My GT350R will likely be my last Ford car.

[Zitrosounds]

Drum . If I remember, you had posted early on about how incredible this car was and what a value you get with all the performace it delivers. Now you post some serious bashing about the car, that for some reason bothers me some. I think it is a awesome car and for 70-80k its hard to beet. If you want a 150k Porsche than go get it and sell your MUSTANG . Yes mustang. after all that is what it is. A moded mustang that can be surpassed by a standard mustang with some bolt on items. Move on brother, some of us really like and love our cars.

This thread bothers me.

Why does this thread bother you? Taking it personal. You are right it is a Mustang after all. A car that many of us would never have thought Ford would make in particular the R. Having said that, I love my R and still want a GT3 which build and quality far surpasses that of a Mustang which comes 3x the price tag. Let's be honest here, we got what we paid for. I don't complain rather I enjoy what I have. I still want a GT3 lol and I will buy one. Until I do I will enjoy every sec behind the wheel and when I check my oil :cheers:

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[Minn19]

While the paint is thin, I can't see primer anywhere on my car. I pulled the stripes off of my car last night and I was aggressively looking for any residue left over at a lot of different angles.

I'm not sure this is a consistent issue.



I do know someone, and he would be the one to repaint. I work in the insurance industry and based on what I see fairly regularly, I don't think it would be a lot more if no body work was required. But I'm also not assuming it will be the entire hood, just on the nose where it would have rock chips.

I had a door and fender fixed on my truck some years back, that had metallic paint. I don't know how much of the price included labor repair but it was a fairly decent hit on the door and a little bit of the fender. It came out to just under $1100. That was just a local shop though.

Unless prices have rocketed recently, which they may have, I wouldn't expect it to cost much more than $1000 but I guess I would need to get a quote to be sure.

Knowing somebody definitely helps with the labor rate etc. But, just for small blend jobs like you are talking about are still expensive as hell. Non metallic white paint does help with cost, but actually can be hard to match correctly. All depends on what quality of a job you want done as well.

The thin paint is part of the R package to help make it lighter than regular GT350s.

 

[DrumReaper]

Case in point... I’ve read numerous times about the complaint that a $400k Ford GT was produced with the same light switchgear as the Mustang has.

Sometimes cutting corners ain’t all that successful or impressive.

 

[Austinj427]

Case in point... I’ve read numerous times about the complaint that a $400k Ford GT was produced with the same light switchgear as the Mustang has.

Sometimes cutting corners ain’t all that successful or impressive.

They were pretty open about it, they said it allowed them to spend time and money in other areas. The light switch is easy to use, reliable, light, available and cheap.

I can see it both ways, on one had it's a $400k hand built super car. On the other hand, redesigning it would have just added additional costs for something so minor and the only improvement would have been doing it for the sake of being a little bit different.

 

[Minn19]

They were pretty open about it, they said it allowed them to spend time and money in other areas. The light switch is easy to use, reliable, light, available and cheap.

I can see it both ways, on one had it's a $400k hand built super car. On the other hand, redesigning it would have just added additional costs for something so minor and the only improvement would have been doing it for the sake of being a little bit different.

Or Ford makes $250,000 off of each example instead of $240,000. Going cheap everywhere sometimes costs you in the long run is all I'm really saying when I talk about quality etc.

 

[PP0001]

People do love to complain though

Ain't that the truth.

;)

 

[Austinj427]

Or Ford makes $250,000 off of each example instead of $240,000. Going cheap everywhere sometimes costs you in the long run is all I'm really saying when I talk about quality etc.

I'd be interested to find out if it's a money making endeavor.

I read a post some time back on one of the forums that the engine costs Ford more than an entire raptor.

Not to mention, farming out a hand laid carbon fiber build can't be cheap.

Also, racing the car in IMSA for 4 years is a 9 figure investment.

They definitely didn't go cheap. For all we know they could have run out of time on it too and they had to make changes last minute. They were required by the FIA to get cars into customers hands as they were racing before they technically were produced.

 

[Minn19]

I'd be interested to find out if it's a money making endeavor.

I read a post some time back on one of the forums that the engine costs Ford more than an entire raptor.

Not to mention, farming out a hand laid carbon fiber build can't be cheap.

Also, racing the car in IMSA for 4 years is a 9 figure investment.

They definitely didn't go cheap. For all we know they could have run out of time on it too and they had to make changes last minute. They were required by the FIA to get cars into customers hands as they were racing before they technically were produced.

I was mostly being sarcastic to prove a point. I like a lot of people here would have gladly paid a few k more or whatever to get better quality/reliable product is all I was getting at.

Imagine if Ford did this by eating their margins a little more or charging a bit more. Or a combo of the both. The car already is a home run performance/fun/driving wise and then it could've been a much better ownership experience. This would pay off for more sales to Ford now and in the future, which equals more $$$$.

Instead they penny pinched down to cheap ass fasteners/assembly techniques etc that don't work and possibly hurt future sales costing them $$$$.

Edit: Agreed it would be interesting to know. It sounds like they developed mostly under the noses of the execs and used mostly of the shelf stuff so maybe. I'm a bit skeptical on the engine cost considering at its heart it is 3.5 Ecoboost.

