Yeah but at what cost? Sending jobs overseas? Spending more money on part and product development? Spending more time on labor?
Its no doubt competition is tight, but its not like they are purposely avoiding building quality cars. This was the best they could do for now with the markets conditions and their effort to stay competitive.
Anecdotal evidence can eat my ass. 
Also didn’t have $40k for a Toureg. 
Ever hear of “Any port in a storm”?
I agree with you on that one a friend of mine just got a 08 cobalt ss turbo and I love the shit out of the thing for what it is it pulls like a freight train its almost comparable to my 5.0. and id love to have one but i think the interior is :io:mehh, I mean the car has nasty breaks handles great and the shifter is smooth if i could transplant the interior out of a gti or cooper s into it id buy one in a heart beat but untill the exterior design gets above bla and the interor improves i wouldnt really consider a ss. and like you said its not like they cant do it they just dont care.
Not in this case, you think all the oldies hanging on to “buy American” would be happy to buy after they hear 95% of the car has been outsourced. How long would it even take to earn buyers trust back after the last 20 years of shit produced?
The answer is not just simply “make better cars GM,” although, I do agree it is something the better start doing and quick.
Smith ford on transit tried to sell me a 25k Fusin w/ 3500 in incentives… ;
wasn’t even AWD…
Fuck, 13k… I would have bought 2.
They are damn nice cars.
FYI, Ford didn’t take gov loans because just a year ago… they pretty much took out a huge ass line of credit from banks.
Had to know this thread was going to turn ugly…
Haha, I would call this civil so far.
haha, say what you will, but you and your wife both drive imports for a reason(even though the mazda is probably just a ford underneath it all).
I do think a lot of people out there hate for no reason. I think the only legitimate reason for hating on imports is the old fashioned people that like to support the US Union workers.
meh, ford’s entire company is currently mortgaged and they are living on borrowed cash. I wouldnt say they are in great shape either.
I know this may sound stupid, but, where can you get a Ford Focus AWD with 250 HP?
Buy one thats 1-2 years old and save yourself $12k
SVT still makes the Shelby technically.
but Ford also has a huge backing from people like Jack Roush, Steve Saleen…etc to make a mustang more of a specialty car that otherwise wont be produced. so its outsourced but its still a Ford.
Chevy on the other hand doesn’t have that kind of backing for someone to step up and make the ZR-1.
just my .02
Steve Saleen doesn’t own saleen anymore
i don’t like many of the newer ford models, in fact i dont really like any.
although it’s not the greatest quality of vehicle, i absolutely love the interiors in the last gen explorer/expedition/excursion models
as far as GM interiors, the new malibu’s interior is very nice, the LT/SS Leather impala’s are pretty nice. pretty much anything non-leather made by GM sucks.
I Worked at a chevy dealer and i loved just sitting in the tahoe’s, TBSS’s, and trucks that were leather option, they are VERY comfortable to drive in. obviously a cobalt’s interior is going to suck because it’s a fuckin 12k car, the SS’s aren’t that “bad” either, they just have way too much of a sterile feel to them
the only thing i have liked that ford has produced would be their trucks, which like i stated i do not like anymore…and the Ford GT i like 
you obviously arent going to get a 50,000$ BMW interior in your 20,000$ ford fusion, it’s just not possible.
as far as import “humping”, you can comfortably buy a reasonably priced honda/toyota with high miles and generally not have to worry about anything
i wouldn’t buy a domestic car used with high miles (160k+), but if i were to buy one new, i would feel comfortable with driving it that long because i know i would take care of it, which is basically what it comes down to.
Having dealt with the general public for the past 4 years in the automotive industry, there has been quite a change.
Toyota/foreign customers have a much different mindset than those who purchase domestics. Not to mention that, they are completely loyal to the product. Once someone purchases a Toyota product, its almost a complete certainty that they will be back again. The second time around, its less about price and more about actually buying the car they want and couldn’t afford the last time (leather, nav, color etc.).
We have a large turnover from GM and Chrysler. We also see a large number of GM retirees purchasing cars, hoping to get 10 or 15 years out of them.
Up until recently, when I was asked what I drove…and I’d respond with “Dodge and Ford”, the reaction was the same every time. Confusion, disgust and general distaste.
“They let you drive those and work here?”
“When are you going to buy a Toyota?”
“Ugh, I will never buy another American car as long as I live”
“Haha! You’re kidding me!”
Which would segway into a story about a bad experience with a domestic brand. Generally, you tend to hear good domestic stories when its about a truck.
My whole point being… sadly even though the big 3 are struggling to get back on top, I hardly doubt it will ever happen. Too much damage has been done.
I find it hard to believe that someone who had a domestic product that purchased a Toyota is ever going back. Infact, I find it near-impossible. Maybe it will stop when people’s mechanics stop telling them to buy a Toyota or Honda.
I just find it hard to believe that someone is going to trust the big 3 ever again with the second biggest purchase in their lives after having the luck and satisfaction of a foreign product.
This isn’t a domestic bash, for my Explorer wasn’t a horrible truck and my Dodge was generally reliable. They just weren’t the build quality of my Toyota. Hopefully my Toyota won’t need wheel bearings by 70k and axle bearings by 80k or have a noisy timing chain, like my Ford.
And I just thought it was neat that Ford was the last one standing. 1907 they introduced the model T, 2008 they’re the only domestic car company not partially owned by the government.
But yeah Chevy sucks and Subaru’s rule. I hear the Mercury Montego is really nice.
I love how people make blanket statements like this because “they heard from people…” It’s never their own actual experience, but just stories, “my friend’s brother’s 3rd cousin had a Ford and she got a flat tire once, all their cars are terrible, buy a civic.”