Why not Ford
 

If Henry Ford was the first person to build a car, why is Ford not the best and best selling car of all time ?

RE: Why not Ford
 

because first doesn't always mean best.. Most of the time the original creator introduces an idea that others improve upon, and this is how the object develops.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Henry Ford didn't invent the car, just the assembly line concept of production. There were many cars developed and sold to the public prior to the model T

RE: Why not Ford
 

ford was in support of the nazi programme...

RE: Why not Ford
 

Actually, I had always heard that the Duryea Brothers (France? I'm not sure) built the first usable car... a horseless carriage, but that Daimler built the first production car, though only a small number of them. The tiller car had a single cylinder engine w/roughly5-8hp on a good day.

RE: Why not Ford
 

because the japanese took over. i mean look at now. what do you see in dealerships. GM Dodge and Ford Trucks suvs vans ETC in the used dealerships. you will find seldom imports because they are all sold. i saw an 06 prius being sold for 27000 for god sakes. next day somebody bought it! its because generally no japanese car will go above a 6 cyl and most of them are 4 cyl. this is why the auotomotive industry is going down. which is actually not good for me because i inspect automotive parts for these companies. Back in the day when gas didnt matter honda toyota and mazda were barely out there. they had some cars but not as many as the domestics. but when gas prices started going up people got smarter and decided to buy foreign. which is why there is now many closures and strikes due to plants closing down. i mean look at the GM plant in oshawa. first about a half a year ago about 1100 people lost their jobs. now they close the plants. people are starting to realize that they are having to look for new jobs sooner or later because foreign vehicles are taking over due to their fuel effiency and their higher reliablity then domestic. think about it nowadays used dealerships basically give you money to take the vehicles. and dodge has that 2.99 a gallon in the United States. its all about economy and with it being how it is everyone switches over to the more effienct position. as have most of us on this forum (except for siber express with his f-150)

RE: Why not Ford
 

^ ^ *What the heck was that all about??*^ ^

RE: Why not Ford
 

Jamie's maybe upset cause even "we" (with four bangers) are starting to feel the crunch at the pumps. 1.35a litre now.[:o]

Back on topic.

I remember this about Henry. "You can have any color you want, as long as it's black".
Wonder when they started using different colors. Vg1 - Wern't you there when that happend? :eek: Just kidding.................

RE: Why not Ford
 

Actually Jaimie, if I had not bought the Mazda, it would cost me less to drive the F150 back and forth to work than it does right now with the 3.
You figure car payment, insurance on the 2nd car and itis more than the gas for the truck.
Now the 6500 dollar to replace paint job is the main reason the truck moved into the garage. driving a more economic vehicle is just because I liked the M3 [8D]

As For Ford, for a domestic vehicle, I would own nothing else, but even my F150 is an Import, it was made in Canada LOL.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Thanks for your feedback guys. Everything that has been said so far makes sense.
I have asked myself this question about Ford a few times and I have just decided to put the question out in the open. Also owned a Ford in the past and it was an okay car ! The other manufactures are just doing a bit better (in my opinion).

Look at Mazda, they really build value for money cars, I would rather buy a New Mazda 6 before I buy a BMW 3 series just because the Mazda has the same features and even more for less ! :)

RE: Why not Ford
 

plus i stated my own opinion and i actually thought it was quite intelligent aha. but no people moving to japanese and ford gm and dalmer chrysler is hurtin from it

RE: Why not Ford
 

Nice. VERYYY nice.
What are you picking on us old guys for?Y'know, you'll be where I'm at some day, then the foot will be on the other hand. :D:D:D
;)

Right. Henry is often touted for using that phrase as a selling tool. But, do you know when and why that phrase was coined?

When the Model T was first in production on a small scale they offered a number of different colors.A nice hunter green, yellow, beige, brown and a whole host ofothers.Basically you COULD get it in whatever color you wanted. All you had to do was order it from the DuPont color catalog. It's the early "T's" that originally were produced in different colors, largely made-to-order as I understand it.

But as Ford got into the whole production line process era, it was decided that they could speed up the line and reduce costs both to manufacture the car,and also to potential buyers by only offering one std finish and one std cost. And Dupont #99, gloss black was born. (No, not really.)
I believe that would've been around 1915, iirc?

RE: Why not Ford
 

Chrysler has been dying ever since they were sold a few years back.

