Troy, its nice to see that someone is actually concerned with SVT owners and i applaud you for that. But its to late for me.
I ordered a 98 SEv6 5sp back in 97 and just loved that car. I did not have a single problem with it. I wish i would have never traded it in on my 99 SVT tour. I was so happy to get it and loved the looks and "what is it" questions i received from people. But the quality was no where near that of my 98 SE. The tranny sucks, bumper sags, dash warped and loose, many rattles and the wind noise is really bad, and the paint quality is on par with a Yugo. The performance is better some days than others. Oh and dont even ask about dealer service cause i think Kia or Hundyai would be better. I have been to 4 different Ford service depts. and all of them stank. In fact it would be rare if the problem i went in for was fixed the first time or at all.
For a car that cost 23k (i paid 21k and still feel like that i got jacked up) and is a specialty car i would think the service and quality ("quality is job one" is B.S.) would be ALOT better.
Service and quality is very important if you want people to come back and buy another one of your products. When i first bought my SVT tour i felt in a few years i would get the SVT Cobra but that idea was kicked in the garbage. In fact it will take a lot for me to buy another American car again from any of the big 3 so in fact Ford has given all American cars a black eye.
Now i own a USED 98 BMW and the quality and performance after 33k (i have 32k on my 99 SVT tour) is top notch. Not a single squeek or rattle. Oh and the service is awesome. I have been to 3 different dealers and have been treated like a king at all of them. In fact at the last dealer i was treated to a limo ride around town while BMW did my inspection 2 for free and replaced filters, fluids, and spark plugs all for free. A little butt kissing goes along way. I will gladly pay a little more for service and quality and THATS what i thought i was getting when i got a so called "limited production" car.
So now im stuck with a car that the resale value is less than what i owe on the darn thing. Its a tuff seller to anyone who knows about the problems with the car and i sure would not sell it to a coworker or friend. The warranty is about to run out and im sure something major will happen to it soon (waterpump, tranny explosion, oil starvation, etc) that i dont drive it to much. I wont even think of driving it aggressively anymore thats for sure.
Word of mouth goes along way and what i tell people about Ford and SVT isnt helping sell your cars. If i was treated better and the quality was on par with other car makes i would not be here complaining.
And 40 bucks to join SVTCOA is a joke. I pay less than that for BMWCCA and i would gladly pay twice that for it. Lets see SVT raffle off 14 E46 M3s or 10 2000 M5s to its members for 5 bucks a ticket. I could go on but im sure its pointless.
I not blaming you Troy and again i applaud you for coming to here to answer some questions but im just telling it like it is.
To all my fellow CEG members, im sorry if i have upset any of you guys but if you remember i was a loyal supporter of this site (and still think its one of the best groups out there) and the CEG. I loved meeting many of you and having a great time with a great car that just has fallen short of my expectations. I dont think i was asking to much from a 21k car do you?
Eric G. Louisville KY gschomi@aol.com 98 BMW M3/4 cosmos 99 SVT Contour (The steppin stone for a BMW) 84 xj Cherokee "the rock crawler." BMWCCA#188400
