if you think that explorers have bad trannys then you should do some more reading and look at the honda oddisy 99-04. just about everyone of those have failed. i put atleast one a week in now. before there were 2 a day.

 

lmao i dont think there quite ther yet

 

...but I was never in the market for an Odyssey, although I did look at Explorers for a while.

Honda did increase the warranty for the bad Odyssey transmissions to 7 years/100k miles, I do recall, whereas Ford did nothing on the Explorer.

But finally, as I believe I said before in this thread, pointing to Honda or Toyota problems does NOTHING to make any Ford vehicle any better. Ford needs to work on their own to improve their quality on every vehicle they sell to clearly establish a quality reputation in the marketplace. And I'll be cheering for them all the way....

 

Internet research is very biased IMO. Many people only go the internet to tell about their problems, or ask if anyone else has had similar problems. People don't often go on forums or websites and post about how great their cars are.

The two taurus's i've been in felt cheap, and didn't run all that great, and almost every mechanic friend I know says they are garbage, disposable cars, run em for 3 years then throw them out and get another

 

Every machanic friend I know says that the 3.0L Vulcan Taurus will last forever as long as the the trans is maintained. And for their time, they were actually solid feeling, rattle free cars. The 96+ Tauri were far superior to their GM and Chrysler counterparts in those respects.

And I've seen plenty with over 200,000 miles on them. The Duratec powered cars seem more problematic though, mainly because it overpowered the transaxle.

The Taurus is certainly disposable when compared to something like an F150 or Crown Vic though.

 

They dont get the credit they deserve for the taurus, because they had the tempo's and topaz's around the same time frame that were exactly opposite

I chose to buy a honda economy car over a ford economy car for a few reasons that yogeorge said in post 7 when comparing the sable and the acura.

My choosing to buy a honda car over a ford was also due to problems I have seen alot of my friends and relatives have with the focus line up of cars too. A few years back my one buddy had a 01 or an 02 focus and he couldnt keep that thing going on the road. It stranded him with problems all over the place, so he finaly sold it and bought a brand new ranger.

I dont think the first 90 days of owning a vehicle means much either. Give it 5 years and I will change my opinion about the quality of fords smaller econo cars. Right now theres no reason to believe that they can go the distance.

 

My brother has and 1994 Explorer with 120K plus never had the first problem with the tranny

 

My concern was with the 5 speed 5R55W transmission (the one without the dipstick) used in 2002-2005 Explorers--which was the range of model years I was considering.

Ford uses a LOT of different automatics (including two different Japanese 5-speed autos--one by Aisin and one by Jatco) in their cars. The 5R55W is, I think, made in France(?)

The CVT in the Freestyle also made me nervous--I considered one of those, but the CVT apparently needs "clean room" rebuild methods, is very expensive, and is now a discontinued orphan.

The newer cars, starting with the Edge, are using a joint Ford/GM developed 6 speed auto...they may work OK, but the more speeds a trans has, the more the repair/rebuild cost is going to be.

Hard to keep track of the players without a scorecard (or a ton of them for every year and every vehicle).

George

 

Usually not much is changed in an automatic to add more gears. 5 and 6 speed autos allow over drive to be placed on top of 1st and 2nd as well as 3rd gear, so not that much is changed internally. I'd imagine is the 7 and 8 speed autos that cost a lot to rebuild.

CVTs don't thrill me that much, since its essentially a belt transmitting all the power, and most auto manufactures have had horrible results with them

 

That CVT was designed and built in Japan, as was the other 500 and Freestyle autobox by Asin. Ford now is building their own tranny for the Taurus once again. No problems. So, for the Asian cars huggers. Get a life, the Asian assembley process isn't perfect either.

 

The CVT was a ZF of Germany design and was theoretically built in Batavia, Ohio, although a lot of parts presumably came over from Germany. The older 6-speed was a Japanese Aisin made trans, and the new 6-speed is a Ford/GM joint venture design.

I would say that it's much too early to tell if there will be long-term trouble with the new 6-speed. Let's see how they do when a bunch of cars hit 50-70k miles.

