ive heard here and there that a lot of people dont like ford(or really any other company) for whatever reasons... so i just want to know striaght up, whats with them?

and another thing i was wondeing about while i got your attention... i just want to know on average horse power for a stock 6 cyl fiero. and just some numbers and such. whenever i talk about how much i love fieros i dont acutaly know the stats, so it would be nice to know what im talking about

It`s because they listen to rumors.

I had a friend like that. He hated Ford. Everything about the company he hated. All because his mom had a Ford who`s clutch went while they were driving.

Alot of times they just jump on the bandwagon and say they hate one thing, cause alot of others say the same. So they figure it`s true. Those that actually have Fords that HAVE broken down, could have been in the same situation with any car. But since it was a Ford, and it broke, all Fords are bad. Since it was a Chevy, and it broke, all Chevies are bad.

Just my opinion of course.

drive one and find out

[This message has been edited by 84fierotrevor (edited 05-07-2007).]

...... Ford does suck sometimes. They are cheap particularly.

Steering mechanisms
Intake manifolds

^-- Are my main quib on their newer cars. I am not biased towards Ford in any way. My Father is due to the countless hours him and I have put into tearing down our Ford vehicles to replace things. I love Jaguar (Ford product), Land Rover, and Lincoln. I like the GT40 but that's about it besides some mustangs. But then again I could say something about 2.5 Fiero's or many other cars. It's all in the eye of the owner. I probably wouldn't buy a Ford because I enjoy other makes of vehicles more.

They've circled the biggest problem.


All kidding aside, the "GM vs Ford vs whoever" rivalry (don't forget that you are on a "GM oriented" board) is mostly just preference and personal experience. In reality, it's mostly what you're familiar working on.
People who grew up working on Fords, because that's what their family has always driven, will be partial to Fords. Same with GM or Chrysler or Honda or whatever.

I have a handful of "shitty Ford" stories, but I'll spare you.

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Raydar
88 4.9 Formula IMSA Fasback..........................88 3.4 coupe -soon to be something other than red

Read Nealz Nuze! Praise the Lowered!

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

My dad worked as a tech for Ford, and eventually owned a dealership. He has told our immediate family that nobody is allowed to buy a Ford. He admits they have gotten better since he was working there, but still doesn't want to be associated with them. I actually think that now it has more to do with how he was "relieved of his duties" rather than the workmanship of the cars.

In all fairness to GM though, they are right in line with Ford on newer models from what I have experienced. I have owned 2 Fieros, a 94 Sunbird, and a 97 Grand Am. All of them are still running perfectly to this day. My parents have had 5 cars that are 01and newer (all GM products) die beyond repair since then. My dad had two work vans that he bought brand new and got a total of 12k miles combined on them.

depends on who you talk to, and what Ford they owned. if they never owned one, their opinion is pretty lame.

about 100hp on the ground

I've owned a couple of Fords, my first car doesn't count as is was an old oil burner when I bought it (a 56 Ford wagon). The second an 84 Escort wagon (used). I've also owned a Plymouth (59 convertible) a Pontiac (66 Catalina) a 72 Vega (first new car, made from compressed rust), a 76 Chevy Nova (best car), 78 VW Rabbit (a desiel) pricey to repair, an 82 Chrysler Labaron(a crap car), an 83 Pontiac 6000 (leaked everywhere), My 87 Fiero (still have it), the Escort (an ok car that routinely blew distributors), a 92 Suzuki Sidekick four door (I had it for seven years with no problems second best car. I picke up an 88 Fiero, still have it, 99 Buick. (I'd still have the Buick if the AC would work, but after 100K miles time for a change. I've had good cars of many makes and bad cars from some.

Some cars by any maker are just lemons while others are just great cars. The auto dealers can make the difference in reparing the lemons.

As for Fiero, the stock HP for V6 is 135-140 depending on the rpm the HP is measured. By now, with the age of the car, the HP is probably lots less maybe it only puts out 100 HP at the wheels.

