Reply
Wed 8 Feb, 2006 07:26 pm
Just saw a commercial for New England Ford Dealers.
I thought since they were cutting 30,000 jobs, the dealerships are lucky if they get one customer a day, and their products suck, they didn't have much to brag about.
However, this commercial changed my mind.
Their main selling points?
1) New England Ford dealers use....genuine Ford parts.
2) New England Ford dealers have...Ford certified technicians.
Talk about WOW!
I hope they can come up with something better than that.
Mazda = Ford at least to some degree.
They've certainly got a few good prdoucts out there. You're right, there is not much to say for the Ford 500...A re-tooled Taurus is simply not going to cut it anymore. The Milan (Merc.) and the Fusion, however will most likely do well as they have the right combination of styling and performance.
The "certified parts" claims may seem a little hackneyed, but I think that's more an attempt to get people to go to their local Ford dealership instead of Meineke or Jiffy-Lube for their general service needs...
I like the Fusion, but believe that the Ford Mustang's design is overrated. I think that the trucks are saving the day for Ford, just like the last 8+ years.
That, however... might change.
Speaking of the Fusion- does anyone know what the deal is with the Zepher/MK5? They've got the Zeph out now, but how quickly are they going to confuse customers and release the MK-V to replace it?
Seems a bit odd to me!
the only GOOD thing I can say about ford with out being struck by lightening.. is that you get ALOT of car for little money.
Big engines, lots of leg room, huge trunks, and some pretty nifty options.
All electric options on a ford can run you less then 1000.00 on the sticker price where as some other brands can charge you almost 3times as much.
but that is all the good ford offers.
f.ound
o.n
r.oad
d.ead
f.uckd
o.ver
r.ebuilt
d.odge
FORD
F-ix
O-r
R-epair
D-aily
The last truly decent Ford was the US Falcon which was discontinued in the very early 70s.
love n peaces,
Jack
yitwail wrote:Chumly wrote:Mazda = Ford at least to some degree.
ditto jaguar & volvo
... ... as well as Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Lincoln.
And the head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group is a former BMW director, leading an army of former BMW executives :wink:
At least in a Ford truck the body doesnt decay like the Dodges. Im not at all impressed with the foreign "big trucks" They are still too small and light dutied. If you hadda tow something substantial, theyd be scraping the road.
German vehicles are all overengineered. I cant see paying 4X the value of a pulley that has a tolerance of .0003um when the task being done has a max eccentricity of .001.
My bil just got a new BMW AWD and it is a huge POS. It hasnt a clue of what it wants to be.Like the Porsche Cayenne (rated as the car with the most defects per 1000 units). A course the second worst rated car is the Hummer H2,
Which BMW, the X5, X3? The only one I don't like is the X3. It's a stupid little SUV for stupid yuppies. It's basically a 3-series.
The sedans are far from being POS. Best cars I've ever driven with a back seat and a trunk are BMW's.
The Cayenne Turbo is supposedly an amazing and very capable vehicle, but I think they're ugly. The back end looks far from a prestige auto.
the cayenne is both over-engineered & defect-laden? how did they manage that?
yitwail wrote:the cayenne is both over-engineered & defect-laden? how did they manage that?
Peculiarly enough, the Germans managed something to that effect with the Tiger Tanks in WWII.
more peculiarly--had to look this up in wikipedia--porsche submitted designs for the Tiger, which weren't selected.
BArrons did a "worst of" review for the upper end cars and SUVs and they labelled the Porsche Cayenne as the 'wurst".
As for being overengineered and bad, its easy. You cn make something so complicated that it becomes its own worst enemy in road trials. Apparently the Cayenne has the (statistically) same problems that the old Rovers and Jaguars had, They love to bleed oil. Also they wear tires and have lots of computer chips that arent hardened enough.
People who buy a Cayenne want to believe that theyve got an off road baby, not a potential tow job .
The Hummer H2 (now how many people arent surprised at this) is just a rejockeyed frame and drive packGE THAT DOESNT GLUE TOGETHER WELL ENOUGH AND , THEY STILL DIDNT MAKE A DIESEL PACKAGE
My brother in law has the SUV BMW ad hes already had a number of major garage trips that cost him more time than cash , because they did honor the warranty.
Warranty - you get two years in EU-countries (by law), and most manufacturers add another one 'voluntarily' (in Germany, for free).
So, "Monday cars" have to sold somewhere
I guess I got a "Monday" rowing machine from Kettler. Nicely designed and engineered. Just a poorly executed design.
yitwail wrote:more peculiarly--had to look this up in wikipedia--porsche submitted designs for the Tiger, which weren't selected.
It seems probable that if had they gone for the Porsche version, they would have had an even more "over-engineered & defect-laden" Tiger than the Henschel version.
Quote:On April 20th, 1942, the new versions from both Henschel and Porsche were displayed in front of Hitler at his base in Rastenburg. The Henschel design was considered to be the more superior and easier to produce in mass production.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/tiger_tank.htm
I can say this however about 60's - 70's Mercedes cars. They often used a lot more parts than American cars to produce the same net effect, such as the window roller mechanism.
Then again here is another source that gives a different reason why they choose Henschel over Porsche.
Quote:Originally, sPzAbt 501 was to have been outfitted with the Porsche-Tigers, but due to the delays and subsequent cancellation of Porsche-Tiger production, the sPzAbt 501 was issued normal Henschel-Tigers.
http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/tigers.htm
And to add to the confusion.
Quote:The Henschel design was accepted but was fitted with the turret from the Porsche design. Production of the Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. E began in August 1942. At the same time, ninety of the Porsche version were also ordered. These were not used but the hulls were converted into the Panzerjäger Tiger (P), also known as Ferdinand, and after Hitler's orders of February 1 and 27, 1944, Elefant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_I
farmerman wrote:
As for being overengineered and bad, its easy. You cn make something so complicated that it becomes its own worst enemy...
sounds like a car built by microsoft.
fm, i assumed Schwarzenegger owns so many Hummers because of their image. but now i wonder if some of them are backups.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace