An Unforeseen Shift

[Cdog]

In today's world my story isn't likely to be the surprise it would have been just a short time ago.

My wife's father retired from Ford and she's never bought any other brand car. As our need for a large 3rd row seat vehicle has become unnecessary and the car is developing electrical gremlins we've been looking to replace her Explorer with an upper tier Edge. My wife knows which features are a must for any new car. I tell her the same thing I did before we married, also before buying our current home. "Do Not Settle!"

A heated steering wheel is one of those features she has come to appreciate and consider a deal breaker.

Another side of the story is my battle with GM concerning a new Chevrolet Silverado that had a transmission problem. It wouldn't downshift unless you floored the pedal. It roared due to vibrations from trying to make it up a hill at 35mph in top gear. I was repeatedly told and I quote, " The sound you are hearing is normal drivetrain clunk." After an 18 month battle I finally traded it off for another F150. Later GM updated the trucks firmware to properly downshift. I can't type what I felt at the time. I swore there would never be another GM product in my driveway.

Back to the present. We were hoping the inevitable market correction would have happened by now. We are also limited to just few brands with reputable dealers near enough to make warranty and regular maintenance convenient for us.

To everyone's surprise yesterday my wife picked up her new 2023 Buick Envision Avenir. The first phone call was to a lifelong family friend who is the finance manager of a local Ford dealership family that we always try to do business with. She apologized to Bob for buying a non Ford product. Bob laughed, and apologized for not being able to get her what she wanted. He then asked if she thought her near 90 year old mother would let her park it at her house? My wife's response, "Mom was with me yesterday when we made the deal."

Also I told the young man that we traded with, "it ain't everyday you witness a miracle, and you've just witnessed two!"

Thanks for taking the time to read all this!

 

[GypsmJim]

My Dad would never own a Ford Product. "Found on road dead", or "Fix or repair daily". It was General Motors all the way. He instilled those values in me as well.

So what did he do right after he retired? Bought a Mercury. Then another a few years later. Then a Crown Vic. OMG, what an embarrassment.

Fast forward and I retired. No more parking in some parking lot every day, so time for a nice new car. I intended to buy a Caddy. The salesman and sales manager made my hair stand on end because they didn't want my Chevy trade-in.

So, what did I do? Drove down the street and bought a Lincoln.

Maybe Ford's ain't so bad after all.

But on second thought, the verdict isn't in yet. The Lincoln had a headlight bulb go bad and the bill was $2400.00. Had to take half of the front of the car apart. If it wasn't under warranty it would now be sitting on a Chevy Used Car Lot.

 

[jscheck]

I have NEVER had a chevy/gm product that wasn't a rolling train wreck. Swore after the last one I'd never drive their products. I've stuck to that. Switched to ford for trucks and dodge/chrysler for cars. The wife's car will need to be replaced before too long and I don't know what we'll end up with. Most of the ford products won't fit her/our needs at this point. We may end up (horrors!) buying an import.

 

[LVSteve]

I'm not big on brand loyalty, although I have owned more GM products (both here and in Europe) than anything else. If I see a vehicle I like and the perceived wisdom is that it is fairly reliable, I'll give it a go.

Bad experiences with a brand can be disturbing, but I'd buy another Jag XJ in a heartbeat if I could find a post 2016 example with the right interior. With the right color combo the Jag interior is without peer unless you buy a Maserati. I've sat in many "nice" cars over the years, but if you removed the interior badges from most of them you would never know what make it was. When you get in a Jag, you know exactly what it is. Worst car I ever had for reliability was a European GM product that killed two mechanical fuel pumps and a starter motor in 4 years. Piss poor components, just like the Ford water pump that killed my XJ on I-40.

When it comes to SUVs and crossovers, I've spread the wealth there, too. Best has to be the Nissan Xterra Offroad. 100% reliable and very capable off road. I sold it just prior to COVID, and the Mercedes ML diesel I have now is a fantastic luxury crossover, but it does not replace the Xterra in other ways. Worst in this class has to be the Cadillac SRX I bought for my wife. You cannot turn off the radar part of the cruise control, and the HVAC system must have come from the Chevy Cavalier parts bin. It was totally inadequate for a vehicle with that much interior volume. Oh, and it shredded the front diff and the gearbox controller had a nervous breakdown inside 45k miles. I was glad to see that lame donkey leave the stable. GM also delivered my 2001 Tahoe with the suspension misaligned from the factory. Idjits.

After all this I can say I've never owned a Ford. I've driven plenty as rentals, and the European examples were nice cars. Over here I've had large attacks of "Meh!" when sitting in them on the dealer's lot. Then there's the quality issues. My buddy's experience last time buying a Ford pickup was instructive. He looked at seven or eight on the lot before he found one with the interior properly assembled. That's nuts. I test drove an Expedition in about 2000 and I swear it had a hinge in the middle.

Never pulled the trigger on a Chrysler product in the US, either. Nearly bought an Intrepid when I first got here in 1997, but ended up with a Firebird instead. Looked at Jeep Grand Cherokees and Durangos from time to time, but either the interior left me cold or the dire reliability reports kept my check book in my pocket.

 

[pantannojack]

I liked Al Pacino's argument of how Cadillac is better than ford in Donny Brasco. I think he had three reasons; Just kept repeating the same over and over.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I am not committed to any brand, a dew that I will not touch, but I have done well with Ford and Toyota.

 

[arjay]

I've had vintage VWs,vintage MBs, fords, toyotas,Hondas and jeeps. The Toyotas and Hondas seemed to be the best quality,the jeeps had the poorest quality

 

[GypsmJim]

I have NEVER had a chevy/gm product that wasn't a rolling train wreck. Swore after the last one I'd never drive their products. I've stuck to that. Switched to ford for trucks and dodge/chrysler for cars. The wife's car will need to be replaced before too long and I don't know what we'll end up with. Most of the ford products won't fit her/our needs at this point. We may end up (horrors!) buying an import.

