"Pick up the Tempo of your life!"

[FordTempoFanatic]

That is what the TV advertisements said in 1984, as Ford's then-new Tempo debuted to critical acclaim and sales success (over half a million sold in its first year on sale alone).

Here's mine: a 1989 Tempo AWD. I washed and waxed her this past weekend and I took the opportunity to catch some pictures. So, tell me, what do Ford Truck fans think of the lowly Tempo? Anyone got any stories of woe, appreciation, or hoon-like off road stunts starring the infamous Tempo??

Here's a bonus for ya'll truck guys. Here's my family of fine cars, with the F-150 loaded up and ready to rock for fishing on Monday.

 

[73F100Shortbed]

I never owned a tempo but have driven a few that I've repaired for people. Not a bad little car. Wouldn't be first on my list of car choices, but I wouldn't over look one if it was cheap enough.

 

[Dirky]

I had never seen an AWD Topaz (Tempo, Topaz... Same thing) up until tonight. Pretty freakin cool. How do those AWD units drive, especially in winter conditions?

I've got an 89 Topaz, exhaust straight off the cyl. head (exhaust manifold cracked in two, so I removed it.. Use it as a field car..

See's the RPM ALL day long! Seized it up once and left it to cool down...Came back the next day and all was fine..

You can't kills those 2.3's

 

[LEB Ben]

Looking good man. I've never owned one either, and I don't think it would be comfortable for someone my size, but I do know folks that have run theirs 300,000+ miles. From what I hear, it's a pretty reliable little rig. Not the best at anything, but gets you from point A to point B everytime.

 

[FordTempoFanatic]

Looking good man. I've never owned one either, and I don't think it would be comfortable for someone my size, but I do know folks that have run theirs 300,000+ miles. From what I hear, it's a pretty reliable little rig. Not the best at anything, but gets you from point A to point B everytime.

Most dependable car I've ever owned. So reliable I bought another with a "shot" transmission and a load of other problems. Turns out, they weren't problems at all, and the trans just wanted a new filter and some fresh fluid.

Not the fastest, sleekest, or more efficient. But they're fast enough, efficient enough, comfortable, and good at being what they are. Plus they're quintessential 1980s American cars, for better and worse. So you've got your load of chrome and synthetic wood trim, your motorized seat belts, and some of the most enthusiastic and hilarious TV ads ever.

 

[fatherdoug]

We bought a used '91 Tempo for our son for high school graduation in 2004. It had 50,000 miles and was still almost new inside. It was a good car. The mpg's weren't that good though, 25 at most. You still see a lot of them on the road.

 

[m78]

Got anymore pictures,,of the log cabin ?

 

[polarbear]

Took a '84 Tempo with just a few thousand miles on it in trade for a new Chebbie Blazer back in '84. Customer was a pretty little redhead, never argued on price, and cut us a check for the difference. I drove the Tempo as a demo for a few months after that- not a bad little car. One day, I had wifey in the car with me and she said "What's that smell?" "What smell," I ask. "Ah... Aramis- it's really strong- don't you smell that? Her husband must've driven the car all the time."

"No chance of that," I answered. "He's been in the Middle East doing contract work for the past few years. As a matter of fact, he's due home next month."

Wifey, "Guess that explains why she traded the car in."

 

[racsan]

i had a 2 door '84 tempo for awhile.was white/grey 2 tone with a grey interior. bought it for 800, had some front end damage, found a identical mercury topaz in the junkyard and bought parts off it. then i had a tempo with a topaz frontgrille, hood and l.f. fender. bumper too. drove it for about 2 months, had a bad ticking sound but got good ilage and didnt have any issues. one day i was getting up to speed in town and had just let off the gas once i got to 35mph. there was this loud crash like someone in a restraunt had dropped a tray of dishes, looked in the mirror and saw smoke and cars stopping. my tempo was still running, just not on all 4. drove it to the next parking lot and called for a wrecker, later found that the #3 rod went and took out the #4 as well, punched a hole in the oil pan, quite alot of carnage. i parked it out back while i pondered what to do with it. my parents bought it off me for $500 and put in a rebuilt motor, gave it to my sister as a wedding gift. she had it about a year when she went into a spin during the winter and while she was spinning hit a parked geo tracker. bent the car into a slight "U". dad found a beater 4 door tempo to put the rebuild engine over into. the rebuilt motor wasnt anywhere near as good as the original i had blow, it was doggy,underpowered and got poor milage, dont think the rebuilt ever got over 20 mpg. when i had the original motor, i got 25 pretty consistantly and i drove it hard, except for the day it blew, go figure. if it had blown up 2 days earlier i would have understood, was going down some backroads just as fast as it would go, for miles and miles. but the day it blew, i was taking it easy, didnt feel wel as i remember, and i had actually let off the gas when things went "crash". still have 2 of the "gl" rims from it.

 

[Big Jim F150]

The Tempo was a turd, my mom had an 86 Tempo GL with the 2.3 4 banger for about two years and for the longest time that thing gave her nothing but trouble, but then she had gotten a Dodge Caravan, which was way better than the Tempo, and my stepfather had two 78 Ford CL-9000 truck tractors, which they were nothing but trouble for him. But both of those three Fords were Ford's worst ideas. They were the only crappy Fords that I knew of, aka Ford's Boat Anchors. Those were the only Fords that I didn't like.