I have a fleet of 21 vans only 3 Fords , I started out with all fords but had too much trouble now use Chevrolet Express Vans
They both have different attributes shorter wheelbase ford gives it a smaller turning radius but a worse ride with cargo
Generally the Chevys have been much more reliable

Henry Ford besides his backing of the Democrat Socialist Party (Nazi's) wrote a paper called "the international Jew" published in the Dearborn indpendent
this was quite controversial and an interesting read to say the least.

12/22/1922 the New York Times first reported his PUBLIC support of the Nazi Party. It is well documented Henry Ford supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power financially.He received the highest decoration a foreiger ever received from Adolf Hitler.................................. It was often said he profited from both sides of the war from French and German plants producing vehicles at a profit for the Wehrmacht, and from U.S. plants building vehicles at a profit for the U.S. Army.

Ford = For Old Retarded Drivers

quote Originally posted by fiero86_gt: Ford = For Old Retarded Drivers

Thats a new one !!!

_____r Only Runs Downhill. I'll leave the first word to everyone's imagination

I've had a horrible time with my '96 Mercury Sable. Transmission crapped at 60K, tape player next, A/C control has failed numerous times and occasionally displays jibberish. The plastic vacuum lines cracked, and that part was $400 from the Ford dealer, for 4 feet of preformed 1/8" plastic line!

Oh yeah, and I just had to replace the engine after it threw a rod through the oil pan. It also leaks oil profusely from somewhere directly above the catalytic converter.

P.S.
You have to take the intake manifold off to change the rear spark plugs. WTF.

I'm a Mopar and GM guy. I haven't worked on Fords beyond basic stuff like oil changes and tune-ups, but they just seem weird to me.

I think most car choices are based on loyalty (father drove one), perception or poor information. My father is a machinic and bleeds Bowtie Orange, but he drives a Chrysler Minivan or a Caddy. I love my chevy's and my fiero, but the two fords I have owned where great cars. Funny the best car I ever owned was a 78 Chevy Monza Wagon with the Iron Duke in it. Got it with 30,000 miles and drove it to 160,000, never did anything but brakes and alternator rebuild, never a probelm.. but it was a crapbox otherwise.

I think to many people dont really know how good (or bad a car is). In the 50-60 the Small Block Chevy was a pretty incredible engine (still is), it the 60-70 GM had a few things that where just "better" for long run.. Chrysler had some poor font suspensions (especially in the late 60-early 70's) and there big blocks where only good for 50-70,000 miles The hemi with its legendary power wasnt a very reilible motor. In fact Ford had some of the better Massive Cubic inch engines in those years, they lasted longer then Chrylser or Chevy. THEY ALL SUCKED form about 70-80.. sorry emissions made um all boat anchors. Nowdays GM has 2 or 3 cars in the best, does that meant they are? I dont think so..

here is something to think about. Consumer Reports is used as one of the HUGE judges of how good a car is. Unfortnatly this is consumer reported problems... I'm sure all of you knwo the guy who thinks dust sticks to his paint on XXX brand car so the paint is bad, and he has probebly took it to the dealer for a repaint (YES, I'm trying to exagerate for effect here)... They dont take into account actual problems, just "reported problems". Some of these are "sky is falling" problems.

The 90's Ford Escort/Mercury Tracer is actually a MAZDA 323 with a differnt front and back mouldings. Yet Consumer Reports listed the MAZDA as a good/fair car, but the Ford/Mercury was a poor/bad car..... Pretty strange that a rebadged car was good with one badge and bad with another..

