mgazak
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Posts posted by mgazak
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I stopped at the dealership today to ask some questions about my continued use of their facilities.....seems that the deal was precipitated by Ford Motor Company themselves....Carbone wanted the Lincoln and Mercury franchises bad....They were out-bid for Cater Lincoln / Mercury in Yorkville by the newly acquired Ford dealership in nearby New York Mills as Steet-Ponte was building their automotive group. So, Carbone turns and buys the Rome Ford L/M dealership that was also foundering due to hap-hazard ownership after Sid Stockholm retires. They were prevented to move Lincolns and Mercurys to their Utica site due to the proximity of Steet-Ponte Ford L/M, so instead, they poured millions into the renovation of the Rome site, making it into the new model for Ford and Lincoln / Mercury......
Then Ford shutters the Mercury brand which turns Carbone Ford Lincoln / Mercury in Rome NY into Rome Ford / LINCOLN......then Ford decides that there are too many Lincoln dealerships in the area and pressures Carbone Auto Group to relinquish Lincoln as the brand is remodeled and re-invented, leaving only Steet-Ponte with the Lincoln marque....they just completed all the requisite upgrades to their showroom and make all the necessary changes to accommodate "The New Lincoln" and thereby pushes Carbones Lincoln site off the map in Rome.....Carbone makes a business decision to consolidate their Ford showrooms into one large Ford Dealership and Rome NY loses the Ford store after it being here for decades......
A sad day indeed....my next car will be a Lincoln....but, for personal reasons, I will not buy it at Steet-Ponte due to their inept handling of a prior deal when my girlfriend bought her last Escape there....we vowed then to never deal with them again, the whole process was rough and the only reason why we didn't walk away from the deal was that it was already financed and all the checks were already cut....first trip after delivery was to the auto parts store up the street for a replacement lic plate frame and tossing their frame in the trash...
Interesting read twintornados. I've always dealt with Don's Ford where my parents and I have bought numerous cars from Jim Marino since 1991. Still as you said, a sad day. I'm not too fond of Steet-Ponte either.
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I was surprised to see this as well and would've thought they'd at least keep selling Ford from that site. Those who live in Rome will now need to travel to either Utica or Oneida to purchase a Ford product. Or more likely shop the GM or Chrysler dealerships still in Rome.
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I've had these blades for over a year now on my Freestyle and they continue to perform well in all kinds of weather including ice and snow.
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My wife has an 07 Edge AWD that has had the PTU leak. The first time it was repaired was a little over a year ago and the second time was just a couple months ago after the leak had re-appeared. It seems to be okay now and the dealer has only tried replacing the seal. The PTU unit is still the original. Other than this issue, the Edge has been great. Considering the 07 Edge was an all new model with an all new drive train (D35, 6F and AWD unit), I can't complain. Mine is also a pretty early build (January 2007). I'd be interested to know the build date of mazda626's Taurus. There certainly were teething problems with this new AWD unit, but it appears mainly to be with the 07's and maybe the early 08's. I just compared TrueDelta's ratings and Consumer Reports' ratings for models with this unit. The 07 Edge and Fusion AWD models show a high rate of Drive System repairs. The 08 Edge, Fusion, Taurus and Taurus X all show very low rate of repair for the Drive System. Granted the 08's are newer, but the 07's started having these issues relatively early on so I think it is a fair comparison. Overall, all these models are rated average or above for reliability and are recommended.
So... mazda626, hang in there. Hopefully you have a good dealer who knows what they are doing and can fix this correctly. Good luck and keep us posted.
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My wife's 07 Edge has close to 14,000 miles on it (we don't drive much). We had the PTU seal repaired last February and it has been fine since. No other issues either. Overall it has been a very reliable car.
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The 04 Explorer my wife and I had had the same tires. By the time we turned it in at the end of the lease with 38,000 miles, the tread was low. Before the dealer sold it on their used lot, they put a brand new set of tires on it. So I would agree they are not the greatest tires.
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I had a 99 Mystique for 2 and a half years (traded it with just over 100K miles) and that car never let me down. My sister on the otherhand had a 98 Contour V6 that constantly seem to have problems. It seemed to be hit or miss with the Contour/Mystique.
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I have seen this issue elsewhere on Explorer forums. Apparently this was an issue with some 02 Explorers... it is caused by a cold solder joint on instrument cluster. If you pull the cluster and resolder the bad joint, it should solve the problem.
Here's a link to a thread I found on this issue:Odomerter display lights intermittently
Hope this helps.
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The Explorer was the best-selling SUV from its inception through 2004. It lost the crown for one year to the Trailblazer in 2005 (family plan firesales no doubt). It was the top seller in 2006 and then 2007, the fugly CRV overtook it in sales. The Explorer still outsells all other traditional BOF SUVs, though. The fact it stayed on top all those years, regardless of being in the top 10 tells you the market was changing during this time. Otherwise it would have been passed in sales way before now. The Explorer has done very good but the market for BOF SUVs is really starting to sink as crossovers takeover. So many previous Explorer owners have gone to crossovers such as my wife (Edge) and my dad (Freestyle). Not to mention there are so many more choices on the market that no one SUV will ever top 400,000 sales again as the Explorer has done.
