The Ford Tempo is a compact car that was produced by Ford from the 1984 to 1994 model years. The replacement for the Ford Fairmont, the Tempo was the fourth generation of compact sedans sold by Ford in North America. Along with transitioning to front-wheel drive, the Tempo marked significant downsizing over its predecessor. Mercury marketed the model line under the Mercury Topaz nameplate (no Lincoln version was sold). The model line was produced as a two-door coupe and a four-door sedan through its production.
Deriving its chassis underpinnings and powertrain from the Ford Escort, the Tempo/Topaz were the first aerodynamically-styled sedans introduced by Ford, preceded by the 1982 Ford Sierra hatchbacks (Ford of Europe) and the 1983 Ford Thunderbird; they were followed by the 1986 Ford Taurus.
Produced across multiple facilities in North America, the Tempo/Topaz was produced in both a single generation (for two-doors) and two generations (for four-doors). For the 1995 model year, the Tempo four-door sedan were replaced by the Ford Contour (and Mercury Mystique), developed from the Ford Mondeo; the two-door Tempo was not directly replaced.
Development
In the late 1970s Ford began planning to replace their compact rear wheel drive Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr models with a new smaller front wheel drive (FWD) car. This new compact was expected to compete in the marketplace with General Motors' X-Body, but wound up more similar to GM's J-cars. Ford's chief development engineer for the new car was Ed Cascardo.
The Tempo and Topaz chassis shared some parts with the front-wheel-drive platform used on the first North American Ford Escort, but with a wheelbase stretched by and distinctive new bodies. There were few common components due to the Tempo and Topaz's larger size. Switching to front-wheel drive freed up interior space that would have otherwise been lost to accommodate a driveshaft and rear differential.
Wind tunnel testing on the Tempo began in December 1978. More than 450 hours of testing resulted in over 950 different design changes. The Tempo and Topaz both featured windshields inclined at a 60° angle and aircraft-inspired door frames, two features that had both appeared on the Thunderbird and Cougar in 1983. The door frames wrapped up into the roofline, which improved sealing, allowed for hidden drip rails, and cleaned up the A-pillar area of the car. The rear track was widened, improving aerodynamic efficiency. The front grille was laid back and the leading edge of the hood was tuned for aerodynamic cleanliness. The wheels were pushed out to the corners of the body, reducing turbulence. The cars' backlights were also laid down at 60°, and the rear deck was raised, reducing drag and resulting in greater fuel efficiency. Viewed from the side, the raised trunk imparted a wedge stance to the car which was especially prominent on the two-door coupes. The aerodynamic work resulted in a coefficient of drag () of 0.36 for the two-door Tempo, equal to that of the aero Ford Thunderbird. The four door returned a drag coefficient of 0.37.
The Tempo was designed for a four cylinder engine, but all production of Ford's 2.3 L Lima OHC four was committed to other product lines. In 1983 Ford had stopped production of their 200 cubic inch Thriftpower inline six, leaving unused capacity at the Lima Engine plant. Ford developed a four cylinder engine that shared some features of the Thriftpower six, topped with a new cylinder head and using other new technologies, while repurposing as much tooling as possible at the Lima plant.
When the cars were released, a turbocharged version of the new four cylinder was said to be in development, but this engine never became available. At that point, a V6 was not being considered.
Released in 1983 as a 1984 model, more than 107,000 two-door Tempos and more than 295,000 four-door Tempos were sold in its first year.
Features
Chassis and suspension
The Tempo's chassis is a steel unibody. The structure from the firewall forward is shared with the contemporary Ford Escort.
The Tempo's front suspension on each side comprises a lower lateral link triangulated by the anti-roll bar and a coil over MacPherson strut. The rear "Quadralink" suspension is two parallel lower lateral control links and a radius rod per side, with coil over MacPherson struts. This differed from the Escort's rear suspension, which used a lower lateral arm, radius rod, and non-concentric coil spring and shock absorber. The Tempo was the first ever American built Ford with an independent rear suspension using MacPherson struts.
Brakes are discs in front and drums in back.