I like all things automobile-related, no matter what. But I guess the more you become an enthusiast, the more things like the new Chevy Impala make you cringe, or say the lack of news of a new compact SVT product from Ford really chap your hide.

 

I don't HATE Ford; it just seems like most of their decisions could have been, well, "better."

I'm not attached to any brand; as you said, I'll give any car company "credit when credit is due."

The 2005 Mustang and 2005 GT are steps in the right direction for Ford. Hell, even their (dare I say) SUVs are much better than they used to be; I feel that Ford accels greatly in the truck category.

Lastly, if the 500 had a bit more "oomph", I'd put it next to the new Mustang and GT since it'd be a sign of improvement for Ford.

--Dan.

 

At times, im anti svt focus. But i think if you look at the svt contours and such, problems are going to happen. I loved my zx3, my dads f-150 hasnt had a problem, nor has my sisters mustang and my moms escape. I think people just like to rant when stuff happens or cars dont get made/exported. I think focaljet is a pretty pro-focus/ford website.

 

Your impressions are pretty much what I have found as well. Fairly pro-Ford, but in most cases, not obnoxiously so. It hasn't become a VW vortex in it's objectivity, but it's not real far behind.

 

I think that Focaljet is fairly objective on matters that involve Ford. No one will be completely happy with the way any company operates, especially a car company. I think it would be foolish of us to talk like everything that Ford does is the best thing it could do. Someone has to be out to keep Ford accountable and in touch with the consumer. Obviously, they aren't paying attention to the Sport Compact market right now, but hopefully things will change.

On a side note, anyone else disgruntled by the fact that the Focus has been left off the new Ford print ad with basically all of the other models on it? I think its supposed to be representing all the new 2005 models.

 

I used to be anti ford cept for my focus.....until i came here.....

now im anti-american cars......cept for ford.....

i like japanese cars

but most korean cars i turn my back to

J

 

What pisses me off are some of the anti-Honda flamers on here, if it weren't for cars like the Civic, Integra and CRX I doubt the Focus would be so successful, especially the SVTF.

 

What pisses me off are some of the anti-Honda flamers on here, if it weren't for cars like the Civic, Integra and CRX I doubt the Focus would be so successful, especially the SVTF.

SVTF...successful(???)...not in Ford' eyes!

DAMNIT, Ford bashing again...

--Dan.

 

I have read a couple of members make this insinuation, but I just can't see it and want to know who these anti-Ford people are? I do see a lot of people criticizing Ford's poor decisions, but I don't see many if any Ford haters. I for one, enjoy that most of the people on this site give credit where credit is due and criticize companies when they make mistakes. I find it to be a strength of this site and shows that we are car enthusiasts and not just Focus or Ford enthusiasts.

Thoughts?

I can only think of one member who likes to say that we are anti-Ford on here. But he is the biggest Ford fan-boy I've EVER seen, and any criticism against Ford is a major problem for him.

Yes, you all know who I'm talking about, so I won't name names.

I obviously don't hate Fords, since I drive one. I don't know that I HATE any car company.

You won't EVER see me say that everything that one car company makes is crap, and everything another company makes is gold. Cause that's just horse crap.

*Edited by bigdaddyzx3, because he was feeling particularly ornery at the time he read this thread, sorry

 

Some people here feel burned by Ford because they were should a car that falls apart every couple miles. I sold an '87 VW Fox and bought my Focus brand new. It has been falling apart since I rolled it off the lot. My parents bought three new cars around the time I bought mine, a Dakota, Caravan, and Wrangler. All three put together haven't spent half the time my car did in the shop. I've just recently sold the Focus. The anti-Ford feeling on this site just shows how poorly the Focus was put together in the beginning. Now that the Focus has a better warranty and ALL the bugs worked out they ruined the look of it.

I did like my Focus when it ran and prayed daily for the RS to come to the US. Ford is just concentrating on the SUV and Truck market and doesn't seem to care about the compact scene.

 

The one thing that turned me away from Ford was their Dealers, worst customer service coming from their service dept.

 

Well I would be looked at here as "pro-ford", but believe me when I say, that behind the scenes we fight for what we believe. Just dont blast it here.

For what its worth, the SVT Focus shaped a group of rather enthusiastic SVT brand customers...hopefully they can wait till the new generation of hotrods shows.

