What's the latest in people's lives?

[Sionnach Glic]

My brother owns a Ford, and he's never had any trouble with it. To be honest, I don't understand the bad rep they have. They seem reliable enough cars.

[Reliant121]

Dad drove a J registration Red Sierra 1.6 litre up and down the motorways from hampshire to Glasgow on a monthly basis for 2 years, and it never went wrong.

[Aaron]

My brother owns a Ford, and he's never had any trouble with it. To be honest, I don't understand the bad rep they have. They seem reliable enough cars.

My father had Aerostar vans for years and never had a problem with them either. But North American cars in general have had a reputation for years of unreliability, Chrysler was notorious for having tranny problems for example. I get the impression that Europe gets the better versions, honestly,

[Reliant121]

Since Stitch seemed to think Fords as being poor cars, i would have to agree. Fords over here may be a bit agricultural, but they literally go on forever.

[MetalHead]

the only cars that have higher reliablity ratings (for 2007) above Ford were Japanese makes. And thats...well, yeah.

Ford is good. And, I have quoted for my Mondeo's insurance, and its affordable. Also looked at a superchip that takes it from 155bhp to 203 !!! crazy

[Reliant121]

What kind of mondeo are you going for? the older model ones? If its a mk 1 or a mk 2 (up until 2000) then be careful. Even the high power models are immensely heavy.

[Mikey]

Two things:
1) Europeans don't (in general) drive cars as far at one go as Americans do. There is very little in Europe to match the classic American cross-country road trip, and very few people over there have a 100/mile/day (or more) commute, which is fairly commonplace over here. The lower mileage-per-year will naturally lead to better durability.

2)Americans drive bigger cars... and therefore heavier cars... and therefore, stiffer springs, longer struts, bigger wishbones, longer transaxles, etc. The more opportunity you give for something to break, the greater chance that something will break.

Now, I understand Ford has an excellent rep overseas - around here, the joke acronym is "Found On Road Dead." Ford E-vans used to use an I-beam fron suspension. Now, the one thing everyone (including Ford) will tell you about an I-beam is to NEVER heat it and bend it; but the only way to align a vehicle with an I-beam suspension is to... (you guessed it) heat the beams and bend them.

BTW - bought a replacement for my 13-year-old, 214,000-mile Pontiac Sunfire convertible. We took on trade a 2000 Hyundai Elantra GLS wagon - with 33,700 miles on the clock. Even our own service department couldn't find anything to charge me for. Plus, I worked a deal with our used-car manager - I got it for $3700. KBB average retail is $5360.

[shran]

Wednesday I bought myself a skirt.
last night I went dancing with it. It attracted quite the looks.

Dutch people will notice the joke in the following summary: I rocked the night.

[Lt. Staplic]

I'm back...

we got into town this afternoon, much sooner than I thought we would.

[stitch626]

Welcome back.

Anyway, I was in a bad mood yesterday. Sorry if I bothered anyone.

[Reliant121]

Welcome home

Dad's decided that when he gets money for leaving the navy, we're gonna get a 3 year old Ford Fusion 1.4 TDCi to replace the chevrolet 1.0. He needs the extra space and economy for his long journeys when he goes agency.

[Captain Seafort]

You should tell your old man that a left hand drive with a German numberplate might be rather problematic.

[Reliant121]

well, not THAT one

Just one like it.

[Lazar]

I haven't been here for a few days because I've been attending the Harvard National Model UN conference this weekend, as part of my college's 27-member team. It was quite fun - I was representing Egypt on a 1945 historical committee.

[Sonic Glitch]

I haven't been here for a few days because I've been attending the Harvard National Model UN conference this weekend, as part of my college's 27-member team. It was quite fun - I was representing Egypt on a 1945 historical committee.

Nice. I do model UN myself (HS level) and hope to continue in college. What was the committee's issue? I represented the Soviet Union in a 1989 Germany historical crisis committee at Kutztown University last month. How was the conference?