1. Car eats tires:- I have to buy 4 tires per year (Even 70000 mile tires when I only drive 15000 miles)
2. Car won't stay in alignment; small bumps in road send it off.
3. Mechanic says car is missing alignment tools-you have to buy a $50
setup system to align each time.
4. Car Stalls at Stop signs and Stoplights and runs bad on every other day.
5. Dealership says they can't find anything wrong with cars performance.
6. Ford never notified the owner of a recall on the Front Windshield installation.
7. Seat Belts are always in the way of getting packages out of the car.
8. Timing Belts regularly die at every
75,000 miles.
9. Car Dealer took 45 minutes to decide to sell me the 30,000 mile extended warranty after I asked for it.
10. I was pestered by Dealerships as far away as California, Mexico, and Canada to sell me a extended warranty even though I had already bought one.
11. Electronic Diagnostic Hookup died necessitating a $150.00 charge even before what else could be determined to be bad with the car.
12. first 5 years of car were average; but last 5 years cost me $100.00 per month in repair bills to keep car on the road.
13. Even though garages would replace the battery, the car would think it still had a 'bad battery' so the car wouldn't start the next day. A Mechanic told me that the car 'had to learn it had a new battery??'.-Why can't it learn that in the shop??
14. Door Seals deteriorate necessitating replacement or the ice will freeze your doors and locks fast shut in Winter.
15. Car has no pickup as if the transmission was installed back-wards with 3rd gear as first, etc.
16. Had to put in Oil-50 engine coating so as the free up first gear to give me more power 6 months after car was new.-helped some.
17. Transmission doesn't want to shift into 2nd or 3rd despite amount of gas given and when finally does shift it jerks your head.
18. I'm sure I've forgotten something else as annoying or bad.
19. Was an 11,500 car new and not worth any more later. (Compare with a Chevy Camaro bought new in 69 for 5,000
{ plus interest) and sold in 82 for 1,000 (at start of car hijackings!).
20. Any escort near this age old is probably not worth more than a giveaway
value of $250 (if that) any blue or other book value is a laugher!
The timing belt comment is stating a fact not a problem. Timing belts generally last 60,000, some manufacturers specify longer periods, but 75,000 is not bad.
I think that a car 14 yrs old now days is nearing the end of its life expectancy. The older cars were much more easier and inexpensive to repair. The newer engine compartments are so hard to get into it better be on a car that you think will not need a lot of constant repairs. If the blue book on your minivan is $1500 and it needs that much work just to make it run for now- than I would say we are living in a world of disposable cars. When they have a small crash they crumple to save the passengers- however they are not designed to be easy or in-expensive to fix.
He can't hate it that much if he's kept it for 14 years.
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