Ford has been run by fools the past 25 years.

GM makes multiple cars from the same chassis.

Eventually, I think, Chrysler will die. Ford will live on as an icon, though who knows how big their market will be in America. GM is such a large conglomerate that it's hard to imagine a total collapse, especially with the success of Cadillac, Saturn, and Chevrolet recently. What GM needs is a condensing...e.g. Buick and Cadillac. Why are there two "luxury" segments within the same group? Saturn and Chevrolet: does Saturn even have anything exclusive anymore? Just the Astra. Pontiac...another stagnant name.

RE: Why not Ford
 

you would say gm is the best HAHA. just kidding but your right. however as my job is to inspect parts for GM vehicles i noticed since the gas prices have been going up my own work has been slowing down incredibly

RE: Why not Ford
 

I just bought a Saturn Sky Redline back in March and I think I've been the only customer they've had since. No one's buying a car these days.

RE: Why not Ford
 

They Rust too much?

RE: Why not Ford
 

well see i got laid off. so f**k ford and all of them.

RE: Why not Ford
 

WHEN??
So what now? You recently lost your w/e job at the airport too, right?
What a string of bad luck, Man. "Sorry for you.

Just to add insult toinjury, the ad at the bottom of the pageis for Ford"s website. [:'(]What irony.

RE: Why not Ford
 

No offense to all you domestic lovers out there, but I HATE domestic vehicles - for the most part because they are ugly and unreliable.

My father has always been a ford guy, and his fords have given him nothing but trouble and cost him a fortune in repairs. I have always driven imports:

'79 Datsun 280zx, owned about a year (replaced alternator)
'72 Datsun 240z, owned about 6 months (replaced starter)
'86 VW Golf, owned about 4 years (replaced valve cover gasket at 350,000 kms. Sold car at 420,000 kms)
'96 Honda Civic, owned about 2 years (replaced window crank)
'07 VW GTI, owned 2 years (no problems)
'08 Mazda 5, owned since April 2008 (gas cap seized - dealer replaced on warranty)

These cars gave me little to no grief in regards to repairs.

- I like the design of the ford trucks, and like driving them, but just don't trust the reliability. Don't like cars at all.
- Dislike the entire dodge family
- Don't care for GM styling inside or out for the majority of vehicles, havent driven them much though

In Short, IMO, Import Cars are better cause Domestics suck. :)

There is my little blabber.

P.S. One thing that worried me about buying my Mazda 5 is the fact that some of the guts are FORD - fingers are crossed that this doesnt prove to be a problem in the future.

RE: Why not Ford
 

My wife and I tend to buy imported cars not because they're more reliable, but because we prefer sporty sedans with manual transmissions. That said, two of our last three new cars have been Dodge Grand Caravans. Why? Growing family. That said, we kept the 1998 over ten year and drove it some170,000 miles in the process. Through it all, the only unscheduled repairs that I needed to make on it were the Nippon Denso starter (112,000 miles), headlight bulbs (twice), a dome light/door plunger switch (80,000 miles), a power window regulator (150,000 miles), a single tie-rod end (165,000 miles),and the muffler and tailpipe (165,000 miles).

As for our 2003, it now has some 116,000 (and counting) miles on it, and the only unscheduled repairs have been an ABS sensor for one of the front wheels (65,000 miles), front sway bar bushings (80,000 miles), and a power door motor (110,000).

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but those suckers sound pretty reliable to my ears. :D

RE: Why not Ford
 

im currently out of aj ob. because nobody realizes that people do have stuff to pay for but would rather save money. then spend it. its gonna bite em int he ass and i hope they go bankrupt. i really do.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Just the POS Astra, thats for sure...which they can't even sell. Since I work for Saturn I wanna say that I think they will be fine and keep selling...but the quality is so much less than in the beginning years for Saturns...the loyal customer base of earlier years is starting to turn against it for SURE...Kinda sucks. Customers here came back for years to keep buying a new saturn...now....not so much! :(

RE: Why not Ford
 

I am sick of seeing these huge corporations that make profit but not as much as planned, so they start laying people off. its a total joke.

"Oh No, we only made $100,000,000 profit this year, thats not good enough, quick, can 1,000 employees!"

What the hell is wrong with these companies - and in the mean time the execs make millions each year. What a joke.

