http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=d4c686f7-e72b-40a3-ae7d-8434cd30a 5db
I thought this was pretty interesting. I do agree that Ford has, in the past, gotten a bad reputation with some of the cars it produced. I had a 95 explorer that continually had problems with the transmission. I have several friends who have the same model with the same problems. I now refer to them as "Exploders"
But I have a 94 Taurus I swear I would drive anywhere. It has a nice smooth ride, plenty of power and gets 30mpg fully loaded with the rear end almost dragging the ground.
Robbie
Well - I think history will tell, that you just don't ever get away dumping and old brand!
You can't be friends with everybody and as long as enough buys your product - well - then concentrate on making them happy so they tell their neighbor and cousin to go and buy the same. It's a loooong hard road, but it is the only way.
What you should be aware of and never forget (and Ford HAD had their lessons) - you can skip it all overnight.
I can guarantee you that IBM or Coca-Cola would hardly think of that - but I know that at least IBM is VERY kean about their brand. And even so - there are IT-people that just love to hate IBM anyway.
That's crap journalism in that article. What they failed to mention was Ford did in fact ditch the blue oval (which was first used in 1928), in the 1940s and it did not return until the early 1980s.
In talking to people at my day job, alot of people are enthusiastic over the new Ford offerings. The only ones bitching are the Chevrolet guys.
My wife drives a GM pickup, I was going to get a bumper sticker that says "I'd rather push a Ford than drive a GM" but for the other side "I'd rather ride in a GM than be screwed by G**** Motor again" (G**** Motor was our local Ford dealer, they had to move to the neighboring city because they lost so much customer base here) The sad thing is, GM took the dealership away from our local dealer because he did not sell enough cars, so now you see a lot more Toyotas driving around, and one neighbor even bought a Dodge.
Best
Gus
ps I thought Ford produced their last vehicle in 1979
Robbie,
I've got a 95 Explorer with 215,000 miles on the original, untouched transmission. Still going strong after towing a T many thousands of miles. I've never heard of tranny problems in that era of Explorer. Apparently you have however.
I think that Ford should go back to the brass script on the radiator. That would be a bold move.
As for Ch**vrolet: they should probably consider covering up that little bowtie emblem.
Jerry,
I thought I just had a bad apple but I bought a used transmission and put in it that had a 6 month warranty and it was bad so they sent me another used one and it worked. My mechanic told me he has seen a lot of those transmissions go bad and his advice to me was to get shed of it while it was working good so I did. At the same time a friend of mine had a 95 eddie bower edition Exploder that wouldn't go into high gear. She finally got rid of it. I have seen several of them listed on craigslist with bad trannies also. I will never own another. Oh, I also had to put a transfer case in it..ouch. I sold it for a good price and still see it every now and then.
If you have a good one though, like my Taurus, drive the heck out of it. That was the best $225 i ever spent! I have driven that little car everywhere.
For some reason it seems most journalists like to take cheap shots at Ford. Ford as well as all other companies has had some cars that weren’t the greatest. GM and Chrysler have had way more problem products than Ford ever has. I think part of the journalism problem is, Ford is a family owned business. Gm and Chrysler are corporations. My view is they are jealous that a family actually owns this company. Kind of like the the Obama administration class warfare against the rich. All I can say is I have driven Ford products exclusively since the 60’s and put hundreds of thousands of miles on them, with just normal maintenance. If you remember, Ford stood on it's own, while GM and Chrysler headed for bankruptcy. They had to be saved by our tax dollars, which I think is a bunch of BS. If GM and Chrysler are putting out such a great product, you can’t tell me that they couldn’t have weathered the storm as Ford did.
Another thing if you’re judging a car especially the automatic transmission: if you bought it used, usually you can’t tell what kind of beating the car has taken. Given today’s throw away mentality, people just abuse their cars and don’t take care of them like they use to. Now, how old is the model T that you are driving?