"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 21:04:26 -0600, "Dan J.S." wrote:

It is time for the Subaru story again? You know - the one where a guy
stole a Honda 125, shot out of an intersection and my wife broadsided
him - couldn't avoid him? And where the owner of the Honda came to
get his motorcycle, picked it up, started it and drove it home while
the Subaru has to be towed and subsequently was totaled with $9,000
worth of damage?


Probably what saved her life. If she was driving a Ford, there would be a
good chance she would come out with something worse than a bruising.

Saved what life? She hit in just under 35 mph. It was a Honda 125
which weighed, what , about 300 lbs?

Plus, do you believe another car would have less damage?

The damage was $2000 more than the price of the car. Yes, I do
believe that. The thing folded up like an accordion. The 125 had a
small dent in the fuel tank and was driven away.

Subaru's are crap cars, always have been, always will be. All the
nonsense about "crumple zones", etc., hides the fact that they are
built out of recycled tin cans.

Subarus are extremely solid.

No they aren't. I made the mistake once of leaning back on the hood
of a 2002 Forester and put a nice dent in it. Can't do that to any of
the cars I own.

Looks what people race at rallies where you drive these, un
modified in many cases, 80 MPH on dirt roads... Show me one American car
that could take that abuse...

Any of them.


Haha! I am glad GM and Ford marketing propaganda is working on you. Haha...

I have owned several Fords and the worst thing that ever happened was when
the computer died on one vehicle. Had to get it towed, dianosed, and fixed
for a total of $200.


"FREDO" wrote in message
.. .
I had a 94 F-150 XLT Lariat best pulling truck I ever had in 4X4 (locking
front and rear differentials).
But man it was not reliable!

In 36,000 miles and 1 year it had the following repairs:

brake pads and rotors replaced 4 times (rotors kept warping)

fan clutch replaced 2 times

HVAC repaired 3 times they finally found the orifice was missing from the
system, the darn thing would only blow cold air while traveling on the
interstate, any time you went to in town traffic mode it blew hot air.

Radio quit 2 times.

So I traded it on my 96 Subaru Outback and so far it has never been in
for any repairs.

My 00 GMC has had the transfer case replaced, the steering gearbox
replaced and the P/S pump replaced (all under warranty) since then it has
been a truly reliable vehicle.

I wish you well with your Ford quality issues.


"Dan J.S." wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
news
To those that read my "trip to hell" back in November where I spend 5
days in a hotel room in Georgia while they fixed my super duty Ford 350
.....

I just got back from my final trip to Florida - picked up the Scout
(another story) and started the trip back to MA. Got to Norfork and
visited Eisboch Jr. and his very pregnant wife, then headed north towing
the Scout. Got as far as Fredricksburg, VA and the new, heavy duty
diesel Ford 350 died again.

After all kinds of debates and decisions, I ended up hiring the tow
company to transport the dead Ford, with a 20' Scout in tow, all the way
from VA to MA.

We dropped off the boat in my driveway, then continued to Plymouth, MA
and dropped off the dead Ford in the dealer's lot. Gonna be a bit of
excitement down there on Monday when they open.

Eisboch (back from the last trip to hell)




FORD - Found On Road Dead



I can't wait for Toyota to start making something comparable to the 350 -
and then it's bye bye American brands.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 05:56:08 GMT, "FREDO" wrote:

I had a 94 F-150 XLT Lariat best pulling truck I ever had in 4X4
(locking front and rear differentials).
But man it was not reliable!

In 36,000 miles and 1 year it had the following repairs:

brake pads and rotors replaced 4 times (rotors kept warping)

fan clutch replaced 2 times

HVAC repaired 3 times they finally found the orifice was missing from
the system, the darn thing would only blow cold air while traveling on
the interstate, any time you went to in town traffic mode it blew hot
air.

Radio quit 2 times.

Horse feathers. I don't believe it.
So I traded it on my 96 Subaru Outback and so far it has never been in
for any repairs.

My 00 GMC has had the transfer case replaced, the steering gearbox
replaced and the P/S pump replaced (all under warranty) since then it
has been a truly reliable vehicle.

I wish you well with your Ford quality issues.

I have a 2000 F-250 Super Duty 4X4, 7.3 liter diesel and the only
thing I've had go wrong with it was a stuck caliber when I first
bought it. 100,000 miles and it's just getting broken in.

17 mpg around town and 22/23 on the highway.

Best big pickup I've ever owned.

Which have all been Fords.

All of which were traded with no problems at all during the time I
owned them.


When I was actually in the market for a diesel truck, I almost bought a
Ford with the six liter engine, but I kept encountering tales of minor and
serious horror stories about the motor. So I started reading up on the GM
diesel pickup, and lo and behold, the same sorts of horror stories. That's
the major reason I decided not to buy either. Spending $40,000+ on a truck
that wasn't going to behave was not my idea of a smart thing to do.

