Posted on 01/26/2006 11:13:00 AM PST by Dan Nunn
My 4WD Ford Ranger is going on 8 years old now and I haven't had a single problem (knock on wood) as yet. It doesn't get babied either.
I used to could relate to that.
I wonder if the mileage is bad because of the salvage title? They're not exceptionally frugal cars, but I get about 23/30 on mine with the base 3.0L 12V.
Mine was built at the Mazda factory in Hiroshima (and the nice glow made it much easier to find in the parking lot at night). Maybe then the Japanese were just better at building them or more demanding of their parts suppliers to get it right. Were Escorts from back then as reliable?
Ah yes, you're right.
mx6 or 626?
Are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell?
With no kind of chance for the Flag, or the Liberty bell.
Wish a Ford and a Chevy,
Could still last ten years, like they should.
Is the best of the free life behind us now?
Are the good times really over, for good?
-By Merle Haggard
We just don't have major repair costs on Japanese until well over 150k miles. On American stuff, the first year repair costs often exceed the lifetime repair costs of a Toyota.
If their quality is so good, why don't they offer a 75,000 to 100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty? With no weasel words, just a promise that they will fix it free, no matter what it is.
Make that promise and the customers will come back. Otherwise they will keep buying the cars with the quality reputations.
We have the 24 valve and all of our driving is city. It's around 17 mpg. At 35 it runs at 2000 rpms, at 38 it finally drops to 1300. I think gearing is a big part of the problem. I wish it was a 5 speed.
Well said.
Yeah, but Ford didn't do much for all the people that bought Tauruses and Windstar minivans with the 3.8 l engine that subsequently developed (expensive to fix after the fact) head gasket problems, did they?
Well, for me, they just haven't been that good. Among other American made cars I've owned, I've owned 3 Ford Taurus' in the last decade or so. The last mostly because my previous car had failed and I needed something fast. Ironically, it was the best of the three (and it was older with higher mileage).
Yes, they were nightmarish, and the Ford mechanics who worked on them were as nightmarish. Head gaskets, tie rods, CV joints, water pumps, fuel pumps, air conditioners, heat sensors, steering rods, and my fav, the tranny. Things you wouldn't think new or newer cars would need so soon or so many times. And ineptitude when repairing them. I remember getting a fuel pump replaced and they failed to connect it properly to the gas tank. They refused to tow it, though I had their service agreement, and tried to tell me that some ladies just don't know how to pump gas. And I've found out just recently that the new water pump I thought I was buying last August was apparently not even new. But I paid for a new one. The transmission folks tell me it looks like the original part, aged over 80,000 miles, but the garage tells me, when I call to enquire, that it really could have corroded 'that much' in 4 (at the time) months. My replacement car is not American made.
I haven't given up on American cars, but they've let me down. And the dealerships that sold them to me, too.
The American car companies could take a lesson or two from some of their foreign competition. And so agrees my friend whose Honda has 250,000 miles on it, and until recently, has been trouble free. Another has a Suburu with 200,000+. My sister bought a Toyota in 1990, kept it 13 years, finally trading it in because they needed more seating.
The correct answer is, YES.
There is a motorpool where I work. A little while back a Ford Windstar came back in after an accident. The driver hit a telephone pole so hard the pole wound up between the front of the driver's and passenger's seats. I have no idea what happened to the engine!
But both doors still worked, the rear door still worked, and the airbags deployed. The unbelted driver walked away with a bump on the head. It was really impressive.
You look at the violence that was necessary to put that telephone pole into the middle of this vehicle, and nobody got hurt. Amazing!
I have no problem with American cars. I own a 1972 F-100 that was given to me by grandfather when I got my liscense in 1981. It had 60,000 miles. I replaced the engine, and rebuilt the tranny 5 years ago at 276,000 miles. I have a 99 Pontiac Grand Am with 124,000 miles on it and drive it Phoenix all the time(about a 400 mile round trip from Yuma). The only thing I've had to replace on it was fuses, battery, and new headlights. I also have a 99 Ford Ranger with 96,000 miles. I've had no problems with this vehicle either. My Dad has owned nothing but American cars, and he has had very few problems. I will stick with American vehicles.
The hemi charger looks real good from the front. That's the only part I can see in the real view mirror of my mustang.
The hemi challenger will just be another fading view as my stang blows past it.
I took Consumer Reports' word on that a few years ago and bought American. Terrible mistake! Worst car I've ever owned, bar none -- and this from a guy who once drove a Rambler! Sorry Detroit, you're going to have to go a lo-o-o-ng way to win me back.
I have a '96 Cherokee that we have never had to do the first thing to. Just oil changes and routine maintenance. My brother bought my '89 Cherokee and drives it every day with almost 300,000 miles on it. Someone at Chrysler was smokin' crack when they decided to stop making them. :(
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