Of course, and we're all allowed that, right? What would the world be without teasing?
Like most people J-P, nothing was handed to me on a platter. Thankfully I am now enjoying the fruits of my labours unencumbered by 'dreams' so yes, you will see me smiling away as I hire an underpaid immigrant to vacuum my near new reliable luxury vehicle with my near new dependable luxury Dyson vacuum while I sit on my near new luxury patio sipping Margarita's, prepared for by our underpaid immigrant residential staff, with my young trophy wife by my side all the while overlooking all that silly work stuff.
Ah, so nice to be a part of the over privileged elite.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork that's due today before I walk the dog, do the dishes, vacuum (with the near new luxury Dyson), make the bed and get the dinner prep started before Mrs. W gets home.
See you another day.
Like most people J-P, nothing was handed to me on a platter. Thankfully I am now enjoying the fruits of my labours unencumbered by 'dreams' so yes, you will see me smiling away as I hire an underpaid immigrant to vacuum my near new reliable luxury vehicle with my near new dependable luxury Dyson vacuum while I sit on my near new luxury patio sipping Margarita's, prepared for by our underpaid immigrant residential staff, with my young trophy wife by my side all the while overlooking all that silly work stuff.
Ah, so nice to be a part of the over privileged elite.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork that's due today before I walk the dog, do the dishes, vacuum (with the near new luxury Dyson), make the bed and get the dinner prep started before Mrs. W gets home.
See you another day.
Don't take it all too seriously.
I don't have the time for that Cal. Now off to bed as I have to work tomorrow to be able to save for a replacement for my reliable 2013 car of one of the most unreliable brands (with many European brands it is all about the type and not the brand itself). Got through the TÜV like a champ though.
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I have largely avoided domestic cars my entire existence, with a couple exceptions, preferred sports cars, and ‘merica hadn’t figured that out yet. Opels, Alfa, Mini, Porsche, Lancias, Fiats, Fieros, to name a few of the better ones.
A buddy recently picked up a 2014 Cadillac ATS 3.6, has the electro shock absorbers too. I was impressed, and was also a bit surprised to learn that the car had “benchmarked” the E46 M3. He had been looking at those cars as well, but every test drive had the check engine lights coming on…
A buddy recently picked up a 2014 Cadillac ATS 3.6, has the electro shock absorbers too. I was impressed, and was also a bit surprised to learn that the car had “benchmarked” the E46 M3. He had been looking at those cars as well, but every test drive had the check engine lights coming on…
If the "immigrant staff" are underpaid, who's fault is that? Just saying...
I owned GM untill I found VW. I got older, and wanted a car I didn't have to "do up" for it not to be slow (or the stereo for it not to be trash). Enter BMW (And compared to a new car it's still slow IMHO).
The ministry of transportation says I owned a Hyundai Excel once, but I don't remember it at all. I had a Fiero for 2 weeks, too but I flipped it when I found out it was a pain in the butt to work on and needed 6000$ worth of work to safety.
I owned GM untill I found VW. I got older, and wanted a car I didn't have to "do up" for it not to be slow (or the stereo for it not to be trash). Enter BMW (And compared to a new car it's still slow IMHO).
The ministry of transportation says I owned a Hyundai Excel once, but I don't remember it at all. I had a Fiero for 2 weeks, too but I flipped it when I found out it was a pain in the butt to work on and needed 6000$ worth of work to safety.
I was not expecting the humour, however dry, to be lost on a fellow Canadian.
Better? You can't beat a Triumph Herald for the prices I used to pay for them. Free usually, or at most $100.00 But that was in other times, when life was a lot more random and fun. Too many rules now, and boring is the standard.
I've owned several Alfas and despite them being rustbuckets they were probably the most fun. Even the Porsche 924 Turbo was unreliable, although at least it didn't rust out. These days I only drive once every six weeks, to shop for food. I use an Isuzu truck for that.
