Actually, European and Japanese cars still have a decided reliability edge over American products. The perfomance and quality gap has tightened to be insignificant, but the reliability difference is still there (though less than before).
Speaking of which, Ford's quality has gone down the toilet in the latest Consumer Reports surveys. Cougar, Focus (really BAD!), Escape, and Windstar are all Much-Worse-Than-Average. Ranger dipped to worse than average. F150 dipped to average. Excursion is worse than average. Taurus/Sable and Crown Vic/Grand Marquis are average, but not as good as they used to be. Only the LS improved from Much-Worse-Than-Average to Average.
If I ran Ford, I'd see a worse-than-average repair index as something that needs immediate attention.
You can pillage an enemy once, but a customer is an endless resource.
James Oerichbauer - PFPC Global Fund Services
Ross: 1998 E0 SVT Contour, Toreador Red, Konis, Superchip, KKM w/heat shield, SHO-shop y-pipe and rear strut brace, no res, ScotchCal, Moda Sport 16x7.5 wheels with 205/55ZR16 Dayton Dayton tires... more
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