I fear they wont.

 

Well I would be looked at here as "pro-ford", but believe me when I say, that behind the scenes we fight for what we believe. Just dont blast it here.

For what its worth, the SVT Focus shaped a group of rather enthusiastic SVT brand customers...hopefully they can wait till the new generation of hotrods shows.

I fear they wont.

Can I order an 07 Cobra yet?

 

I love ford.

Infact, Henery ford was my great great great great something uncle through family research. (No I don't get a discount or part of the company)

However, I liked ford before I knew that anyways. Ford in my eyes is held to a higher standerd then any other company.
If I didn't love ford, I wouln't have bought a Focus. I woulndt buy pro ford things

I just am very disapointed in the big mean blue oval as of late.

Im a big ford fan boy, but critisim is owed, where its due.

 

Well newma, do your searches, I can almost certainly guarantee you that if you were to look up every thread regarding a Ford product ( especially recently ) you'll find more criticism than you will praise.

There's nothing wrong with that, but did a little deeper, read a little further between the lines and things begin to take shape, things like little or no reason for making such accusations, basing opinion of the thoughts of another, disregarding the good that HAS been done by this car company.

The 500 recently received the highest safety rating for it's class, yet no one ever talks about that. Resale values for this car are said to ( projected to be ) be higher than any other car Ford's built recently, no one ever mentions this. The Land Rover LR3 was voted SUV of the year for the first time ever....Another Ford development not mentioned, or mentioned only to the extent of a duck fart in a hurricane....Look at the recent success ( and turnaround ) of Mazda, Jag, Aston Martin, Volvo....So maybe Ford isn't taking care of Ford as much as you'd like. But there's more to Ford than Mustangs and Focuses. At least they aren't like GM, reskinning the same bloody car 15 times over and trying to call it new and improved....

Take the Focus for instance, people asked for more torque in their engines...they got it. They asked for a more mature appearance...done, they asked for better quality, seems to be the case...

What they DIDN'T do was drop in an SRT-4 destroying turbocharged motor, and that has everyone's panties in a wad. It's the simple truth of it, aside from the new skin, it's virtually the same car we all came here for one reason or another for. But now all of a sudden the thing sucks?


Ford recently broke a sales record by selling over 900,000 trucks last year...again, no thread on that one....

What WILL you see?

"The 500 is an ugly POS. With only 200 HP it's slow!"
etc...
etc...
etc...

What's worse, even some of the admins here bash Ford. What does that say about the "business" of this site?

People wouldn't be thinking these thoughts if there weren't good reason....Sure there are many complaints against Ford that are quite valid, sure we'd all like to see a Focus RS-like car on the streets.

People whined for more power in the Mustang and by '03, it's the most powerful ( and only remaining ) pony car on the market. The new GT is the cheapest 300 HP car you can buy right now.

Maybe something's in store for the Focus, best we can do is keep wishing for more and letting Ford know how we feel about it.

Dissing the entire company for a mistake here and there isn't the way to go about it.

 

I've always been anti-american cars. Until the Focus. Blew my woman away whan I told her I was buying a Ford.

 

I see two main types of Ford criticism on this site. The first type is related to poor quality/reliability and Ford deserves this criticism but the other American car makers haven't kept up either. Personally I'd rather replace the transmission in my Ford than have to repaint my Chevrolet or replace the smokin' motor in my Dodge. Remember that we're driving the cheapest thing Ford builds..., (Fortunately the only problem I've had in 3 years is a failed sensor that was covered under a Ford extended coverage notice)

The second criticism I see is disappointment with the general direction of Ford and their vehicle development. I share this disappointment but there's nothing I can do about it beyond my personal purchase choices so I don't loose any sleep over it.

 

I agree with osiris, the mistakes ford made recently with the focus doesn't mean bash ford and ford totally sucks b/c of it.

I know when fan boy is mentioned on the site i am the one everyone points to like i am the devil

It doesn't bother me b/c i can object to ford and i will when certain topics arise.

