Seriously fed up with Ford

ricardocabesa said:

I disagree regarding people finding things to bitch about. Ifsomeone pays upwards of 30k or 40k or any vehicle,they expect not to have any issues, much less a serious,on-going A/C issue,or any issue for that matter. Ford has a new supplier but maybe the word has not reached all dealers,or as mentiond here,refusing to address the issue and only put a band-aid on it until the warranty expires. Even if I spent ONLY 15k on a new car,I expect it not to have any issues.
Maybe YOU should find a vehicle forum where owners don't complain about their cars. When you do,let us all know about it.

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An A/C issue is SERIOUS? I agree that a new car shouldn't have issues, but sorry truth be told IMO you come off as very whiny. If my wife said that I would probably say to her, "Yes, my nordic princess." ;)

I had my A/C quit working. The dealer fixed it. Yes it's a little irritating. However, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my FORD!! It has a really sweet drivetrain! Yes there are (inexpensive) things on the car. But IMO I can't find a car with great build quality and a similarly exciting drivetrain for similar money.

I've driven Porsches and BMWs. They aren't as good IMO. Yes some things are better, but both cars are way less fun than my Ford.

moarhorsepower said:

Honestly I expect a bit better service and quality when we're paying $40k+ for a car. I don't think that's unrealistic. I never argued that the car isn't great to drive (it is), but terrible service and multiple unresolved issues isn't acceptable.

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Yup your expectations are high. I get it. I don't like my local dealer and I avoid going there whenever I can. I think the dealers - at least those local to me - are definitely the weak link in the chain.

You should let your wallet do the talking and buy something else that will please you. You deserve to be happy with your car and the service you get.

Hack said:

An A/C issue is SERIOUS? I agree that a new car shouldn't have issues, but sorry truth be told IMO you come off as very whiny. If my wife said that I would probably say to her, "Yes, my nordic princess." ;)

I had my A/C quit working. The dealer fixed it. Yes it's a little irritating. However, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my FORD!! It has a really sweet drivetrain! Yes there are (inexpensive) things on the car. But IMO I can't find a car with great build quality and a similarly exciting drivetrain for similar money.

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Is A/C serious? Maybe not up where you live. Down here in central Texas the inside of the car can be 130 degrees on a sunny summer day. Rolling the windows down helps prevent heat stroke, but I would say A/C is pretty important down here.

Also, because of the layout of the AC, when the evap core does leak, it leaks into the cabin, meaning the driver and occupants are breathing refrigerant for an extended period of time on a daily basis. Does that present a serious health concern? Will long term exposure cause cancer or some other problems? I don't know.

What I do know is that it shouldn't be too much to ask to have a replacement part that works by now. The car has been in production several years, and this has been a known issue the whole time.

You've had your A/C go out and you mentioned it was irritating. What if it had gone out again, and then again after that? Yes it isn't serious like unplanned air bag deployment or catastrophic brake failure, but it's still an issue.

I love my car too, but at some point it would be nice to have a car with working AC in 2017. :shrug:

Ground Speed said:

Is A/C serious? Maybe not up where you live. Down here in central Texas the inside of the car can be 130 degrees on a sunny summer day. Rolling the windows down helps prevent heat stroke, but I would say A/C is pretty important down here.

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I agree - what we think is serious is definitely regional. I would get pretty upset if my heated seats stopped working up here. I would also likely die if I rented a car in the south that didn't have AC (us northerners burn up pretty quickly).

Living in Florida, AC is a pretty damn near necessity.. Hope all the troubles are fixed.

You can find Ferrari message boards with unhappy customers. BMW has a woeful history of serious engine problems on cars that cost 2x what a Mustang costs. Range Rovers are a running joke in terms of reliability....and yet people are still willing to shell out $80K+ all day long.... go figure...:frusty:

Was looking at the Auction section in the latest issue of Automobile and there was a 2013 ZR1 Corvette, with 11K miles that was a No Sale at a high bid of $54K...less than 1/2 the original MSRP.......not exactly a sign of a highly desirable car.

