If you are a fan of bare-bones economy cars, no-frills work trucks, and fuel-sipping hatchbacks, you would be right at home in the mid-1990s in America. Today, common luxuries found in cars such as power steering, FM radios, and air conditioning are viewed as common equipment, but back in the 1980s and 1990s, these were still pricey options for many vehicles. When you bought a fuel-sipping economy car, you were often getting an incredibly basic package, offering very little comfort in exchange for reliable, fuel-efficient transportation.

Luckily, in the 1990s, American drivers had plenty of options, the Geo Metro being arguably the most infamous due to just how basic they were, but the Metro also had its fair share of competition with the Hyundai Excel, and the Ford Festiva just to name a few.

By the mid-90s, the Ford Festiva was waning in popularity, the boxy 80s inspired design of the Festiva was becoming an eyesore, and the Ford wanted a facelift. This facelift became the Aspire, a very basic car that really didn’t live up to its predecessor.

Related: The Geo Metro: Everything About The Gas Sipper We Love To Hate

The Festiva Is Redesigned

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While the Festiva was never a car that aimed to stun with its appearance, it was obvious that the overall style of the Festiva was modeled after the Ford Windstar in body panel styling, tying the Ford lineup together with common design themes.

The Aspire was released with a nearly polar opposite design to the Festiva, ditching the boxy body for a more rounded approach mimicking the Ford Taurus design of the time, also tying the Ford lineup together with similar designs.

A major selling point of the Aspire was the slightly larger size compared to its Festiva predecessor.

Related: Ford Festiva: 10 Things You Didn't Know

The Ford Aspire On Paper

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When the Aspire was released, it offered very little in terms of options. A lone 1.3L four-cylinder engine was offered with a five-speed manual transmission as standard equipment, and an automatic transmission as an option.

The power output was identical to its predecessor as well, with the Festiva and Aspire both offering 63 HP.

The Aspire’s leading safety headline was the fact that it was the first car in its class to offer dual airbags as standard features.

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The Ford Aspire Didn’t Aspire To Impress

Ford-Aspire
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Contradictory to its name, the Ford Aspire really didn't aspire to be anything outstanding, simply offering reliable, low-key transportation for its consumers. Unfortunately, this lack of features led it to fly under the radar of many automotive enthusiasts.

As far as trim levels, the Aspire did offer both two-door and four-door options, both as hatchbacks only. This was an upgrade from the Festiva, which only offered a two-door setup.

If you wanted any comforts at all, these came with a price as hardly any features of the Aspire came as standard equipment.

A cassette player, rear window wiper, rear window defroster, automatic transmission, and even the alloy wheels were all optional.

While performance was not a focus of the design team, the Aspire’s 0-60 time of around seconds was almost dangerous for modern-day highways.

Related: This Chopped-Up Ford Festiva Pickup Is Both Pathetic And Kind Of Brilliant

What The Ford Aspire Did Well

(Image via Consumer Guide Auto)

As the supermini battles between the Geo Metro, Hyundai Excel, and Ford Festiva raged on, the Aspire did a great job of offering a new design to customers who wanted a domestic car like a Ford, but could only afford Hyundai prices. The design did fit right in with Ford’s current lineup, and as a mainstream car, many were much more comfortable being seen in an Aspire than a Festiva.

The Aspire was also offered in an SE model, only available on the two-door hatchback model, this trim level added a spoiler on the rear and fog lamps in the front, giving the Aspire a small allusion to a sports car among all of the economy body panels.

Related: The Hyundai Excel: The Hatchback That Brought Korean Cars To The US​​​​​​​

The Ford Aspire Fizzles Out

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While the Ford Festiva gained somewhat of a cult following and appreciation for its economical accomplishments, the Aspire failed to impress at all. While the Ford Festiva accomplished an EPA 35 city/42 highway fuel economy, the Aspire was over 500 pounds heavier, killing fuel economy.

The Aspire only achieved an EPA 29 city/38 highway out of the manual transmission, and an embarrassing 25 city/31 highway rating out of the automatic transmission, all but losing all ties to its economy car roots.

To even more embarrassment, the fuel economy ratings of the Ford Escort, another economy car in the Ford lineup had similar fuel efficiency in a better quality package.

By 1997, as sales were slumping even more than estimated, the Aspire was redesigned slightly with a facelift. The front and rear bumpers were restyled to make it look more modern, and a new interior package was released featuring a new head unit for the radio. But it wasn’t enough to save the disappointing little car from being discontinued right as it was redesigned in 1997.

Related: Mr. JWW Takes A Look At The World’s Most Fuel-Efficient Car​​​​​​​

The Aspire Today

Unfortunately, the Ford Aspire is just as easily forgotten today as it was in the past. The Geo Metro and Ford Festiva have all gained cult followings from people who grew up in these cars, either as children in the backseat, or as drivers, but the Ford Aspire doesn’t seem to have anyone truly reminiscing over them.

Even on modern-day websites dedicated to these superminis such as fordfestiva.com, the Aspire is simply a footnote as the next generation of the Festiva that was short-lived.

Hopefully one day, the Aspire will be seen as a classic, but until then, examples of these cars can be had for very little, with prime examples going for as little as $1,000 to $2,000.

It may not be the most historic little car out there, but it is still a piece of Ford history that anyone can enjoy as a throwback daily.