I can go on about so many things GM has done wrong over the years but i have no time but the SSR, HHR, Silverado SS, Malibu, New impala etc.. Like osiris mentioned gm takes a car reskins it every few years when the the car is like 15 years old and call it all new. GM just puts a new body on a old car. Does anyone realise it?? Look at saab thier just rebadging subaru's these days, new buick's are just redone old lesabre's and crap. The uplander van and the other rebgadges from pontiac and buick, my god what were they thinking. The new impala is just a horrible resdesign, the malibu got worse styling wise to. The gto well that's just plain bad, performance with no styling at all. The G6 is a overweight, underpowered heap of junk. The grand am looked better for god sakes. GM has no sense of styling these days but thier interior's are gettin better.

Nothing at gm is interesting now besides caddy and the vette, thier just trying to lure people with fancy options but when the thing your driving it just plain ugly who wants to drive it?? The cobalt is the only thing that has stepped up to become a better car where the rest are just reskinned cars that are gettin very old and outdated. Everythin just seems to be a big disappointment, my brother sees it to he is a gm guy and has a malibu and cannot stand the looks of the new one.

Look at ford now f150 is a huge hit and the most advanced truck on the market same with the super duties. The 500 is a 5 star car everywhere, looks have decent and has a good powertrain maybe underpowered but it's proven unless you have the cvt. Well built cars inside and out, also has a great suspension and interior. Has awd which no car in it's class has. It's a awesome car for it's price and it's built much better then what the price would make u think it is. The freestyle is the same to, offers all the good things of an suv and a car together.

The mustang is the cheapest 300hp car u can buy and the quality is light years better then the old one. The camaro is dead so it shows who won the pony car battle. The fusion looks great to but we will have to wait to see what happens when it hits the showroom.

Also look what ford has done to aston martin, mazda, jag, volvo and land rover. They went from junk to profitable. I see people here drooling over the new volvo's, they wouldn't be here without ford. The land rover have gone from total heaps to half decent, still have their problems but the quality is really getting there and they actually look great and have never lost thier off roading heritage. Aston Martin is self explanitory, look at them

Sexy. Mazda is making great cars mazda 3, mazda 6, rx8 etc.. are all huge hits and all with the help of ford. Jaguar is making great cars with the s type, xj and xk.They still have thier problems but way better then before and thier selling more then they ever did before. Ford is turning their divisions into companies that are appealing and selling cars people want and they really perform well.

GM well they turned saab into a poor company with no cool product but rebdadged cars from someone else. They killed oldsmobile after years of neglect, saturn well nothing cool there besides the redline ion. Gm can't seem to get nothing right these days unless your cadillac or a corvette. Ford seems to be getting everything back on track with nice styling and proven powertrains. Ford does has it's problems but in recent times ford has stepped it up where The general is falling behind. This might sound like a super ford fanboy but when u look at it, you can all see it, ford is doing a half ass job where GM is doing a horrible job.

 

Osiris, from what I see, the reason why you see (and don't see) what you brought up is because of the type of people we have here. A majority of us aren't really concerned about the Land Rover, or the safety rating of the 500 (not that it's unimportant or anything). A lot of us are here because of being car enthusiasts. I myself was never a big Ford fan, but I'll give credit where due that their trucks (I personally love the Super Dutys) and the new Mustang are right on the mark for the most part. However, I personally can't see another model in their lineup that I would own.

A lot of it might have to do with my bad luck reliability wise with my 2000 ZX3, or the sorry resale, but the rest of the line just doesn't do anything for me (I'm excluding the GT here, but like thats obtainable for me) The Focus was the first car from Ford in ages that caught my eye and got me away from Hondas. However, they've proceeded to cheapen nearly ever part of the car for 05 and charge more money. I looked at a 05 ZX3 recently at a local dealer, and for what I paid for mine with most every option would get you a car now that looked like a lowly rental with hardly any options. It's frustrating because I gladly would stand up for the Focus until now. There's not much except for the motor to recommend now. I think I'd steer people towards the Mazda 3 instead.

As for the anti-Ford comments, I too only really see it coming from the single person that was hinted at earlier. I can respect others opinions, but when anything non-Ford is shot down with heresay and anonymous numbers that make it sound like it's the biggest heap on the planet, that's when I have to call BS. I'm not a fanboy of GM or anyone for that matter and can agree that the General's designs have been lackluster at best as of late, but you have to be objective sometimes.