I get 4 car mags a month (Automobile, C&D, Motor Trend and R&T) and Corvettes and Camaros have universally been given poorer reliability reviews than the Mustang........and I wouldn't drive a FCA product if you gave it to me. (OK, maybe a Challenger Hellcat....but only if you gave it me....;))

crs2879 said:

You can find Ferrari message boards with unhappy customers. BMW has a woeful history of serious engine problems on cars that cost 2x what a Mustang costs. Range Rovers are a running joke in terms of reliability....and yet people are still willing to shell out $80K+ all day long.... go figure...:frusty:

Was looking at the Auction section in the latest issue of Automobile and there was a 2013 ZR1 Corvette, with 11K miles that was a No Sale at a high bid of $54K...less than 1/2 the original MSRP.......not exactly a sign of a highly desirable car.

I get 4 car mags a month (Automobile, C&D, Motor Trend and R&T) and Corvettes and Camaros have universally been given poorer reliability reviews than the Mustang........and I wouldn't drive a FCA product if you gave it to me. (OK, maybe a Challenger Hellcat....but only if you gave it me....;))

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Good friend of mine had a ZR1 that had <10k miles and it was plagued with issues. I would drive a hellcat, too, though. haha

After owning nothing but new cars for about 20 years... I don't get flustered when cars have issues and is under warranty.
I've never had a new car that didn't need recall or warranty work done.
Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Mercedes, BMW, Audi... etc etc
THEY ALL HAVE ISSUES

Hack said:

An A/C issue is SERIOUS? I agree that a new car shouldn't have issues, but sorry truth be told IMO you come off as very whiny. If my wife said that I would probably say to her, "Yes, my nordic princess." ;)

I had my A/C quit working. The dealer fixed it. Yes it's a little irritating. However, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my FORD!! It has a really sweet drivetrain! Yes there are (inexpensive) things on the car. But IMO I can't find a car with great build quality and a similarly exciting drivetrain for similar money.

I've driven Porsches and BMWs. They aren't as good IMO. Yes some things are better, but both cars are way less fun than my Ford.

Yup your expectations are high. I get it. I don't like my local dealer and I avoid going there whenever I can. I think the dealers - at least those local to me - are definitely the weak link in the chain.

You should let your wallet do the talking and buy something else that will please you. You deserve to be happy with your car and the service you get.

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Your expectations are low. Maybe you've never had a Japanese car (which are mostly assembled in the US) but somehow they manage to put together cars that pretty much just work, and keep working for 200K+ miles. It's not even amazing or exceptional, it's just how things should be in 2017. It's very disappointing because 30 years ago Ford was leading a quality revolution and on track to match Japanese brands. Quality doesn't cost more, it costs less in the long run. Less rework, fewer warranty claims, better customer satisfaction which brings more repeat customers.

I'm sure somebody is going to throw out some anecdotal evidence about how their Toyota/Honda/Subaru exploded, but the stats are pretty clear.

TomcatDriver said:

Your expectations are low. Maybe you've never had a Japanese car (which are mostly assembled in the US) but somehow they manage to put together cars that pretty much just work, and keep working for 200K+ miles. It's not even amazing or exceptional, it's just how things should be in 2017. It's very disappointing because 30 years ago Ford was leading a quality revolution and on track to match Japanese brands. Quality doesn't cost more, it costs less in the long run. Less rework, fewer warranty claims, better customer satisfaction which brings more repeat customers.

I'm sure somebody is going to throw out some anecdotal evidence about how their Toyota/Honda/Subaru exploded, but the stats are pretty clear.

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I find this to be very true - our current Subaru is stupidly reliable...I'm OCD and incredibly picky when it comes to defects / issues with vehicles, and I don't think I could find a fault with the Subaru even if I tried. I've had a Honda in the past - same experience.

My experience with American and German cars has been quite the opposite :(

Now - the driving experience with the Subaru is downright awful - everything about it is numb and rather boring.

What Japanese car competes with Mustang/Camaro price wise, with a V8, manual tranny and similar performance?

TomcatDriver said:

Your expectations are low. Maybe you've never had a Japanese car (which are mostly assembled in the US) but somehow they manage to put together cars that pretty much just work, and keep working for 200K+ miles. It's not even amazing or exceptional, it's just how things should be in 2017. It's very disappointing because 30 years ago Ford was leading a quality revolution and on track to match Japanese brands. Quality doesn't cost more, it costs less in the long run. Less rework, fewer warranty claims, better customer satisfaction which brings more repeat customers.

