Body panel fit issues/gt pp test drive and review (pics inside)

[garagelogic]

The rear bumper cover was misaligned on my 2013 Boss the day I took delivery. I drove it home and 10 minutes later using common hand tools, everything was straight. There is no way I would have wanted to have the dealer employees make that adjustment. Now if there were serious flaws, I would have refused delivery.

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[5.0GT]

How does one adjust the hood to align it?

 

[Robinson02]

The constant negativity here is depressing.

+1

 

[Robinson02]

If you dont like the gaps, tell the dealer and have them fix it. If they wont, then go somewhere else. Its THAT simple. The car out in my drive way is perfect. No gaps, except for the 1/8th of a gap on the hood/headlight side. I have zero f***s given about that.

Now with that said, some of those issues were a deff no go. like the trunk. but you guys are making this out to be something far worse than what it is. Just for shits and giggles I went on auto trader and looked at some 13/14 and guess what....they had some fitness issues that might not be up to yalls standards.

Come on guys.

 

[Papaya]

Poor craftsmanship and missing pride

Hi. Reading here that people did see a better quality in Germany, I have to agree. I am German. Members saying here: "Yeah it is a cheap car...blabla." In Germany, customers have to pay in the future much more money and they would never except this poor quality. I would not except this quality, also that I am living in Canada. If FORD likes to go back to the 80's mid 90's, were people did NOT buy a FORD in Germany because of the poor quality, that would be a bad step.
On the other hand, I really do not care what car I buy for $40,000. If it looks like the pictures are showing, I am not taking this car. You can't fix fenders there are too "short", misalignment on doors, fenders, hood if you not taking it apart and screw it later together. That is not called a new car anymore. So my dealer had to offer me a big discount, if I would consider to take it. And again. I do not like to write it again. North American customers only care how big the engine is in a car. Nothing else. You guys can read it here in the forum too. EcoBoost-bashing, V6-bashing. Only V8 and nobody looks at the quality of the car. Wrong installed CAT's, airbag and seatbelt issues is showing right there quality issues and that workers not showing any pride in there craftsmanship. :tsk:

Newest articles are how to get more HP,torque and exhaust sound instead to get more into the quality of the car. I really don't care how my EcoBoost or else 5.0 sounds. Because I am inside the car, listening to music.
I see also a problem coming if the aluminum fenders, hood are too thin, starting to bend later after a couple street bumps and potholes hitting the front end of the car. I never heard anything about thin aluminum parts on an AUDI and the A2 was made complete in aluminum.

Sorry! My 2 cent.

 

[Zombie]

Wrong installed CAT's, airbag and seatbelt issues is showing right there quality issues and that workers not showing any pride in there craftsmanship. :tsk:

http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/recalls/

http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/recalls/

http://www.autoblog.com/audi/recalls/

 

[FelixGER]

German cars are not what they used to be, that´s absolutely correct!
Their engines blow on a regular basis (especially BMW) but at least the body panels fit

 

[Papaya]

http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/recalls/

http://www.autoblog.com/mercedes-benz/recalls/

http://www.autoblog.com/audi/recalls/

If I am not wrong: "Made in USA" (Texas?)
Our 07/2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee had already 5 safety recalls
wiring issues (Fire hazard) and brake booster issues are two of the last one. When it came to the dealer, it had to go right away to the paint shop. Scratches on hood and doors down to the metal. I got $3,000 off the original price. :rant:

 

[Zombie]

If I am not wrong: "Made in USA" (Texas?)
Our 07/2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee had already 5 safety recalls
wiring issues (Fire hazard) and brake booster issues are two of the last one. When it came to the dealer, it had to go right away to the paint shop. Scratches on hood and doors down to the metal. I got $3,000 off the original price. :rant:

All of those recalls are not coming out of the USA. ;)

 

[let me ride]

I also had a misaligned panel on my 2009 from day one. Nothing serious enough that I didn't take delivery and it was a quick fix that I had my dealer do. I don't see anything that extreme in OP's pics except maybe the hood on the white one. It happens. This is a whole new design and the car just started production. There are always kinks to work out in the first model year.

 

[Zombie]

German cars are not what they used to be, that´s absolutely correct!
Their engines blow on a regular basis (especially BMW) but at least the body panels fit

...and I think they are great cars, just trying to make a point about hyperbole and generalizations.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

I have been a Mustang fan since I was a little kid and I will continue to be. And as a fan, my message to Ford regarding this QC problem is very simple: fix it; whatever it takes. This is the 21st century. There are no good excuses left for this sort of stuff. Find out how the panel alignment and other issues are happening and do whatever is necessary to resolve them. The 2015 Mustang is a great product, a fantastic product. But it is undermining its image with its target market and letting down customers who have already bought a new Mustang. Competition in the new car market place is just too fierce to tolerate letting defective or substandard goods out the door. I understand that complete perfection is not attainable in any manufacturing process, but surely a huge corporation like Ford can do better than to have catalytic converters put on backwards.

 

[Tim Hilliard]

Well I work on a "Superior" European engine that averages in the $1Million range. From engineering, availability (uptime), service support, quality, reliability etc, etc, they are a POS compared to the yellow ones made in Peoria.

We are considered stupid Americans when we highlight issues with them, because they are perfect, when we prove what the issue is they just ignore us and bury it.

 

[Kongman]

German cars are not what they used to be, that´s absolutely correct!
Their engines blow on a regular basis (especially BMW) but at least the body panels fit

I agree, I'd rather have a few panels off by a hair that only anal retentive people would notice instead of having to pay all the repair bills of bmw's for fuel injectors etc. going all the time... :thumbdown:

 

[Old 5 Oh]

It doesn't have to be perfect, but I'm sure even you Brent would have your breaking point on fitment issues.

I am with Brent on this. I'm sure I would have a breaking point on fitment, but I am squinting at most of OP's photos trying to figure out what you all have your skirts in such a wad about. I see a (very small) misalignment on the trunk lid; all the panel gap photos look fine especially when you note that the panel edges are all perfectly aligned and straight. I see the front fenders fall 1/8" short of making a sharp point at the hood; that's just as well since a) the point would never hold paint, b) you'd stab yourself on a regular basis and c) it would be a bear to manufacture. Should they have designed it that way? Can argue about that, but who can even see the issue unless you are bending over looking at it?

Many have cited the small, tight panel gaps on cheap Japanese and German cars and called on Ford to do the same. I'd submit that those guys have spent much of the production budget on that subtle perfection, and if (IF!) Ford's gaps are a bit larger it's because they spent a larger share of the budget on things like the Coyote V8. If I wanted to spend $40K on visual perfection, I suppose I could have bought an S3. If I wanted both the visual perfection and performance, there's always the BMW 4 series at $50-$80K, depending upon how much performance you want to buy.

I walked around the V6 at my dealer two weeks ago and was struck by how gorgeous it is. Hardly "egregious" panel gaps or "unacceptable" build quality. That's equally true of the cars in OP's photos.

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