I’m not really a “car guy.” I like them enough, but at the end of the day they are just transportation to me. Growing up, a lot of people I knew were staunch proponents of Ford, Chevy or Dodge (mainly trucks, but cars too.) I could never really get a good answer as to why, other than “(one of them) sucks!” So, Dopers, if you fall into one of these camps, do you have a reason? Does NASCAR play into it at all?
For the purpose of this thread, I’m not looking to hear opinions on other makers who may or may not be better than these three. Just want to hear from the fans of the Big Three.
The first car I owned was a Chevy Vega, which was not the best car Chevy ever made, but my father was a Ford guy and I didn’t want to be like him, and everyone said that Dodge/Chrysler made junk, so I guess I’m a Chevy guy, except I haven’t bought one since my Vega died a horrible death. For 40 years now I’ve been a Toyota/Mazda guy, and never had a problem with any one of them.
Same with my dad. But he always had good, reliable Fords, and a local dealer/mechanic who took good care of his customers. So I am a Ford guy; although I’ve owned a lot of other makes over the years, I currently am driving a Ford Edge. And I’ve had great luck with it.
I’m a “Ford guy” because we had Fords growing up (an F-100 and a Pinto) and my first car was a Ford (the Pinto). As an adult, I got 280K miles out of an Explorer. I have never owned a Dodge or Chevy. That said, I prefer old VWs or late model Japanese cars.
I prefer GM products. I can understand them. I used to work on my former wife’s Ford truck but I do not understand Ford engineering. Why would you put that there? I think Ford engineers hate mechanics because a lot of it doen’t make any sense. It is all built with a “take it to the shop” mindset. Give me an LS GM engine and I am right at home.
I’ve owned one Ford in my history of owning cars, and it was a complete piece of shit. My motto is “never again”. Even though I’m sure Ford has changed a lot in all the intervening years, it’s a matter of principle.
I absolutely loved my Chevrolet Caprice. For various reasons it was the only Chevy I’ve owned, but I was really in love with that car because of its comfortable amenities and above-average reliability.
I’ve owned two Dodge Caravans, mainly because at the time I needed the capacity. They were great workhorses and did what I needed them to do and more. I would rate their reliability as only about average.
My last car was a Chrysler Sebring, technically not a Dodge but of the same family. I was very happy with that car and it was unquestionably of above-average reliability.
Today my answer to “Ford vs Chevrolet vs Dodge” is “none of the above”. Now it’s Toyota Camry. I hope and expect it to live up to the Toyota reputation for reliability. My only small complaints are some of the design decisions Toyota made, like putting the cruise control functions on a stalk and putting radio/stereo control buttons on the steering wheel.
The conventional wisdom was that Ford was ruled by bean-counters and engineers were consistently overruled. For all I know that my still be true today – corporate culture is slow to change.
When I was growing up, my beloved Uncle Don worked on the line at Chrysler, and had done since he came back from World War II. Worked there his whole career, and retired with a nice pension, back in the days when you could still do that. As a result, we always bought Chryslers or Dodges.
Since I’ve been an adult, Chrysler’s reputation in general has gone way down, and I haven’t owned one in at least 15 years. Currently my wife and I both drive GM cars. She has a Buick, I have a Chevy. They’ve served us well so far.
Example: the passenger headlight on the Younger Ottlet’s Fusion. Replacing it involved removing an access plate in the wheel well and pulling the socket out through the hole; the only problem was that the wiring was too short and the hole too small to a) maneuver the socket out with the bulb attached, or b) remove the bulb before pulling the socket. Lengthening the wire would have cost maybe an extra $.05 per vehicle, but I imagine some bean counter nixed the idea.
As for me, I come from a family of Chrysler (preferably Dodge) owners. According to family lore this stems from the time when my paternal grandfather, who owned a feed & fuel business, transitioned from horses to trucks. He bought several Model T’s, and at the same time bought a Dodge touring car for family use. After the third or fourth time he had to send the car out to rescue one of the trucks that had broken down he swore a mighty oath that he would never own anything other than a Dodge, and as far as I know he never did. (It should be noted that all this took place while the Dodge brothers still ran their company, before they died and it was sold to Walter Chrysler.)
My current car — probably the last one I’ll ever own — is a 2011 Dodge Caliber that I bought new. Perhaps the third most reliable vehicle I’ve had, after a 1997 Mazda and a 1965 Rambler.
My family was all over the map and never really loyal to any particular car maker. When I was a wee lad my parents had a Chevy Vega and a Toyota Corolla. The Vega got replaced by a new Chrysler minivan, which got replaced by another Chrysler minivan. Meanwhile the Toyota got replaced by an Acura, which got replaced by a Ford Focus. Now that they’re retired they’ve got another Focus and a Honda Civic.