Sorry my point is there are far to many people who judge cars for the wrong reasons. I haated all but GM since my father loved GM(chevy), since then I have had a 79 Mazda RX-7 (was not a good car), 70 Buick GS (This car RULED, biggest mistake of my life to sell it), 82 Z-28 Camero (junk, but i sure liked the way it looked), 64 Chevy Impalla Hardtop (loved this car), 95 Couger (great car, never a problem), 94 Explorer (great ruck to bad it sucked Huge amounts of gas, just sold it last year), 94 Tracer (ok car, crap milage at 75, but in town it ruled), 78 Chevy Monza (never a problem), 79 Chevy Camero (so-so car, no problems but it was sorta crap), 82 Subaru Wagon 4x4 (Wouldnt quit, well Until it got rolled, its engine lives on in a BRAT), 79 Olds Cutlass (one of the bet riding /driving cars i had, underpowered v-8 (262?)), ... And my current cars 2000 Olds Alero if you read up on them they sound like the biggest pile of crap on the road, and I have had almost all the problems.. but I find um minor as they are stuff like Heater resistor failing ($23 part), Back Window Defog failing (soldier problem), gas gauge wonky (no idea how to fix this), fornt Wheel bearings go out a bit to soon ($150 each, and if you are reading this and ever do it, DONT BUY CHEAP ONES!!!!!! you will replace um in a few months all over). But other then a few things its been an ok car..

And the Fiero (86 GT V6 118,000)... front ex manifold leaks (not looking forword to this fix), struts (easy job), brake rebuilds ( easy and cheap), new starter (far easier then I expected) and the Master cylinder (just bought a 94 blazer one, still needs to be put in) its been pretty good car..I have owned it 4 years and put on about 4,000 miles. Starter is only problem that it started after i bought it, all others where "known" problems when i bought it and I just was having to much fun driving to fix um.,


Clok the long winded

Made you look

[This message has been edited by Jake_Dragon (edited 05-09-2007).]

I hate ford because they are cheap, and unless its from the european branch like the Focus they cant handle. The worst car ive ever driven was a 1985 mustang. My god it was awful. Because people think mustangs are so trendy, but they are garbage. sorry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyC6vjsGeRE
just skip to the end^

We use ford provisioning trucks at the airport and they're always breaking. We have a chevy pick-up for other uses and it keeps on going

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[This message has been edited by CaliforniaSpeeder9 (edited 05-08-2007).]

I have owned several over the years. They are cheap to buy but you get what you pay for. Had an 84 tempo (one of the ugliest ever) broke down once a week......every week. Work vans same situation... every week. My girlfriend bought a new (5 miles on it) 2001 focus and we have had nothing but problems. Now has 90,000 miles on it and the front suspension has been replaced twice, back once, fuel pump twice, alternator, battery 4 times, full induction cleanse twice, broken throttle cable, bad water pump, wrong spark plugs (sohc plugs in dohc car?!), egr tube, egr valve. I know there is more I just cant remember now. We had a 100 dollar deductable for the warrenty and spent 1000 dollars in the first year alone for warrenty work. It has had 13 recalls, with 3 more pending including bad latches in the read doors that pop open during accidents (where does the child seat go?). One concerning the battery cables being improperly routed, improperly secured, or inadequately insulated (I'm reading it off right now) possibly leading to a fire. The pinch bolt that retains the steering nuckle to ball joint may not have proper torque (may not?). The front springs may not have inadequate corrosion resistance!? Thw list goes on and on.

Keep in mind that this car was dealership (several different ones) maintained the first 4 years of its life. Ever since we stopped taking it in the problems have dropped significantly. When the alternator went out the tried to get her to buy a new battery cable and battery for 415 dollars. I jumped the car drove accross the street and uses the auto parts store mulitmeter to test. Don't buy a Ford car if you can avoid it.

On the other hand I have owned several ford trucks over the years and have had very little problems. My 88 Ranger has 150000 miles on all original parts and still runs like a champ. The only thing that ever been replaced is the clutch, tires, and heater core (25 bucks) Trucks good...cars bad.

The focus handles great but if you use it you will be sorry. At this point most of the car is new. This is Fords main plan. You will pay for the car at least twice in parts alone.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 05-08-2007).]

As a few others have said, it's all in the loyalty. I personally like Fords. I've had a LOT of Fords, and have never really had any major problems with any of them, save for the current tranny problem with my daughter's Probe...which is a MAZDA transmission. I've also had a lot of GM products, and while I've had fairly good luck with them, I've had more problems with the GM's than I did with the Fords. I've also had a Mopar or two...and that's all I'll have of them. I had nothing but problems with both of them...cheaply made junk. My dad also had some Mopars, and he had nothing but trouble with them, too. So, you can't give me a Mopar. There are others, evidenced by what's written above, that have had exactly the opposite luck I've had...but given what's happened to me, I'll stick with Ford or GM...preferably Ford. Just look at what my daily driver is.....

