seen a few places

[solarbird]

Taking Your Money Anyway

Comments

[elfs.livejournal.com]

It's a myth, though, that Ford, at any rate, made "crappy" cars. Their cars regularly rated very high in customer satisfaction; higher, even, than Subaru. I love my Ford Escort; the damn thing just won't die no matter how badly I mistreat it. They made too many SUVs, and upper management just didn't move fast enough.

As a capitalist, I think that's cause enough to see them fail, but I'd hate to have people dis the manufacturing and engineering lines just because management was f*cked to the high heavens.

[solarbird]

Ford's also the most likely to survive even just on its own. So.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

That's why, two months ago, I bought Ford stock. I'm using the "20 year plan" to check my theory on its eventual value.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Ford *did* make crappy cars for a while; see also, late '80's-early '90's Taurus (and Aerostar - same chassis/powertrain) with a transaxle that regularly failed at 70k. *like clockwork*. Because it simply wasn't up to the torque that the small-block 8 they put on top of it. They got their act back together but they're still not up there with the Japanese or the Germans for bang-for-buck. They had to license the Hybrid Synergy tech to make the Escape Hybrid; couldn't come up with it on their own. (Likely had ExxonTexacoChevronMobilBPShell got wind of it as an independent development, they'd have killed it.)

I will admit they did wonders for the Jaguar line; ditching the old Lucas electrics for Motorcraft made it possible to own just one Jag and still be able to drive it (I hope their new Indian corporate overlords don't screw that up)... but still. Rather have a Subaru or a Toyota or a Hyundai than a Ford.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

I had a fabulous Escort too, that lasted me ages.

I asked tfabris about this once, because he has spent a lot of time paying attention to this, and because I was perplexed by the "Found On Road Dead" and "Fixed Or Repaired Daily" jokes that I kept hearing-- had I just gotten extremely lucky, or what? Turns out there was a period of time during which American car makers were learning from and copying the best technology of Japanese cars, particularly in terms of durability, and mine (and probably yours) appeared to have been made within that time frame.

Then there was a period of time when they *weren't*, and the quality fell.

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Just check how hard management tried to sabotage the new Mustang. Which is still one of their best selling cars, even with a revised version coming out next year.