When I turned 16 my parents got me a secondhand Buick. Then they got me a Saturn to replace it when I was in college and the Buick started developing problems. Oh, they bought my sister a Saturn, too.
So of cars my parents purchased (For both themselves and their kids):
GM: 4
Chrysler: 2
Ford: 2
Other: 3
I’ve personally never purchased a car from one of the Big 3. All two of the cars I’ve purchased on my own were Japanese makes.
I grew up in Dearborn, in the shadow of the Henry Ford II World Headquarters. Everyone around me was Ford. In the ensuing years I’ve strayed three times: senior year of high school I got a used Chevy Celebrity. I loved it. Second time was when my wife and I got a Dodge Caravan. Piece of crap. Third time was when we got my wife a used Chevy Traverse. Another piece of crap.
We currently drive a F150 Lightning and a Lincoln MKC, and we’ll probably never stray again.
My father wouldn’t buy a Ford due to Henry Ford’s antisemitic leanings.
Later on, my father-in-law “gifted” us with two utter pieces of junk: a Ford Maverick whose floorboards rusted out to the point where all you could smell while driving was gasoline, and an LTD which got approximately 3 miles to the gallon.
To be fair, I also owned a Dodge Dart which was another piece of junk. Many Darts and Valiants were good cars, but this was a '74, and they hadn’t yet figured out how to make the emissions controls work properly.
(Anyone who has owned a '74 Dart is well acquainted with the term “ballast resistor.”)
I’ve had three Fords. All of them were great to drive but mechanically junk. I’ve had a Chrysler and a Dodge. They were even worse junk. I’ve had three GM products. Maybe they weren’t as great a ride as the Fords, but they also never had a transmission fail at 24,000 miles, a head gasket blow, rust, hobgoblin electrical problems, peeling body paint and various other Ford problems.
My first car was a 1976 Dodge Dart, (I “inherited” it from my mother after getting into a minor wreck with it two weeks after getting my license. ) I don’t recall anything particularly good or bad about it. It was fairly non-descript and bland.
I have never owned a Ford or a Chevy. I drive a Buick now and am very happy with it.
I owned a 79 Chevy Impala (my first car) and later a Saturn SW2, and currently a Chevy Equinox EV, in between there was a Honda and a few Subarus. My wife now drives a Ford Escape hybrid, and we share driving of them.
If I had to pick one of the big 3 it would be GM since I’ve owned more of them. Growing up we had a Chevy, Olds, Chrysler, Plymouth, and eventually a Toyota. While I’m kind of a car guy, I really have no allegiance to any brand. The one I identified with most were the Subarus.
When I was young, Fords were considered low-class and junky. My first car was a Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, loaded, I LOVED that car. I had a series of Chevys, the Vega, the Citation, another one I can’t remember (my father loved cars and picked them out for me every couple of years - I made the payments, of course). After I got married, we each had Chevy Blazers for many years, until Mr. Salinqmind reluctantly got a Subaru. He fell head over heels in love, and we (daughter included) lived happily ever after with our own Subarus. Mine is really old now, but has low mileage, and it’s perfect for me now to just tool around town in a couple times a week.
My dad worked at Ford for 40 years so we were and are a Ford family. Of all the Fords we’ve bought new - Aerostar, many Tauruses, 500 and several Escapes, none of them have been a problem and we’ve driven them for 10+ years. Only my 1998 Escort was a problem, I think it only lasted 7 years until the transmission died.
Even tho my dad started in 1969, he wasn’t able to get a new car until the 1984 Taurus. Before that he took whatever car my grandpa was done with, or whatever he could get his hands on for cheap. The first 5 years of my life were pretty harrowing with mom driving us around in beaters. Having a new car was revolutionary!
I never felt that strongly one way or another, but my Father was very definitely a Chevy man. I don’t really know why, other than he said that FORD stood for Fuckers Only Run Downhill. Hard to argue with that logic… He also had an acronym for Pontiac, but I won’t repeat that one here (or anywhere).
Definitely Chevy/GM from the first car I bought. I’ve owned a couple Fords, but I just didn’t like the design (interior or exterior). I’ve had everything from a Vega to pick-ups to Blazers. But it’s been all Toyotas and Hondas for many years now.
BTW, I am THAT guy who had a great experience with my 1975 Vega. Bought it used for $2K, drove it problem-free for nearly 80K miles, and then sold it for $1K. Add to that the fact that it was astonishingly good in the snow in Chicago (with a 3-speed and snow tires).
My dad was a Ford man, the way people were back in the (19) 60’s so the first car I ever owned was a Ford Pinto. The next 12 were all Japanese makes. My dad too come to think of it.
) I don’t recall anything particularly good or bad about it. It was fairly non-descript and bland.