There are some acceptions to the rule. Mustangs (mainly older ones), ford trucks, old GT40's and some of thier other higher end cars. They spend more time on developement and put better parts on them. I have owned many different cars. 18 in the 9 years I have been driving. I have owned dodge/chrysler, ford, pontiac, buick, nissan, and toyota. The ford cars were by far the worst in part cost, part quality, and reliability. I am not baseing this on one Ford either. I have owned 6 fords. I couldn't break the trucks easily but the car I couldn't keep running easily. This is my experiance and doesn't take away from anything anyone else has experianced with them. I just wanted to share my story.

One thing I can say is DO NOT buy a focus. It took 5 years of paying on it just to get out of negative equity. We now only owe 3000 on it and it is only worth 4000. For a 2001 thats horrible. My fieros are worth more and they're 15-18 years older and a car that is shunned by most of the world. There are reasons that the re-sale value is as low as it is. Its not just people not liking them or following what their fathers told them.

[This message has been edited by Fieroseverywhere (edited 05-10-2007).]

Being a GM owner for the last 30+ years I am seriously looking at Ford for my next truck. I've driven the PSD and I really like its overall look and performance compared to GM's truck with it's gargantuan bumper. God I hate that new bumper on those things. The Mustang, I really like the style and performance, my wife’s next car I'll bet.

Ford I think makes just as good a car as any other manufacturer, its just perception that make people think one way or the other.

[This message has been edited by Earl-R (edited 05-09-2007).]

I've got time so I'll share my story.

My dad had a '78 Toyota pick up that he ran around in. Tiny little truck with only 2 seats, a 4 banger and a 5spd but you could set off a bomb under it and it would still get you to work. But, as my dad started doing more and more general contracting work, it was just too small.

So, he got himself an '88 Ranger. This was all in the late 90's, mind you. The Ranger was meticulously taken care of by the previous owner, who was a Ford mechanic. It ran fine for a while. Then it broke everything. The transmission had to be rebuilt. The entire top half of the engine had to be torn apart and rebuilt. And my personal favorite, it developed a phantom problem that not even the Ford dealership could diagnose. With no apparent pattern whatsoever, you'd take off from a stoplight one day and right around 25mph the truck would bog and chug along, but wouldn't die. Didn't matter what you did, there was no trick to getting it to run right. It would do it for about 30 seconds, then kick back up and run fine. Hundreds of dollars in labor later and no one could tell us why it was doing that or what we could do about it.

Finally, my dad got fed up and bought a '97 T100, which again, was flawless. Took us several months to sell the Ranger, couldn't get any bites on it.

Then theres my friend Ted. His '02 F250 is on its 3rd transmission and a new set of ball joints up front and a completely new set of brakes, and I don't mean just the pads.

Or theres my friend Cullen. The transmission grenaded itself in his dads Taurus as they were driving down the road talking about how reliable Fords are.

And theres the Ford vans I've had to drive at various jobs. Invariably, the door handles on Ford vans will break sooner rather than later. Our '03 van at one job had to have the sliding and rear doors opened from inside because the outside handles broke.

So yeah, I've had nothing but bad experiences with Fords.

I buy and/ or drive everything from pickup trucks to Lambos. Long term, Ive always had the most problems with GM cars. I had Limos, both Cadillac and Lincoln, and the Lincolns ran forever ( over 250K) with nothing breaking and the Caddys needed something fixed weekly. Speaking US cars only, I actually prefer Mopars, with Fords running a close second as far as being reliable. On the flip side of that, my Ferrari rebody (86 SE Fiero) was prob the single most dependable and trouble free car I ever owned. It never left me stranded. Ive had my Magnum RT ( LX) over 3 years and the few very minor problems were under warranty (failed seal on gas filler, stain in windshield glass, 1 bad power window motor ) . Like it so well, I ordered a Challenger which is just a 2 door version of the same LX chassis. My best buddy has a Magnum and a Charger and he was a Ford Mustang man all the way.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 05-09-2007).]

quote The 90's Ford Escort/Mercury Tracer is actually a MAZDA 323 with a differnt front and back mouldings. Yet Consumer Reports listed the MAZDA as a good/fair car, but the Ford/Mercury was a poor/bad car..... Pretty strange that a rebadged car was good with one badge and bad with another..