But that's just my worthless 2 cents...

 

Its a love/hate thing between me and Ford.

When Ford lets loose the regins on SVT and they come out with an amazing product like the 03-04 Cobras, Im all Ford.

When Ford takes a very good car like the Focus, lets us have a taste of what could be with the SVTF, and then jerks the plate away, I hate Ford.

They just let everything slip away so easily. The day Dodge came out with the SRT-4 Ford should have had an answer waiting. Dodge comes out with their Lightning killer, Ford should have had the answer waiting. So on and so forth.

 

Kool_ZX3, I'm impressed!

That is the best thought out post I've read from you, and, you used punctuation!

I can appreciate your enthusiasm for your car, and it's parent company. It's when you make generalizations based upon YOUR OPINION that I scream FAN-BOY!

I can only speak for myself here...as I only have one opinion. Ford's product line is way better in my opinion this year, than in recent years (with the exception of the 05 Focus, again, just my opinion). As far as other companies go, there are obvious bastardizations of cars, like the SSR at Chevy, and I'm no big GM fan. However, I take cars on a car by car basis, because I like cars in general, not just one product line or another.

I think all the car lines have their hits and misses!
Ford, new Mustang - a huge, huge hit! New Focus on the same old platform - gonna be a miss.
Chevy, Corvette - gonna be a huge, huge hit! SSR - well duh!
Chrysler, 300 - already is a huge, huge hit! Charger - we'll see.

I have my OPINION about styling, performance, and price of cars. My OPINION has absolutely nothing to do with their success. Just because I don't like a car, doesn't automatically make it crap.

I don't think Ford is a crap company. I don't think Chrysler is a crap company. And, I don't think that GM is a crap company.

However, EVERY ONE OF THEM makes crap cars AND great cars. That's not based on my opinion, that's based on sales.

Fortunately for the big three, they all have their fan-boys. I see lots of "piss on" stickers every day, to prove it!

I'm gonna change my signature to include:
"rather DRIVE any car - than PUSH any car"
causing pushing anything no matter what's on the grill just sucks.

 

I have to agree with Kool_ZX3 = I LOVE MY F150!!!!!! That is the best new truck out there, hands down. A couple guys have Titans at work, they still pale in comparison. The F150 is a TRUCK, just how they're supposed to be.

My dream garage would have to be huge, because it would have to include (at the minimum):

teh F150
teh Wagon
teh Fiesta (in race trim)
a CRX with a B18/B20
a 65 Buick Rivi (mildly customized)
a Z07 (or whatever they'll badge the 7.0L Vette)
a new Charger
a 1973 Monte Carlo (big block car)
a 1985-87 Toy mini, custom
a Ram Charger, lifted, new Hemi for power
an older M series beemer (the boxy ones, dunno the lineage)
a KTM Duke II
a 1953 Chevy (full custom)
a 1950 Merc (stock, but hammered)
and a Honda Trail 90

 

Dang your list looks a lot like mine, with a few exceptions:

My dream garage would have to be huge, because it would have to include (at the minimum):

teh F150
teh Wagon <font color="red"> meh, it's okay

</font>
teh Fiesta (in race trim) <font color="red"> too small for me </font>
a CRX with a B18/B20 <font color="red"> not for this big ogre </font>
a 65 Buick Rivi (mildly customized) <font color="red"> Used to have one, WANT IT BACK! </font>
a Z07 (or whatever they'll badge the 7.0L Vette)
a new Charger

a 1987 Buick Grand National
a 1985-87 Toy mini, custom <font color="red"> see above big ogre reason </font>
a Ram Charger, lifted, new Hemi for power
<font color="red"> an older 2002 bavarian motor works </font>
a HD Fat Boy with full sadlebags
a 1964 Lincoln Continental
a 1950 Merc (stock, but hammered) <font color="red"> and chopped, course the seat has to go on the floor though for the big ogre </font>
and a Honda Trail 90

<font color="red"> my first bike when I was a kid! </font>

 

You could fit in a CRX Hale, I've seen guys your height get in em. You just can't wear a helmet (unless your seat is bolted to the floor)

 

Well the 2005 Focus is still the best small car from the Domestic Big Three.....

As for Sedans....

I will take a 425bhp Chrysler 300C SRT-8....