 

[BoomBoy]

cheap, quality, fast

Can't have all three. (choose two)

:cheers:

 

[H6G]

Ain't that the truth.

;)

Truth is.... Drum is right.
‘With all due respect’.... (your favorite phrase)
There is no excuse for bad quality.... Poor quality has a negative effect on resale values and it turns off existing owners, forcing the company to spend extra to draw in new buyers who have not yet suffered through problem-plagued cars and trucks.

And what about Ford’s management? With recent major management re-shuffle..... There is uncertainty at the top and that’s never a good thing.

Ford’s new CEO, Hackett, made his management bones running a business furniture company, followed by a short stint as a college athletic director. Selling work stations and overseeing a football program are not what you’d expect to find on the resume of a global car company chief.

 

[ThreeFiveO]

Couldn't help but think of this.

 

[ohtobbad]

Nailed it, IMO.

I had a '11 VW Tiguan 4Motion (purchased late 2010) in the fleet that was the wife's DD and also took the brunt of general running around on weekends and such. The thing was still an anvil after nearly 8 years including our lovely MN winters. Panel gaps and paint were still near perfect, no rattles, no issues, just gas, oil and tires. Planned to replace it with something else next year (wasn't sure what but an Escape was high on the list), and ran across a leftover '17 Tiguan 4Motion for $19K two weeks ago. And guess what? Build quality is as good as the '11 (paint is absolutely perfect), and it's improved over the old one in many other aspects such as road noise. They're little, well-built tanks.

No reason why Ford can't achieve this, my S550 could only dream of the same level of build quality. Uneven panel alignment and grind marks visible under the paint in a couple of spots, interior rattles at 2K miles, etc. Ford can't use their old tagline "Quality is Job 1" anymore for good reason.

2 points to make, my 350R will out run it in 2nd gear, so want to you want grocery getter with good fit and finish or a car the runs to 8250 screaming like nothing on this planet.

2nd point, I had a low mile used Passat once, one of the worst cars I owned $500 to $2000 per month for 12 months in maintenance. I sold it at a loss because I had enough, I think we could all tell stories fo great cars and bad cars we have owned.

 

[PP0001]

Truth is.... Drum is right.
‘With all due respect’.... (your favorite phrase)
There is no excuse for bad quality.... Poor quality has a negative effect on resale values and it turns off existing owners, forcing the company to spend extra to draw in new buyers who have not yet suffered through problem-plagued cars and trucks.

And what about Ford’s management? With recent major management re-shuffle..... There is uncertainty at the top and that’s never a good thing.

Ford’s new CEO, Hackett, made his management bones running a business furniture company, followed by a short stint as a college athletic director. Selling work stations and overseeing a football program are not what you’d expect to find on the resume of a global car company chief.

Certainly understand all of the changes within Ford and also not a big supporter of Hackett but the launch of the GT350 program in early 2014 was way before Hackett got involved therefore he inherited this program.

Don't get me wrong as I fully realize that Ford has some issues with fit, finish, body panel gaps along with some engine failures but would suggest that there are also a lot of very happy owners of the ~20,000 units already produced over the last 3MY's at least that is the feedback that I get from all of my car buddies that own these cars.

Can I assume that you are one of the owners of a GT350/R that has all kinds of quality issues and are you suggesting that the majority of the ~20,000 cars produced all have these same issues?

:cheers:

 

[stanglife]

It’s understandable, Tom. It appears your cars have not experienced much of what mine has. No doubt, the FPC is a technical triumph... I get that. I signed in the dotted line 75% for the engine alone. I love my car... doesn’t mean I have to love and admire the mistakes made by those producing my car. Do I love spending currency above and beyond the $67k I have already invested?... no.

With all due respect, to invest $67k and not expect some better quality (accepting the car as “so so quality”) is your perspective... not mine. An assumption that “it’s just a Mustang” doesn’t work for me.

The tune has in fact changed. Seems like a lot of drama for something you already knew.

I am unamazed by the rubberneckers that want to come type and hit enter on threads of controversy. They haven't been present here much... May come post here or there... But they don't let a crisis go to waste. An opportunity to post a negative comment but contribute nothing healthy concerning a product they're not even consuming.

I make good money... Got it the honest way... I earned it. I could've went and bought an A7 for my daily commuter, with nice fit n finish... But I chose different cause I can. And the F150 Platinum I purchased in its place has never let me down. It has its quirks here n there but so does the 991 my buddy has.

To each his own... That's what's nice about America... I have 1st world order problems with decisions of what to buy... I don't have to conform to someone else's orders.

I have a vested interest in this car as I have an R on the way. As I will be carving turns at local tracks do you think for once I'm gonna worry bout the 0.13562" trunk gap on the right and the 0.15264" gap in the left? No... Am I giving Ford a pass... No. I just chose to purchase a car that's not perfect and will be damn proud of it.

Now play ball!

Play ball, indeed.

 

[DrumReaper]

The tune has in fact changed. Seems like a lot of drama for something you already knew.



Play ball, indeed.

I think I own a huge chunk of you...:cheers:

I find it very childish of you to keep tailing me and propagating a keyboard fight... Says A LOT about your character.

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