Each to their own I guess. Like Coke vs. Pepsi, Coors vs. Bud, Chocolate vs. Vanilla......the best one is the one that makes you happy and feel like your money was well spent. All vehicles all have their pros and cons. Personally I think Fords are just low spec limit quality at the lowest cost vehicles much like Korean cars. They look great now but just don't hold up well with the test of time. What Ford really excels in is marketing and being in the right place at the right time.
Funny how quickly people forget Ford went broke first. Ford started to implode as early as 2003 when they had poor products, poor quality, poor dealer relations, poor supplier relations and were struggling to even pay suppliers. They were laying blue and white collar employees off like they had the plague. Within a few years they had no choice but to secure a few billion dollars in loans to maintain operations and invest into themselves (future technologies, plant upgrades, etc.) as they had depleted their cash. Meanwhile, the other two guys across town weren't exactly the healthiest either but they continued to plug along and tried to weather the financial storm the economy was getting into on their own goodwill.
I work in the automotive industry and I don't recall meeting anybody that works in this industry from corporate employees to auto journalists (including my colleagues that work for Ford) that doesn't realize Ford was in the right (bad) place at the right time when they took out their loans. Had they waited longer to secure loans they would have found there were none to get as GM and Chrysler learned then comes the bailouts. If Ford could have survived much longer without needing a cash infusion, they would have been standing right there with GM and Chrysler in the bailout line. So for uninformed that continuously break their arms patting Ford on the back for not taking a bailout, keep in mind. Ford went broke first and had to take out a loan first while the bank was still open and well before the word “auto bailout” ever became a nightly topic on the front page news. By the time the other guys went broke the bank was already closed amidst a global financial meltdown. There was no money to borrow other than Uncle Sam.
If that still doesn't help you think of it this way; Ford, GM and Chrysler were in a Blackjack game that started at 3 PM. Ford did poorly and had to hit up the ATM at 6 PM. GM and Chrysler continued to play along for another 5 hours before they ran out of cash and found the ATM machine ran out of money at 9 PM. With no money in the ATM, the casino wrote them a line of credit and made an announcement over the casino intercom of this hot game going on in the back room and a large loan they were extending to two poor players. Meanwhile a few spectators hear this announcement and started taking interest in the game at 11:45 PM. When the spectators arrives at the table they see Ford with a pile of chips in front of them while the other players are standing off to the side signing their life way to borrow a pile of chips in order to stay in the game. Because of the spectators late arrival and interest in the game they missed seeing Ford empty the ATM machine at 6 PM and get the notion Ford was a better blackjack player because Ford still had chips in front of them instead of standing there in line with the other guys to get a loan too. In the end, they were all losers! That is exactly what people that do not follow the auto industry fail to see. They fail to see Ford was no better. In fact, they were in bad shape sooner!
The end of the story is Ford has totally Forest Gump-ed themselves into becoming this brand that so many people believe (and are rewarding) is a strong well operated good ole All- 'Merican company that didn't need no stinking government bailouts. BS!! I have to shake my head every time I hear someone speak with a rewarding tone about Ford not taking a bailout. Does this make Ford bad? No! But it sure doesn't make them any better than the other two. People, STOP with the Ford not taking a bailout BS story. It is dumb and uninformed.
My bailout rant off!