But just wait till you hit that 2 1/2 to 3 year mark........My Explorer went to pieces and all the king's repair technicians couldn't get my poor humpty explorer back together again. After 3 years of nickeling and diming me to death I put the poor creature out of it's misery, and mine.
Lemon? No, all of my co-workers with Expl. experienced the same problems.
Amen to *that*. I know a lot of people the beat the hell out of their cars for three years before they even take a *wrench* to it, much less do any other kind of maintenance. Why don't I ever have problems with my cars?
I third that! My 99 Exploder needed a new GEM Module at 3,000 miles, new TRANSMISSION at 11,000 miles, and new 4X4 motor at 38,000 miles (among many other smqaller problems). Fords are garbage. Thank God for the extended warranty I bought (already paid for itself with the replaced 4X4 motor. I will keep this POS Exploder as a station car (back and forth to airport) and will be buying a new Toyota Sienna this month. My Accord and Corolla have been great compared to this POS. Love those Jap cars - Ford could learn a lesson in quality from those companies. Not that they ever will. I fear I will never see
100,000 miles with the Exploder so I need to baby it. Built more like a Schw>>No computer components were harmed during the creation of this post, however several billion electrons were abused to ensure its safe delivery.
"Blade" babbled...
Not alone in your own head, you mean...
My '98 Explorer has had one $500 problem in its 92k miles. My '94 Explorer cost me about $400 in its 78k miles. Your Accord cost more than that for its "scheduled maintenance" in 45k miles. The only Honda I owned had more problems in 50k miles than both my Explorers put together. The Jap myth exploded...
There are 6 Explorers in the parking lot at work (small company), and 5 of the 6 are REPEAT BUYERS. One of the guys bought his second one used with
80k miles on it, and it now has 160k on it, and he drives it everyday to work. Still looks and runs good. All the others are no better or worse than any other in the lot. Like any vehicle, it depends mostly on how the driver treats them.Like most, you don't have a clue, "blade"...
A hush fell over the crowd when, "Jack Goff" stepped up to the podium and announced:
having owned two Hondas (91 Prelude and a 97 Accord), as well as two new Explorers (91 Sport, 03 XLT), I had *more* maintenance problems with the Hondas than I did with either of the Explorers. Also, the replacement parts on the Hondas were *expensive* and twice as much to replace. My Prelude had a hole in the rear tail light assembly by an errant golf ball. The cost to replace a 3 foot section of plastic lens was $400!
The legendary reliability of Japanese cars is overblown. I know many people who, although are unwilling to admit it, have less frequent but more expensive repairs to their Japanese cars. IMHO, fit and finish of most American cars now rival most foreign cars...probably because there's no longer a clear line of demarcation between what is "foreign" and what isn't.
There isn't a single manufacturer out there that makes a perfect vehicle..not a single one. On USENET, the loudest voices try very hard to make *their* experience the norm for everyone else and usually the loudest voices are the ones that have had negative experiences with whatever product/service they're complaining about.
I'll third the Honda myth.
First, my cars are garaged and cared for like *babies*. I don't park near other cars. I change the oil every 3,000 miles, and wax them 4-5 times a year. They look like they're brand-new when I sell them, usually without even a scratch.
Here's a list of the cars I've owned, since my first non-college brand-new car:
1) 1986 Dodge Daytona, 2.5 4, 5-speed. Garnet Red Clearcoat Metallic.- A "power module" had to be replaced to cure flickering lights (26,000 miles). No other problems. Sold with 31,000 miles. Shouldn't have.
2) 1988 Honda Accord LXi, 2.0 4, 5-speed. Chianti Red Metallic. No clear coat (why?)...- Permanent water spots in paint (two months old), even after the first wax with Nu Finish. A reply from a letter to Honda instructed me to "Make sure [you] remove all excess water from body parts after any rain." Um, HUH? Is this 1943? That letter alone told me everything I needed to know about Honda.
- Left from door lamp wouldn't work (4,000 miles). The connector hadn't been connected at the factory.
- Right rear door needed alignment to allow it to close properly (4,000 miles).
- Headlamp "doors" needed alignment to stop them from scraping the edges of the hood (4,000 miles).
- Brakes pulsing; front rotors replaced (10,000 miles).
- Right headlamp burned out (10,000 miles).
- Left headlamp burned out (11,000 miles).
- Fully-rusted catalyst heat shield fell off (18,000 miles).
- Brakes pulsing again; front rotors replaced (18,000 miles).
- Enigne wouldn't warm up; bad thermostat (20,000 miles).
- Gas mileage became worse; bad PCV valve (24,000 miles).
- Rear-wheel rubber wheel-opening liners (press-fitted u-shaped rubber with spring steel inside) rusted and fell off (24,000 miles).
- A/C evaporator core blew out all of its freon from a rusted-through hole (25,000 miles)
- Brakes pulsing again; front rotors replaced (28,000 miles).
- Second gear became hard to engage (30,000 miles).
- Rotate-to-open headlamps stopped rotating-to-open (30,000 miles). Arrrggg. Nice corroded connector...
- Left headlamp burned out (31,000 miles).
- Right headlamp burned out (31,000 miles). This is when I learned to replace them in pairs, although I've never needed to replace headlamps since...
- Brakes pulsing again; front rotors replaced (36,000 miles). Other problems:
- The brakes were a joke. The front wheels were always *covered* in brake dust, even after being washed only days earlier.
- A rattle from the instrument panel never went away.
