You do realize that both Motorcraft products are simply lowest-bidder contracts to Ford, right? One year it may be made by Texaco, and the next it’s made by Castrol.
Same for the filters- they may be Purolator made now, but that doesn’t mean that they may not move to Champion Labs or Fram in the future.
It is stuff like this that keeps me so confused when it comes to which products to choose and use. Does anyone know of some master list that tells you what is actually made by whom?
As far as brand name items, I stick with brand name plastic wrap and tin foils. Sometimes the generics are fine, but sometimes they are next to useless and I have just given up trying to experiment.
Have you considered stocking up when the good dog food is on sale? Then you and your dogs can all dine in style. 
At one pont I read on the internet that Motorcraft filters were one of the good brands and Fram were junk. I can’t invest that much energy in monitoring oil filter contracts. I’ve had good luck in my Ford sticking with Motorcraft. Rational or not.
If Texaco produces oil (or Fram, filters) under the Motorcraft name it has to meet Ford specs, right?
Sure, but pretty much all the domestic American car manufacturers require API rated oil (SN is the latest spec), and you’d be hard pressed to find non-API rated oil at your local parts store or Wal-Mart. The only things that aren’t API SL, SM or SN these days are junky brands like “Ring Seal” or the other no-name brands sold at gas stations and quicky marts. Even Wal-Mart’s Supertech house brand meets SM (and SN these days).
Things are starting to get a little strange with GM’s DEXOS specs, but Ford and Chrysler still just require API SM or SN, and that’s usually all that Motorcraft, AC Delco or Mopar oil is. It’s usually run-of-the-mill SM or SN rated oil that’s usually at best on par with the name-brands like Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol, Havoline, etc…
You can’t really go wrong with filters, despite what some of the internet OCD types seem to think. They’ll all adequately filter your oil, and they’ll all last the recommended interval.
That being said, Motorcraft is a good brand, and are in fact Purolator filters. I buy them for my Dodge truck because they’re cheaper than the equivalent Wal-Mart brand filter.
What I recall was a long message board thread (not here) about oil filters with lotsa links to technical pages etc. If I recall correctly it boiled down to some filters “bypassing” under some circumstances, that is allowing unfiltered oil and possibly previously trapped contaminants to enter the engine. This was about the time I bought my Ford truck in 2001 so I’m sure things could have changed since. At the time Motorcraft was a non-bypassing filter and that’s what Ford recommended so it was good enough for me. At that time Frams were bypassing and some components were suspect. Again, that was a long time ago and I haven’t bothered to keep up. I’ve now got 160,000 miles on the truck and no oil usage between changes so I’ll stick with what’s working.
toilet paper
laundry products
dish detergent (for handwashing and the machine)
macaroni and cheese
I read the title as meaning things for which there are generic/storebrand vs. proprietary brand-name versions so vehicles sold under specific carmaker badges would not come under that unless they were “twins”.
Me: Razor cartridges; Tires
Bar soap – I only like Zest or Irish Spring, not Ivory (like washing with a lump or wax) or Dove or various other brands my wife sometimes gets.
Toilet paper and cat food.
Oh, cat food, yeah. My cats are very picky, plus if I try to feed them the cheap stuff, the litter box stinks to high heavens!
Scott’s toilet paper
Hellman’s mayo
Miracle Whip
Kraft Mac & cheese
Cereal - I have lots of favorites but all are name brand
Dog food
Cat food
Cranberry sauce - ocean spray
Salad dressings
Sugar
Vanilla
Cake mix
I guess I’m pickier than I thought.
Q-tips, and American Q-tips at that. The foreign ones are as bad as the off-brands.
Ecover dishwasher pellets
Smucker’s seedless raspberry jelly, when I ate sugar.
I believe that name-brand Plax is better than the supermarket stuff, but I buy the supermarket stuff anyway.
Jif Peanut Butter
Lesuer english peas
I insist on Puffs brand Kleenex. Only technically they’re Puffs tissues. But I still call them Kleenex.
In addition to toilet paper and cat food mentioned above by Waxinged I buy Mayonnaise (Duke’s), Apples (Honeycrisp), and hot dogs (Hebrew National).
There may be others, but I can’t think of them now. (Also, apples may not count since that isn’t really a brand… But it still costs more than pretty much every other type of apple.)
Cream cheese MUST be Philadelphia brand; nothing else will do.
I personally think it’s one of those things that may have some theoretical benefit, but in real-world terms, it comes down to getting 325,000 miles out of that engine vs. 310,000. In either case, the rest of the vehicle will have long since gone to pot, so why sweat it?
FWIW, I put 230,000 miles on a Ford Ranger that I bought at 60K miles. Never used Motorcraft oil, did use Motorcraft filters for the last 80k or so. My father put 220,000 on a 1980s Pontiac Bonneville, using whatever oil was at the quick-lube and whatever filter they used. It did burn a little oil when he sold it, but it wasn’t a ridiculous amount.
Diet Coke. Off-brand sodas, particularly diet ones, are disgusting.
Pop-Tarts as well; off-brand “toaster pastries” are terrible.
I’m not dedicated to Puffs, per se, but I won’t buy generic tissues (yeah, I call them all ‘kleenex’, too). Usually, actually, I do buy Kleenex brand, mostly because Sam’s Club sells them by the case, and this allows me to have a box in just about every room of the apartment, and be sure I’m not going to run out. We have a lot of sinus issues in our family, and if you need a tissue more than a couple of times a week, your nose really does appreciate the name-brand. Well, my nose does, anyway.
(Snipped)
Really? Honeycrisps are more expensive where you shop? At Kroger, where I do most of my grocery shopping, the Honeycrisps will be the same price as the other good varieties of apples. Yeah, the red and golden Delicious will be cheaper, but they’re crap. At Kroger, the Honeycrisp will invariably be the same price as the Jonagold, the Gala, etc.