I'm sure somebody is going to throw out some anecdotal evidence about how their Toyota/Honda/Subaru exploded, but the stats are pretty clear.

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I've had and driven a couple Hondas and a Nissan. They were little, junky cars that required WAAAY too much repair and were constantly broken. They were also boring and had really poor ergonomics.

The AC never worked in the Honda Accord I had. I didn't bother fixing it. I just lived without it. I won't go into all the other things that were wrong with it. It was a cheap car and used, but at the time I had been driving many cheap Fords roughly the same age - so IMO it was a fair comparison.

I also found that the Honda and Nissan were much more difficult to work on than my Fords.

I think the people who think Japanese cars are reliable only own newer ones, drive the cars like they are made of glass (they are) and have never owned older Fords.

I do get the frustration. I will never buy another GM vehicle after the experience I had with a '99 GMC truck. I still have the 3 ring binder with all the warranty repair tickets. The one and only vehicle I ever leased and I figured it was the personal finance gods punishing me for being stupid...:lol:

Yes, I am probably over-reacting by swearing-off GM over 1 bad vehicle.....but it was REALLY bad. They replaced the infamous "Intermediate Steering Shaft" 5x in 45K miles....and that was just 1 of the issues.

There is a local, used dealer that specializes in "nearly new" used cars. Most of them are vehicles that were damaged in transit or sitting on a dealer lot in a hail storm, etc. They also carry quite a few, low mileage "Buyback" vehicles and I have seen Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Audi, Mercedes....just about any make you can think of as Lemon Law cars.........there is no mass-produced vehicle, comprising 10's of thousands of parts, that is going to be free from defects 100% of the time. Otherwise, car companies wouldn't need to offer warranties in the first place.

I own a 2006 Acura TL since new, now has 93,000 miles. Not a single issue. I also own a 2002 Honda S2000 and it still looks and drives like new. AC still blows cold, and will red line to 9,000 with ease. The german Audi and VW that I had prior had tons of issues so I swore those brands off. I was hoping the mustang had higher quality because I tend to keep cars a very long time. I'll keep waiting and will pull the trigger on an S650 if things improve.

Out of all the Japanese cars I've ever had, only the 2008 Accord V6 was a problem child. It burnt so much oil and after Honda resurfaced the heads and replaced the head gaskets, the car still managed to burn oil but not as much. Out of all the European brands, VW, Audi, and Benz, only the R350 Benz had a transmission issue. I paid serious money because the time of my warranty expired but not the mileage. Lesson learned. On the American side, the 2005 CTS-V was a joke. Based on what I'm hearing about the S550 in terms of issues, the CTS-V makes the stang look as reliable as a Japanese car.

I'm really staying optimistic with my stang. I didn't want to join forums for this reason. The negative testimonials bothers me but they're also necessary. Time to play with my stress balls and remove these evil thoughts from my head. woosa!

Here's my thoughts. I'm sure the A/C has issues, they'll be able to fix that. But, overall my last two Mustangs have had no major problems. My 2015 had a A/C compressor issue OFF the lot. I turned around and brought her back - she was out of service for 3 days but the A/C worked like a champ afterwards. Other than that, no issues. My 2009 GT had no major issues over 5+ years of ownership. I don't expect my 2017 to have issues, but if it does I'm sure they'll be fixed.

We had a Jetta for my daughter - the A/C quit (was the evaporator as well, not compressor). Had a dodge magnum with transmission issues. My wife had a Solstice for a minute and anything that could break (non-powertrain) did. Trunk release (to put the top down). Door handles. You name it. My wife has a Lexus IS now and the speakers buzz like crazy and they can't seem to fix it. I've known people with Honda, Subura's, etc. all having issues. Now, with that said - I don't think there is any more whining on this board than any other. I've been a member of a lot of them. It's not really whining, it's discussing issues, which all cars have.

Your mileage may vary, but I've been happy with the quality of my Mustangs. Sure, some pieces could be a little less plasticky, but overall I'm very happy with the value to fun ratio.