1984-1986 4cyl fiero's 92HP 140ft/lbs
1987-1988 4cyl fiero's 98HP 140ft/lbs

1985-1987 fiero's 140HP 170ft/lbs
1988 fiero's 135HP 170ft/lbs actually the 88's were 140HP also, but they lowered it due to insurance pricing at the time i think,

ive owned fords, chevy's imports and everything else under the sun,

they are all basically the same, it all depends on how well the owner took care of them.

the ONLY lemon car i had was a 1986 buick skyhawk t-type with 1.8L over head cam engine. in the 2 years i owned it, i put in 3 head gaskets, 1 transmission, 3 replaced the battery 3 times, and replaced alternator twice.

matthew

I had a 97 Mercury Sable for two years before I gave it to my little brother and bought my Fiero. I got it from my father who bought it new and did his best to properly maintain it. There's a laundry list of things that went wrong with it, but the thing that pissed me off the most was going through 3+ sets of brakes in 120,000 miles. Not just pads, but warped rotors, etc. I've had more trouble with the Fiero, but I'd expect that from a 20 year old car, not one that at the time was only four or five years old. Every repair was $230+ except the battery ($105) and the broken rear sway bar endlinks ($60)

My father also had a 96 crown victoria I could only describe as a lemon, being in the shop every two weeks for this or that, my little brother's 2000 Mazda 626 whose Ford transmission failed at 72,000 miles, and my Grandfather's 2002 Lincoln Towncar whose air suspension just failed for the SECOND time at 40,000 miles, and somehow still cost him $600 to fix under the extended warranty. Other things have gone wrong with that car too I can't remember. My Grandmother had a 91 Taurus that was a POS too.

So I think my hatred of Ford products is justified.

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1984 Fiero SE

My experience, (Taurii) they are rock solid for 30,000 miles or so, then woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, prepare to open the wallet...

I guess a lot of cars are like that, but it just seems many Ford owners share a similiar experience...

I just don't like their product lineup. Nothing they make really interests me that much.

[This message has been edited by Jarhead 2m4 (edited 05-07-2007).]

Had my first car been the 70 Challeger I wanted, I'd probably be a Mopar guy, but my Dad prevailed and I ended up buying an '80 Camaro instead. Been with GM ever since, except for my Mazda 6 (which I love). Now Fords, on the otherhand, I never really liked. My buddy had an 84 Mustang when I had my Camaro. The Mustang was fast as H3ll, but it looked awefull and the interior was cheap looking. Except for a few cars here and there, I hate Ford styling and I haven't seen anything better coming down the pipeline.

Bob.

i dunno, i use to not like ford, but i have no issues with them now, seeing is i own one. 150,000 miles and no problems except maintinece and i dont exactly drive it nice.

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87 Fiero GT 5-speed.
99 CSVT 5-speed.

My dad works at a GM dealership in town, so I'm a bit biased.

Bias aside, we've used a 1980 Ford F-350 1-Ton Ranger for a plow truck for years. The only reason we retired it was a cracked frame and too many holes in the cab. More recently, however, as someone else said, their line up just doesn't interest me.

Most unreliable car I ever owned was 72 Corvette coupe. Every time my wife or I got in it something Broke.
Awsome Brakes, gobs of power.
Bought it brand new the night of the new car showing, when the warranty was up, I got rid of it. Unlike GM I didn't have unlimmited funds to keep it running.

Most reliable car I ever owned 73 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon. It was like the Energizer Bunny: just kept going and going. 191,000 miles 11 years. The 460 Cu. In. engine was gutless after the Vette and it had no character, I hated it.

My Dad only drove Pontiacs.

My only car is a 1985 Fiero GT

[This message has been edited by Tinkrr (edited 05-07-2007).]

I never owned a Ford, so I can't form a realistic opinion, but back in the 80s I drove a 5.0 mustang and it was pretty quick. Those were some of the best bang for the buck cars back then. The Trans Am might have been a tick faster but they cost a few thousand more.

Every Ford I've had the displeasure of owning or driving has been an expensive repair waiting to happen. Every Ford that my friends own has been nothing but the same. So, in my experience, Ford is garbage.

at the shop i work at, we do a lot of cars for a Ford dealership near us. (I should specify that we are a Restoration shop, so the cars we work on are never newer than 1980) The '76 F100 Ranger we had was a really nice truck! I wanted to buy it but it was 2 wheel drive and had the straight six. It ran really well though. We also do a lot of mustangs, and i can't say that i've worked on one that has had a major problem before tearing it down.

