Ever gotten a vehicle that everybody scoffed was crap, because of common problems and such, only to be fortunate to not be affected?
I’m curious because I have a lot of concerns about my Ford Focus. I went on an auto forum to see people’s comments about them, and most were negative, due to all the mechanical problems people have had. However, there was a minority of people there who commented that their Focus ran fine and they loved it. The people who had complaints bought theirs brand new. I bought mine with 45k miles and a clean carfax report. I’m starting to think perhaps the (individual) car I got is fine, and was one of the lucky few without problems.
Am I just freaking myself out by all these people who have a bone to pick with Ford? Anybody else have similar experiences/anxieties?
I bought a brand-new Geo Tracker in 1990. Everyone kept telling me it was crap, and easy to roll, and I’d burn out the clutch (it was my first manual transmission vehicle) in a year.
I drove it myself for ten years, and then the last three years we had it my SO used it as his winter commuter car. It started every single day (even in the minus zero winters we get up here), and the only things we got replaced on it was the thermostat, tires, battery, muffler and the soft top. Something else was replaced under a recall, but I can’t remember what it was.
That car paid for itself many times over. It was cheap and reliable.
And…I drove a Ford Focus for a couple of weeks in Ireland, I liked it. Plenty of room in the trunk for luggage. The only thing I didn’t like is that it could have had more power…the engine seemed kinda weak when passing. That was a problem with the Tracker I mentioned above, too. But not a huge problem.
My Chevy Blazer beat the odds. I’m getting a little teary just thinking about that car…
Blazers are not known for thier reliablity. At all. Mine was a 1995 4door automatic. I sold it in 2001. It had 163,000 miles on it. Things I fixed on the car:
The muffler. Once.
The gas pump.
Brakes.
That’s it. And, for some odd reason, it got about 27 to 30 mpg, which is much higher than it should have been. I really miss that car (insert sobbing smiley here).
I had a Yugo… the muffler was wired on, the antana was gone, the inside door handles didn’t work any more, the window knobs were broken so you only had the smallest bit to roll the window down to open the door… but that baby could do 90mph on the interstate and no cop would even notice b/c who’da thunk it, right?
Let me fill you in on a ‘standard internet behavior’: All the pessimists like to gather there and talk LOUDLY about their problems.
.1% of the people with problems make it sound like a good car has never ever been built.
There’s also a level of expectation. We ‘do’ corvettes. They’re loud, fast, cool, and problematic. They’re the vechicle that GM ‘experiments’ with and sometimes they don’t get stuff 100% right the first time. If you expect it’ll be that way, you’re not surprised. But you get a LOT of complaints that a $50,000 car should have any problems. (usually with ‘my honda never had a problem’ in the same sentence.)
The difference is: They test 20 Corvettes for a run of 30,000 a year. They test 300 Hondas for a run of 350,000 a year. If they have a problem in the first 30,000 cars. They fix it before you ever see one in the US.
The ex had a Ford Fiesta. I refused to maintain it and only put oil in it when it ran dry. Still got about 156K miles out of it before selling it for a couple hundred bucks.
I’ve heard a lot of bad things about the Focus but if it’s already got 45k miles then its probably going to lead a happy life. My aunt had one, leased it brand new and a month later the engine was knocking. I’m not sure whether it was the car that was a lemon or my aunts ability to destroy them that was the main cause.
My 1996 Chevy Blazer, bought with 62k miles, was a real nice car, very comfortable. Had the LT package so it was as comfortable as a cadillac and could go anywhere. 15 months after buying it I’m driving the down road and smell smoke. Pull over and the engine was on fire. It was totaled. I will never live it down. My dad kept saying, “See I told you, GM JUNKO, should have bought a Toyota.”
Now have a 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada that I bought about three months ago. After having a vehicle identical to it I really hope it turns out to be more reliable and less of a “blazer” than my Blazer was. Not just for my sake but to prove to certain family members that GM can still make good, reliable, safe cars.
About the Focus: the German quality control agency TÜV awarded the Focus with the 2002 award for Best Reliability in the 1 to 3 year old category. The Focus even beat the Toyotas and Hondas. I’d say it’s not a bad car at all! Of course, there may be quality differences between the European built ones and the American built ones, but I don’t expect them to be that dramatic.
My story:I had an AMC (anybody remember that crap brand?) Concord. It was just un updated hornet. The car could not be killed! It had a 1940’s design straight six engine. The car was so simple that you could fix it with bubble gum and string. I traded it when the car was 7 years old…and got a call years later from another dealer-he bought the car and put another 80,000 miles on it! Of course, it was a pretty primative vehicle-which was why it was so reliable-nothing fancy to break!
So “everyone” says old Audi’s are crap. They break down, are expensive to maintain, accelerate on their own and kill people - there’s so much bad press out there. Anyway, I have '90 sedan as a snow car that will soon be sold since I don’t need it anymore. It’s got 212k miles on it, and runs and handles better than some new cars I’ve driven in… I don’t really know if I’m the exception, or if the few that had major problems were just blown way out of proportion (probably the more likely of the two).
My first car was a '62 Chevrolet Corvair (Unsafe at Any Speed, chapter one). It ate a generator every 500 miles or so, but never turned into a spinning dervish of flaming death while I had it.