Never Buy an Introductory Year Ford Product

[lifer@writeme.com]

I have spent many hours and days perusing the postings on this forum and find it enjoyable. I also have owned Lincolns since my first beast of a Continental in 1971 (460 CU IN and a ride like a cloud). I have found a running thread for the Lincoln LS that is representative of the Form Motor Company and especially to the Lincoln Division. You can look back historically at many other models and see this same trend. --- You don’t ever want buy a Ford Product the first year or two (or more) after introduction. As an example, look at the fixes, upgrades, improvements, and mods between the 2000-2002 and 2003-2006 Lincoln LS. Look back at the 1995-1997 Continental. I had a 2000 and it was a superior car to the early ones. OK, and now we have the Lincoln Zephyr (an "Edsel" in high –class dressing) and they make it an MKZ (oops?).
I would like to entertain the new Lincoln MKX for a purchase, as I have looked at it and found it to be a really sharp vehicle on first inspection. I don’t know what is potentially wrong with it, but based on the past, “lots.” But, if I wait two years for the 2009, how much better will it be, considering I will hold on to it 5 years. Of course, my real first question here is, will it have a strong engine offered?
FOMOCO had better start looking at what it puts out as a product to the buying public if it wants to survive. This conversation can go many ways in the same vein if we discuss the Asian and European cars, but, none turn out such introductory junk and take so long to finally field a decent version as Ford.

 

[NateRW21]

Keep in mind that this is true for most models... wait a year or two till the bugs get ironed out!

 

[northstar11]

I think you will find that in the last 4 years the american market has really tightened up. It used to be that ford and GM were sitting high and dry on top of the auto market, and could perdy much put out any kind or quality of vehicle they wanted. This is escpecialy true for the late 90's and early 00's. This could be part of the reason for the corporations downfall. However, in the last 4 years, with auto makers like Toyota, Honda, and VW really steping it up, its forcing the "big guys" to really buckle down. Look at the ford fusion. This car was one of the ones built under the crunch, and so far, is doing great for them. So I would feel perdy good about any of lincolns new producion line. The Ford company is in some deep financial waters, and they cant aford another bad vehicle, so I believe the level of quality has come up a bit. My 2 cents

 

[eastcoastLS]

I think you will find that in the last 4 years the american market has really tightened up. It used to be that ford and GM were sitting high and dry on top of the auto market, and could perdy much put out any kind or quality of vehicle they wanted. This is escpecialy true for the late 90's and early 00's. This could be part of the reason for the corporations downfall. However, in the last 4 years, with auto makers like Toyota, Honda, and VW really steping it up, its forcing the "big guys" to really buckle down. Look at the ford fusion. This car was one of the ones built under the crunch, and so far, is doing great for them. So I would feel perdy good about any of lincolns new producion line. The Ford company is in some deep financial waters, and they cant aford another bad vehicle, so I believe the level of quality has come up a bit. My 2 cents

+1

 

[LS4me]

I think you will find that in the last 4 years the american market has really tightened up. It used to be that ford and GM were sitting high and dry on top of the auto market, and could perdy much put out any kind or quality of vehicle they wanted. This is escpecialy true for the late 90's and early 00's. This could be part of the reason for the corporations downfall. However, in the last 4 years, with auto makers like Toyota, Honda, and VW really steping it up, its forcing the "big guys" to really buckle down. Look at the ford fusion. This car was one of the ones built under the crunch, and so far, is doing great for them. So I would feel perdy good about any of lincolns new producion line. The Ford company is in some deep financial waters, and they cant aford another bad vehicle, so I believe the level of quality has come up a bit. My 2 cents

This goes much further back than the late 90's. The Big 3 have been chasing Honda and Toyota since the mid to late 70's. The problem with those early Honda's and Toyota's were they rusted out in a few short years. They have since fixed that problem. The '79 Mustang was a big piece of crap. It was a rattle trap from the lot! The 90's and on were a benchmark of Big 3 quality. I'll put the quality of my 2000 LS against any domestic car from the early 80's. Who restored quality to Jaguar? It was Ford. That was the mid-90's.

My Dad told me in the mid-70's never to buy a first year vehicle, from any manufacturer. I figured his bias was due to his experience with 50's and 60's vehicles. I bought a first year Sable (1986) and got 50K trouble free miles before I bought a 1991 Sable (175K miles on that one). I bought a first year LS (2000) and have had very little trouble. It is better than the '82 K-car (Chry LeBaron) we had. It has had 1 recall. Excellent for a first year model. TSBs don't count as they reference everything from how to do a repair to what type of grease to use.

Fords problem is product, or lack there-of. That and the Firestone debacle. Ford has spent too much $$$ on truck and SUV development and not enough on cars. besides what jaguar and AM are costing them!

 

[402777LS]

Dude, you need to massage your birthday in your profile (LS4ME).

 

[LS4me]

Dude, you need to massage your birthday in your profile (LS4ME).

I never post my real birthday anywhere. Too much identity theft out there.