Step away from a Ford Contour Forum for a while and come back to reality. While many of you on here are pro "American Car", most of America isn't. Most of America doesn't care if their front of their car has a Blue Oval on it or a Toyota T. They care about reliability, dependability, value, and what they percieve as quality. They'll buy whatever brand gives them these four things.
Ford and GM have screwed themselves once again. They put out such crap in the 80s and early 1990s and let their dealers mistreat customers to the point where the upcoming buyers won't touch a Ford or GM product with a 10 foot pole. Many older buyers they had feel the same way and have since switched to imports and have found great satisfaction with them.
My family falls into the above catergory. After having the Ford dealers treat us like crap since 1991 when we first bought a Ford, and after having to pay high payments to lease cars because a Taurus had a 43% residual value and other cars had similarly low residuals, and after having major recalls and problems with every one of the 20 Ford cars my parents owned, they gave up and will never purchase a Ford agian. Bought Toyotas, Hondas, and Mazdas. The Toyotas have been totally trouble free, the dealer is nice to a fault, and they hold their value so well that the leases are excellent.
Did I mention my Dad was an Engineer for the FORD MOTOR COMPANY?