Though...i was driving one of the '04 anniversary edition Mustang's with the V6 and Auto...i honestly felt it was slow as all hell. Sure it made a ton of noise...but i really think my 2.8 4spd is faster (probably the weight of the mustang combined with the Auto)

My uncle has always been a Pontaic guy. He had an old Bonneville (no idea how old) that kept kicking past 300,000 miles. sure a few items didn't work anymore, but it still ran like a trooper. BUT he also has a chevy van that is on it's 3rd engine (early 80's van) but the rest of it is perfect and we haul gokarts with it and a trailer.

finally....My mom always complains about a Tourismo she had that was a Lemon. Don't know much about it because i wasn't born yet.

So i guess it just goes to show you that cars are made to make money. If companies wanted to sell cars that lasted 30 years, they could, but it wouldn't be profitable because they would rarely make a new sale.

I don't know about Ford cars, except the little Escort or what ever it was my wife and I got as a rental once. I wasn't impress with it. On the other hand, I have had 3 Ford trucks (4 if you count my wife's SUV), and they've all been great. Traded in my '94 Ranger at 160,000 miles with absolutely nothing wrong with it, for my wife's SUV. Bought my step son's '94 F150, and ran it to 230,000 miles with everything working (including the AC) except the rear end went bad. I have a 2004 F150 now, and use it to pull a travel trailer. No problems.
My wife's SUV is a 2001 Escape, that just turned 100,000 miles. It's the V6 4-wheel drive model. That 3.0 liter V6 is a peppy little engine, and I wouldn't mind having one in a Fiero.

People that ask questions about Fords sometimes ask Chevy owners...

Nice to see you're still with us.

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.

There is also the socio-political history of the company.

Ford supported the Nazis, and was a HUGE racist against the jews and blacks. Since that time, the co. has had numerous incidents along those lines.

I'm not interested in their cars as long as a member of the Ford family is involved with the company.

The only car i hate is the one that strands me on the side of the road! One was a nissan, one was a pontiac, and one was a ford. I have a 98 ford taurus, that had a crack in the block and blew the motor as soon as it rolled 100k, but last summer I put in an engine with 60k and she runs like a dream.
BUT... the Gm 3800 from the earily 90's .. now thats an engine...so far I had 3 that went well over 200k and 1 that is at 146k and running strong.

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Project88GT build up thread

I've never been big on brand loyalty. If I like it, I drive it.

I currently own a 1986 Mustang SVO with 138k on an untouched engine that will take 19psi all day long. Looking through the reciepts that I have for the car, it seems that the recurring problem was the car pulling to the left. I've had no major issues since I've owned it.

My '88 Fiero GT left me stranded 12 times in 5 years. Most of them were ignition issues, which will be taken care of with my 3800sc swap.

I enjoy both of these cars very much and I consider them two of them best things to come out of the '80's

quote Originally posted by fiero67: and do you know who designed and built the VW bettle?............

Ferdinand Porsche, for Hitler. I wasn't going to bring up Henry Ford because it has basically no affect on the current cars, but yeah he was messed up...

quote Originally posted by fiero67: and do you know who designed and built the VW bettle?............

In 1934, Hitler announced that he would support the development of a cheap car for the masses. But all he did was throw money at it and give approval when they showed him a picture or a prototype. The car was largely the design work of Ferdinand Porsche, and actually drew heavily on a car that he helped design for the NSU before they went under. I believe there was even a low suit later from Tatra, a Czech car maker, alleging that Dr. Porsche had basically stolen the design of the beetle from them. There probably never would have been anything like the beetle or anywhere near as popular if Hitler hadn’t financed it. In fact, Porsche initially wanted to turn down the offer to design and build the car. But the fact is Hitler didn’t build the beetle, it was just one more of his public works projects.

No, I'm not a huge volkswagon nut (or a Hitler fan either). I've just been reading a lot of automotive history lately.

EDIT: Ha ha, you speedy s.o.b.

[This message has been edited by Toaster_Man (edited 05-07-2007).]

The crappiest cars in my experience have all been Chrysler products. Tinny, lots of rattles and squeeks, and lousy switches. And seats that would give you a pain in the lower back.

