tcap for now

Sorry for the late reply. I have been on vacation. It was all covered under the extended warranty, which I renewed so i am covered until may 2014. If I didn't have the extended warranty I would have replaced the truck The rear end is not limited slip, and they replaced both gears and the fluid. It had a very noticable whine at 60mph.

A few of my favorites.

While waiting for my windshield to be replaced, I was thinking about some of the work the truck has had done. It has 80,000 miles on it and I have had it for 7 years and one month. new blower fan the first month 500 miles new rear end gears about 25,000 miles new front brakes at 25,000 miles new transfer case about 45,000 miles new drive shaft same time as transfer case new cam phazers about 60,000 miles. Still sounds like a diesel new right axle seal about 65,000 miles new rear brakes at 65,000 miles new right fron hub about 70,000 miles new left axle seal about 70,000 miles new tires at about 75,000 miles. Hard to believe the generals lasted that long. still had a little tread left, but not enough. new idler pulleys about 75,000 miles New plugs at 75,000 miles. none broke. new windshield at 80,000 miles But the part that struck me as funny is the fact that every light bulb on the truck is original. Never had one burn out. And I still love the truck. .

i think it will depend on the economy and fuel prices. we have a focus wagon that is our family car for a family of 5. its small at times, but saves on gas and is cheaper to maintain than a suv. a minivan would be nice but uses more fuel and costs a lot more to buy. it almost time to replace it and currently ford does not have a replacement. id like a taurus-x but it costs a lot more than a focus. with the economy the way it is we dont want that big of a loan. we will likely wait to see if a new small wagon comes. if there is not one or word of one in the next year or so we may look for a slightly used focus wagon.

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i had a 78 fairmont futura with a 200 six auto. i got it for 150 bucks because it was unlucky enough to be hit in the front and shoved into a truck in the back. new lights held in with bailing wire and she was good to go but the grille was gone and the trunk had to be tied shut. it had 160k on it and barely went 50 miles an hour and took forever to get there. as bad as that car was i was worse. all i did was put gas in her for almost 3 years. all i did with the oil was noticed that it stopped leaking after about 3 months. then one day the tranny went out and it was time to say good bye. i loved that car. then i got an 85 marquis with a 3.8 that i did the proper maintenance on yet drove the hell out of it. i think i thought it was a mustang with rear seats. oh wait it was lol. got that one with 60k on it and drove it till 180k when the electrical went to hell. then i sold the engine and transmission to a friend for her 86 cougar which i later bought. i really want my 85 marquis back i loved that car.

now dont everyone get upset just give an opinion. i hear a lot of import bashing lately so i thought id ask the question how do you feel about it. one i got a kick out of yesterday was a guy with a ford fusion upset because he saw a buy american made sticker on a nissan frontier. for those who dont know the nissan frontier is made in tennessee the fusion is made in mexico. and nissan recently has had a lot of commercials making it clear they are made in the united states. some imports made in the usa in uaw plants by uaw members. most toyota tacomas and some corollas mazda b-series, tribute, and mazda 6 mitsubishi eclipse, galant and endeavor if these vehicles dont sell then those union jobs may go away. and bashing them to all your friends and family will not help sell them. other imports made in the united states in non union plants still employ a lot of americans. if those jobs go away will that help our economy? i myself buy uaw made in american plants. when i shop i look for american made. i buy union made when i can. i feel its important to support american jobs. but i cant fault someone buying a foreign car made in this country especially one made in a uaw plant.

i started reading this thread a little whila ago and read the whole thing. i though fiesta is a stupid name. i likes escort better and could not think of a name on my own. verve is just plain stupid and sounds lame. after following a few links i looked up pics of the last few fiestas from around the globe. the name fits the car pretty well. the only name that i can think of that might (only might) have been better is the flex which is already taken for the vehicle that should have been named the fairlane.

i think the grill should be the same height as the headlights and the center dash looks cluttered. also square fog lights would have fit the design better like the 04 and 05. and why wont they put the sat radio antenna in the middle? other than that i like the flat floor in the back seat, and the gauge layout. i think i like my 2004 xl better.

i thought it was more like 80% tpt and 40% of that number were re-hires

everyone who came back as a temp had to sign a letter saying they would be temporary employees for 2 years. since a majority came back in jan the 2 years will have passed before the plant closes. any word on what happens after 2 years? my understanding would be that by march 2009 a majority would have the 2 years plus 90 days in as temps. would they be considered full time by the time the plant closes? and would that influence fords timing on closing the plant?

gen saves the comany. its just in a different way. when plants are reviewed for the coveted efficiency ratings they look at active employees on the rolls to determine how lean they are. awards are given based on how lean a plant it. every plant seems to be trying to win. by having an employee in gen they do not affect the number of people paid to produce a vehicle. and this seems important to all companies. yes ford still pays if you are in gen, but their books look good which is better for the stock price and keeps a trained employee ready to work. ford has used gen to thier benefit as much as employees. sometimes it seems ford will do anything to win an efficiency award. changes are coming. thats almost a given. but the changes must be fair. and in my opinion to know what fair, you need to have knowledge of both sides. as well as knowledge of the past. both sides have made mistakes in the past. reducing an autoworkers compansation will not make a vehicle more desirable to the public. making a vehicle that has high quality and good styling will attract customers. and i know right away someone will say thats toyota. toyotas quality is percieved not actual. their recall numbers continue to climb. ford needs to invest in its self not in executives pockets. if they had been doing that since the 90s when sales and profits were at an all time high they would not be in trouble. which by the way, autoworkers saw little in the way of raises and benefit increases during this time unlike those at the top of the ladder who got ungodly rich. and few even knew autoworkers existed let alone care what they made.