RE: Why not Ford
 

thats why im out of a job. screw it. im going back to college.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Nice to see you back on the forums. :) I'm leaning towards the Cobalt now.

RE: Why not Ford
 

In a perfect world they would get theirs, as the saying goes, butthese things have been happening since the beginning ofthe human race. I don"t think it"s going to change now.
In a perfect world CEO's, COO"s, CFO"sand BOD"s would not make 10,000,000 times what the average laborer does, but that ain"t-a gonna happen either.
I have run into those people that make lots of money while others do the work for them, andin their minds they are perfectlyjustifiedto dothat. I never understood that elitist thinking and I never will.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Ah, here they go again.... ;) :D:D:D

I"m just messin' w/y'all.

VERY nice to see you back again, zoomzoom6chick.

RE: Why not Ford
 

cobalts are alright. if you think about it. they are just beefed up cavaliers. and i hateeeeeeeeee cavaliers. they have the 2.2 ecotec engine in it too. and the cobalt SS has the 2.4 z24 cavalier engine in it with a supercharger. if your looking for a cobalt you may as well buy a mazda3 its around the same price range

RE: Why not Ford
 

To me is more like if you take care of the car, the car will take care of you. Yea Japanese cars is more reliable than domestic or european cars in general, but not always. If I were to need a truck, I will buy Ford F-150 over any of the Japanese truck. I am sorry to say this, Japanese are just not good at making truck period. Their pickup trucks are sad, either not enough power to do the job for small pickup, or the bigger ones don't perform as well as the americans ones. For cars, hehe I will buy Japanese cars anyday, simply domestic makers are not that good at economical cars. For luxury, then is kind of tough to decide between Japanese and European, it all depends on my budget, and which luxury car looks the nicest to me when I m in the market.for one. We all have our own reasons to type of cars we like. As for me, economical cars, Mazda all the way, Luxury car, I like Acura, though if BMW is not too expensive, I like them too! For pickup truck, haha, Ford all the way for me. And one thing though, I hate Toyota and Lexus with a passion. Toyota to me is called based on a name brand from a few decades ago. Just like Sony and electronics, but Sony is not always the best, in fact these days there are a lot better ones than Sony. Toyota is like Sony for electronic, overprice, extremely extremly boring to drive not to mention UGLY! Lexus, although is not overprice compare to european luxury, but compare to european luxury performance, it is sad....no power. Only thing good about it is extremely comfortable and quiet for a cheaper price. Although I pick Acura over it cuz Acura is still cheaper and better performance than Lexus. Also did I mention, not as BORING!! Seriously though, I think Toyota and Lexus are just as bad as the domestic cars when it comes to car styling. Super boring

RE: Why not Ford
 

Time to educate Jaimie once again. [8D]

The standard Cobalts have the 2.2, yeah. It's a block that's been around a long time, definitely reliable with plenty of low-end grunt. However, the Cobalt SS does NOT have a 2.4, nor is it supercharged. Here's the deal:

In '05, the Cobalt SS was introduced - an inline 2.0 SC making about 205HP/TQ. Chevy would sell/install up to three kits (pulleys, larger SC, etc.) to bring the power over 300HP/TQ. Now, up till '07 they continued with the SC SS; however, they also used the "SS Sport" badge on certain Cobalts - those are the ones with a variant of the Z24. They're all motor though.

'08 rolled around, and the SS became exclusively FI once more, but this time it was done right - 2.0T making 260HP/TQ. There's nothing in the price range that could touch the Cobalt SS, to be honest - and don't say the MS3. Yes, the MS3 is quicker, but it's also gonna run you close to 30K, no? The Cobalt SS gets to you for about 22K.

You gotta appreciate the value for money this thing delivers.

RE: Why not Ford
 

2009 Cobalt SS







Color[/align]







[ul][*]Imperial Blue Metallic[/ul]
$0


[ul][*]Ebony/Ebony, Premium Cloth with UltraLux inserts[/ul]
$0[/align]


Mechanical[/align]







[ul][*]Engine, ECOTEC Turbo 2.0L, Variable Valve Timing DOHC 4-cylinder DI (260 hp [193.9 kW] @ 5300 rpm, 260 lb-ft of torque [351.0 N-m] @ 2000 rpm)[/ul]
$0


[ul][*]Transmission, 5-speed manual, Includes 3.84 axle ratio.[/ul]
$0


[ul][*]Differential, StabilityTrack Electronic Stability Control System[/ul]
$495[/align]


