At one point, I considered my car a death trap. And it really was. I didn't realize it for quite some time but the irritating noise from the back was the bearings going (this was after having them replaced under their first recall). The noise was such that I figured it was just the ****ty build quality and irritating road vibration noise. It gave me a major headache almost whenever I drove and I hated, absolutely hated, driving. Then I figured out it was the bearings again and every day was like "Well, is the wheel going to fly off and I'm going to die?" To quote Phil Hartman: "Good times, good times."
I guess others have more luck than me but taking my car in is a BIG deal, so all of the recalls were a pain. None of the garages will actually do the work when I come in, they need to keep it for the day. Plus, the latest they'll let me schedule an appointment is generally around 10am, which is two or three hours earlier than I normally wake up. Usually, a recall means I have to take the day off from work and I also get to waste a couple hours or more of my time. The good news, I guess, is that I usually have some other repairs to toss in while they're doing the recalls. I still like the car but what I usually say about it is "It's well designed, not well made." I give it an overall positive mark but most people come away with a negative impression, usually because of the recalls. I'll consider getting the 2.3L Focus but it'll take a lot more consideration than if it was made by Toyota. One more fallout from the recalls is that I'm going to be much more reticent to ever buy a first year model again (even if it's been made for years elsewhere, since Ford showed me that just means they'll cut corners on QA) and that I'm going to stick with makers and models that have high records of reliability. The only exception I can see myself making is to get an Elise. That's a car that's worth 5 recalls and various other repairs, easy.
[ 03-29-2003, 06:40 AM: Message edited by: proxemac ]
