course the rear doors make access to the rear seat casier. For an extra thousand dollars, the four-door Aspire is certainly a much more practical vehicle. Four- door Aspires start at $10,995, The Aspire’s wrap-around dash and soft contoured interior design is much more attractive and modern- fdoking than the Festiva’s utilitari- ne RE I : an dashboard, The design of the Aspire’s con- trols and instruments is functional and friendly. with the exception of the tiny, casy-to-miss hora buttons on the steering-wheel spokes. Interior room is generous for such a small car. Front and rear, legroom and headroom is accept- able for four adult passengers. Re lap and shoulder belts are standard equipment but there are no rear head restraints. The passenger seat in the two- door Aspire has a useful memory feature which returns it to its origi- nal position after the rear passenger gets in. Trunk space is also surprisingly generous. By folding down the standard one-piece fold-down rear seat or optional split folding rear seat, the Aspire will easily carry bulky objects such as a TV set or Jawn mower. You may have to leave the rear hatch open, but heck. it’s a lot cheaper than renting a truck. The Aspire’s powertrain remains basically the same as the Festive with 4 64 horsepower 1.3-litre sin- gle overhead-cam. four cylinder engine. This is nota lot of horse- power by small car standards, but the Aspire weighs only 900 kilo- grams (1980 Ibs.), so performance is acceptable for urban use. 1 wouldnt recommend pulling Out {o pass semi-trailers on an uphill seetion of the Coquihalka highway, however. The standard five-speed trans- mission has rather long throws. but it is easy to manipulate, The option- al three-speed automatic provides aceeptable shifting performance: however. the engine revs too high for comfort at cruising speeds over TL0 kro/h (68 mph). The Aspire’s gas mileage is fru- gal, but fuel economy is 22% better with the five-speed manual trans- mission compared to the automatic. City/Highway fuel consumption ratings with the manual transmis- sion are 6.5/5.1 litres per 100 kilo- metres (43/55 mpg). With the auto- matic, it's 8.0/6.4 litres per 100 kms (35/44 mpg). Power steering is not available on two-door Aspires or four-door models with a manual transmission. Only the four-door Aspire with Price as tested $14,100 Base price $9,995 Type Four door. four passenger hatchback Layout transverse front engine/ front wheel drive Engine 1.3-litre four cylinder, SOHC, two valves per cytinder. - multi-port fuel injection Horsespower 64 @ 5,000 rpm Torque 74 ft-lbs @ 3,000 rpm Transmission Five specd manu-' al (bree speed automatic) ; AM/FM radio and 13-inch tires. Inquire about the Aspire at Dave Buck Ford, 879 Marine Dr. North Vancouver. aerodynamic appearance optional automatic transmission offers power steering. This is a rather curious omission on an other- wise well thought-out car. The Aspire’s wheels and tires are now [3 inch (33 cm), up from the tiny 12-inch (30.5 cm) on the previous Festivas, . The bigger tires and revised sus- pension have improved handling and ride slightly. but the most noticeable improvement is the Aspire’s straight-line tracking and lateral stability at high speeds, par- ticularly during crosswinds. With a base price under $10,000, the Aspire is likely to appeal to younger, first-time buy- ers, and those looking for a second sar. Ford estimates that 30% of Aspire buyers will be women. Tires P165/70R-13 Curb Weight 909 kg/2.053 Ibs Wheelbase 2.385 mm (93.9 in.) Length 3.960 mm (155.9 in.) Width 1,669 mm (65,7 in.) Height {412 mm (55.6 in.) Cargo capacity rear seat up: 481 titres (17.0 cu. fh: rear seat down: 1.16E litres (460 cu, ft) Fuel consumption (aviematic transmission) City: 8.0 1/100 kin (35 mpg): Hwy: 6.4 1/100 km (44 mpg)