This is in response to a mildly interesting article over at Pajamas Media: Driven a Ford Lately? Not if You’re Boycotting

Not much attention has been paid to the fact that the American Family Association’s boycott of Ford for taking a pro-gay rights position has contributed to the automaker’s mounting financial woes, contends Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog. With the company on the brink, some shareholders are asking whether political correctness is worth the price.

I’ll tell you why I don’t drive a Ford - it’s because they’re terrible. I had a friend of mine whose entire family, himself included, was a big fan of Fords. They all got Tauruses - not the super-popular first generation ones but the weird looking third generation ones with the strange headlamps. All of them were automatics. Lo and behold, each and every one of them at roughly 70,000 miles needed a new transmission. Now, granted, the plural of anecdotes is not data, but that level of reliability didn’t endear me to the brand. Plus, to be frank, I just don’t like the styling of their cars. They look boring. As for their trucks, I hear they’re great - another friend of mine swears by them - but I just don’t see myself getting one. Meanwhile, another friend of mine got a Ford Focus. She loves it as long as she doesn’t have to go uphill or anything.

Meanwhile, I know a lot of people that have purchased GM products and, though they may not have loved them, at least respected them a little. My significant other has an ‘03 Malibu with over 100,000 miles on it. The engine is still impressively sound. The interior is falling apart, but that’s manageable - it’s a heck of a lot easier and cheaper to repair or ignore an interior than it is to repair or ignore a transmission or engine problem. Her dad has a GMC truck with over 200,000 miles on it that still runs well, which has not been unusual in my experience. My old ‘90 Lumina ran quite well (albeit with a dated and deteriorating interior) until I drove it into a wall. The biggest problem I’ve seen with GM is that their cars frequently eat brake rotors for some reason (happened to my Lumina, happens to my SO’s Malibu) and their interiors disintegrate within 10 years. So, I’d sooner buy a GM product than a Ford product - I can deal with a poor interior a heck of a lot better than I can deal with a poor drivetrain.

Of course, I’m not a GM guy. I’m a Dodge guy. In my experience, they run about as well as most GMs, with a few caveats. First, the interiors seem to hold up a little better with age (not much better, mind you, but better enough for my taste). Second, you have to keep your eyes on the oil level - I don’t know why, but it seems Chrysler’s gaskets run a little thin. Thirdly, the Chrysler products I’ve dealt with are much easier to work on and much more intuitive than comparable Ford or GM products that I’ve seen. I don’t know why - maybe it’s because the first car I seriously worked on was a Dodge Shadow. It might just be a familiarity thing. That said, the number of tools I’ve needed to keep the old Shadow going or my current Dakota in one piece is much, much less than I’ve needed for Ford or GM products I’ve dealt with. Maybe I’ve just been lucky on that front. My fondness for Dodge is certainly not hurt by their pitiful resale value - when you shop used like I do, it’s a godsend.

What about the imports, you ask? I’ll tell you - I’m poor, and buy most of my vehicles used. Buying a used Honda for $10,000 with 180,000 miles on it is not my idea of a “bargain”. Buying a similarly aged Dodge in the same class for half that with half the number of miles, on the other hand… well, now we’re getting somewhere. I don’t care who makes the car, unless the engine says “diesel” on it somewhere, I’m not trusting it past 200,000 miles. I can’t - I have a 300 mile drive in each direction to visit my son, so I need an engine that still has a little life in it. I understand why the imports have better resale values - they’re better cars. I’m okay with that. I just don’t have the money to go there and, frankly, though the domestics may not be quite as flashy, they do get the job done as long as you stay on top of your maintenance. To each their own, I guess.

Anyways, if Ford wants my business, here’s what I need to see from them:

1. Build an interesting car. I understand your customers are generally conservative, but you’re not going to get me by selling cars that look like cheap knockoffs of last decade’s Toyotas and Hondas.
2. This really goes out to all of Detroit, actually - stop treating your subcompacts as second-class citizens. Does it look like Toyota takes the day off when they design or build the Corolla? The Focus was actually a decent car… over six years ago. To Ford’s credit, they’re the one of the Big Three to actually produce a halfway decent small car in the past five years - the Aveo is an econobox at its econo-ist, and don’t even get me started on the Caliber.
3. Please go a few years without a major recall or without your customers complaining because ${RANDOM_EXPENSIVE_PART} keeps going out prematurely.

That’s all. That’s really all I’m looking for at this point.

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