For anyone who still believes that there are "domestic" cars and "foreign" cars, take a look around.

Most of today's "Japanese" and "European" cars are built right here in the USA, by US workers, with US work ethics. And, for whoever used plastic radiators as a hit against US cars and a plus for Japanese cars, take a look under the hood of ANY new Honda or Toyota, and you will find a plastic rad. My '87 BMW has a plastic radiator. My '00 Jeep has a plastic radiator. BOTH of them took a dump. Nobody ever bashes the quality of BMW, yet they used the same "flawed" approach as what you bashed a US automaker for. The bottom line is that the BOTTOM LINE counts. For ANY manufacturer, US or Foreign, manufacturing cost is KING. If you can save $10 per car by using plastic radiators, and the reliability has shown to be good, then by all means do it. When you're manufaturing close to a million cars per year, that adds up to real money. I should also mention that the radiator in my old '90 Mustang took a dump, too. It was all metal. So did the one in my '86 CJ-7. That was all metal, too.

Not bashing Fords. I love 'em. My old '94 Ranger took a beating that would have killed lesser trucks. My '90 Mustang 5.0 still turned low 14 second runs at 165K on the clock with no mods other than mufflers. It quit because my ex decided it looked better in the center divider retaining wall. I drove my '73 Gran Torino wagon across the country, in July, with a blown water pump, and it made it. It went another 25K miles after that before it finally broke the timing chain at 185K miles.

So, can you say I hate fords, or foreign cars? No. I just hate to see the perpetuation of false information. Are Jap cars good? Yes indeed. Are US cars bad? No, not really. There are quality issues that affect both sides. In the mid to late 80's, US auto makers had serious quality issues that plagued them well into the 90's. By the mid 90's, most of those issues had been resolved. Let's not forget the king of horrible quality: Jaguar. Before Ford bought Jag, they had the absolute worst reliability of any vehicle on the road (with the exception maybe of Hyundai). It took a couple years, but Ford turned them around and made them one of the best Luxury vehicles on the road, on a par quality-wise with BMW and Mercedes.

ANY old car can be reliable with proper care and maintenance. And ANY new car can be killed quickly through poor maintenance and neglect. I have always preferred Ford over other makes (even though I really, really like my '01 Suburban), and that is what made me buy the Bronco. Not because I needed a tow rig for my Jeep. Not because I wanted an economical daily driver, and not because I needed a 4 wheeler. I bought it because I have always liked Big Broncos, and I finally got the opportunity to buy one. Will it have problems? Yes, of course. That's part of what you get when you buy a 14 year old vehicle. Will I blame the problems on Ford? Sheese. That's dumb.

 

Well put. Someone took the time to write it out.

 

I can see both sides of this debate and say for sure i have a 1985 4x4 with over 400000 miles on it and she keeps going (original engine). a 1992 bronco with 180000.Consumer reports has good info on new vehicles (older ones too). Seems for years they didnt have american vehicles in the check list cause of problems rather it be reliablity or crash results .Newer trucks are doing better and the reliablity is decent.More problems with some models than others ---they do the testing, buy the trucks and report there findings for us .Upkeep plays a role also but i do know reliability is reported from surveys send out> MY .02 cents TR

 

Exactly my point, as long as you take care of it and give it attention it will last as long as any other car out there!!

 

94bronco98 you need to say no more....any car will live foever with care.

 

It just really annoys me when I see people with brand new cars that don't take care of them, would you treat your child the same way?? A vehicle is living and has feelings too!! I see new Silverado's and new F-150's all day long just beat to hell.

 

If autos didn’t break then we would not need mechanics, tools, people’s opinions, or this forum. I like Fords so I joined a Ford web site. To me it is the principle of it all. I like to work on my Bronco in my shop on the weekends, and talk about the problems it has and what I am fixing this week on it, and talking about it on this forum. But then again I am just another redneck lol…….