Ford and General motors alliance/merger discussion.

[Alan L.]

Personally I believe they already have....... A large portion of the population(from what I have seen) is so taken with a blind alegience to Toyota/Honda(in particular) due to their reputation I mentioned earlier... These people also, will not even look at American made cars because of an ingrained perception that the quality is not there... In some cases it may not be, but overall if you wanted to look into it, you would find that the quality is much closer(or with American cars exceding in some cases) than you may want to believe.. And, so now because they will be making trucks here, they must be supporting our economy, right?? Hope you dont actually believe that....

I own a 2006 Honda Accord. Traded my GMC pickup. Other than perhaps being reliable (we'll find out I guess)., the Honda to me is a piece of crap compared to my GMC pickup. Uncomfortable, loud, the a/c is barely adequate, did I say "uncomfortable?". American cars are much more comfortable and better looking, but the reason I didn't buy and American car when I decided I needed better mileage, is resale. The resale on American cars sucks. You'd better like it, because you will have to own it a long time. I don't what the solution to that is, but there probably is something to the reliable issue, but I don't think the spread is as wide as some would have you believe. My GMs have been very reliable. My wife still has her '01 Yukon XL, still very comfortable and has never been to the shop for repairs, at over 100K miles.

 

[mudcat]

I'll take a Kings Ranch F-350 with a Duramax Diesel and an Allison tranny, please .

 

[George2615]

IMHO warranties and 30-40 MPG vehicles are also resulting in more foreign vehicle sales than big three sales. Upstate NY seems to be swamped with Hyundai and others foreign vehicle sales with 10yr. 100,000 mile warranties compared to 3 yr. 36,000 mi.. The big three seem to have realized this since they have recently upped their warranties but still not to 10/100,000. Although some of the big three cars are now in the 30 MPG range. This has also been a big year for hybrids but with more of them being sold the tax breaks will be going away in a few more years.

 

[IH3444]

Yes, Yes, Yes, after reading all this I'm still wondering how Toyota, and Honda enjoy such steller reputations. Having owned over 40 motorcycles, mostly Japanese, and mostly Hondas. This have given the Hondas a greater oppertunity for breakdowns, and failures. As of today the Hondas have never left me stranded on the highway, where as a Kawasaki has, and a Suzuki almost did. Where are all these consumer reports being generated that the Toyotas have a better repair, or lack there of needing repair than others. And on another note that the Japanese cars pas the emmission testing for a much longer ownership time without needing major service to pass. Dargo, on still another note my sister bought a Toyota Avalon also, and absolutely loved the car, she now has a Toyota Matrix, which has been trouble free. My much older 1980 Volkswagen diesel rabbit now has 458,000 miles on it, and has been one of the most trouble free cars I have ever owned. On the other hand the 1990 Passat has been one of the most trouble prone cars I have ever owned.In fact it's the only that ever left me stranded on the highway. When it's time to get rid of it, I'm planning on replacing it with a Toyota Matrix. Hope I git a good one, fur sure.

 

[Dargo]

Dargo, on still another note my sister bought a Toyota Avalon also, and absolutely loved the car, she now has a Toyota Matrix, which has been trouble free.

Yeah, yeah, just rub it in. I break down and buy two Toyota cars only because I hear how dependable they are and I get two freakin' lemons! Maybe now you can understand why I don't buy lottery tickets.

But, hey, I don't seem to be able to put the curse on Honda. Right now I own three of them and zero problems. There again, I also own a Chevrolet, Ford, two Dodges, a VW, and a Jeep. I can't really say that I've had any particular issues with any of them either. Uh, oh. Now I've done it; they'll all break tomorrow...

 

[IH3444]

It's all a bit of a crap shoot. One of my friends has a Dodge mid size pickup truck, with 150,000 miles. Regular maintanence, one converter replacement with exhaust system.That's it. Been a wonderful truck. Another friend has a Chevy 2500 4wd pickup with the Duromax. He hates it, mostly because he only gets about 17mpg. He thought he would get better mileage. He even said GM could have cut two cylinders off, made a turbo V6 diesel out of it, and it would still have enough power to pull his dual axle trailer with skidsteer he has. I've torn two Chevy pickups to the bare frame, and rebuilt both. GM is the king of engineering cheap, there in lies their genius.

 

[RobertN]

I'll take a Kings Ranch F-350 with a Duramax Diesel and an Allison tranny, please .

Nah... If it had a Cummins/Allison, then you'd have a truck

 

[HGM]

Personally, I have experienced none of what you guys describe, I must be one of the lucky ones that had a well built Toyota fall through the cracks.

So, I'm curious......... Where did you get that inference out of anything anyone said?? Toyota does make a good product, that cannot be denied.However, to say they are better than American vehicles(broadly stated) is just a false assumption and a large part of the reason the American automakers are in the possition they are today.. Toyota, or anyone for that matter, will have a bad product from time to time.. No company is immune to it..



OK, did you delete it while I was replying???

 

[kenmac]

I haven't understood why ford doesn't use the cummins engine in their trucks (seems to be the better bang for the buck) I thought I red that ford bought cummins ? Dargo, I understand you have something to do with the auto industry ( not sure what ) Why don't you buy ford & turn things around ?

 

[Dargo]

Why don't you buy ford & turn things around ?

Actually I own about as much Ford as I'm currently comfortable with. I seem to be a few bucks short to buy controlling interest though.