Posted on 12/24/2008 7:19:49 AM PST by XR7
I disagree with you on this. I have a Ford Fusion that I purchased after trying Toyota, Honda, Volvo and Subaru and am glad I did. It gets great gas mileage, rides better and is quieter than all the rest. Ford has done a great job on this car.
I just bought a Honda. We also bought a Scion this year. Both times we shopped, we first looked at Dodge/Chrysler and Ford for alternatives. (No GM, sorry, too many bad experiences).
Dodge and Ford have both cheaped out on their interiors in a BAD way. We paid much less for a much NICER Honda and Scion than the comparable Dodge and Ford vehicles.
The Honda replaced another Honda, but the Scion replaced a Ford. We had no problems with the prior Ford and would have gotten another one, had they had something decent for the money they wanted.
I looked at a new Chrysler van. I know people with the older version, and the older version is MUCH nicer inside. Our old Ford’s interior was MUCH nicer than the current Fords. What’s up with that? Did they think we would buy the vehicle without sitting in it?
In contrast, the newer Mazdas are looking great inside.
You should always question what you "learn" on 60 Minutes.
“Because for it to recover, we’ve got to recover first.
And no one’s offering us a bailout.”
Amazing how few people today grasp this simple idea. No, today’s “leaders” want to TAKE AWAY money from the very basis of the economy to “save” the economy.
Good luck with that...
The day we bought it, we were driving around with our new born in the back and some guy with a tricked out Malibu or similar car flagged us down and offered to trade straight across. We didn't bite but still laugh today about that, he wanted it sooo bad.
This is sort of like the end of WWII in reverse. The Germans had all sorts of advanced weapons just getting started or on the drawing board but it was too little too late. I have checked some prices of vehicles lately and some models are going dirt cheap in comparison to days of yore. Not sure this will save the big 3 though. Time will tell as always. I think if they can last there might be a turnaround for them.
The rear door on our 2004 Ford Explorer cracked in half while sitting in our driveway. We had the rear differential rebuilt at 60K miles - and never towed anything with it. The dealer told us the problems were common, but repairs would be on our dime. Actually, close to $800 for the differential. We drive around with a cracked door as a warning to potential Explorer buyers...
I’m not looking to buy another Ford for a long time.
Yep. I blame Ford.
CR has nearly 1,000,000 surveys returned each year tracking automobiles for 6 or more years.
“Put a Boss 302 or a 300 horse 289 in it and you had a street beast!”
You’re not a guy named Chris from Oakdale LI, are you” Back in about ‘75 a guy I went to school with did exactly that: Put a WORKED 302 into a Pinto. He left the original rear in until it blew(lasted about a month). He welded the nose together to form one unit that hinged at the front under the bumper. Did it all in his garage at home in a matter of weeks at the age of 19. I don’t know what became of him but if he didn’t get into custom car fabricating he damn well missed his calling
“...And THERE is the crux of the issue. Yes, American cars have improved, but the foreign competition has improved more. And in many cases, those improved cars are built in American factories, by American labor.”
Amen.
Go forward a few years though and I think just about any 4 banger had as much or more power and way better mileage.
My first car was a ‘74 Pinto 2-door with a 2.0L engine and a four-speed stick. It burned almost as much oil as gas, but it never stranded me anywhere either.
Corinth was flattened in 146 B.C. and resettled 100 years later. The Romans couldn’t leave a strategic location like that vacant.
I recall seeing an interview with Ricardo Montalban (sexiest voice I ever heard), in which said that he had no idea what “Corinthian leather” was supposed to be, but it sounded good.
The original "lipstick on a pig."
I think that the author was talking more about the late 70’s and 80’s cars that deffinately deserved the fowl rep that he describes.
You're one hundred percent wrong on that one. You may be thinking of the Pacer, or the Gremlin. Stylishly, the Pinto and Vega were pretty hip cars. While many teens had a car, they were usually family hand-me-downs between 5 and 10 years old. For a teenager in the early 70s, a NEW car was a big deal and most were small. After all, not many teens had enough money to afford more (parents seldom bought cars for their children in those days!)
My first new car was a fully loaded 1973 Pinto with a stick shift, that cost me $2,323. I loved that car! It was well-made, easy to maintain and got good gas mileage (30+ mph).
I later learned during my first year of college in one of my engineering classes that Ford execs had overruled their safety engineers and put the car into full production before a flaw in the gas tank filler-neck design was corrected. Although the engineers explained that the car would likely burn or explode in a rear impact, the Ford execs decided that they could more afford any losses from lawsuits than they could from the lost sales if they failed to beat the Chevy Vega on to the market.
A year later when the lawsuits started to appear, we knew the inside story and hoped Ford would be bankrupted for its callous disregard for lives.
They redesigned the car starting in 1974, and although they corrected the gas tank problem, they also cheapened the quality with a lot of plastic parts. The assembly quality also began to tank about then. By 1980, they had cars with WARPED dashboards in the SHOWROOMS!! I was a GM man by then. GM had problems with their cars also at that time, but they never seemed to sink quite as low as Ford or Chrysler.
IMO, much of the poor quality in vehicles in those days was due to the manufacturers experimenting with new materials to keep weight down to meet Government MPG standards; using new, unproven production processes to keep costs down due to increasingly outrageous union labor costs; and the general indifference to quality by that union workforce.
Publicity is reality.
No that wasn’t me. I never built one,but I knew a guy who did. Boss 302 with a narrowed 9inch 3.91 track lock rear end.Nobody would run him.
Because, they didn’t think they could get a warranty fix out of the manufacture and it does not fit in their power train warranty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.