12th Apr 2007, 08:41
17:06 is hilarious!
Who needs statistics when you have "Because I said so" reasoning.
And your safety comment is even funnier. The most unsafe vehicles on the road today are American in origin.
Just compare the UNBIASED NCAP and insurance institute results.
14th Apr 2007, 21:07
Gee, I guess commenter 21:07 failed to note that the reviewer of this Fusion owned a Taurus before getting stuck with the lemon Camry, LOVED it and got 100,000 TROUBLE FREE MILES OUT OF IT. You might want to read his 2006 Camry LE review on the 2006 Camry site. It's entitled "Not a wise decision". Of course it may be hard to find the review among all the other BAD Camry reviews!!
15th Apr 2007, 08:50
Love how you didn't point us to his Taurus review, since it would HARD to find it among all the BAD Taurus reviews for EVERY model year.
15th Apr 2007, 13:42
I just don't get it why fords are always claimed to be unreliable, while the imports are always rated to be reliable. I used to think that was true until I got my hands on a 1995 ford conour 2.0. I have well over 253k on it with the original tranny and engine, and it has some of the best handling out there. My friend with a 2004 accord still could not belive the handling on my car when he drove it. Up to this day he still thinks I have put an aftermaket suspension on my contour, and really the only money I have put on that car was an alternator like 3 years ago. I'm in college and the first thing I am going to buy when I get out is going to be a ford fusion with awd or a sport trac. Gooo ford.
15th Apr 2007, 20:58
Wow, the only Ford Contour with over 200,000 miles. Seems kind of biased. Better handling than a 2004 Accord? Maybe a DX or value package model with a salvage title and Ridgeline wheels stuck into the wheel wells. If you think your Contour drives nice you should come drive my '94 Accord with 255,000 miles. This one actually has its original transmission and engine. Are you really sure about your Contours mechanicals? I saw a sweet old lady the other day driving a Contour and it was running on 2-3 cylinders and sounded pretty sexy. I was surprised she could even drive it, but hey, this old lady does not need to go over 25 miles per hour.
16th Apr 2007, 08:47
A contour going over 200,000 miles? You are 1 out of a million contour owners who got lucky. I used to own a Contour and It barely made it to 120,000 miles (granted I had to replace everything including the water pump once every six months). I took it to the Ford dealership and they were AMAZED that the vehicle even reached that mileage. Needless to say I have not had a Ford vehicle since and it feels good not taking a car in every month for abnormal services. There is a reason why Ford lost about 12 Billion dollars last year and it will keep losing money for years to come.
17th Apr 2007, 19:49
This is really funny to read all this. Just so everyone knows.. Toyotas/Hondas are not as "foreign" as they use to be and Fords/Chevrolets are not as "domestic" as they use to be either. If someone were to actually calculate which parts are foreign/domestic, Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, and Honda would prolly be about equal.
Also, how reliable a car is (any car!!) depends on how its driven and maintained! Now my sister drives a Mitsubishi, I recently had a Dodge, mom has a Toyota, and dad has a F-150. My sister's car is a Lancer and has had its share of issues simply because she doesn't maintain it like she should, it has around 70,000 miles. My Dodge was a V6 Spirit and has 202,000 miles. The only things I've done to it that was major are: timing belt and water pump at 151,000 (preventative!!), and struts at 122,500 miles and it looks and rides like new. Dads F-150 has 331,278 miles on it and he rebuilt the motor once because there was a rod knocking around 280,000 miles. Now mom's little Rav4 has around 120,000 miles and has had 2 timing belts, new motor due to sludge build up even though oil was changed on time, shocks, struts, and cd player replaced.
All that goes to show that, yes, a SMALL percentage of cars come off the line with O.E.M. defects, but most cars fail due to improper break-in period and driving habits/maintenance! Our neighbor has a 2006 Acura TL with "LEMON" written on all the windows.. hes had 4 transmissions since he bought the car (made by Honda!).
I just bought a brand new Fusion SEL, charcoal gray with black leather and love the car! For a 21 year old to buy a car brand new like this.. I feel very very confident this car will last a very LONG time!
17th Apr 2007, 21:10
There are THOUSANDS of Ford Contours with well over 200,000 miles on them. They were very reliable cars. People started spreading the "bad Contour" myth to take people's attention away from all the bad 2006 CAMRYS.
18th Apr 2007, 09:29
I didn't know JD Power, Consumer Reports, Intellichoice, and Edmunds were myths.
18th Apr 2007, 11:57
21:10, You guys sure like to use the word 'myth', don't you?
No, IN REALITY, Ford Contour's suck. I've only ever had experience with one, a friend had one in the late 90's, and it was HORRIBLE. His wife drove it mostly. It took (I'm making a rough guess here) him about $2000 or so to keep it running to 130,000, when finally the motor lost oil pressure and died, leaving her stranded. That repair price included the standard Ford-transmission-rebuild at probably around 90,000. He got rid of it, at a severe loss considering the purchase price and the repairs he had to make (he bought used, had only a 3000 mile/3 month warranty).
The Camry, (doesn't matter which year), is infinitely better than a Ford Contour. I've heard nothing, but bad news about Contours since the day they came out. It's not even in the same ballpark as any Toyota car.
18th Apr 2007, 14:15
Myth you say? I owned one of these junkheaps and they are absolute crap. The parts for the contour are even more expensive then import car parts. I can't wait until you take your car in to replace the transmission only to find out how much hatred mechanics have for this car because of the way Ford engineered it and thus making the work on this car very difficult and very time consuming.
I thought it was funny that they said the contour was going to be this great "Civic killer" and yet it was the contour that died 5 years later and I say good riddance to that. Just read all the reviews on this site for the Contour.
11th Apr 2007, 21:02
OK it's a review on many import vehicles one year old... that were reliable. What happens at 3 years 36,000 miles? The warranty I had no longer applied on my 38,000 mile import. Its nice to have a reliable vehicle. Its also nice having a better compliment of features, performance, fun to drive, innovative designs, room, handling, longer standard warranties, better towing, people capacity. I also consulted Edmunds true cost to own over 5 years not 1 year and did not buy a Tundra. I also read Motor Trend, Car and Driver more on reviews on handling and performance. I guess not all of us drive an appliance we would like to actually vehicles that are truly fun to drive and own. My import mechanical issues of late changed my buying habits completely. I found saving at the pump was replaced by spending more at the dealership.