I have owned 7 fords and two GM products. I have pent 20 times as much money on the GM products as I have the Fords, and totaled about 10% as much mileage. I do not allow folks with GM products to park them in my Driveway for fear of getting blocked in. I have had 2 ford pick-ups with over 300,000 miles on them both still dependable at that point. The first was a 1970 models 3/4 ton that I bought with just over 250,000 miles on it. It served me well, started and ran consistantly.
I then owned two full size Bronco's, Both 1978 models. One was a Baja edition, the other was Jacked up redneck style and sitting on massive tires. Both were reasonably dependable, and aside from some minor items they served very well also. I traded one for a BMW 530 I and sold the other. I then bought a Chevy Celebrety 1984 model with high mileage. It did well enough, and got me back and forth to work without much frustration. It did give me fits with the electronics, and cost a bit of money on a couple of occasions. I wrote it off as being normal and acceptablefor an older vehicle.
That car got T-boned, and I Bought a 1993 full sized Blazer with 21,000 miles on it. It was beautiful, and very comfortable. The only real problem with it was how fast my shoes wore out walking down the road on a weekly basis. I dumped endless money and time into that truck. All total in 4 years I spent well over 8,000 on repair (most of which I did the labor on, so that number is primarily parts) I then traded it in on a Ford expedition, and took an additional $5,000 hit because it quite simply wasn't worth anything and I still owed.
That Blazer had constant electrical problems which managed to destroy mechanical parts fairly well also. Nothing would last, nothing would work right for more than a few months, and the vehicle could never be counted on for anything.
In 1997 I bought a brand new F-250 and over the next 7.5 years put 328,000 miles on that truck. In that 320,000 miles I spent less than $4,000 dollars in repairs in that time. Last august I bought another new Ford, but went with an F-350 this time. The primary reason I upsized is that the suspension on the previous truck was wearing out after only 328,000 miles and I hope to make the new truck last longer.
My only complaint with Ford is that they have changed their Cruise control system. Ford has always had the most accurate and dependable cruise control on the market, and the new system sucks. Aside from that the new truck is awesome. I have only put 40,000 miles on it since August so I realy can't say how long or how well it will run, but so far so good.
We have also owned a dodge intrepid, and I was not impressed. My wife's Family all owns Chrysler products because My Brother in law works for Chrysler and gets good discounts. They spend unbelieveable amounts of money keeping their vehcles running. I would take Chrysler over GM any Day, but then I'd take Yugo over GM any day as well.
Since owning my Blazer, I have had reccuring dreams that GM would go bankrupt and all of their facilities would be somehow destroyed. I have developed a hatred for them so great that I cannot even watch their commercials on TV, and often avoid Programs that are "sponsored by GM"
It is really simple to put in perspective. Ford and Dodge advertize how tough their vehicles are, GM advertizes aout how good their GM goodwrench mechanics are. One should take heed of those advertizements.
We have also owned 2 toyata's and a honda accord. all three of which were excellent vehicles. It's almost a shame to me that Neither Toyata or Handa makes a Full sized truck capable of heavy duty work. The full sized offering they do have are not in the realm that I need for a work vehicle.
Dave
