Yeah, I know. Twas a good car, and fairly popular judging by the number of times I see it on the road now.
If you mean trucks with anything but a LSX based engine then I will agree. I was knee deep dealing with that piston slap issue. I will even include the LT1 just for the PITA that was the opti-spark!! As far as reliability the Modular V8 engine family from Ford is stout(5.4,4.6). They're not perfect but from a production engine their material and tolerances are damn tight.
Ever notice Tahoes/Suburbans always have one light out on the front? Not the headlight, but a parking light or somesuch. I always wondered when they'd fix that. lol.
My sister had a Chevy truck and it always had issues with the lights. One would go out. Or they both would flicker. And her blinkers blinked at an insane speed, doing the clicking noise on the inside with AB's speed. Seriously, that truck was NOTHING but problems.....but it did survive a few good wrecks which included going through a brick gazebo at one point.....women drivers.... Hopefully she'll have better luck with her Escalade.
Check year over year sales, average floor traffic, and average auction/depreciation values over time. Toyota is kicking so much butt that this it'll take some time for the domestics to catchup (kind of like a front runner syndrome, people think foreign are going to have higher values, they will buy foreign cars at a higher premium, then they'll sell it at a higher premium and the cycle will repeat). Quality, I think domestics has catched up; but making cars that people want to buy in terms of both over all style, type and the details (like ..... cup holders and the abundance and convenience of places to put change and cell phones). Then there's the whole perception issue that they've dugged them self into during the 80s and 90s. It's going to take time but they've being going around in circles.
Great reply! I was expecting the typical "American cars suck". I agree, getting people to even look at domestics can't be easy. I have people ask me all the time my opinion on certain cars before they buy them, domestics are hardly ever in the conversation.
I actually own a new Suzuki Sx4 Crossover AWD. I've put about 650 miles on it. Great car so far. It will drive like a tank in the winter. It's pretty comparable to the Matrix and Vibe, but for some reason Suzuki is trying to get it to compete with the Mini Cooper? So far, I love it. Lots of nice standard features. And it's the cheapest AWD in the country. That said, it's workmanship has gotten pretty nice reviews, and it comes with a great warranty. I will keep all repairs and maintenance up to date, and almost out of curiosity, I want to drive it into the ground. Just to see how reliable it'll be in the long run.
When I bought my last car (Scion XB), I took a look a domestic cars in a similar price range. There some cars around that price were good but so many of the small details pushes Scion up. Small things like responsiveness/speed of your mirrors and windows when you try to change it, a back windshield wiper, a place to put your ipod/zune next to the cup holders, a place to put your change on your front dash, nooks and cranies to stash things like cards, umbrellas and etc. that are just damn practical and not available in a similar class domestic cars. It's the little things but they leave a heck of an impression when it's a vehicle you'd realize you'll spend 30 min - 1 hr in everyday.
One of the downfall of GM was because of the rising gas prices a couple of year ago. Consumers realize that they can't rely on trucks and big SUVs for their daily commute anymore and opted for more gas-efficient models with toyota, Honda, etc. If i have to choose between Ford and Chevy, I'll choose Ford. Their cars are more stylish IMO, and Fusion Hybrid is pretty damn sexy. One of the reasons Ford didn't need bailout was because of their strong overseas markets
Honda man here No rice, just a plain ol Accord EX coupe but if I had to choice Ford or Chevy Ford would be my pick. Mustangs are just great cars to drive, but I like those new Camaros too. Prreetty!
Ford. The whole damn family from my grandparents on down to me and my cousins all drive Fords, and we typically drive them 150K+ miles.
