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Consumer Reports tips hat to Ford


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I linked over to the complete list. I saw Freestyle AWD(?) there and a Fusion ZX5 S. I believe that is a Focus they are talking about.

 

Now for the number of models, does that mean only Ford/Mercury/Lincoln? I saw Mazda and Volvo there as well.

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I linked over to the complete list. I saw Freestyle AWD(?) there and a Fusion ZX5 S. I believe that is a Focus they are talking about.

 

Now for the number of models, does that mean only Ford/Mercury/Lincoln? I saw Mazda and Volvo there as well.

 

 

For the Record -

 

Ford: Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, Crown Victoria and Freestyle all were recommended by CR.

Mercury: Milan, Montego, Grand Marquis

Lincoln: Zephyr, Town Car

Mazda: MX-5, 3, 5, 6

Volvo: S40, S60

 

So much for all Ford cars sucking.

 

CR has some interesting ways of counting vehicles - they may have numerous entries under one nameplate.

Edited by Surgen
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For the Record -

 

Ford: Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, Crown Victoria and Freestyle all were recommended by CR.

Mercury: Milan, Montego, Grand Marquis

Lincoln: Zephyr, Town Car

Mazda: MX-5, 3, 5, 6

Volvo: S40, S60

 

So much for all Ford cars sucking.

 

CR has some interesting ways of counting vehicles - they may have numerous entries under one nameplate.

I think it has to do with the way they judge the cars. You may have issues with a Fusion w/ a I4 and 5 spd manual but not so much as a Fusion w/ V6 and 6 spd auto. Even comparing a 3 dr Focus HB and the 5 dr HB for example. It seems strange yet appears thorough.

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I thought they were biased...

 

I knew someone was going to say that. I wonder what would have been said if it were Toyota and Honda at the top and Ford at the bottom? HMMM.

 

BTW, making a decision based on what one publication has to say is stupid especially based on the testing that CR uses.That said once you take the other quality awards that certain Ford nameplates have racked up over the past few years, and you start to notice a trend.

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"The quality at Ford Motor Co. today is as good as any import. ... I would like to invite consumers to test drive a Ford. They walked away from us before, but it's really time for people to come back and give it a try."

 

Hmmm... Sounds like time to say: Have you driven a Ford lately?

 

Just a personal speculation, I think that the Five Hundred may be a better car if you come to it from an Accord or Camry, than from an Explorer, Taurus, 300C, or Impala. It may be that the right customer has never sat in the car. Perhaps if you expectation for performance is a three year old, four cylinder Camry. This car might be pretty quick, and the interior space would bowl you over. Coming from an Explorer, you would be less impressed.

 

How do you get those Camry drivers into a Ford showroom, and then into a Five Hundred, with out the dealers scaring them away?

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These recommendations are based on owner reported reliability, not "predicted reliability". I have found CR's subscriber surveys to be a pretty solid predictor of potential problems.

 

I wouldn't quibble too much with these recommendations.

 

However, I have no end of issues with their inhouse testing, and their inhouse predictions of future reliability, which displays a top down arrogance exemplified by David Champion's dismay that the lowest quality assembly plant in the U.S. was a Nissan plant in Mississippi.

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I went car shopping with my father-in-law last week and I'll tell you how to cross that hurdle.

 

The Chevy and Ford dealers looked the exact same as they didn in 1960. The Mazda, Toyota, and Honda dealers looked new, exciting and very upscale. Of all of em, the Mazda dealer was by far the best.

 

Get the dealers up to snuff. The Fusion isn't gonna sell dick if it's sitting in sthe same boring, dirty carpet, popcorn machine dealership that the Escort sat in 25 years ago (with the same fast talking dude trying to move product that was there WITH the Escort).

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Yeah, go to a Ford dealer and it usually some overweight, smelly, polyester clad fart with a bad comb over going "you buyin today?" Or some 37 y/o former "Mr HS Popularity" wearing tons of hair gel, who the dealer old timers think is 'a young hip guy'.

 

My local Ford Store still has 1972 wood panelling, and fat guys standing around.

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