- Moonroof sun shield always rattled, *thunked* whenever anyone got into the car, and fell out of its tracks half the time when moved. I ended up removing it.
- Engine idle speed was far too low. Turning on any electrical accessories caused the alternator to almost bring the engine to its knees.
- Several parts rusted that I've never seen rust on any other car---trunk arms, several undercarriage parts, underhood screws holding the fenders, ...need I go on?
- Power antenna needed a regular shot of teflon lubricant to keep it from locking up.
- Hood release required 10,000 foot-pounds of torque to open the hood.
*Gladly* sold with 42,000 miles. Whoever owns it now is probably sinking their life savings into it, if it's even *running* anymore.3) 1993 Dodge Daytona ES, 3.0 V6, 5-speed. Emerald Green Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems. Zero. Sadly sold with 43,000 miles---one great car. The service manager at TransitTowne Dodge still owns it. Damn...
4) 1997 Dodge Stratus ES, 2.5 V6, AutoStick. Deep Amethyst Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems. Zero. Lease ended with 23,800 miles. I considered buying it, but I wanted an SUV.5) 1997 Ford Ranger XLT SuperCab, 2.3 4, 5-speed. Medium Blue Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems. Lease ended with 21,000 miles. I considered buying this too, but I have a friend that gave me an X-plan deal on a '99 Explorer (next).
6) 1999 Ford Explorer XLT, 4.0 SOHC V6, automatic (5-speed). Tropic Green Metallic Clearcoat.- Dealer replaced all five Firestones with Uniroyal TigerPaws at 18,000 miles.
- Dealer replaced the turn signal lever. No other problems. Lease ended with 37,500 miles. Almost bought this one, too, but another X-plan deal later, ...
7) 2002 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer, 4.0 SOHC V6, automatic (5-speed). Toreador Red Metallic Clearcoat. Zero problems to date. Zero.None of this is untrue.
Try checking the resale value of the Ford againstg the Japanese imports. Why are the Japanese trucks ALWAYS such a higher resale value? Because they hold their value since they are BETTER QUALITY. Or do you think people pay a premium for them because they are poorer quality? Most Ford, GM, etc. are disposable and never even in the top 10 list. Check it yourself. Clueless, I think not. Ford is NOWHERE ON THE LIST!!!!!
Show me your facts pal!
No computer components were harmed during the creation of this post, however several billion electrons were abused to ensure its safe delivery.
Oops. Ford did make this Top 10 List (Top 10 SUVs With the Worst Residual Value). Figures:
No computer components were harmed during the creation of this post, however several billion electrons were abused to ensure its safe delivery.
A hush fell over the crowd when, Blade stepped up to the podium and announced:
Predicting residual value is pure conjecture based on geographical historical sales data. I quit leasing cars when I found that the "estimated residual value" was so far off that I'd have to pay literally *thousands* out of pocket just to have even equity in financing.
I challenge you to find anyone who leased a car that found the remaining residual value of the car actually matched what the market value was. The residual value is almost always higher than market.
How odd that the very reference site you refer to also has this:
No, higher resale value is determined by a lot of things, and quality is only one of them.
*Perceived* quality is much more influencial in resale value than actual quality.Most higher resale vehicles have that higher resale value because there are more buyers for them. WHY there are more buyers is much more complicated than just quality. The sheer numbers of many vehicle lines on the used market will depress values, too.
Disposable? When does our '92 Sport pass its 'junk by' date?
You really need to understand resale values a lot better before you start this crap.
PLEASE don't feed the TROLL.
PLEASE don't feed the TROLL
Good point. He's already spanked himself raw under the name "Herb Tarlek".
Dono. I have an '86 Mustang with 172k, the wife's Escort was a great reliable car, and my old '87 Escort was reliable as well. But, I think most of Ford's late 90s-00's problems was Jac Nasser....
Try keeping a car for more than 40k. That may help.
92 Explorer...300,000 miles on org.engine. Third gearbox, you do the math. Only minor problems..as for shift motor..Ford don't make'em! !
1) That's my personal preference. If you don't think so, that's your personal preference. Most open-minded people see the difference. 2) The Honda would have drained my life savings if I had. Read the post again. 3) Did you read the parts about "zero problems" with my other cars? I guess not... 4) Honda parts cost twice as much as parts for Ford and Chrysler. 5) Read the post again.
True, but with the rest, he never kept them long enough to show their "true colors"
During the late '80s, early '90's, ALL car companies had paint issues. Ever see some vintage Ford/GM/Chrysler paints from that time? Just as bad.
True, but you can't say how reliable a car is until it has many miles on it. Most cars today will make it out of the warranty period relatively trouble free. It's how they hold up after 75k, 100k, 200k, etc. that shows how durable they are. I know Ford can make them durable, I have an '86 Mustang 2.3 with 172k that has been pretty reliable (considering it was my first car and I've personally put 120k+ on it). Also had my Mom's hand-me down Escort that I drove to over 100k no problems (got it w/almost 80k). As well as Mom's Sable that has something like 80k with few problems. It's just that my Explorer is a POS.
And all that was covered under warranty (should have been). Sure there's no excuse for some of it, but if I told you about all the warranty work on my Explorer you'd say the same about it.
The wife's Escort had been trouble free @ 49k. My '97 Cobra was trouble free as well (traded it because we needed the room) @ 49k. Your point? Keep 'em long enough and you'll really see what's durable.
True. Although Ford is catching up.
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