Posted on 11/09/2006 1:20:48 PM PST by eraser2005
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Ford Fusion midsized car and its Mercury Milan sibling scored big in Consumer Reports' annual new car reliability survey, just beating out the industry's quality standard-bearers, the Honda Accord V6 and Toyota Camry V6.
But, overall, Japanese brands are still the ones to beat. Of the 47 vehicles with the highest predicted reliability, 39 are Japanese. Of those, all but seven are made by Toyota or Honda.
American cars are continuing to improve in reliability, however, according to Consumer Reports' surveys.
The "predicted reliability" rankings appear in the 2007 New Car Preview issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
i have a f150 that runs like a top.
its all about care...changing oil, tires, basically taking care of yo stuff!
"and someone needs to put the Crown Vic out of it's misery".
Not Nice--Chevy put Caprice out of it's misery and where did it get them in the fleet/taxi/police market? The lil' impala? Just not enough car for the money. Not enough power.
Crown Vic's go for UNDER 20K right now, new. Even if you count them as outdated tech, they are VERY reliable over time and survivable in a crash. And they outclass just about everything if you take their pricetag into account.
If you want flashy, like a new Charger, it costs. The Vic keeps me out of a #$%^&* mini-van.
My neighbor has a 15 year old honda (civic?) which now has about 270k miles on it. Regular oil changes and an occational set of plugs have been all that the engine has gotten! In the meantime, they've also had a chrysler van and a ford van which didn't even make 100k without transmission replacements and various other fairly major repair items!
It's called the Ford Falcon, and we need it here *now*.
Ford Fairlane:
Ford LTD:
The Australians make better "American cars" than we do. 6 speed automatic, RWD, IRS, your choice of an I6 or V8, both of which are more powerful than the anemic 4.6L in the CV. http://www.ford.com.au/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1137384227751&pagename=FOA%2FDFYPage%2FDefault1024&c=DFYPage
Darts came with 'em all.
Slant 6, 318, GT models came with the 340, 383 (with a smattering of 440s) and, in '74 only, a 360.
And I don't know where you got your information, but a boat anchor a 383 ain't. It's a big bloc with a short stroke. It winds up like a small block. The bigger motors might get it on the top end, but a 383 can match almost any of them in a stoplight race.
Mopar built a handfull of Hemi Darts and Barracudas to compete in drag racing. They weren't made for the street.
Where did you get that info? I believe it is on the CD2 platform - which was not based off the platform the Mondeo rides on, but rather the old Mazda 626 platform....
That's right - NEVER neglect changing a timing belt....
I had to fork over the dough for that on my Camry. Fortunately the Taurus uses a timing chain. Not only that, but it doesn't even have tensioners or guides to go bad. :)
they also had a 170 slant six too
A friend of mine, who tracks all things Contour/Mondeo. I'll go check that, though - as we all know that 'stuff we heard from a buddy' isn't always reliable.
OK, per Wikipedia, the Escape *is* on the CD2 platform. I type corrected.
It doesn't matter. The engine is not an "interference" type engine. The valves will not interfere with the piston even if the belt breaks. If it breaks the engine will simply stop running and your only cost will be the cost of a new belt (and maybe a tow). With other "interference" type engines, if the timing belt breaks you will suffer multi-thousand dollar damages when the pistons crash into the valves. Not so with the Corolla.
But we also know not all things on Wikipedia are completely accurate... :)
(of course, its generally pretty good, though)
That photo proves nothing. Do you have any statistics on FI fires in the BMW?
BTW, That is an old BMW. I wonder how many shady mechanics worked on it prior to the fire?
That was mostly a joke...
That said, BMW *has* been having FI problems of late, especially with the Valvetronic engines if memory serves. Just check any BMW forum for late models. (I recently owned a 750iL, and it had issues.) Try searching bimmerforums.com for "fuel injection problems".
Just yesterday on my way home from work I passed a disabled Nissan Armada on the side of the road. It was relatively new and the hood was up and three people were standing there gazing and scratching their heads.
We helped my daughter buy a 96 Geo Prizm (Corolla) 5 years ago with an easy 141,000 miles on it; I serviced it every 3,000 miles right up until I did a full timing belt service and sent her off to Va. Beach last year.
She sold it to a member of her husband's family and they are still driving it every day with close to 260,000 on it now.
She wishes she had it back since her Eclipse got eclipsed at an intersection and she has been without a replacement car.
A new baby (her first) is due Monday and now she wants another SUV like her husband's or maybe a van because of the baby.
Babies are expensive enough without having to have their own cars at birth.
It must have been a hundred years ago that I drove my wife home with our newborn son on her lap in our 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix with four speed transmission and Tri-Power.
Her baby will be riding home in a $300.00 "Travel System" that locks into place in the Trailblazer, courtesy of GM designers and the ever-busy social engineers of traffic safety.
Such is progress.
Looks like somebody got a little carried away with the "Hillbilly Chrome" on the wheels, there.
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