Hi Cal,
Recalls are things the company fesses up to. That was my point, many companies hide service issues. If anything, recalls are good. Stats are often misleading. Want the truth, look at depreciation after 5 years.
Ford has killed more people due to product defects than any other company. Everything from crappy clamps on fuel lines letting go and causing fires, to the transmissions that went from park to reverse on their own (witnessed that actually), gas tanks that fall out in an accident (owned a Pinto), even to front seats that fall through the too thin floor pan. Fake Recarro (? spelling) seats in my brother in law's Capri, the passenger was a Ford fake. A brake equalizer valve that caused accidents from 1966 to 1992 and never fixed (Mustangs and Capri). Same freakin part number!
We had a body shop, and the extent that Ford went to save money was mind boggling. That's why all kinds of things fail with them. Even the seat stitches in the small Ford trucks years ago.
All brands had their problems Cal, but Ford took the cake. I could go on and on about design issues Ford has, but what is the point?
Much of customer satisfaction has to do with the dealer as well. You probably had a crappy GM dealer in your area, I know a few. A good Ford dealer might make all the difference in minor cases. The best way to be happy with a Ford is to get out of it when it is young, it isn't a brand to hold on to. But in our case, we went through three transmissions in less than 60,000 km and the car was driven by my wife very nicely, and maintained. The last replacement took two months so they could install a redesigned tranny. The car was sold immediately once it was complete. I bought an older '91 Caprice and was shocked to realize how much the unit body flexed in a '92 Taurus compared to the Caprice. It only took me to sit in the Caprice once to experience the difference.
Anyway, I am still pleased you have good luck with Ford products and would never wish your experience to be any different. But with decades of experience with the used car market and the current high volume dealerships my brother has, the average quality on a Ford isn't very good. I tried to like them and bought three over the years. Ford has not changed, best enjoy them new but don't hang onto them. Good ones are rare, but they do exist.
"Have you driven a Ford lately?" Why, yes I have. That's why I will not own one again. I would buy several other brands. GM is just a cost effective, good quality choice that will last over a decade. I can buy whatever I want at an equal discount, so that isn't a factor (actually, I can buy Fords cheaper than almost anything else).
-Chris
Recalls are things the company fesses up to. That was my point, many companies hide service issues. If anything, recalls are good. Stats are often misleading. Want the truth, look at depreciation after 5 years.
Ford has killed more people due to product defects than any other company. Everything from crappy clamps on fuel lines letting go and causing fires, to the transmissions that went from park to reverse on their own (witnessed that actually), gas tanks that fall out in an accident (owned a Pinto), even to front seats that fall through the too thin floor pan. Fake Recarro (? spelling) seats in my brother in law's Capri, the passenger was a Ford fake. A brake equalizer valve that caused accidents from 1966 to 1992 and never fixed (Mustangs and Capri). Same freakin part number!
We had a body shop, and the extent that Ford went to save money was mind boggling. That's why all kinds of things fail with them. Even the seat stitches in the small Ford trucks years ago.
All brands had their problems Cal, but Ford took the cake. I could go on and on about design issues Ford has, but what is the point?
Much of customer satisfaction has to do with the dealer as well. You probably had a crappy GM dealer in your area, I know a few. A good Ford dealer might make all the difference in minor cases. The best way to be happy with a Ford is to get out of it when it is young, it isn't a brand to hold on to. But in our case, we went through three transmissions in less than 60,000 km and the car was driven by my wife very nicely, and maintained. The last replacement took two months so they could install a redesigned tranny. The car was sold immediately once it was complete. I bought an older '91 Caprice and was shocked to realize how much the unit body flexed in a '92 Taurus compared to the Caprice. It only took me to sit in the Caprice once to experience the difference.
Anyway, I am still pleased you have good luck with Ford products and would never wish your experience to be any different. But with decades of experience with the used car market and the current high volume dealerships my brother has, the average quality on a Ford isn't very good. I tried to like them and bought three over the years. Ford has not changed, best enjoy them new but don't hang onto them. Good ones are rare, but they do exist.