Exterior[/align]







[ul][*]Spoiler, Rear, body-color[/ul]
$150


[ul][*]Spare tire and wheel, Not desired, tire sealant and inflator kit in place of spare tire[/ul]
$0[/align]


Interior[/align]







[ul][*]Seats, Front bucket, Premium Cloth with UltraLux, with SS embroidery, color-keyed accents, manual recliners, adjustable outboard head restraints, front passenger seatback map pocket and rear 60/40 split-bench with trunk pass-through[/ul]
$0[/align]


Audio[/align]







[ul][*]Audio System, AM/FM stereo with CD player and MP3 playback, seek-and-scan, digital clock, auto-tone control, Radio Data System, automatic volume, TheftLock, auxiliary input jack and 36 cross-band presets.[/ul]
$0[/align][/align]$24,740

MazdaSpeed 3
MAZDASPEED3 Sport Model

Destination Fee [/align]$22,740

$670

[/align][/align]
263-hp 2.3L DOHC 16-valve inline 4-cylinder

[/align]Standard

[/align][/align]
Front-Wheel Drive

6-Spd Manual [/align]Standard

Standard [/align][/align]http://images.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/i...d_packages.gif[/align]http://images.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/i..._summ_edit.gif[/align][/align][/align][/align]No packages or options selected.[/align]
MS3 looks like a better deal to me, and it looks so much better [8D]

RE: Why not Ford
 

Aesthetics are subjective. The MS3 is cheaper than I thought...I must have gotten the 28K range from the MS6?

The way I equip them, they both come out to about 23K (no stability control on the SS...who needs that besides fools?). I wouldn't go for the big spoiler either (it's ostentatious) - the standard one is much better.

Fuel Economy:

Cobalt SS: 22/30
MS3: 18/26.

At least the SS has that.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Also, Edmunds recorded 0-60 times:

MS3: 5.9
Cobalt SS: 5.8

It's an interesting choice between the two, though they do prefer the MS3. And FWIW, they picked the MS3 over the WRX and Lancer Ralliart as well.

RE: Why not Ford
 

plus whose gonna have a better resale value.. the ms3. the cobalt is gonna go for a **** in a few years guaranteed in a resale market. thats a huge thing to consider.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Actually I put the Wing and Stability control on to even it out, since the MS3 has a wing and the stability control from the factory.

RE: Why not Ford
 

Petroxg - You talk about Sony - I have to disagree - they have come waaay down hill over the years. I own nothing sony. My preferences are:

TV: Sharp (Aquos)
Stereo: (Pioneer Elite, or Denon)
DVD: Pioneer
Home Speakers: Paradigm (Canadian Company Too! :))
Laptops: Toshiba
Car Audo: really like Pioneer Premier, or Eclipse

Just my 2 cents (Good thing this thread is "off topic")

RE: Why not Ford
 

Actually I do argree with u. I guess u kind of misunderstood me. I am saying sony used to be the nicestand most realiableelectronics but not as good anymore but still overprice based on the pass brand name reputation. And I am saying Toyota is following that same trend as sony for electronics. Right now toyota is not bad yet, but they are going downhill slowly, but still overpriced. Example, toyota corolla the newest redesigned ones. I have heard nothing but bad reviews about it, even from ppl that used to like them says they have lost the touch for small economical compact cars. I mean even Hyundai Elantra got better reviews than corolla, how sad is that? And they still charge high price like other Japanese cars. Sound like Sony gone downhill and still charge high? I think it does.

RE: Why not Ford
 

The Cobalt actually has a wing from the factory as well...the option they list is for the larger, more ostentatious wing. You've got me on the SM though. FWIW, most people wouldn't even give the Cobalt SS a second glance...I happen to like the styling. Tell you what Siber, I'll sit in both at the auto show when it comes to the Javits Center and give a first impression of them both.

RE: Why not Ford
 

COBALT SS=SUCKS MAZDASPEED3= AWESOME. end of story:D plus when it comes to selling it whose gonna get more, the cobalt owner or the mazdaspeed owner. guaranteed the mazdaspeed owner by a long shot.

RE: Why not Ford
 

If you're buying a performance car based on the selling figure, you're buying the wrong car.

Besides, would you buy a secondhand car that's modded? I know I wouldn't.