Are Fords really as bad as everyone says?

Question

Everyone says Ford means "Found on road dead." is this true?

Answer 1

No.

Cars now use so many of the same suppliers and their geneology is so mixed it is hard to say if a Ford is better than a Mazda, since sometimes they are nearly the same thing.

Ford has built some disposable vehicles that did not last, like the Pinto and Maverick, but they have also built some very solid cars like the 1955 to 1957 Thunderbird, which 2/3 of which still are on the road after close to 50 years.

I have a 1959 Thunderbird with over 270,000 miles. I have driven it from New York to Detroit and back a few years back. It never lets me down. It will probably outlast me.

We have had Fords in our family for years. They all have lasted over 15 years of daily service with minimal repairs.

I think one of the downsides to any new car is that they now make everything as assemblies and change parts often just to prevent interchange, not to improve the part. You will not find parts for most of these new cars fifteen, twenty, fifty years from now.

I was at local garage a few weeks back. The mechanics were attempting to cobble together ignition parts for a 1988 Isuzu truck, because they were no longer available for that vehicle.

Incidentally, Honda stands for Highly Over-rated Nondescript Automobile and Acura stands for Actually Caught Under Repair Again.

Answer 2

People have different preferences when it comes to cars. Alot of people base this on experience, what their parents drove, what they heard.

Most peoples stories sound like this "My friend had a 98' Explorer and the engine blew up......

Do you really think that all 98' Explorers engines will blow up? Of course not but people take these rare random occurences and make major auto purchase decisions with them.

Another thing that comes into play is brand loyalty. The Chevy guys hate Fords and the Ford guys hate Chevys, no matter how good or bad the car is. These brand loyalist are the ones most likely to use phrases like "FORD = Fast Only Rolling Downhill"

Most of the stereotypes that American cars are not up to par with their Japanese and European counterparts came from the 1980's when American cars really did have quality issues.
These stereotypes still linger in our society and it is partly the medias fault.
The media is more likely to publicly announce a major recall by an American car maker than a Japanese one. When in fact the Japanese automaker have on average more recalls.

However in 2006 as i write this most of the automakers are very close in quality.

I was just looking at J.D Power and Associaltes 2005 Initial Quality Study and found it interesting that two American nameplates Buick and Cadillac surpassed Mercedes-Benz in Initial Quality.

Three of the Top Five nameplates in their 2005 Vehicle Dependibility Ranking are American carmakers: Buick, Cadillac and *Lincoln.

*Lincoln is made by Ford

I hope i answered your question and if you have any more car related questions e-mail: [e-mail]

Answer 3

No, I don't think so all maker's have their little glitches. I have owned 2 Chevy's and 3 Fords and pretty much spent about the same on fixing them-nothing major just routine maintenance.

One thing I will say. Ford vehicles are cheaper. You can get a fully loaded Ford F-150 for the price of Chevy Silverado that only has about half the options.

Answer 4

All makers have quality issues... with Ford on par usually with other american car makers. I've seen cars that had quality issues , a lot have issues more due to the owner than the car, and I've seen trucks make 500k miles with only sceduled maintainance.

The imports have their own quality issues, but with less running around, less likely to hear about it.

I've seen all makers have issues and good cars..
I like my Chevys even though I am a ford man but Chevrolet and GM make crap too

Ask a chevrolet owner just out of warranty about his $500 instrument cluster that went out and GM told him to bite the cost

Ask a chevrolet mechanic about the transmissions that are known for failing right before it's first servicing...

Ask the police why older troopers will drive a Crown Victoria to the ground than have to deal with a front wheel drive impala that will blow up the transmission or overheat in pursuit (and these are police spec vehicles folks)

All makers have issues, everything you buy has some faults that will break .. none are that good.

Also DELCO was never a Ford company... It was a GM company.. They do sell parts to Ford now under the Delphi name (same people who make crap for GM and was a GM subsidirary until recently) and the Delphi parts are said to be some of the biggest crap on new Fords.

Answer 5

Everyone doesn't say that -- just look around you - how many Ford's have you ever seen on the road dead?

Now, Fix-Or-Repair-Daily -- did seem to fit one 4 cylinder Ford I once had. But I've had several other Fords that were absolutely wonderful.

BY THE WAY: I've also had a Plymouth and a Chevrolet that were cars. More Ford's were good to me. Overall, I've been satisfied with the Ford's

Answer 6

My first car was an old Ford Mustang. It had a lot of problems, but I thought it was because it was an older car. My uncle had a Ford that was always in the shop, and the body on it was falling apart after 3 years, so I would say yes.

I have a Chevy Cavalier now, and it is six years old and no problems.

Answer 7

No. My family has owned Fords before (we currently own a '98 Ford Taurus SE), and we've never had any trouble with them. However, I worked on a Ford Focus recently that gave me no end of trouble--but it was a late 1999 car, the first model year, so I don't expect anything better, be it from Ford or any other major brand name.

Answer 8

Yes, Fords have a very low reliablity. If you are thinking about buying a car check with sites like edmunds.com, consumer reports and jdpower. They all have ratings of the true world reliability issues of different makes and models.

Here is a link to the latest jdpower initial quality survey, you can see that Ford is below the industry average and way behind others like Toyota and Hyundai.

Answer 9

omfg yes fords are only better then geo's and daewoo's. the mustang is alright, but evrything else is a pile of sh*t. Chevy has and always will be the best true american car. Ford=Found On Road Dead, Fix Often Reapair Daily, Fix Or Repair daily, Fairly Often Result=Death, and many others.

Answer 10

Any vehicle you can buy can turn out to be a dud?
It's not just limited to a particular make.
Case in point, my sis went and bought a pontiac not a few weeks after I bought a ford 4X4.
My Ford was used, her Pontiac was brand new, within six months hers was back at the dealership, and she has since gone on to her second Pontiac after driving that one till it finally went caput. My little ford is still going strong, even after we've put at least 100 miles a day on for over 5 years now.