All brands have their good and bad traits.
Absolutely right.
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I had an advantage for a number of years, as I was a mechanic and tire salesman. What this allowed me was the opportunity to drive many many different cars (test drives, etc.), literally many more than 100 different vehicles. A few of my favorites were a 1971 Corvette 350hp/350; an early SVO Mustang and a BMW 635 "Shark Nose". But what I also learned is how cars felt, and what idiosyncrasies they had. Thus I've been a Ford man ever since, for so many different reasons.
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But, some things that might be of interest, and also germane to the discussion being:
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And yes, we know ALL auto makers have taken government money now and then, but...
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DODGE: No longer referred to as "Dodge", but "Ram" (truck division). Why? They are distancing themselves from the Dodge name, as it is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fiat. That means, after taking the $5 BILLION bailout, and after filing for bankruptcy, they couldn't make it and begged Fiat to buy 50% share in Dodge/Chrysler. Which, they took over a month to decide if they wanted to. After a short period of time, Dodge still couldn't make it, and Fiat realized that the deal was going to drag them down, and so a deal was struck to purchase the other 50% share. I can say one thing, "Ram" sure spends a lot of money on advertising (with true statements or not). A good friend of mine's dad bought a brand new Dodge 3/4"ton. In 6 months the tranny literally blew up. No abuse, the man is almost 80 years old.
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CHEVROLET: Used to be a close 2nd to Ford in sales and dependability. But, GM took the $5 BILLION bailout, and then too filed bankruptcy, leaving their suppliers and creditors in a very bad way. Not a good example of a business model I choose to deal with. Now, given that after the big bailout the US government bought $280 MILLION worth of Fords for their fleet, GM has been the one trying the hardest to catch back up. Example: Ford released the very successful RAPTOR SVT platform. 2013 GM wanted to bring something to market called a "Reaper". Really? <lame> GM has been playing "catch up" for some time. That being the case, they have been known to rush things to market. Example: GM now has 66 active recalls involving nearly 30,000,000 vehicles. That's got to hurt anyone. I imagine the CEO is probably concerned for her job.
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FORD: Best selling truck 37 years in a row. The F150 is the best selling VEHICLE in America. 40% of all trucks sold in America are Fords. Some car models have/had transmission problems (my '88 Taurus ended up getting a new one. It was a real pain to deal with, but they did make it right). I may just have had incredibly good fortune, but I have never had my vehicles not do what I ask of them. And the Eco Boost pulls and tows better than the 5.7L Hemi and the 6.2L Chevy (and just about as good as the 6.2L Ford). Check out
www.pickuptrucks.com and see the comparos at the "Ike Gauntlet". I've heard that the Tundra 5.7 is the closest to the EB in capabilities. The tranny in the F150 uses the same tranny as the F250 Superduty - so no tranny problems here! (a big plus to me
Do Fords have issues? Yep! I've just experienced less of them.
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Not bashing anyone, just relating already-published information. I believe a person has to be happy with what he/she has. If not, then that person needs to make a change.
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I'm happy with what I have. Are you? (I hope so!
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Hey, let's talk about overlanding!