Re: Ford Fusion reverse gear

The only thing I'm failing at is responding to a premier 'too much time on his hands' kinda troll. Firstly, prove me wrong about Toyota owners taking care of their cars more thoroughly compared to most other makes' owners, then explain how your contention, (though not strictly true) "any car will easily run to 250,000 miles if given the proper preventive maintenance" refutes my last post, and finally explain how the makes/models I've mentioned in the past as being more trouble prone RE: major expenditures is flawed. How many transmission overhauls are acceptable within the first 100k miles, Ford and Chrysler? LOL

You must live in a dream land. I owned several Ford that have never had a transmission problem and we serviced several thousands of Ford fleet vehicles that were run too 300,000 miles, or more, and never had a tranny problem.

How many miles can one expect from one of the thousands of Toyotas with the "Gelling Problem," as Toyota refers to their engines that sludge up, like the ones we had to replace?

Latest was a younger lady here in town whom I have known for years. She had one of the new Beetles, and was happy with it for a couple of years. Then, for the last year or two, it has been in the shop every couple of months, and the repairs were not cheap.

I suspect this is an unusual situation, or VW wouldnt have the popularity it has. She got rid of the thing and bought a Lincoln.

Some of my friends in Germany have had lots of problems with their electrical systems, while others of us have had none.

I think all cars are a little more complicated than they really should be.

The worst I have is a Reatta. Electronics were designed and built by Satan himself. I may junk it.

Some people start off with poor maintenance. And never improve.

I have to agree on the 'any car will make it to 250k' bit. Proper maintenance may very well include a transaxle overhaul, or an engine overhaul, or both, to get to 250,000 miles.. It really depends on the particular make and model you are trying to get to 250,000 miles.

Chrysler/Ford/VW automatic transmissions/transaxles....total crap. All of them, in my opinion. There is just no way in hell any of those slushboxes would ever make it 250,000 miles without SOME kind of repair. Then again, I'd like to see any automatic, even a Toyota, go that far without having a failure. On a standard gearbox, such a feat wouldn't be all that impressive, but only because there are far fewer points of failure, and far fewer gaskets/o-rings/AXOD beer-can aluminum forward pistons(are you listening, Ford?), and so on to break/ leak.

You almost sound like you expect a Toyota to go to 250,000 miles with the hood welded shut, which will never ever happen. Any car, I don't care who makes it, requires the owner open the hood once a week, take a peek around, and make sure nothing is amiss. Anyone not willing or able to do that is destined to buy a new car every 5-6 years or get sacked with a big repair bill when something major craps out because something minor was ignored. Then again, that's just how Detroit wants things.

The problem I see is that as a car ages, things begin to break. Common sense, right? When one thing breaks, many people will just ignore the problem and keep driving. Second thing breaks...same thing. 10 broken things later and a permanently on "Check Engine" light, the owner says to himself "Self, this car is a piece of shit. I need a new one because it would cost me about $2000 to fix all the stuff wrong with this one". So they buy a new car and get on with their life, thinking that somehow, that new car is cheaper than their old ride.

It isn't. But trying to explain that $2000 today is less than $400 a month for the next 5 years to most people just gets you a 'deer in the headlights' stare and a "That guy is crazy for driving a 15 year old car...." comment as you walk away.

Bottom line, everyone can get to hell their own way, but I'm driving myself there in either my super beetle(unknown miles but still runs fine thanks to proper maintenace) or my Kia, 112,000 and going strong, with proper maintenance. Or maybe the Miata, or maybe the 1988 pickup. All are paid for, and all run fine. I'll never buy a brand new car ever again. Don't get me wrong, it was nice; I'd even go so far as to call it amazing the one time I did buy a brand new car right off the lot. But I'll never do it again; a brand new car is the worst investment a person can make in my opinion.

John Muir was right when he proposed the forever car concept. Buy a car and keep it -forever-. Google it if you don't believe me.

Chris

Dear 'too much time',

about 1,000,000 miles. Thank you for your interest in the durability of superior Toyota engines. LOL

Wasn't that car 'hand destroyed' instead of assembly built? Does yours have the touch screen interface (inoperative, no doubt)?

I agree 100% on the rust issue. I am in the Phoenix area, so corrosion is largely a non-issue for us here.

Rust is a lot like cancer. Sure, you can cover it up, paint over it and such, but in the end it is still there eating away at the foundation.