It's all in the customer service. Generally speaking, most of the "foreign" (i.e. not the Big 3) auto makers have better customer service.

I had a 79 Mustang Turbo that I loved but had to get rid of. It lasted without problems up until 135,000 miles when my half brother's friend wrapped it around a tree. My wife had a 99 Cougar that was a wonderful car and we sold it to my mom with 106,000 trouble-free miles(she still has it). I currently have a 95 Mustang GT convertible (my daily driver)with 145,000 miles on it and it still runs great. The car that drove me crazy was our 82 Z-28. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Ford(but it would have to be something interesting). If you think I'm a Ford guy, at my house we have 4 GM products, 1 Ford, 1 Chrysler and a Yamaha.

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: my little brother's 2000 Mazda 626 whose Ford transmission failed at 72,000 miles,

Your brother is not the only one that had that happen to him. The issue happens to many owners on my Mazda forum.

Keep in mind that the problem with the Mazda 626's is only with the 4-banger automatic. (The Mazda Protege has the same tranny, and the same problem btw.)
http://www.estreetjournal.com/Mazda.htm <--for more info
The problem is that the Mazda sourced engine is too powerful for the CD4E Ford transmission. Most Mazda owners will have their tranny overheat (then keep driving the car cause they either don't know it's overheated, or don't care) and then die around the 75k mile mark.

That problem doesn't exist with the 5spd manual, or the V6 versions (KLDE engine) both Automatic and manual. The V6 engine and tranny (even the Auto), are actually very durable.

Yet because of the negative publicity from the automotive press, and reviews on websites, Consumer reports, etc. the resale value for any Mazda 626 '93-'02 from the base model, to the higher trim tanked. (I believe it's because nobody bothers to make a distinction in their reviews for different engine/tranny versions/trim levels.)
As a side effect the resale of my Mazda tanked too. I'm not very happy with Ford because of that, but I can't say they make bad cars because of it, just bad management decisions. That being said, I'm glad Ford lets Mazda do more of their own engineering now...

IMHO compared to some decisions that GM made in the past, I don't think Ford makes products/management decisions that are any worse than GM . If anything, Ford is still alive just selling cars. GM is actually in the Red's for years. (They loose money on every vehicle they sell) The only reason GM is still around (besides government support IMHO) is because they make all the money back with their financing/banking division.

-M

[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 05-09-2007).]

ANY ONE just one person on this forum that has changed the spark plugs on a thunderbird SC or replaced the brakes on a focus or had a valve body go out on there transmission in nuetral!!!. Have you ever had a car just fight you every damn step of the tear down, it took me 9 hours to take a fender off a thunderbird. I absolutly hate working on fords because of the continuous change in bolts, specialty tools required, and absolutely everything possible to make a DIY'er pull there hair out. I have installed stereo's in SO many different cars and nothing more irritating than a ford on a universal ground setup or the rivets they use to secure a factory amp and the horrible wire harnesses that have crap like a turn signal ran into the radio interface, well not as annoying as a 95-97 honda with the security system ran through the radio its self so when you install a new head unit you have to leave the original radio in the car just pushed in so ungodly place to give room for the new radio.

I work at a wholesale car dealership and the owner likes to get cars with blown engines and transmissions. The fords are horribly designed Fords are the hardest cars to work on. Dodge trucks are the easiest that I hve found. The more expensive fords like lincoln are the hardest cars to work on and I hate fords for that reason. I own 2 ford trucks and havent had problems with them besides a rusted gas tank. I would rather drive GM trucks as work cars because they are more comfortable and have a way better turning radius.

quote Originally posted by clok1966: The 90's Ford Escort/Mercury Tracer is actually a MAZDA 323 with a differnt front and back mouldings. Yet Consumer Reports listed the MAZDA as a good/fair car, but the Ford/Mercury was a poor/bad car..... Pretty strange that a rebadged car was good with one badge and bad with another..

