why not to buy a Ford

You're so-o-o-o slow John... I stopped buying Ford after experiencing a 1977 LTD :-(

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine Sometimes I even put it in the food

The 70's were notorious for bad American cars. Apparently most US-made cars are now close to the Japanese in quality, and ahead of most European stuff. But they still look and weigh and handle like American cars, and seem to be substituting crappy gadgets for basic design and handling.

Oh, I've never owned an American car. I'm considering a small 4wd SUV, and have looked at the US stuff just to be fair, but what I've found is ugly and bloated.

I won't buy an oscilloscope or a TV set or a car that runs Windows!

John

Strange as it may sound, I rented a Chevrolet Impala (V-6) at Columbus Airport the first week of November. Very roomy, big trunk and it drove quite nicely.

However the Impala had NO amenities, and had a radio that indeed smacked of Wimpows influence... multi-function buttons with no rhyme or reason.

I've owned ONLY Japanese vehicles since 1977, 2 Z-cars, 2 Sentra's, 1 Corolla, 1 Maxima, 1 Frontier pick-up (still own), 2 Q45's (still own one).

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

In article , To-Email- snipped-for-privacy@My-Web-Site.com says...>

I rented one to drive back from Milwaukee to Cleveland after I got bumped off a flight home from an interview in Des Moines. The thing was amazing, for a 2WD, in 18" of snow. Nothing was moving (state of emergency), but I had no problems with the Impala.

A button costs a penny.

I have two Fords now ('00 Sable and '01 Ranger). They're both decent, though the Ranger was apparently in an accident before I bought it. :-(

Similar. Heavy rain about 50% of the time... quite stable.

And union benefits cost thousands ;-)

We have a shop here in town that specializes in inspecting used cars before you buy.

They also warn you if a car previously lived back east ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

^ unfunded

I bought it *NEW*.

In the NE they warn of cars from the South (floods and title laundering). The NE if famous for salt, but that's mild compared to a good dunking up to the roof line and a fraudulent title.

On a sunny day (Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:11:17 -0800) it happened John Larkin wrote in :

sigh, smile, they just alienated a lot of young aspirant buyers with 'remote controlled key and top speed by parents'

I remember my old mustang V8 cobra special, no electronics, just had some weight in the back to keep it stable and drifting sway in fast turns ... No way could you 'internet' while driving... dangerous idea. Having somebody remotely do anything to your engine makes it indeed a good idea to buy an other make, for example a Japanese car.

They are nice. I really liked the Crown Victoria and a Suburban when I rented them. But then they are always new. It seems that serious (meaning lots of $$$) troubles often loom down the road. A friend's Town Car blew the engine -> total loss. Another friends Concorde made one expensive puddle after the other, such as a transmission fluid dump -> got rid of it. And so on, lots of others.

The only thing that would make me buy a US passenger car would be a really long and unconditional warranty. 10 years or more. Over the years I have also found that the per-year cost of an extended warranty when compared in the same class is inversely proportionate to the quality of the product.

[...]

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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Vickies are known to be relatively trouble-free. They're the last of the ancient iron. Anyone can blow an engine, Townies aren't exempt. OTOH, the Concorde is a Chrysler. What did he expect?

The only extended warranty I've ever bought was on my wife's Sable. I bought that because it had such low mileage (12K in 4 years). The owner had died and the wife didn't drive so it sat for at least six months. I haven't had any serious trouble with it though.

I don't like all the crap foreign car dealers (particularly the German junk) has you go through for the warranty.

Yup. Gave up on Chryslers in the late '60's ;-)

I had an extended warranty on the first Q45. IIRC it cost around $900 extra on a $60K vehicle... not so bad.

Never needed to use it, so, on the 2005, I didn't buy it... knock on wood.

Haven't had a bit of trouble with Nissan products... knock on wood again ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

So here we have a struggling U.S. company trying to be innovative and their effort is bashed.

My family has been driving Lincoln Town Cars or Grand Marquis for over 20 years, and we like them ... yes, of course, there have been problems. We personally know a family who's brand new Lexus had a total engine failure after only 3,000 miles. So what? Anecdotes are fun but useless without a statistical reference frame.

Buick is consistently rated high in customer satisfaction. And on and on.

Someone who hates U.S. industry so much that they would never buy a Ford or a Windows based instrument must live somewhere else, or plans to soon emigrate. Please do emigrate.

Nissan, Toyota, et al, are also U.S. industries.

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

I don't like big, sloppy, ugly, mushy, heavy cars, or slow, buggy, annoying software. Does that make me un-American?

I did own a Ford Fiesta once, but it was made in Germany.

The US makes the best aircraft, the best semiconductors, the best computers, the best electronic instruments... lots of good things. But the big3 auto makers have been paralyzed for decades by the unions and their own bad management.

What do you drive?

John

Probably a Buick... a car for those aged-of-mind (and leftist weenies ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

[...]

But that wasn't per year, was it?

Same here. Two Japanese cars, both >10 years, no trouble. Ok, my wife's had a broken window motor once but that fell under warranty. I purposely bought a car without all that stuff. What ain't there ain't gonna break.

WRT German cars my trusty old Audi station wagon still cruises along fine, mostly between Sweden and Germany. Well over 20 years old, no rust, no problems. My neighbor bought it, says it's the best car he ever bought. Gets over 30mpg all the time.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

Big American cars are usually pretty good, comfortable and (when driven gently) quite economical. Got 20mpg on a fully equipped Suburban and also on a fully loaded Crown Victoria. However, when I look at the recall history for the Grand Marquis I get the goose bumps:

On my Mitsubishi there was exactly one (1!) alert in > 10 years. It was a very minor thing, they only had to check whether a copper tubing was far enough from a fender cut-out. Which it was on mine. The mechanic said they were instructed to check that on every one that came in and he hadn't seen a need to bend it on any of them. Heck, I didn't even have a light bulb blow out in over 10 years that I owned it.

Smaller US cars is something I am cured of for good. I had a Horizon for many years. Never again. It barely made it past the 6-years rust-through warranty and then the rear right suspension crushed through and showed up in the passenger compartment. That could have resulted in a serious wreck because it jams the rear wheel. The alternator always broke loose because they had used an aluminum bracket. Even us EE types learned not to do that. Oh man, what were they thinking? The water pump was the worst, broke all the time until I finally roached in one from Mercedes and then it held. But the rest of the car didn't :-(

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

No. Total.

[snip]

I'm sorry I didn't get electric windows on my truck, constantly cranking windows up and down at every drive-thru, bank, liquor store and pharmacist gets really tiring after 8 years... Arizona weather requires it :-(

Recent vintage German cars don't impress me. Other than being fun to dust with the "Q" when they try to impress me with jack rabbit starts off-the-light ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

Nah, weenies drive Subarus.

Or Volvo's... I called them Fluffo's in the '90's ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food