I have no idea why people bring up Japanese car issues when we're discussing Ford's quality, which is its own issue. MIJ cars are nowhere near perfect, but in general, they have had fewer long-term problems than *some* Ford vehicles. I live in Detroit and want Ford to do well. And there are some confusing and counfounding origins of Ford cars. The Mazda6 is made about 40 miles from my house in Flat Rock, Michigan. The Ford Focus, Mercury Milan, and Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ are made in Mexico. Which ones are imports?

George

 

The Focus has been made in Wayne, MI for some time now. "Some" were made in Mexico but that changed thanks to the Fusion.

 

I have no idea why people bring up Japanese car issues when we're discussing Ford's quality, which is its own issue. MIJ cars are nowhere near perfect, but in general, they have had fewer long-term problems than *some* Ford vehicles.

George[/quote]e

Hope this dosen't come across as to harsh, it's not meant to.

Well when the discussion is placed in the "Ford vs The Competition" section people are generally going to bring up other makes of vehicles, that's the whole meaning of the title of this section.

Unless people just want to pretend that Ford is the save all of the automotive world and has no competition. Personaly I enjoy hearing about the good and bad of the various makes, helps to expand my knowledge base

 

...and being in the Detroit area, that made me feel pretty good. It was a real fun car (for my lovely bride of one year, now 22 years...) with a gutsy motor and a 5-speed trans. She'd been driving sticks all her life, but never got the "rev it to the redline" thing before that...

There were some quality issues with the Escort--but I'd say that the newer Focuses are much improved (but I'm REALLY bummed they killed the wagon and BOTH hatchback versions--3 and 5-door, because I need a car that'll carry a bicycle inside).

I think virtually all the new Focuses (Foci?) I've ever seen in Detroit area dealers have been from Wayne.

Still feel conflicted about the locally-built Mazda6 vs the imported Fusion et al....

George

 

[/quote]

Hope this dosen't come across as to harsh, it's not meant to.

Well when the discussion is placed in the "Ford vs The Competition" section people are generally going to bring up other makes of vehicles, that's the whole meaning of the title of this section.

Unless people just want to pretend that Ford is the save all of the automotive world and has no competition. Personaly I enjoy hearing about the good and bad of the various makes, helps to expand my knowledge base[/quote]



Not harsh at all, and you are right that legitimate issues that some other makers have is not a bad thing to discuss here....but a post that glorifies some Toyota recall regarding a bolt on child restraints or something will hardly affect Toyota's real world reputation, and gloating about something like that ain't gonna help Ford in the slightest.

Given the marketplace today, and the goodwill that Ford has lost with some of its current and former owners by selling them cars that do have issues, is going to very simply take Ford improving its own quality, both after 90 days and after 5 and 10 years with a car. The "Import Huggers", which is obviously intended to be a derogatory term (from a "Ford Hugger"...) are loyal to import brands because in most cases, they have had excellent reliability and resale from the imports they've bought. Compare the resale on a '98 Contour or Taurus with that of a '98 Honda Accord...

If Ford is going to survive and succeed, it had better REALLY get on the ball with small vehicles--the Focus is a fine car, but is ancient compared to the new gen Honda Civic. The Fiesta needs to get here REALLY quick to compete with the Honda Fit, the Escape is doing just fine against its import rivals, but could really use the new 6-speed auto trans that it gets for 2009 ASAP--and that transmission would do well to have zero issues.

The big trucks that are Ford's cash cows will simply not sell in the kind of volume that they have had, ever again....and I can't see too many folks buying an '09 F150 for top dollar when they can get a slightly used '08 still under warranty for half the price of the new one....especially the people who really USE trucks and don't care about all the shiny new "content" crap that doesn't make much of a difference in a real truck used as a truck. The people who need the shiny new grille are the impulse buyers who have bought trucks to "wear" like hip outdoor gear, and if they don't absolutely need a truck, they're gonna go small and economical next time around.

I'm rooting for Ford all the way...
George