I've never owned a Ford that had less than 150,000 miles, so every one I've owned has been a refugee from the crusher. My brother has a 92 or so Explorer. V6, lousy gas mileage, and really tall gearing (it's a rare 5 speed stick.)

Seems to me that if the old Big Three wanted to, they could build the best cars in the world, but since the mid '70's they've been getting by with 'just good enough' and been playing catch up with Toyota, Subaru, Honda, and Mazda. The one bright spot was the Fiero, but that was done as cheaply as possible then killed just as it was getting really good.

So I don't love any of the old line US carmakers. Bloated with stupid, greedy people running them.

I think that Ford blew it recently by paying their new executive like 25 million while they're trying to get rid of workers. Just looks really bad, I think.

Yeah, and watch out for them Pintos, they catch on fire

same here with the chryslers. i haven't had one that was a good car. had fords, chevys, a buick and pontiacs. all good cars. every dodge/chrysler i've had were nothing but junk. last two were a dodge stratus (2000) and a chrysler sebring convert. (1996) both had trans trouble and both had A/C issues and i couldn't keep brakes on them. didn't matter what i took them to the shop for to have repaired....it always cost me a grand. sold them both and bought a sonoma for me and a G6 for my fiance. great cars!

Re Dodge: I had a 1996 Dodge Intrepid. Still the most comfortable car I've ever owned BUT it began to disintegrate at 60K. The last straw was the mystery engine light that would not set a code (and the dealership had no clue how to deal with). Solution? Bought a Toyota. The reliability of my '01 Camry and '05 Solara is what allows me to keep spending money on my '86 LS2/6 speed Fiero.

I remember the 50s chevy and ford owners hated each other or said the other car was a piece of crap.the japs build some of the best cars in the world but i hate them as a young marine i remember the ncos talking about the japs over running a hospital and cutting off the hands and feet of the americans laughing as they did it i lived in japan thay are destroying our biggest industry and people do not care.. a person who loves america would never drive a jap car i,m supprised that even some marines now drive these cars and the japs are now trying to make you think a jap car is an american car but an olds or a plymouth how far up the road is pontiac ,a persons feeling about cars is often full of weird prejudice,save american cars and all jap car lovers move there as soon as possible,take your car with you and tell every one how you love it save the fiero save pontiac buy american ,former marine paratrooper

[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 05-07-2007).]

I don't think brands have all that much to do with it. Maintenance is the biggest factor.

I've got a '92 Mustang LX 5.0 that I beat the living crap out of. I drag race it on the weekends. I run a 125 shot of nitrous on the factory longblock and havent had so much as a hiccup. I've seen the 5.0's go over 200k without any problems. Forged pistons for the win.

quote Originally posted by Tinkrr: Most unreliable car I ever owned was 72 Corvette coupe. Every time my wife or I got in it something Broke. Awsome Brakes, gobs of power. Bought it brand new the night of the new car showing, when the warranty was up, I got rid of it. Unlike GM I didn't have unlimmited funds to keep it running.

Thats funny we own a 72 stingray and it runs like a champ we havnt had any troubles with it at all except for age catching up to it but weve pretty much taken care of it

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"A mobile home with a flat tire, is just a home."
"If some one ask if your ticklish it doesn't matter if you say yes or no, they're still going to touch you. That's why when they ask you say something like, I have diarria! but yes I am very ticklish"
How fast does a zebra have to run before it looks gray?"

I was raised GM and most of the cars I have owned have been GM.

I have owned 3 Fords.

1963 Galxie good car looked like Andy and Barney driving around Only had to put a muffler on it and had a broken exhaust manifold.

1985 Cougar. Paint fell off in sheets, converter failed used anitfreeze, glove box fail to open. just not a fun car to own or drive.

1995 T Bird, Bought it new very cheap. Fun toi drive and good ride. Poor paint with runs, pass door out of alingnment and hit the trim strip. 3 trips to get fixed right. failed oil pressure guage, rear sway bar came lose and nearly came off, 3 sets of rotors. 4 heater moter bearing failures, sagging drivers door all before 50,000 miles. In the next 20K I only had it start to use antifreeze, i suspect the head was warped as many of them did fail on the 3.8 V6. Not in a big hurry to buy anther Ford.