Chris

Yes, mine has the screen interface...Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. It can be "fixed" by taking it out and cleaning, replacing certain parts...But it will only stay "fixed" a few years.

It was hand built, has a number of computers intended to impress, no doubt, some little old bluehaired ladies, etc.

It is nice to drive, when it runs.

This and the Allante were not GM's better thought out projects. I thought that with time I could re-engineer, repair, this nice looking little coupe. It is a heart breaker.

You certainly are entitled to your person opinion, no matter how convoluted it may be.

Apparently thousands of us previous owners did not agree with your personal opinion or we would have purchased anther Toyota model.

I suggest you take a look at all of the Toyotas one will see in the used car lots of non-Toyota dealership. If Toyotas were as good as you would have others believe, why have so many of us traded ours on other brands?

I purchased seven Toyotas and six Lexus' in my time till I finally realized they were no better or worse than other brands I have owned, just more expensive to buy and maintain. Since I switched to domestic brands I have saved thousand of dollar on the purchase price and hundred of dollars on maintenance costs.

ELEVEN cars? Holy crap man.

I have never once purchased a domestic car. I watched my folks go through the "American car" routine by way of a Chevy citation and two Ford Tauruses. Every one of them was a complete piece of crap. Actually, crap isn't the best word for it but there might be kids listening.....

Now since you proclaim your loyalty to buying domestic brands.....you'll have to tell me...what do you consider to be a domestic car? A Toyota that is built in Kentucky, a KIA built in Georgia, or a Chevy made in Canada, or a Dodge made in Mexico?

Best,

Chris

Please be prepared for the "Ya' right. LOL" response that signifies Mike as one of the premier debaters on usenet.

To me a domestic vehicle is one that is built in north America by and American Corporation, using mostly parts and MATERIALS purchased from American corporations.

A non-domestic vehicle IMO is one that is either imported or merely assembled in north American by a foreign corporation that primarily uses parts and MATERIALS that are either imported or supplied by other foreign corporations, rather than north American parts and MATERIALS purchase from American corporations, like those vehicles you mention.

Particularly onerous are those sold in the US by Japanese corporations who take all of the profits, earned on what they sell in the US, back to Japan US federal Corporate tax free.

ELEVEN cars? Holy crap man.

I have never once purchased a domestic car. I watched my folks go through the "American car" routine by way of a Chevy citation and two Ford Tauruses. Every one of them was a complete piece of crap. Actually, crap isn't the best word for it but there might be kids listening.....

Now since you proclaim your loyalty to buying domestic brands.....you'll have to tell me...what do you consider to be a domestic car? A Toyota that is built in Kentucky, a KIA built in Georgia, or a Chevy made in Canada, or a Dodge made in Mexico?

Best,

Chris

Good lucking finding a car that meets your criteria. Name one. I dare you. Hint: It isn't one of the cars you own now.

Are you serious? You need to go re-read the window sticker on your multitude of cars.

You know what the real problem is here? It isn't the fact that you didn't even bother to read my original post(read it again, you didn't have 11 cars, you had 13....). It's obvious that basic math escapes you.

GM, Ford, and Chrysler are marketing cars that they want to sell. Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, and the rest of the imports are marketing cars that people want to BUY. There's a big distinction there; you can draw the line of differentiation between the companies begging for a bailout, on on my dime I might add, versus the companies that are selling cars without that flaming socialist ass hat Obama giving my money to them.

You can take your opinion and shove it, guy. You're so full of it your eyes are brown. Wake up and smell the coffee, your domestic car is anything but.....

Best,

Chris

So that was a trick? I was thinking that *you* had math difficulties :-)

Mike makes many claims that are hard to believe, but I'm sure they are all true.

Indeed it was. Further, the Kia plant in Georgia isn't even open yet. The guy doesn't read or comprehend before responding, he just throws out his view as being the almighty correct one without bothering to get the facts straight.

No arguments on that here.

Best,

Chris

A '54 Hudson would fit the bill.

--scott

I own a 1941 Continental convertible, 1963 1/2 Mustang GT convertible, 1972 Ford LTD Brougham convertible, 1971 Pinto and a 1983 Continental Mark VI Signature Sedan, as well as a 2009 Mustang GT convertible and a 2010 Lincoln MKZ. The MKZ was made in Mexico ;)

Very interesting Mike...How much would you take for that 63 1/2 Mustang? Must be very, very rare as production on the Mustang did not start until March of 1964. Hmmmm!!!

DaveD