Yep, same here.

 

Are you saying the buying public doesn't know what they want?

 

I want the 7.3 back!

 

As of today.

Originally Posted by jayandsam09
I got a call late Wednesday afternoon from the dealer. They're saying that they have one of the new ic's for me. Going to take my truck up there today to leave with them to install

 

"They can have it in any color they like, as long as it is black!"
Henry Ford

 

I agree with RFT.

American companies are just copying imports these days I think because they don't know how to think for themselves anymore. Everything "new and exciting" on any american vehicle now days can be found on older import vehicles. "new" to ford, chevy, dodge, is technology I can sometimes find on 20+ year old hondas, toyotas, and the like.

"Engineers" just change up existing designs and call them their own.

 

That's fine, the big three are trying to get qualities in their cars that Americans find attractive in foreign garbage so people will start buying American again. That's what we need in this present economy. American Made!!

 

Well America used to make quality cars. Now they are a poor copy, you know that thing thats like the original but not quite, its cheaper, doesn't work as good, and doesn't last nearly as long.

 

I dont know, id take a new Taurus or fusion over any forign car now. I wouldnt have said that about the earlier Taurus's or the predecessors to the fusion.

 

The current Fusion is actually a foreign car for the us, since it's actually a Ford Mondeo.

 

Foreign cars put so much **** in the vehicles that there is so much that could go wrong. Fords, GM, and Chevy are basic and easy. Which is awesome.

 

I must clarify that when I speak import I am talking about the bigger manufactures equal to ford or chevy like honda and toyota primarily.

I understand imports like nissan are still junk. We don't talk about those. lol

Ford and chevy cars are not basic. They have all the same junk as any import and in many cases even more. A simple 1 component part in a honda or toyota is for some reason a conglomeration of 5 separate parts in a ford or chevy with impossible to get to bolts and nuts without pulling the motor or cab.

I have family and friends that ask me all the time what kind of vehicle they should get, I always say a honda. I then tell them if they don't believe me go around and ask honda owners if they are happy or not. I can find many many dissatisfied ford, chevy, and dodge owners but very very rarely I can find a unhappy honda owner.

Another huge sign of quality is resale price. This can be seen with the ford 7.3, a 7.3 truck is worth more than any truck even 5 years newer.

Honda has one of the highest resale values of any vehicle manufacture out there. They don't get that from being junk.

 

Speaking of resale value, my current edition of Truck trend has a back page posting of a 2005 Expedition as a potential used vehicle. TT doesn't recommend this vehicle and they report that the Expy has a $3000 lower resale value than an equivalent Tahoe or Burb.

The reasons? Spark plug issues, electrical issues and the difficulty in working on an Expy. I did a plug change on my '04 4.6L Expy and it took me over 2 hours.

 

The '05 Expedition is gonna be the early 3 valve 5.4 with the sticking spark plug problem, so it is very clear that people will shy away from those. However, an '05 with the 4.6 will have the improved spark plug threads and in theory should not shoot plugs out (which was not nearly as much of a problem with the 4.6 in any year).

As for foreign cars, I have to admit putting my wife in a new '07 Civic, which now has 93k miles on it. It has needed oil changes and tire rotations, a set of front brake pads that I put in, some filters which I put in, and a set of tires. (This is aside from some problems cause by an accident which was not my wife's fault.) And the car was $17k new and should still be worth $8-9k on resale. I really would have loved to buy her a Focus, but believe that the sheer dependability of the Honda as well as the resale simply can't be beat. And the sucker gets 34-35 mpg on her work commute, has never had a tank under maybe 30 mpg, and has cracked 40 mpg on a couple trips....

There is a reason that a lot of Honda buyers, after getting their first one, keep buying them. When it comes time to replace my wife's Civic (maybe after she retires in a year or a year and a half), I will WANT to buy a domestic brand replacement but might have a hard time doing so, as we will both be living on pensions and not yet drawing social security.

My '02 Econoline has been a very good vehicle for 108k miles, has eaten a bunch of front end and brake parts (not uncommon with vans), but the big problem was a TSB that required the replacement of the cylinder heads at 42k miles (early Romeo PI 4.6), very fortunately covered because I bought an extended warranty. So Ford can build a really solid truck but has made some weird design errors with cylinder heads and spark plugs... And as with the Expy, I do NOT think Ford needed overhead cams in their V8's to make them huge and complex. The mod motors are relatively solid, but if a Corvette or Chrysler Hemi can have a cam in the block, any truck V8 can have one.

George

 

This is the main reason why the article focused on the '05. I believe the 4.6L was not offered in any Expy after 2004. Simply not enough power to pull anything plus it's own weight. My '04 has been bullet proof for the exception of a fuel pump failure at 82K.

Looking at the Expeditions now, they look very dated and in need of a serious make over and drive line transplant. I wouldn't ever buy another at this point in life. Simply too big of a margin between MSRP and resale value. In 2004 and 2005, Ford was offering some pretty big incentives on the Expy's. Not so much now.