Goodbye :-(

Hope you like the Ford. I use to drive a bunch of them when younger. Post back and let us know how you feel about the Ford.

What year/model and how far are you from Mass?

Looking for parts...

Hey, "not a problem".

Glad we were of help.

As far as Ford goes, I had an '88 Bronco II that made it to the 318K mark (but with one engine and 2 auto trans rebuilds). If I hadn't loaned it to my kid, I'd probably still have it.

I'm also one of those folks who tends to drive 'um till they drop...

I think you'll be reasonably happy with the Escape. "We" have a bunch of them at work, and the fleets manager has said they've been decent. Some of them have hit 90K already with no major problems.

But.. I've driven them. They are OK, but they do have a fair amount of "seat pucker" factor when you "throw them around". Even though the Outback is not supposed to be a great handler because of height, I can get quite enthusiastic with my

2000 OB Limited and not find any real faults with the handling.

Come back when you decide Soobies are the better idea (or you find a better dealer).

yeah, my wife's Outback will carve fairly tightly but after some serious body roll settle in.

I think Ford's engineering is good, just depends on the execution. Have had a lot of disappointments in reliability of American-made cars. But GM and Chrysler were worse than Ford overall. Just anecdotal I know.

Overall Consumer Reports had Ford ahead of Chrysler and GM but the American cars were at the bottom. Think Subaru was number 2, a point or two off the leader which may have been Honda. My last American car, back in the 80's was a Mercury Lynx that turned out to be a real lemon and I had to sue Ford and the dealer to get it fixed properly. I believe the car was assembled in Mexico.

About as far away as you can get without kissing the ocean. Colorado.

Overall Consumer Reports had Ford ahead of Chrysler and GM but the American cars were at the bottom. Think Subaru was number 2, a point or two off the leader which may have been Honda. My last American car, back in the 80's was a Mercury Lynx that turned out to be a real lemon and I had to sue Ford and the dealer to get it fixed properly. I believe the car was assembled in Mexico.

My neighbor has a 2003 Escape and they love it. Bought it new and no problems except the paint is falling off one fender. As I said, I've had two Outbacks for quite awhile, and as much as I love them I was very impressed with the Escape.

Overall Consumer Reports had Ford ahead of Chrysler and GM but the American cars were at the bottom. Think Subaru was number 2, a point or two off the leader which may have been Honda. My last American car, back in the 80's was a Mercury Lynx that turned out to be a real lemon and I had to sue Ford and the dealer to get it fixed properly. I believe the car was assembled in Mexico.

PS. My last American car was a new '67 Old 442. Verrrrry Cooooool!

de quoted text -

I've actually been fairly impressed with Ford the last few years. I have neighbor that bought a new taurus in 02, and last I talked to him he already had 125k on it with no problems at all. Not one. A coworker of mine has an escape. I'm not sure the year, but it is the first generation, and when I rode in it a few months ago he had 160k plus miles on it. He has had to replace the rear differential on it after going off roading and smashing it on a hard landing. It still worked, but was leaking fluid from a crack. He loves that thing. I was a little surprised at how small it was though. It compares more to a forester than an outback.

Too bad you don't still have the Olds. It woudl be worth a fortune now. I had a friend who had a '70 442 convertible with the 455. I had a 71 Lemans with a heavily modified 350, and he'd blow me away. That was back in the mid nineties when the faster stock Camaros and Mustangs were playing with about 300 to 325 horses. That Olds had no trouble disposing of them in style. That was the only car I've ever been in that made you feel as though the front wheels were actually off the ground when it launched. He had it appraised back in 1996 at

23k, which would probably be a steal nowadays for a numbers matching stock example.

Yeah, that's far.

I'm so close I can dig my own clams and catch my own lobsters...

My last care before I switched to Subarus was a '95 Ford Probe. I believe that every driver should own a Ford. Once. So they know. Some learn slowly, so they buy more than one Ford.

David

I don't know about oceans in Colorado... Denver is as far from the Pacific as the Mississippi River is from the Atlanic. One tends to think of the Mississippi as being in the middle of the country and Denver as 'way out West, but it ain't so.

Sorry to hear the OB finally bit the dust. Don't scrap the car; put it on craigslist. Someone will scoop it up and stuff another motor in it. I'd be interested myself, but the tax man is taking a larger than usual bite this year :-P It was a '98 car? Probably worth ~$1500 assuming everything else is OK.

One of my students bought an Escape last year; he likes it a lot.

Pitkin County get any snow out of those last couple storms? We've probably seen close to two feet in Palmer Lake over the last week or so.

C'm'on springtime.

ByeBye! S. Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Depends where you're standing when you're looking

I've had it with the snow. Enough already, and yeah, we got dumped on the last two storms.

Anyway, I've had a few days to see what the Escape is like. I like it. It's more of an SUV, but it handles quite well and the V6 is quite peppy. Runs uphill with a lot less effort than the Subie, and my last mileage check was over 20 mpg. That's around town and up and down the valley. If I drove it more "gently" I'm sure I could do better. As for space, it has plenty of room up front, and the back seats are way roomier than the Subie. With that I'd say the cargo area is a bit smaller than the Outback, at least depth and width. I'm sure the cargo area is higher.

With so many cars in this category I'm not sure I'd say this is the best, but I feel I got a "fair" deal and I like the dealer a lot and I like the looks of the car, even better than the latest model. Looks a little more masculine. I also don't like the looks of the new Outback either. They're all starting to look alike.

After swearing I would never get another American car I inherited an '88 Grand Marquis that I kept just to tow my camper. I ended up loving that car which gave me another 100K mile (on top of the 60 it had when I got it) before being rear-ended by a tractor trailer, and having to junk it. I'd probably still have it if it hadn't met a bad end.

Jon

I'm just the opposite. I'd rather have a capable wagon.

BTW, how much did you get for the Soob?

I gave it away. I probably should have sold it on Craig's List, but I just wanted it gone. I have two cars and I only have room for two cars.

I hear ya. I'm loving this car. I'm starting to personalize it and it's fun having a car you can buy all kinds of junk for. :-)