One for Nibby...

[Boxer_4]

Here’s your chance!

[jminer]

@Boxer_4 My now wife had one of these as her first car in high school circa 2000. It was terrible, even for the times. She had a purple two door topaz but got run off the road and it was replaced with a 4 door light blue tempo.

[Boxer_4]

@jminer They weren’t great new, and they aren’t great now, but the ones remaining can now be considered survivors.

[jminer]

@Boxer_4 That they are, and I will say the lines on the 2 door have aged reasonably well.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

I saw a pristine Tempo coupe in white a few months ago and it confused the crap out of me.

[fintail]

Some salty comments in the link, wow.

Great period-correct color.

[Boxer_4]

@jminer Especially amazing since the 2 door was never redesigned while the 4 door was.

[Boxer_4]

@fintail You’ll have that, most people don’t get it.

I occasionally have the thought that it could be fun to find a clean car like this, go through it with maintenance and cosmetic fixes, hang onto it for a car show season or two, and then move onto the next one. I’ve noticed that this type of car draws attention at shows, mainly from people wondering how it still exists.

[dieseldub]

My dad had a Tempo he bought new in the '80s... and that was actually the first DIESEL car we had in our family.

You could say that Tempo started the mess that is my life with diesel cars, because the family accountant (mom) insisted he keep buying diesel cars for cost reasons since he was on the road and being reimbursed for mileage.

After the Tempo diesel was when the Volkswagen diesels started, since they were the only game in the U.S. for YEARS. 91 Jetta diesel bought new and a 98 Jetta TDI.

If you didn't know Tempos were sold as diesels in the U.S., you do now! I think it was a 2.2L Mazda diesel engine, in fact.... the '80s were a strange time, man.

[fintail]

@boxer_4 Ford people will get it, and fans of obscure/unloved 80s-90s era metal. We had an 85 Tempo GLX in the family until 1999, and 190K miles. It was actually relatively reliable, and probably no worse than anything else at its price point, if not maybe even better.

I imagine these V6 models have some torque steer, too. I recall in the small town where I lived as a teen, a used car lot also rented cars, and they had several V6 Tempos in the rental section, around the time the line was discontinued. Rare cars now.

[fintail]

@dieseldub I remember around 1994-95 a 5-speed Tempo diesel (I believe an 86) turned up in a local junkyard. It was very clean, I have to imagine someone messed up the engine for it to be there, as it had no glaring physical faults. I remember I took the stereo out of it to put in an 85 Tempo in the family at the time, as the cassette player had failed. I learned my lesson when the junkyard unit also failed in maybe 6 months, and I replaced that with an aftermarket stereo.