Since then, the urge for a diesel truck has passed. A close friend bought
a new full-size Chevy truck last year, a 4x4, and it doesn't impress me
all that much. I haven't looked at the new Ford full-size gas engine
truckz in a while. I like pickup trucks, but I like a little fit and
finish on them. The latest Ford and GM offerings just don't do much for me
in that area.

Go take a look at the Ford's in their King Ranch version. I call them
Maximum Cow. Damn, they look and feel good.

The problem with the paint was universal with all American Cars built in the
80's. I think it had to so with a reformulated paint with the ClearCoat.
The problem was bad enough that all manu.'s offered an undisclosed 5 yr
warranty on the paint. I had both of my cars repainted for free when they
started to flake after 3 - 4 yrs.


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 07:53:31 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

Ford uses the worst
paint available on the market in terms of durability and thinness of coat.

Get with the times dude. :)

They solved that problem years ago.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...

Actually, I had a ride in a Tundra the other day and was pleasantly
surprised - it seemed like a nice truck.

Not nice enough to replace my F-250 Super Duty 7.3 liter diesel 4x4,
but it was still nice.

I'm sure that if and when Toyota chooses to address that market niche,
they'll do so very nicely.

"Skipper" wrote in message
...
Bert Robbins wrote:

Consumer Reports is a joke. They just do cursory evaluations of the
vehicles.

They're even worse with their boat reports. Many of the reports stoop to
the misleading superficial levels of a Chucky boat review.

--
Skipper

When did CR begin evaluating boats? There is nothing to that effect in their
index of reviews. Are you drunk again?

Doug,
CR is a well intentioned group of individuals who don't seem to have a clue.
The don't review boats, but they seem to miss the mark on all other
products. It seemed that they would always pick the product with the worst
quality.



"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"Skipper" wrote in message
...
Bert Robbins wrote:

Consumer Reports is a joke. They just do cursory evaluations of the
vehicles.

They're even worse with their boat reports. Many of the reports stoop to
the misleading superficial levels of a Chucky boat review.

--
Skipper

When did CR begin evaluating boats? There is nothing to that effect in
their index of reviews. Are you drunk again?

"FREDO" wrote in message
.. .
Subaru's are designed to crumple in order to absorb impact. Also, they are
designed to push the engine and transmission downward under the passenger
compartment in a frontal crash via a "Pitching Stopper" to lessen the
possibility of the engine coming into the passenger compartment. They
consistently receive 5 star ratings from the U.S. government in crash
testing.

Saw that happen back in the 1970s with an Eldorado. The engine vacated its
compartment completely, and crushed & burned the driver. Not pretty.

"Bert Robbins" wrote in message
...

"Dan J.S." wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
news
To those that read my "trip to hell" back in November where I spend 5
days in a hotel room in Georgia while they fixed my super duty Ford 350
.....

I just got back from my final trip to Florida - picked up the Scout
(another story) and started the trip back to MA. Got to Norfork and
visited Eisboch Jr. and his very pregnant wife, then headed north towing
the Scout. Got as far as Fredricksburg, VA and the new, heavy duty
diesel Ford 350 died again.

After all kinds of debates and decisions, I ended up hiring the tow
company to transport the dead Ford, with a 20' Scout in tow, all the way
from VA to MA.

We dropped off the boat in my driveway, then continued to Plymouth, MA
and dropped off the dead Ford in the dealer's lot. Gonna be a bit of
excitement down there on Monday when they open.

Eisboch (back from the last trip to hell)




FORD - Found On Road Dead

FORD = First On Race Day


It's silly to point to situations where cars are maintained by expert
mechanics and constantly tweaked.

"Lord Reginald Smithers" The fastest and most accurate Gun in the World
wrote in message ...
Doug,
CR is a well intentioned group of individuals who don't seem to have a
clue.
The don't review boats, but they seem to miss the mark on all other
products. It seemed that they would always pick the product with the
worst quality.

For some products, they really are off base. Stereo equipment's a good
example. When I was in that biz back in the late 70s & 1980s, they'd always
recommend Japanese speakers, which sounded horrible. And, Sanyo car stereos,
which were an absolute joke at the time.

With cars, though, I think they're between a rock and a hard place. Some
people like to slam their reliability surveys because they primarily cover
very young cars. But, how long does the average buyer keep a car? Is it that
easy to find a large sample of people whose cars have reached 100,000 miles?

For things like appliances, I don't think it's possible to do any better.
But, the magazine *does* educate some readers about features they might not
have otherwise considered. This is important because considering the low
quality of most retail staff, you might never hear about these features in
the stores.

It ain't perfect, but I have yet to hear anyone come up with constructive
suggestions.