All of my GM cars have been near trouble free other than a Water pump, brakes, radio, ac recharge and a failed gas guage in 8 GM products. My parents have has similar good luck with there cars.

The truth is all companies may good and bad models. I have worked on them all and from Toyota to Yugo they all have good and bad. Yugo though was all bad. My buddy makes a good living off of blown head gaskets on Hondas, Chryslers, GM quad 4s, and Ford 3.8 V6 and 4.6 V8 engines.

Even my father has picked up his buddy at the Toyota dealer for many service repairs in his Buick Le Sabre that has been trouble free for 10 years and 100K miles.

Bottom line no one is perfect but over all most are better today than in the past. Just drive nay car from 1976. Even with low miles.
One bad car can bring a lot of bad press for an entire company.

i dunno. i think a lot has to do with make/model and care.

i have a 96 explorer with 186K. i've never had to spend more than $200 on at one time. thermostat, brakes, 02 sensors, belts, fog lights, tires etc. i still have my 88 stang gt with an shade under 200K miles. paint went bad so i started restoring it..but thats another story. my sis has a escort that she has abused the hell out of. i don't know how its stayed running.

on the same note i've had a 76 chevy pu that i drove to hell and back. a 84 straight six pu that was beat to hell when i got it and kept on ticking. well, etc

i have no brand name loyalty. i find cars i like, research them, decide it the price is right and then buy. cars that a would not buy or own: sunfire, rode in it and it was so cheaply made it scared me. any pre 2000 dodge. trannys, electrical. just a mess.

wow, i kinda figured this thread would get tons of responses. its nice to see the experiences people have had with cars, just to try and figure out whats good and whats not. plus i was allways wondering numbers about 6 cyl fieros. thanks for all the responses and keep them coming! some very interesting stuff here

OK. Here's my Ford story. Way back in the early '80s, I bought a very used Ford Gran Torino Brougham. It was your basic, 2 door, grocery getting, granny car. No options except automatic and airconditioning (which didn't work if I recall). It had a 351W. I drove the poop out of that car. One time I even put diesel in it instead of gasoline (long story but it was an honest mistake). You just couldn't kill that car. When I sold it, it had somewhere north of 200k miles and still ran strong. About the only real issue with it was that the vinyl top had come off and there were a few tiny spots of rust underneath. There was nothing fancy about the car (i.e. less to go wrong) but it was one of the most reliable cars I've ever had.

Now here's my Chevy story. In '69, my grandparents purchased a brand new Chevy Kingswood station wagon. It was fully loaded for the year. They babied the car and finally gave it to my mother sometime around '87. At this time, it had most of 180k miles as they took the car on a number of cross country trips. My mother put another 30k miles on the car then gave it to me. (This one had an auto/350.) The car still looked showroom fresh. (Like I said, my grandparents babied the car.) I put another 30k or 40k miles on it and finally decided to sell it because the steering was getting a little loose. (Yes. I'm a moron.) The only problem any of us ever had with it was a rusted gas tank strap. That's it. Nothing more.

(Hopefully, you're still with me.)

Personally, I don't care what brand vehicle it is as long as it's what I want. I think that all makes (with the exceptions of the high end European cars) are about the same. I've never been in the market for a brand new car and probably never will be but there isn't really anything out there (within a reasonable price range) that really excites me. Everything looks like you stepped on a marshmallow. I can remember the days when I could identify almost any vehicle from far away. Now they all look the same.

I have owned GM’s all my life. I currently have…
77 Monte Carlo
84 Indy Fiero
84 Indy Fiero
85 Fiero SE
99 Silverado (daily driver with 155,000)
01 Ford E250 Van

I bought the Ford Van to pull the trailer to take the Indy to the car shows.
The Ford does have some advantages…

Tons of power and a fairly nice ride while loaded. Set the cruse at 65 and no matter what the grade it will go no problem.

Down side…
You pay for that power with gas mileage. This thing will drink more than an alcoholic on spring break.

And my biggest complaint about this Ford is things are just not put together as well as my GM’s The speaker covers rattle, the air leaks around the windows will drive you nuts, the electric door locks don’t work all the time, the list could go on and on.
I feel that the top 3 auto makers make good cars…it’s all in the details…for my money GM covers the details better than the others.