In our last entry, reader Alex T found a new car to add to my bucket list. Last month, my wife and I bombed about Los Angeles in a Golf GTI, a practical hatch that keeps the smile factor set way high. That car made me fall deeply in love with the concept of a hot hatch; then Alex T came around and suggested that I could have GTI power with an even longer roof. For just a single year, Volkswagen sold the Jetta SportWagen with GTI power. The 2009 Jetta SportWagen SEL paired luxuries like genuine leather and dual-zone climate control to the 200 HP turbo four from the GTI. While missing the GTI’s important suspension setup, this was the closest that Volkswagen came to selling a GTI wagon in America. Today, we will travel down a similar path, and this time we’re going back to Ford. Back in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, Ford offered enthusiasts a compelling package. The Taurus SHO featured a Yamaha-designed V6, a manual transmission, and sporty looks all contained in a practical sedan body. But the Taurus wouldn’t be the only practical Ford to get souped up. We’ve already written about the Mercury Tracer LTS, but there were more with the Ford Tempo GLS, Mercury Topaz ZR5, and Topaz LTS.
Ford Downsizes Its Compacts
The Tempo and the Topaz rose from a need at Ford to replace the Ford Fairmont and its sibling, the Mercury Zephyr. Here’s a Fairmont, to give you an idea: Ford’s models went through a wave of radical changes in the early 1980s. In a period review of the Ford Tempo, Popular Mechanics attributed it to the “new” Ford created by board chairman Philip Caldwell and president Donald Petersen. Going into the 1980s, Ford downsized many models, adopted curvy designs, and released more front-wheel-drive models. The compact Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz had the job of replacing their larger rear-wheel-drive predecessors. Development began in the late 1970s and a focus on the new compacts was on aerodynamics. As Popular Mechanics wrote, in 1978, the Tempo and Topaz were subject to wind tunnel testing. The vehicles spent over 450 hours in the wind tunnel getting their bodies sculpted to cut through the air. As a result, Ford made over 950 design changes to achieve a slippery profile. The finished product had aircraft-inspired doors that wrapped into the roof and featured a windshield and back window angled at 60 degrees. In the end, Ford’s engineers achieved a drag coefficient of 0.36 for the coupe and 0.37 for the four-door. The coupe’s drag coefficient was equal to the day’s Thunderbird. Those aren’t that impressive by today’s numbers, but remember, these are inexpensive compacts developed in the late 1970s. Popular Mechanics went on to note that the Tempo and Topaz slipped through the air better than GM’s J-car competition and completely blew Chrysler’s K-cars out of the water. The magazine also saw the Tempo and Topaz sedans going up to bat against imports like the Honda Accord, Mazda 626, Nissan Stanza, and Toyota Corona, while the coupes would go up against the Honda Prelude, Nissan 200SX, and Toyota Celica.
The Tempo Was Slick, Not Fast
That review found the original Tempo and Topaz to be tasteful and competent, even if they weren’t as sophisticated as other vehicles in Ford’s lineup. Something that I noticed from reviews is that none of them mention anything about driving excitement. Even MotorWeek’s John Davis once said: “However, they also have a reputation for performance and styling that are as exciting as watching ice melt.” Ouch!
Things would improve slightly in 1988 with the launch of the Tempo’s and Topaz’s second generations. Check out this MotorWeek review above, where Davis calls the 12.4-second sprint to 60 mph “mediocre” and the 18.9-second quarter mile run “leisurely.” Thankfully, handling was found to be “surprisingly competent” and one tester apparently likened the second-generation Tempo’s feel to a Honda Prelude with four-wheel-steering. Initially, power came from a 2.3-liter “High Swirl Combustion” four making 90 HP. Also available was the 2.3-liter “High Specific Output” four, which added ten more ponies. Perhaps the most exciting thing about these cars, at least initially, was that they had available all-wheel-drive. Alright, some of you are probably ready to click out and read something else but hold on.
The Grail
The Tempo and the Topaz might not have been much, but reader JDE says that there is a version worth looking at. JDE says that the holy grail of the Tempo and Topaz is the version sold with a V6 for a short while, beginning in 1992: Indeed, it appears that Ford essentially made a SHO version of the Tempo and Topaz, but both vehicles flew under the radar. You may think that the addition of just 40 horses over stock isn’t a big deal. However, the 3.0-liter Vulcan V6 made a dramatic improvement in straight-line performance. Remember how John Davis called the 12.4-second acceleration to 60 mph “mediocre?” Well, these reportedly get to 60 mph in just 7.8 seconds and can complete the quarter-mile in 16.1 seconds. 1992 brought another minor refresh to Ford’s compact cars, and a big change to the GLS/XR5/LTS trims. Taking a play from the muscle car playbook, Ford wedged in a bigger engine from a larger car. The H.O. 4-cylinder was dropped, replaced with the 3.0L Vulcan V6 from the Ford Taurus. In the Tempo/Topaz, it made 130 HP (an increase of 30 HP over the H.O. 2.3L). A higher capacity 5-speed manual from the Taurus SHO was standard, with an optional 3-speed automatic. The suspension was stiffened even more and the 15” rims from the previous generation Escort GT were used. The exterior was augmented with a new front bumper featuring integrated fog lights, deeper side sills, and deeper rear bumper with a dual outlet exhaust tip. The 4-door Tempo GLS also featured a unique blacked out D-pillar. The sports interior was carried over, with the addition of a 120 MPH speedometer. Unfortunately, this last shot of adrenaline into the aging Tempo/Topaz didn’t light the sales charts on fire. In 1993, the GLS/XR5/LTS were cancelled making these a low production one year wonder. With these cars you got 40 horses for a car that was much quicker. And as our reader notes, the otherwise boring styling was spruced up with a body kit and sporty interior.