Actually it's not strange at all if you consider the way that Consumer Reports did its auto reviews in the 1980s.

They liked to do "roundup" reviews of "Big 3" cars, where they would take one from each manufacturer and compare them. (For example, they'd review the Chevy Cavalier, the Ford Escort, and the Dodge Omni.)

And at the end of the review, the last paragraph would say, "...but for our money we'd rather have the Honda XXXX or Toyota YYYY...."

Consumer Reports has always had that kind of bias. They did the same thing with the DSM cars and with the Ford Ranger/Mazda 2000.

As for me, I have owned three of those 1990's Ford Escorts. One got wrecked at 52,000 miles. One got wrecked at 105,000 miles. The third I bought used with 141,000 on the clock and it needs rings. (I've got the 105k engine in the garage. When this one fails an emissions test, it's engine swap time.)

They're pretty good cars. My green 1995 Escort required only maintenance items for most of its life, though I had to replace a front wheel bearing at 103,000 miles, the crankshaft pulley came apart at about 80,000, and the rear springs broke at about the same time. The latter two issues are apparently common to the '95 Escorts, and when I bought the latest one--a red '95--its rear springs were broken in exactly the same places the prior car's springs had broken. heh. (Anticipating this, I had also saved the rear strut assemblies from the wrecked car.)

The '95 Escort LX with a manual transmission and the "sport appearance package" is probably my favorite car. (Next to Fieros. ) The engine produces a good amount of torque, down low, which suits my driving style; while it's never going to win any races the performance is "good enough". It handles very well, too; steering is crisp, brakes have plenty of capacity, and there's very little roll or flex in hard cornering.

AND you can surprise the hell out of people at how much STUFF you can fit into one....

Ed

First, because this is the general Fiero forum, let me comment on the 2.8 liter 6 cylinder in the Fiero.

Back in the early 90s I had a friend who owned a speed shop (I worked at Jeg's at the time). We were curious about the output of the Fiero V6 as he had just purchased one to turn into a drag car. My buddy had access to an engine stand dyno and had his own rear wheel dyno. On the stand the motor WE TESTED (results may vary of course) tested out to 165 h.p. (25 h.p. more than the advertised - the engine was completely stock with 22,000 miles on it). On the rear wheel dyno the number came in at 125 h.p. Now I'm not trying to contradict the hp numbers others have come up with, that's just the results we got.

We all know that GM often under-rated the hp on their motors to satisfy the insurance companies

As for Fords:

I have had a lot of Fords over the years. I think it depends on the model and year and a lot of other factors as to getting a "good" car. All in all I think GM cars are better made and more reliable though.

[This message has been edited by tutnkmn (edited 05-10-2007).]

I buy a car mainly because I like it independent of brand. But I stay away from Dodge/Chrysler for obvious flaws I have seen on friends new cars. Just too poor. Too bad they make now such nice designs. But my worst car has been the Fiero (which I bought brand new in 88) by far. Best ones a 94 Isuzu Trooper and now my 2000 Nissan Xterra by far. Also have an 02 Ford 150 Harley with 43K miles with no problems at all even with all the multiple mods I have done. Right now I'm shopping for an SUV and everything is being considered except the brand mentioned above. Would love an Escalade but it is too much $$. Love the Trailblazer SS but no 3rd seat. My nephew works at Ford/Lincoln dealer so an Expedition Limited price is very attractive. But with recent gas prices even a MazdaSpeed3 wagon with the nice 263hp/280tq turbo engine would be great. Rice for me

quote Originally posted by jweisman: Yeah, and watch out for them Pintos, they catch on fire

hehe, this written on a Fiero forum! Before I knew better, I thought fiero meant "fire" in Italian...

I didn't know it was mostly an isolated problem. You are correct on the Pintos, though. Very bad design, and from what I have read, Ford didn't do people any favors in the whole ordeal...