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Ford's quality has continued to improve in recent years (as shown in all the recent surveys). The problem is there are still troublesome models out there from not that long ago. Remember the gen 3 Explorer (2002-2005) was introduced in early 2001, during their low point quality-wise, IMO. That's why vehicles such as the gen 3 Explorer seems to be plagued by more issues than others models. It is unfortunate but as long as Ford continues to improve going forward, and provide proper support with permanent fixes to these troublesome models, they should be able to rise above this. Past issues such as the 3.8 Liter head-gaskets someone mentioned can play out for a long time. It will be interesting to see the effect on Toyota down the road with their recent slip in quality (transmissions, numerous Tundra issues, etc.).
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I saw these all over while on my honeymoon in Mexico three years ago. I really liked them, a nice entry SUV/CUV.
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My dad has an 05 Freestyle SEL AWD... he absolutely loves it! He's told me it handles as good or better than Subarus he's had in the past plus is way bigger and is overall the best vehicle he's ever owned. I've driven it many times and love it as well. No one else seems to have packaged a crossover this well and I agree that Ford needs to advertise it. Hopefully Farley sees what we see and starts marketing it.
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I decided to signup for the survey. Between my wife and I, we have an 03 Taurus and 07 Edge. It seems the Edge in particular will be helpful for your results. We have about 6,600 miles so far and no issues. It has only been in once for an oil change. We are very happy with it and hope to provide some helpful info for other potential buyers.
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We have a Edge with AWD and it is great in the snow. This is the first winter that we've had it and so far I'm impressed. This is after having a 92, 98 and 04 Explorers over the past nine year. We get quite a bit of snow here in Central New York (including the storm this weekend) and will always have one AWD/4WD vehicle in the household. The tranfer of power is seemless and it feels very stable. It normally operates in FWD but sends powers to any combination of the 4 wheels when slipage is detected. Although this is Ford's own AWD system built in the US, the technology is based on the Haldex system (used in Volvos). I'm sure you'll be pleased as well. Good luck!
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I have driven both vehicles as my father has an 05 Freestyle SEL AWD and my wife has a 07 Edge SEL AWD. Both are great vehicles and it comes downs to being a matter of taste.
Freestyle:
-Tons of room, I can't believe how much stuff can be hauled inside with the seats folded, there's more room than in an Explorer though a slightly lower roofline
-Excellent AWD (my parents live on a hill) in our snowy upstate NY winters
-Decent performace, excellent fuel economy (avg. 20 city, 25 hwy)
-Comfotable 3rd row that real people can fit in
Edge:
-Great powertrain
-Excellent space for front and rear passengers (cargo area suffers, not bad but coming from an Explorer it is tight)
-Vista Roof is a must-have option
-I find myself constantly admiring the great styling of this car
-Haven't had it through a winter yet but I expect the AWD to be just as good as the Freestyle enough though it is a different system (this is Ford's vs. the Freestyle's Haldex system)
-Advance Trac with RSC
-Fuel mileage appears to avg 17 city and 25 hwy
Both have top-notch safety ratings and good reliability. My recommendation is to test drive both and pick which ever you prefer. Now is clearance time for the 07's so you may be able to get a good deal. The 08 Taurus X is out already and seems to have built on the Freestyle's strengths so you may also want to consider that. Good luck!
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I have been playing an MP3 disc in our Edge for awhile now with no problems. There are 6 folders on this disc to separate out the individual albums. One folder contains tracks that were ripped from a CD while the others contains recorded tracks that were transfered from some cassettes. I remember reading in the owner's manual that you can only have so many levels of folders (can't remember exact number). Although I have six folders, it is only one level in the directory structure. I would consult your owners manual. Also, make sure all the files are MP3, not WMA or any other format. Good luck and enjoy your new car. We love our Edge!
How many Fords , or Ford trucks have you owned?
in Welcome!
Posted
My first vehicle was a 1992 Explorer Eddie Bauer 4x4. After 3 years, I traded it for a 1998 Explorer Sport 4x4. That got totaled in January of 04 so I leased a new Explorer XLT 4x4. I got engaged later that year and my fiancé’s Neon blew its engine so I gave the Explorer to her and bought my Uncle’s 1989 Crown Victoria. I had that for six months but the maintenance on a 15 year old car plus driving it in the winter was killing me. From there, I had:
1999 Mercury Mystique GS
2003 Ford Taurus SES
2005 Ford Freestyle SEL AWD (loved this car)
2014 Ford Flex SEL AWD (current car)
My wife proceeded to have after the Explorer:
2007 Ford Edge SEL AWD
2006 Mercury Monterey
2014 Ford Expedition EL XLT 4x4 (current car)
I also have a 2010 Mustang I drive during the summer. Love my Fords!