Weirdly Rare
According to Ford news blog Ford Authority, just 464 Mercury Topaz XR5 were built. While I could not find production numbers for the Topaz LTS, the people over at Barn Finds claims that just 676 Ford Tempo GLS units were built in 1992. That’s incredible as Ford sold 1,565,047 Tempos alone between 1988 and 1994. It’s sort of amazing that so few of these made it onto the road. Perhaps as another example of these cars’ rarity, I tried searching for some for sale and found none. I suppose that fits the spirit of this series; rare versions of common, everyday cars. Surprisingly, JDE wasn’t even the first to recommend this. ColoradoFX4 predicted this post all the way back when I wrote about the Mercury Tracer LTS. Yet, it seems that these cars have been largely forgotten and are only taking up rent-free space in the minds of our readers. If you’ve ever owned one of these, what was it like? Did you ever embarrass someone at the lights? Do you know of a ‘holy grail’ of a car out there? If so, we want to read about it! Send us an email at tips@theautopian.com and give us a pitch for why you think your favorite car is a ‘holy grail.’ Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member. First, thanks, great Holy Grail article, though I think Holy Grail implies not only special and hard to find, but also that there is someone out there in a noble quest to find it. The latter part may be a little harder to assume or prove. The quote above, maybe comparables on the sedan side, but I doubt many people were cross-shopping the Tempo/Topaz coupe and a Prelude or Celica. I had no idea this thing existed. The rental fleet version of the Tempo was a sad little appliance. In fact it was so bad, it is probably the main reason I have never bought a Ford. Congratulations. Your comment was not pertinent, useful or clever. I love Mercedes(the person) articles and will actively search those out to read first when I visit this site Mercedes(the person) and her wife are welcome to eat at my table any day. Mercedes if you are ever in SW Michigan and need a place for a wrenching session(not sure if a bus will fit in the barn but it’d be fun to find out) a place to crash, or you just want someone to share a couple beers with and talk cars, do not hesitate to reach out. But one of the best, unknown features of these cars was…they were two seaters. So insanely impractical, so easy to just add backseats but Ford seemingly said no damnit this is the era of peak sport coupe so leave the kids at home you mother. I miss those days. Besides being a true 2-seater, another distinction is the EXP was Ford’s first multi-port fuel injected vehicle offered in the U.S. All this EXP talk makes me realize Mercedes simply must do a Rare Rides on the EXP. Maybe even the rarest of rare McLaren ASC EXP? Or the Lincoln Mark VII with the BMW I6 turbodiesel! Btw my husband’s family owned a manual diesel Topaz. It may have been awd as well, but I’m not 100%. That sounds like it would be worth scoping out, but not bucket list-worthy as no Tempo/Topaz deserves to be. I’ve seen it on the internet before, but someone’s manual swapped a 4th generation Taurus with a transmission from a Tempo. Regarding production numbers, they are definitely low. While running the site, I ran a script to ping the carfax VIN database to determine an accurate VIN. I did this to come up with an approximation of production numbers (not sure if carfax included cars sold in CA, which these grails were). Since the site is no longer around, I can’t just reference it. That XR5 number sounds right, and LTS numbers were slightly higher. If my memory is correct, the GLS numbers were around 2200, accounting for both 2- and 4-door models. My writeup about my own car: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1992-ford-tempo-gls-sho-little-brother-that-you-didnt-know-existed/ The Fox wheels look good – how could they not – but come on, the rubber accordion shift boot is SO wonderfully that-era Ford! (I’m kidding of course) But speaking of that-era Ford, Bimini Blue was such a great color. Always seemed to me to, in a small way, connect our stuff to Ford’s forbidden fruit Euro offerings across the pond. Some ‘holy grail’ vehicles out there I can think of… the Toyota Previa with the manual transmission. And the Toyota Previa with the supercharged engine. As far as I know, there was no manual Previa with the supercharged engine… but if there is, THAT would be the ultimate holy grail Previa. Another holy grail vehicle… the original Honda Civic hybrid that had the manual transmission for only 2 model years… 2003 and 2004. After that, all the Honda Civic hybrids were automatics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Civic_(seventh_generation)#Hybrid And as usual, where is Ford Tempo Fanatic? I think Autopian should put on a search.