The only brand-specific complaint I have is in Chrysler transmissions. Every one that I've had, a family member or friend has had, has broken. I'm sure other people have had similar experiences with other brands...

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86 Fiero GT
-Stage eleventy billion...(pieces, that is!)

04 Mustang "Terminator" Cobra
-K&N FIPK
-DiabloSport Performance Tune
-MGW T-56 Shifter

My take on Ford?

I sell Fords all day long to afford my GM products

------------------
Former West Coast Fiero Employee

New and Pre-Owned Auto Sales Consultant
Power Ford Valencia

I used to be a solid GM guy, but their designs of late have just left me cold.
I liked the new LaCrosse, but after test driving, it's just a reskinned GP with a so so interior. the G6 just doesn't work for me, don't like it's looks, interior felt..just not right.
I've had my Fusion for a year now, zero problem, no recalls. The only thing I've had done is oil changes and had the PROM reflashed to update the trans shift points (not a recall, TSB maint update)

I forgot to in my last post, but I think I can offer maybe some input on my current Ford, and since I really like the GM counterparts and even the import competitors as well, maybe I can offer a relatively unbiased opinion...

My thoughts on my 2004 Cobra:
--No reliability issues.
--The T56 transmission shifted clunky and noisy compared to the butter smooth T56 trans in my buddie's T/A. The MGW shifter made it a lot better, but still not as good as the T/A.
-- While I loved the interior styling of the car way more than the F-bodies, the fit and finish was of poor quality and materials. Except for the suede/leather seats and wheel, it feels pretty cheap.
-- It's a porky beast at 3500+ lbs.
--In all, I'd expect a little more refinement from a $35k car.

However, when I pin the throttle, hear that Eaton whine and go sideways in third gear, all those complaints seem to disappear...it will beat a stock Corvette in a drag, but not a Z06 Corvette.

On my 1991 Mustang GT: (RIP-this car was just way too much fun to drive, and then I watched it burn to the ground )
--No reliability issues.
--Not nearly as good looking inside as the same year Camaro.
--Didn't handle as well as a Camaro (until I modified it).
--Got dusted by a third gen Z28 w/350, but would dust my buddy's 1989 Z28 w/305.
--After I transplanted a 351W from an F150 Lightning into it, I went back and handed that 350 Z28 his @ss.

On my 1984 Toyota Supra: (RIP I was such a stupid young driver )
--Never a reliability problem.
--Had IRS and 4-wheel disk brakes in '84, at the time proving to me that foreign automakers cared more about performance and quality than domestic companies did, as the Mustang and F-bodies took years to catch up. (There was a turbo-4 Mustang SVO that had them, but they were expensive and rare like the Vette.)
--Had all kinds of gadgetry, like you could set the heater on in the cold, and the fan wouldn't start blowing until it had warmed up. This also gave me the opinion that the foreign cars were way ahead of ours.
--Taught me a lot of respect for the inline six engine.
-- After it rolled over 3 times, I refilled the engine fluids (it came to rest up-side down) and drove it home from the wrecking yard. It still drove like new.

On my 1984 Nissan 200SX Turbo: Traded in for my first Fiero
--Stock, would blow away the average riced out import today.
--Lay tracks in third gear.
--All wheel disk, IRS.
-- So many gadgets and switches it looked like a light show inside at night.
--Reliability (or more likely a bad repair before I got it): the exhaust manifold gasket kept blowing, because the threads in the aluminum head were stripped.

On my first 1986 Fiero GT:
--Major POS. I couldn't afford to pay for it and keep it running at the same time, so it sat there for a year and a half while I made payments on it. Had tranny problems, clutch problems for years until I learned about the bum clutch pedal issue. After that it had electrical issues, and I sold it.

On my current '86 Fiero GT: (So here we are...)
--A little better than the first, but I knew what I was getting into this time. I never depended on it to be my only car.
--When the trans spilled its guts on the road (while doing a hole shot from a green light), I had already planned on doing a Archie V8/Getrag swap. I started collecting parts. When I had almost all the parts I needed (over a couple years), a buddy of mine and some PFFers convinced me to go N*/Getrag. So I sold my SBC and related stuff to get a N*, and now recently my buddy talked me into buying the G6 6-speed trans to go with my N*. It's nice to not have to worry about when I'll get the car done. That's why I'm not posting the build thread until after it's done...then it will be reliable, but still not practical enough to be my only car, as I have a family.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent there. Bottom line is, for every person who has bad opinions of A, you'll find one who has the same of B, and one of C, etc...