Both my sons have or had Dodges. Both are or did literally fall apart. The current Durango has paint peeling from one end to another.

One son switched to a Silverado and it has never been in the shop except for oil changes.

My last car was a Chevy Equinox. 55,000 miles on the oem tires, 94,000 miles on the brakes, never even had to replace a light bulb. Best car I ever had.

Its funny that whatever brand you talk about there will be someone that had junk and someone else had a miracle car.

 

[IAM Rand]

I did 2 things when I bought a Ford that I said I would never do, BUY a Ford and buy a truck. Couple years ago I picked up a F-150 Lariat, Magma Red. My wife calls it brown. I was always a Chevy guy but, after a certain someone shafted the bond holders, I have kicked Chevy to the curb so to speak. I absolutely luv my F-150 and so does my wife although she hates trying to park it.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

My dad was a Ford man all the way until the late 70's...a problem with his pickup that could've been life threatening and all he got from Ford in numerous responses to fix it was their insistance that he sign a waiver of liability releasing them as it was a design flaw. (NOTE: It is a long story that I won't go into here).

The rest of his life, he never looked at another Ford. My parents last vehicle was a Mercury....and was strictly my mom's purchase and idea much to my dad's displeasure.

I have owned Ford, GM-made, Dodge and Jeep made vehicles over the years. The only reliable vehicle was an Oldsmobile. Everything else was in the shop. I found that GM products (the Oldsmobile excepted) tended to start falling apart at about 100 K...cracking windshields, instruments failing starting with the fuel indicator, then the transmission.

I've been driving Toyotas now for a while and as far as I am concerned, that is what I will stick with. Almost 200K miles on one and only very minor hiccups.

 

[cmj8591]

There is so much overlap between sub contractors these days that buying one brand over another is more about who assembled it than who actually manufactured it.

 

[NFrameFred]

I always had good luck with GM vehicles until they priced me out of the market; I know folks who swear by Fords and wouldn't drive anything else and get good service from them, unfortunately every Ford I ever had was a lemon. Just luck of the draw I guess.

The last five vehicles we have owned have been Hyundai's. So far the service, performance and warranties have been over and above anything else I ever owned.

To each his own . . . I've heard that are some strange souls somewhere that prefer Colts or Rugers over Smith & Wessons !!!

 

[JohnRippert]

Let's see. Going through the list I have had Plymouth, Toyota, Toyota, Ford, Ford, Honda, Dodge, Chevy, KIA. Been satisfied with them all except for the Ford Escort, the first of the two Fords.

 

[MRB1]

if I was inclined to buy another vehicle, it would be foreign and non-union made. But that is unlikely to happen - my 2004 GMC PU and 1999 Jeep Cheroke have been perfect from day 1.

 

[Moo Moo]

GM abandon Australia a few years ago despite Federal Government "prop-ups" of millions of dollars. All of that went back to the USA and they closed up shop anyway.

 

[Gamecock]

When women turn 50, they buy a Buick.

 

[GypsmJim]

I always had good luck with GM vehicles until they priced me out of the market;

I don't understand that comment. GM (er Chevy) has every type vehicle for sale and they are price competitive with all other brands.

 

[GypsmJim]

When women turn 50, they buy a Buick.

Not in my neighborhood.

Buicks are for old men.

Oldsmobiles are (were) for old women.

Now old women buy Hyundais.

 

[venomballistics]

I was a diehard Ford fan for many years.
I drove a second hand fox body for well over 20 years and enjoyed every single mile it gave me.
It's subframe rejoined the earth while it's driveline still retained everything it was born with.
I miss that car like a lover.
But a lot happened in the decades that passed since it left Dearborn. Ford stopped making cars, and those cars they still make do not even try to compete.
Chevy rolled out a mid engine axe murderer of a vette every bit as drool worthy as the offerings of Ferrari. The Ford GT was reduced to a dismal ecoboost V6
Dodge rolled out the challenger hellcat ... Ford hasn't figured out how to get a mustang GT to do a burnout without maiming pedestrians.
I was quite disappointed to find the Ford we have today when it came time to seek a new mode of conveyance.
there just isnt much left ...
As I observe their truck based offerings in the wild, I know their power plants make some half decent numbers and all. Despite that, it seems every rolling roadblock on the highway system is lead by a Ford truck. Are they that laden by self loathing that they can't get with the program along with everything else on the road? It's too common to be a fluke. What's wrong with these things?
That old Fox body Mustang was one of the greatest cars I have had the pleasure of owing. I thank Ford and those folks that built that machine for some great memories and a wonderful experience. Alas, the time has come to part ways.

 

[Rodan]

Ford hasn't figured out how to get a mustang GT to do a burnout without maiming pedestrians.

That's merely the predictable result of performance at a price the young and fearless can afford.

You'd hear the same thing about 'Vettes, but most 'Vette owners are too worried about soiling their Depends to give it full throttle.

BTW, I've owned both...

I've never been very 'brand loyal', but have probably owned more Fords than anything else. Ford, GM, Toyota, Datsun, Mazda, Jeep, Dodge, Mitsubishi, Kia, BMW... all have been pretty reliable. Then again, I treat my cars well, and maintain them. The only real 'lemon' was a C6 'Vette... what a pile that thing was.

Current fleet consists of Ram, Jeep, BMW, 2 Mazdas and a Ford. The Ford and one of the Mazdas are race cars with little left that came from the factory at this point.