"Have you driven a Ford lately?" Why, yes I have. That's why I will not own one again. I would buy several other brands. GM is just a cost effective, good quality choice that will last over a decade. I can buy whatever I want at an equal discount, so that isn't a factor (actually, I can buy Fords cheaper than almost anything else).
-Chris
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Joined 2009
Paid Member
I had a Ford or two. Then I got a Toyota and now I won’t look at another brand (OK, except Bentley). They don’t break, everything just works, my 14yr old car just won’t stop and make way for a new one. Some Toyota’s are very boring, but excitement from poor designs and low reliability gets old.
Went to Home Depot today. I swear I only popped in to get some spray paint. Honest, just 3 cans of paint and nothing more. But a floor-demo sale, is a floor-demo sale…
Went to Home Depot today. I swear I only popped in to get some spray paint. Honest, just 3 cans of paint and nothing more. But a floor-demo sale, is a floor-demo sale…
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I have a 2015 Ford Transit Connect Mini (cargo) van. It is made in Spain and is basically a European Escape with a van body behind the front seats. I bought it used, and for the same reason I buy nearly every vehicle, it was cheap and is used to haul stuff, not people.
I have owned it for almost 3 years and it has 25,000 miles. it got its first recall last month, and guess what for? Yep, it shifts itself out of park and into reverse....Haven't they been there before? Actually, to be more correct, it never really got into park correctly in the first place, due to faulty grommets in the shifter cable.
In my younger days I subscribed to the "buy a $200 car and drive it to death" low budget driving plan. Most of them were Chrysler A or B bodies with the unbreakable slant 6 engine. Two to three years out of a $200 car with near zero maintenance was just fine by me, even if they were old and ugly......today those cars I destroyed would be worth some money. I had a few Fords, and GM's over the 50+ years that I have been driving.
Only was a standout POS, a 1999 Pontiac Sunfire GT convertible. That thing filled up with water every time it rained, stunk like a wet gym sock, and had countless electrical problems from all the water leakage. The car spent most of its 2 years at the useless dealership getting fixed. The last time they had it for nearly a month and after some nasty letters and calls to GM, they replaced the stinky carpet and made the car smell pleasant. At this point I drove it straight to a used car lot and traded it in on a 1999 Mustang convertible. I had that for 7 years during which time I changed the oil, and put in a new battery. It just worked. I never even changed the brakes, but only put about 30000 miles on it, most of which was under 30 MPH in rush hour traffic to work and back. I could walk to work faster than driving and often did if it wasn't raining or 95 degrees.
I wound up buying used a 2008 Honda Element for cheap. I drove it for 10 years, towed a trailer that was two to three times the maximum towing weight for eleven 2000 mile trips. I changed the oil every time the car told me to, fed it two or three sets of brakes (towing through mountains), and two batteries. It did not have a timing belt. So at least for me I loved my Honda.
My wife has a 2012 Honda Pilot. It has been reliable, but has needed a couple of K$ in maintenance in 7 years of ownership. $1K was the cost of changing the timing belt, and all the other crap that should also be changed when you dig that deep into the engine.
Hey Bigun, I have that exact cabinet in my shop - likewise purchased on sale a couple of years ago. You'll love it.
I've driven two Toyota trucks over the past 24 years, with the current one being a 2014 model. They're boring for sure, but they're also trusty steeds as neither one has ever required anything more than the regular periodic maintenance stuff like changing the oil, filters, plugs, etc. The things just run.
My most vivid "motor merde memory" was a Pontiac Aztek one of my friends purchased. A Buick Rendezvous with a beak that leaked like a sieve after the first 18 months and smelled like a used diaper thereafter. After his family (and myself) refused to ride with him, he wound up practically giving it away as a trade-in on a new truck that was far more capable of the outdoors-type stuff he liked to do.