millions of people every year wouldnt have to find a new job and start over if they had a union to improve their working conditions and make sure safety and discrimination laws are followed. if they had a voice to speak for them they wouldnt have to worry about getting fired or shunned for speaking up. yes people might still leave for more money, but millions more would be happy with their current jobs. there are arent so many jobs to go in general. industry is leaving this counrty at an unbelievable rate. in the 70s and 80s a hell of a lot more people went to work after high school. and that was considered normal. there were decent jobs that did not require a degree. here we are in the year 2007. all of those jobs are leaving. leaving more poeple than jobs for positions that do not require a degree much less jobs with similar pay. and in most cases the moves were not to benefit consumers it was to increase corporate profits. especially in the automotive industry. fords problems are not due to autoworkers pay and benefits. the out of control medial fees are only a portion of their costs. here are a few of the root problems as i see them and are no fault of autoworkers or their pay. leaving the subcompact car market as oil prices were rising. not investing in fuel efficient engines for the focus and ranger. atually both base engines were hurt looking for more power. even with optional engines. choosing to leave models unchanged for too long. as in the ranger, taurus, explorer, windstar/freestsar, econoline, and even the f-series. buying other companies that took investment dollars away from ford. for example jaguar and land rover. being completely blind to the fact that rising fuel costs would eventually affect the market and start a trend towards efficient cars again. even after truck sales slipped after 9/11 ford still has not invested in compact cars and trucks. 6 years later no changes. and none on the horizon. paying management bonuses for having one of the worst years ever. allowing problems with dealers to get out of hand and waiting way to long to start correcting it. basically ignoring trends and not having a plan for the future. ford especailly seems to wait to see what the market does and tries to respond. only comig up with new cars takes longer than current trends last. its as though ford is trying to copy waht others find success in. only the other companies are finding success because they did something different and did it first. also executive pay at toyota and the other imports is nowhere near what they get at ford. combine that with less executives, and that makes up a huge part of the difference. plus toyota was working on fuel economy while ford was looking for every bit of power they could get. toyota pays their hourly and salaried people less across the board. and have less management. they aslo charge a lot more per vehicle than ford. one thing to give toyota credit about, instead of making mangement richer, they put more money into research and development of their vehicles.

now this is just my opinion and im sure ill take a lot of hell for it but here goes. the non union plants offer compensation based on union wages to try to keep the unions out. the good pay and benefits are what brings their employees to work. they make less an hour because they are non union. but they also have some benefits uaw members dont get. i dont know if they still do, but toyota used to have daycare facilities in plant and a fraction of what it would cost in a center. while only those with kids would benefit it would be worth several dollars an hour. the non union companies are competing with the union. if a ceo can get a salary like that because the market says he is worth it then why should all employees ask for what they think they are worth?. if there were no uaw. then car companies would do like everyone else. move to china or thailand. or fill plants with immigrant workers. the benchmark should be what is negotiated fairly between a company and employees. union or not. the jobs bank was also a negotiated benefit that was partially to help keep jobs in this country. and offer security to line employees. it does sound a little rediculous until you factor in that most ceo's like nassar are given millions in severance pay even when fired. and they made mistakes that cost billions. a line worker on the jobs bank did his job and his plant closed. its essentially severance pay. i bet that 15 years worth of jobs bank was a bargain compared to that. uaw benefits are negotaiated with the comanies and the companies agree. the uaw knows if the they fail they have nobody to represent. if ford was hurting for cash and showing it then maybe i would feel different. if the top brass were paid based on the work they do and were taking deep cuts and reducing benefits i might say we need to help. but all i see is anything we give up, jobs bank, medical or pay is not going to benefit the company as a whole. its only going to go to the top. if ford needs to cut costs why did mangement get a bonus for one of fords worst years ever? its obvious there is enough cash to go around why take a cut. i will say when things were good at ford and truck profits were through the roof, how much of that cash flow went into planning for the future and keeping models current? and how much went into ceo's pockets. they screwe and got paid for it, then they got paid to leave. if you were working for a company, and the owner told you he needed to reduce your salary to help the comany survive because profits are low, and then showed up to work with a 150,000 dollar car and started talking about the new 1 million dollar house he was buying. how would you feel? then a moth later said he needed to reduce your medical because another person would do it for less. how would you feel?

you mention a lot about an autoworkers compensation. i bet every employee one factory makes the same as one exec at the top. and there is likely more than one exec for every factory. so if the company can afford to pay those salaries why not give autoworkers the compensation they get? do you think the ceo is worth almost half a billion dollars? why dont you care what the top brass make? there really is not another industry that is almost the same as a vehicle assembly plant. there is assembly line work but its usually not dealing with the same weight of parts or the same line speed. a friend of mine works on an assembly line making cement trucks. there is parts the are heavier than i can imagine. but they build less in a day than an autoworker builds in an hour. he also gets a lot more in compensation. another friend works for medtronic. her line speed is twice that of an assembly plant. she makes half what an autoworker does. and im sure profits are higher on medical devices. its not that the uaw will strike if we dont get more. its about keeping whats already there. id like to see wages and medical left alone. i might be more inclined to think different if there were major cuts from the top down. but i cant say id be willing to take a cut so ford, mulally, and fields can ad another million to their anual salaries.