Heck, they even managed to screw up Jaguar styling *after* buying the company.
Note to Ford: More cars like this, less cars like the S-Type.
Posted on 08/01/2006 5:10:40 PM PDT by SmoothTalker
DETROIT - Amid steep gas prices, Toyota Motor Corp. rode its reputation for fuel-efficient cars to a double-digit sales increase in July and outsold Ford in the U.S. for the first month ever. Honda Motor Co. also reported robust sales.
" At Ford, sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles fell 35.2 percent. Truck sales tumbled 44.8 percent, while cars slipped 6.7 percent. Sales of F-Series pickup trucks, long the country's best-selling vehicle and the company's most important vehicle, shot down 45.6 percent."
" Toyota's sales, meanwhile, soared 11.7 percent, with cars jumping 19.8 percent and trucks up 1.3 percent. The company outsold Ford by more than 17,000 vehicles."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Heck, they even managed to screw up Jaguar styling *after* buying the company.
Note to Ford: More cars like this, less cars like the S-Type.
I took the base model of each for the below numbers without any options, or deductions/additions for mileage.
1997 Taurus value= $1192 trade in/$1768 private party/$2473 retail.
1998 Camry value= $3310 trade in/$4119 private party/$5031 retail.
Actual value of most any vehicle is "Black Book" (weekly updated prices cars sell for at dealer's auctions).
Your $2000 in maintenance was a good investment for the Toyota!
Note: photos taken July 19, 2006 at Shelby American factory in Las Vegas(at LVMS speedway exit off of I-15).
For a large number of consumers, $3500-4500 is a premium worth paying. They know they're getting a car that is far superior in quality, reliability and longevity. In the long run it's worth it.
Oh, and the Focus comes with a longer warranty, too....
Longer, but still not long enough...
Better resale value too. You can recoup most of that money later.
Most people though just need a truck to carry the occasional bit of furnature, get them off road a bit, and maybe once in a while tow a small boat. I agree with you that something like a 3500 Chevy is best for someone who needs to haul a lot or who work on a farm. That isn't most users though.
The X-Type is the worst. A Europeon Ford Mondeo in drag for $35k. Doesn't come close to comparing to something like a 3 series, a TL, or a A4. The car isn't even as nice as an Accord or Camry and they cost a lot less. I don't know how Ford thought they could sell those. A Jag badge on a mediocre Ford isn't what people want.
"For a large number of consumers, $3500-4500 is a premium worth paying. They know they're getting a car that is far superior in quality, reliability and longevity. In the long run it's worth it."
That's the point, though - there is NO evidence to prove it is superior in reliability or longevity. Consumer Reports had it as their top pick of all small sedans (beating the Civic and Corolla), and they can't even measure the difference between the reliability of a Focus and a Civic or Corolla.
Did you know that the Taurus had average (or better) reliability marks from Consumer Reports? Or that the Camry was rated as average recently?
Yes, there is a distribution. Yes, I could have ended up winning out. But all the data points to such miniscule differences it isn't worth worrying about.
Yea, but she'll only fit in that thing for 2... I am still looking for the wind up key on those things.
Does everyone who buys a domestic truck use it like this?
By golly...when you need to replace those, the Ford dealer will make you a heck of a deal!
(if they're still in business...)
No, not everyone ... probably only 5 - 10%. But those of us who do use it to tow heavy or carry 2000+ lbs in the bed need the biggest truck they can get. And overkill in buying a truck when doing these activities is a must so you can STOP THE LOAD not just get it up to speed. That is where most people who tow fall short when buying a truck.
The new trucks with 19.5" wheels offer larger diameter brakes, and new advances in power braking in the auto-tranny's helps (but real towers drive manual trannys ;-))
But some like below is what I droooooolllll over
At lot depends on individual experiences of folks. The company I work for has a corporate account with Enterprise, so I have been able to drive several makes and models of cars when driving to our remote sites.
Yes, rental cars do get beat a bit, but I have had the chance to drive several that have ~200-500 miles on them. My experience has been that most cars from Ford, GM and Daimler-Chrysler are just not well built, well thought-out cars. The best product out of the three that I drive was a Chevy (Impala I think). I drove two years ago, and seemed to have good quality and good interior design. But that was the exception for me.
I've always had good luck with the Toyota Camry. They last, parts are plentiful, and the newer models are becoming more DIY friendly for things like oil changes, etc. And after taking my '03 F-250 PSD to the local Ford dealer for some repair work, I dare say that repairs for Ford, GM, etc are not exactly cheap - I can't remember the last time I took the truck somewhere for an oil change - it gets done at home. That will be true for the car as well.
Ultimately, many folks will buy the best quality they can afford. For some, they may decide the Ford, GM, etc has the best quality - but for me, the Toyota cars have never yet let me down, just like some folks swear by Ford, etc.
I assume that you're posting on FreeRepublic because you're a conservative. As a conservative, you should have more confidence in the free market. The evidence that Japanese cars are generally superior in quality and reliability is the very fact that so many consumers are willing to pay more for them, both new and used. If the aggregated experience of millions and millions of consumers over a period of a decade or more indicated that the extra cost was not justified, then the Japanese automakers and used car dealers wouldn't get away with selling them for so much more than American autos. But they do.
I'm supposed to believe that Japanese cars are superior now in order to prove that I belive in the free market and prove my conservativism? Wow. :)
Maybe I'm just cynical, but I have no faith in the intelligence of the general public. I've seen far too many ridiculous products sell well for no explicable reason. I've also seen people claim brand A is better than B for no reason other than to follow the herd. Do we honestly believe that a pair of jeans from the GAP for $60 is even the slightest bit better than a $10 pair from Target or Kmart?
Yes, there are times when one brand proves its worth. But the herd mentality of Americans is more than enough to result in higher prices whether or not the premium is deserved.
Heck, Mercury came in #2 behind just Lexus in JD Power's dependability survey this year. They were also listed as the most underappreciated auto brand in an earlier study...
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