Not-purchased-but-arrived today was a Muffsy ESP32-based remote input selector for a preamp I'm cobbling together. I could create the remote circuitry myself, but in this case practicality won out; $80 US was a heck of a lot cheaper than spending a month reinventing the wheel. Looks like good-quality stuff so far.
I've driven two Toyota trucks over the past 24 years, with the current one being a 2014 model. They're boring for sure, but they're also trusty steeds as neither one has ever required anything more than the regular periodic maintenance stuff like changing the oil, filters, plugs, etc. The things just run.
My most vivid "motor merde memory" was a Pontiac Aztek one of my friends purchased. A Buick Rendezvous with a beak that leaked like a sieve after the first 18 months and smelled like a used diaper thereafter. After his family (and myself) refused to ride with him, he wound up practically giving it away as a trade-in on a new truck that was far more capable of the outdoors-type stuff he liked to do.
Not-purchased-but-arrived today was a Muffsy ESP32-based remote input selector for a preamp I'm cobbling together. I could create the remote circuitry myself, but in this case practicality won out; $80 US was a heck of a lot cheaper than spending a month reinventing the wheel. Looks like good-quality stuff so far.
One of the funner Toyotas was a ‘92 Tercel that I had put some 15x7 rims on with 195/50 R rated tires. After some rubber spring blockers, it stuck very well in the corners.
One morning on my way to work, I approached my favorite off ramp and noticed a car following me closely. After I had the fun of sailing through the corner and coming to the end of the ramp, I noticed the following car never made it around the corner somehow, bummer dude!
And that is a very nice shop cabinet/work surface there, bigun.
One morning on my way to work, I approached my favorite off ramp and noticed a car following me closely. After I had the fun of sailing through the corner and coming to the end of the ramp, I noticed the following car never made it around the corner somehow, bummer dude!
And that is a very nice shop cabinet/work surface there, bigun.
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I had the opportunity to see the first fiberglass prototype of the Aztek when I was in an interview with GM design years ago. During that same interview I had displayed a (5 year old) concept model of something that looked akin to the Tesla body styles that arrived over ten years later. You can lead a horse to water like they say.
They were so proud of that damn aztek thing too…
Agreed. The newer-but-boring vehicles I've owned have been easier to maintain than the ones from the '80s and '90s. Other than for recall work I haven't taken my vehicles to a garage (dealer or otherwise) in over 25 years. All of the fluid fillers, filters and drains are generally much more accessible than in the past.
My worst experience was changing the oil in a 1991 Nissan pickup (2WD with the 2.4L four-cylinder engine). There was absolutely no good way to access the filter unless you either tore the engine bay apart, or employed a series of contortionist moves. Either way you'd wind up burning and shredding the skin off your knuckles and forearms - an extremely poor way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Oh - and the oil filter was mounted sideways, all but guaranteeing a miniature re-enactment of the Exxon Valdez in the driveway.
Oddly enough that truck ran for 25 years. The last time I saw it was in 2016, sputtering down a local street with saplings sprouting from the bed.
I do all of the family car maintenance and repair. I mostly do not trust stealerships or smaller places to do the work. I have just seen too many bad things happen.
I also just like to work on cars form time to time.
I have mostly owned Honda and Toyota over the years. As good as they are, even they can have problems.
There are Toyota Tacoma trucks with poor frame rust protection.
I also owned a 2003 Honda Odyzzey with the transmission that died with 115K miles on it. I just got rid of it considering replacement transmissions seemed to get stuck in neutral.
The most amusing thing I have ever seen with the Ford Explorer is the rear hatch handle. I watched a few instances back around 2000 while sitting in a store parking lot.
New Ford owner cannot get the rear door open and struggles with the dammed latch. Someone passes bay and they stand up so proud of their new Ford. They return to fighting with the latch so they can get their groceries loaded. This stand up proud then fight with the latch happens a few cycles until I think they just give up and open the side door.