Reasons why I am not a Ford fan. Don’t misunderstand: the Fords that I drove gave me good experience with the transmission, engine and basic power train. It was doorknobs falling off, cheap upholstery, and my favorite: side mirrors that would fold back against the driver’s window at highway speeds — who needs side mirrors on a pickup, just ‘Guess’ when you have a load in the back!
I’ve never owned a vehicle that I didn’t find something to complain about, and that includes all five Fords. I’ve had horns that didn’t work, a rear-view mirror that fell off the windshield glass, two driver’s seats that failed (couldn’t possibly have been because of how much I weighed back then, how dare you even suggest it), a heater fan that quit at 30 below while I was driving home, a rear power window that chose the worst possible times to balk — and things I didn’t like about the Chevy, Dodge or Jeep either.
Do what I did – quit buying American. I’ve owned seven American-made vehicles over the years including two Fords, four GM’s and one Chrysler product. Only one ever made it to 100,000 miles. And that one I had to put more money into for repairs than I spent buying it in the first place. My 9.5 year-old Hyundai Accent, in contrast, has cost less than a grand in repairs over nearly a decade. When it finally dies, I figure to get another one.
My Chevy was seven or eight years old when I got it. It cracked its engine block.
My Dodge was over 20 years old. I kept it until it was almost 30, and was still running when I got rid of it. In fact, it became the primary vehicle for my household when the not-yet-10-years-old Nissan died. I still had the Dodge when I got my first Ford, which was only 10 years newer.
I’ve never bought new, never will, but with experience and more money I can get less decrepit, more reliable used cars.
Mrs. McG is firmly in the Honda camp, but she also uses an iPhone, so…
Only two of my U.S.-branded vehicles were new at time of purchase. One of those blew up its engine with fewer accumulated miles than about half of my used vehicles managed. U.S. cars are junk. Screw GM, Ford, Chrysler and the UAW. Never again.
I think I saw something like that in a Laurel & Hardy movie.
The new Mad Max.
At Ford, quality is Job One. Bolt selection is Job 9,738,249.
C’mon people! Automotive progress. First the tilt wheel and now the detachable wheel.
You will want the steering wheel detached when you engage the Forward Collision Warning with Pedestrian Detection and Automatic Braking System with Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning and Lane Departure Driver Assist feature along with the Parallel Parking Assist System (Do you think I just made that up? That is an optional feature on the Ford Fusion model with the detachable wheel). The steering wheel just gets in the way, otherwise.
Disclosure: I am “long” Ford Motor Company.
No, Ford should use this as an example of how they’re not getting their message out instead of merely accepting blame for a failure. Under this approach, the steering wheel falling off is a feature, not a bug. With the growing obesity problem, an easily removable steering wheel makes it easier for people to enter and leave the driver’s seat. If it detaches while driving, that’s user error.
Its a security feature. No one will steal a car without a steering wheel.
If it is anything like the garage door opener, I will drive down the street until I get to my house and call out, “Honey, can you reach me the steering wheel so I can make the turn into the driveway. It must be somewhere — did it fall out of the center console again and get wedged between the seats somewhere?”
My last Ford car was a 1999 Mustang Cobra. It was branded as a sports car but if you took it on the track you’d die. It was recalled for an engine chip fault plus the actual horsepower was under advertised hp by ten percent. The car came with extra gauges like oil pressure which turned out to be idiot gauges. After the second recall to put in a new exhaust that would allow the car to make advertised hp, Ford gave me a nice leather jacket in compensation. I traded the car in for an EVO 8 (best car ever) and kept the jacket.
Wheel? Rand I always figured you as a stick and rudder man…
David Spain for the win!
I like Fords. My 1991 Ford probe GT got to 287,000 miles before it bent a rod. My 1998 Ford Explorer has 267,000 on it and it still going strong.
Reasons why I am not a Ford fan. Don’t misunderstand: the Fords that I drove gave me good experience with the transmission, engine and basic power train. It was doorknobs falling off, cheap upholstery, and my favorite: side mirrors that would fold back against the driver’s window at highway speeds — who needs side mirrors on a pickup, just ‘Guess’ when you have a load in the back!
I’ve never owned a vehicle that I didn’t find something to complain about, and that includes all five Fords. I’ve had horns that didn’t work, a rear-view mirror that fell off the windshield glass, two driver’s seats that failed (couldn’t possibly have been because of how much I weighed back then, how dare you even suggest it), a heater fan that quit at 30 below while I was driving home, a rear power window that chose the worst possible times to balk — and things I didn’t like about the Chevy, Dodge or Jeep either.
Do what I did – quit buying American. I’ve owned seven American-made vehicles over the years including two Fords, four GM’s and one Chrysler product. Only one ever made it to 100,000 miles. And that one I had to put more money into for repairs than I spent buying it in the first place. My 9.5 year-old Hyundai Accent, in contrast, has cost less than a grand in repairs over nearly a decade. When it finally dies, I figure to get another one.
My Chevy was seven or eight years old when I got it. It cracked its engine block.
My Dodge was over 20 years old. I kept it until it was almost 30, and was still running when I got rid of it. In fact, it became the primary vehicle for my household when the not-yet-10-years-old Nissan died. I still had the Dodge when I got my first Ford, which was only 10 years newer.
I’ve never bought new, never will, but with experience and more money I can get less decrepit, more reliable used cars.
Mrs. McG is firmly in the Honda camp, but she also uses an iPhone, so…
Only two of my U.S.-branded vehicles were new at time of purchase. One of those blew up its engine with fewer accumulated miles than about half of my used vehicles managed. U.S. cars are junk. Screw GM, Ford, Chrysler and the UAW. Never again.
I think I saw something like that in a Laurel & Hardy movie.
The new Mad Max.
At Ford, quality is Job One. Bolt selection is Job 9,738,249.
C’mon people! Automotive progress. First the tilt wheel and now the detachable wheel.
You will want the steering wheel detached when you engage the Forward Collision Warning with Pedestrian Detection and Automatic Braking System with Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning and Lane Departure Driver Assist feature along with the Parallel Parking Assist System (Do you think I just made that up? That is an optional feature on the Ford Fusion model with the detachable wheel). The steering wheel just gets in the way, otherwise.
Disclosure: I am “long” Ford Motor Company.
No, Ford should use this as an example of how they’re not getting their message out instead of merely accepting blame for a failure. Under this approach, the steering wheel falling off is a feature, not a bug. With the growing obesity problem, an easily removable steering wheel makes it easier for people to enter and leave the driver’s seat. If it detaches while driving, that’s user error.
Its a security feature. No one will steal a car without a steering wheel.
If it is anything like the garage door opener, I will drive down the street until I get to my house and call out, “Honey, can you reach me the steering wheel so I can make the turn into the driveway. It must be somewhere — did it fall out of the center console again and get wedged between the seats somewhere?”
My last Ford car was a 1999 Mustang Cobra. It was branded as a sports car but if you took it on the track you’d die. It was recalled for an engine chip fault plus the actual horsepower was under advertised hp by ten percent. The car came with extra gauges like oil pressure which turned out to be idiot gauges. After the second recall to put in a new exhaust that would allow the car to make advertised hp, Ford gave me a nice leather jacket in compensation. I traded the car in for an EVO 8 (best car ever) and kept the jacket.
Wheel? Rand I always figured you as a stick and rudder man…
David Spain for the win!
I like Fords. My 1991 Ford probe GT got to 287,000 miles before it bent a rod. My 1998 Ford Explorer has 267,000 on it and it still going strong.