IMHO, in the game of "us & them," "US" is auto enthusiasts of any make or model, and "them" is the regulators and tree huggers who want to ban the internal combustion engine altogether.


------------------
86 Fiero GT
-Stage eleventy billion...(pieces, that is!)

04 Mustang "Terminator" Cobra
-K&N FIPK
-DiabloSport Performance Tune
-MGW T-56 Shifter

[This message has been edited by Hulk (edited 05-10-2007).]

quote Originally posted by Alex4mula: But with recent gas prices even a MazdaSpeed3 wagon with the nice 263hp/280tq turbo engine would be great. Rice for me

I don't blame ya, it's a nice car!! :-D

quote Originally posted by sostock: any pre 2000 dodge. trannys, electrical. just a mess.

What? I had a 1982 Dodge Rampage, Lasted over 630,000 miles. Has a Chrysler New Yorker Turbo, runs good, over 200,000 on it.

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1988 Fiero Formula T-tops
CJB 143 of 1252 "factory T-top cars"

Its Called brand loyalty. I am loyal to Pontiac. All others are crap. Ford = Fast Only Rolling Downhill. Or Farmers Only Reason to Drink. or Found On Rednecks Driveway. Mopar = Many Odd Parts Arranged Ridiculously

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Don Pottorff
Maroon 88 GT
Red 88 2M4
Silver 86 2M4
Red 85 GT 1:18 Scale

My mom owned one of the pinto's invlolved in the re-call. Aparently Ford's fix was to add some padding around the gas tank. This was suppose to help with rear end colisions and stop the gas tank from exploding. Always seemed like the easy way out to me. Similar the the Fieros heat shielding and and gas door stickers for their fire recall fix. lol

I like my Ford EXP a lot. - When it runs.

I am currently fixing a blown head gasket. The head is in the shop getting reworked. It is going to cost almost $400 + $250 for other things like gaskets and new head bolts. If it was not in near showroom condition and it didn't get 40mpg on the highway I wouldn't bother.

Ive owned somewhere aroune 125-150 cars since 18. The ONLY brand I never had any transmission trouble with...at all... was Chrysler. The newer ones may not be their best, but the 727 auto was the best auto tranny ever made. Stock it had no problem hanging onto 600-700 hp street monsters. Newer Hemis all have Mercedes 'C' class trans. I have heard of LOTs of problems with V6 trannies, specially in minivans. A lot of 60s top name drag racers preferred using the auto in Mopars, while we called Fords Slush-o-matics and GMs Powerslides.

quote Originally posted by David DeVoe: When I was a kid, back in the days when dinosaurers roamed the earth, there were sayings about the different car brands. The ones I remember best were about fords; F-O-R-D meant fix or repair daily. There was a ryhme that went like this; get a little spark get a little oil, get a little gas, get a little coil, get a piece of tin, get a piece of board, put em all together got yourself a Ford. In 69 I special orderd a 69 Chevelle SS 396, 375 hp. Took 11 weeks to get it, cost 3461.00. Worst piece of crap car I've ever owned and no I didn't drive it to death. My wife drove it back and forth to work and within 12k miles just about everything in or on it had been changed or fixed at least once. In the car world all is relative. You pays your money and takes your chances.

I was wondering when that old "fix or repair daily" number would surface. Too bad you didn't save your Chevelle -- it would be worth $30-40K now

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet, but.....

Ford's worst product.......

the Detroit Lions !!!




2006: 3 wins / 13 losses
2005: 5 wins / 11 losses
2004: 6 wins / 10 losses
2003: 5 wins / 11 losses
2002: 3 wins / 13 losses
2001: 2 wins / 14 losses

[This message has been edited by D B Cooper (edited 05-12-2007).]