The last three Fords we had were a ‘79 Crown Vic, a ‘8? Fiesta and a ‘99 Escort ZX. I bought the Fiesta from a friend, it was a totaled retitled car, got the frame straightened and drove it into the ground. Totally unsafe tin can, but it would go 100 mph and still get 40 plus MPG.
The Crown Vic — a very reliable boat of a car — I junked after it killed its third deer. The Escort I sold last year to a family from the very poor counties upstate PA — they traveled 11 hours round-trip to buy it. No stock of used cars up that way. One of my sons had bought it at Virginia auction and I had to replace clutch and axles on it. That also went very fast and got 31 MPG. The Escort and the Fiesta are Jap/Korean models relabeled Ford.
I have been keep very detailed records of our cars over the past five years or so. In 33K miles of usage the Escort cost us 18 cents a mile, not including insurance and fuel. We had a GMAC Town and Country that cost us 25 cents a mile over 64k miles of use, same basis.
On our three Toyotas, I’m estimating two of them will end up under 12 cents a mile, and the other — I’m hoping we can get it under 15 in three years. That is an 89 4Runner that needed major cancer refab of fenders, The Ford equivalent is the Bronco. It’s a rare model of an 4WD SUV/pickup, and we have gotten offers for it out of the blue a number of times.
We’ve never had any acceleration problems with any of them.
I have had cars with stuck accelerators — older VWs where the accelerator cable rust could cause the pedal to stick down. That was many years ago. Just shifted them into neutral, no problem.
My wife and I usually do a whole lot of research before we buy a car. What we found is that the Toyotas have a proven quality that holds up over many years. Every independent mechanic I deal with says the same thing.
Fortunately for us, not everyone aggress and that is all we need. Just a chink in the Armour and I guess I have Obama to thank eh?!?!?! Hmmmmmm and I thought he was worthless.
Thanks Pres for dragging Toyota to court so all could hear about their warts. Now could you quite screwing up the rest of the country. Oh and why did you let them participate in the cash for clunkers? It was already a terrible idea.
Chad