comparison question

I would like to impart the benefit of my experience. if I may. When I was still in retail we owned many dealerships. Twenty six on the east cost and sold both Mazda and Ford among them. Better make sure both vehicles are equipped the same. The Escape was always much less than the Mazda, at least here in the US, when similarly equipped. Another thing you should get before you decide is a TOTAL DELIVERED price, not just the selling price. The difference in finance terms and fees from dealer to dealer can be substantial, even when the selling price is the same. In other words how much does you check need to be for each deal, or what is the difference in the total of your payments over the term of the loan for each. If the dealer will only give you a selling price and not the total delivered price, walk away The Mazda warranty is 4/50, Ford is 3/36. Both vehicles are built on the same Ford assembly line, the ONLY difference in the two is cosmetic, nothing should be different in the way they perform

mike hunt

Shazam wrote:

Hmmm..... wonder why people keep buying Jap products.

Because their actual better quality of 15 years ago is still believed to be true. A friend of mine keeps buying used "imports" that are checked by his mechanic and are in "great shape" and then invariably he has to sink $1000 in them within 6 months. I buy American gvt surplus vehicles and drive them for 2 years and don't put that much in them, plus I pay half what he pays to buy them. Old myths die hard.

In 2001 I bought a 1992 Ford Tempo, with a V6 and 52K on the clock, for my one grandson when he turned sixteen. A year later the engine in one of his older sisters Carolla died with

98K on the clock so he gave her the Tempo with 61K on the clock. He wented a Civic. Personally I only buy cars made in the US by an American company and would not buy him the Civic. He bought himself a 1996 Covic with 78K on the clock. He paid $2,000 more than the current NADA retail. Today the Tempo is still running fine with 105K on the clock. The Civic has 110K on the clock. The only difference is the Tempo has never broken down and the Civic had the transmission replace for $3,000, at 89K and the half shafts were replaced shortly thereafter and now the head gasket is leaking. So much for superior Japanese quality it seems ;)

mike hunt

Asht>

thanks for the opinions. I used to have a 1992 Ford Festiva, and when I lost my job, my brother bought it from me...pretty much just took over the payments, and it's on it's last days, but my bro said that he wished he could get another one. When I had it, I enjoyed it...the fuel economy was awesome.

The guy that I mentioned about, the ex-service manager from the local Ford dealership said that he was disaapointed with the way domestic vehicles are made nowadays, and that's why he doesn't work at the dealership anymore....his concience got to him, and now will only drive imports....

Two possibilities... a) He got fired from the Ford dealership. b) The Suzuki dealership was desperate and made him a better offer.

Nice cover story though. It makes him sound noble and insightful.

Rodney

They are both American trucks.

Jeff

I have bought many cars and trucks in my years. Toyota has been the best. I last bought was a new 01 Dakota that still doesn't have the right oil dipstick and the dealer/factory couldn't figure it out so I just filed a make on the high side and low side, radio is shot, needed brakes,needs tires and a few other minor problems. It now has 33K miles on it.

Two days before I bought the Dakota, I bought my wife a new 01 Hyundai Sante Fe. To date I had to take it in for a "crank positioning sensor" replacement that took about an hour, that is all. It has 56K miles and still has the original tires and looks as if I may get another 15K out of them.

I read yesterday that Hyundai was picked as the "best bet" for overall safety, value, dependability and etc.

Hank

run away from ford

hurc ast

What would you buy? You tell him not to buy a Ford.... therefore, there is something that you feel he should buy instead...

of course within the same price range with the same options

Maybe one of those fine Canada-based auto manufacturers?

Rodney

Either that or he could not make the grade required to work on today sophisticated vehicles. A top notch ford tech today, with electronics experience, can easily earn in the six digits in some markets.

mike hunt

Rodney wrote:

pretty much every other car maker has a car that gives thought to repair

as well as warrenty i want a car that goes over 100000km before the engine fails tell me jim can u gurantee a ford will get 100,000 km out of any of there engines ?

yup like the 3.8 a accident waiting to happen and they still SOLD IT

how about a popped plug out of v8 or v10??

and there is no problem according to ford how many heads have you had to replace oh yea ford lmfao junk

hurc ast

As a warranty company, I would warranty any 3.0 Vulcan to 150K MILES +, I would never warranty a GM 2.8/3.1/3.4 or a 4.3 to Even 75K miles. The Vulcan V-6 is better than any GM V-6 in TBO / reliability perspective. A lot of it has to do with GM's use of DexCool, though, which is a disaster as far as we have seen. Don't even get me started on the D-C V-6's or the Saturn LS / Catera V-6. What a service headache.

It's too bad the Vulcan is being retired... but the Duratech is proving to be quite reliable too.

Rob

i worked for dodge for 3 years they have one of the better warrenties there trannys suck but they cover them they even coverd pistons and head gaskets in neons with hi milage the best part you throw the old parts in garbage u dont send them back just my experience

hurc ast

Can we assume you never heard of Toyotas problem with engine sludge or Hondas tranny failures? ;)

mike hunt

3, dog, snipped-for-privacy@swatch.com wrote:

lmfao u can assume that a honda will get at least 100k before the engine fails

hurc ast