this is an interesting discussion. BlackGT, where is the max AC operation described? You have made me curious about this feature on our cars, becuase typically it is just the recirc. On the Fox bodies, you could see and hear a damper get actuated under the dash on the passenger's side.

Ford's are not perfect but my six mustangs and nine fords in total (including an explorer) have been just as "good" as any Toyota, Honda, GM, or Mopar that I have owned (25 cars or so over a 25 year period). Sometimes they have some minor issues; I take them to the dealer once and they are done. Every manufacturer will occassionally put together a total POS that needs to be taken out back and shot. I have never had one, and though you read about them on these boards, people usually post problems on these boards but people don't usually post "everything is fine on my car today." The message boards are a bad place to gauge "quality. But you can gauge enthisiasm, and this board has some pretty knowledgeable and experienced car guys who have no concerns about Mustang reliability.

Get your mustang and have some fun. Let your friend buy his Hyundai for his basic transportation and he will be happy. Non-car guys and Consumer Reports employees will never see the point or the draw of enthusiast cars.....so their opinions are meaningless.

 

So your friend made the judgement that ALL Fords are bad based on ONE particular vehicle. That is called "anecdotal" evidence meaning that there is not an adequate amount of data to make a scientific, statistical analysis of the data.

All this boils down to the fact that this person is completely ignorant of the subject, and not smart to begin with, to make such judgement based on one example of however many millions of Fords that have been built.

Most likely the person has had a few bad things happen with his Explorer and is upset. It also could be that he had a pre concieved notion that Fords are bad and just wants something to verify his thoughts. No vehicle is perfect, so he may have found something wrong to confirm his negative opinion. That's people for you.

 

2500 miles on my mustang and no reliability problems. I beat the hell out of a slammed ford ranger, drove without any inner fenders for years. Mud, water, rocks all up in the engine compartment and it never complained.

 

I went for years not knowing that "Max A/C" is truly just short for "Maximum Efficiency" (easier to cool recirculated air because it is already cooler than outside air - on warm/hot days). It is more economical to use Max A/C versus regular A/C which has to work harder to cool warm/hot air coming in from the outside.

It is not Max "Cooling". There will be very little to no difference in temperature between reg A/C or Max. It also just so happens that our car has a re-circulate button to offer more options, but Max A/C is by default a re-circulating setting that cannot operate otherwise.

But don't take my word for it.... hehe....

Read "Climate Control" in the Manual


But yeah, if your friend wants to bash Ford products over a feature that he simply does not understand (because Ford simply uses differing terminology), then maybe his other points about Ford are equally non-valid?

 

THis makes me feel a hell of a lot better. But to comment on the quality cars put out by Ford/Chrysler/GM vs Japanese cars, well on average there is a bit of a difference. My family has had Dodge cars for a while and every single one had problems. Also a lot of the asian families we know all drive toyotas. THere's definitely a trend here but my hopes is American cars are getting better and better.

 

Objectively, while my '06 has had its share of problems (a few small quality issues, scratching window tint, squeaks, etc., and a big issue that sent it into the dealership for 10 days), the 'Stang is a really good, well made, well thought-out car. This is the first Ford I have ever owned, and overall, I am really enjoying the experience. It's powerful, well-balanced, tight handling, great brakes, and it's comfortable for a guy like me (6' 4" 245 lbs.).

I am a Mopar man at heart ('71 'Cuda, '71 Road Runner, '95 Avenger, '98 Avenger, '03 Hemi Ram, etc. etc.), and for me to be impressed enough with the Mustang GT to buy one, and enjoy it, that says a lot about the car right there.

Ford = Sh*t? No. They did a great job with the 'Stang. Frankly, I'll probably miss it when I buy my 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8.

 

Honestly why do you care what your buddy has to say about mustangs?, he owned an exploder! I mean seriously what does he drive?. YOU should get what you like and want, PERIOD

My 06' GT is awesome, and this is coming out of a Porsche.

 

The Challenger looks good. To me Mopar is not the same since the Germans have such a big influence in the making of Mopar products like the heavy Charger with 4 doors to much European style. I think they have a big rack of front ends that they stick on all their vehicle's. When the Challenger comes out if they keep it looking the same it would be the best looking car that Diamler /Chrysler has produced IMO. I just hope Ford does not merge with another foreign car company.

 

+1, my mom had an explorer, and we never had any problems. I guess you can say my family is a ford fan.we had a Explorer,3 Expeditions (we are on our 3rd right now)and of course, the 00 mustang.
(Not to mention the other cars like:Acura Integra,Chevy Tahoe,Mercedes Benz,Some Chevy Van (i dont remember, it was when i was really small), PT Cruiser, and I cant think of any others right now.
And NO, we didnt get all of these cars at the same time. and NO again,we didnt get these cars because we wecked our old ones.(my dad likes different cars, so he likes too get a new one every 100,000 Miles....We arent rich,he just makes good money since my mom is a housewife)
[sm=wtf.gif][sm=alcoholic.gif]
Does that help?[8D]

 

fords are good cars, but when pushed to the limit, like any other car, they do tend to have **** stop working. while the common beleif that japanese cars are more reliable blah blah blah, all i kno is that if u have a f150 for 10 years and a toyota tundra for 10 years, they r both not going to e in the best shape. my dad owns a pressure cleaning bussiness and he has a fleet of trucks, ranging from several f150's, f450's turbo diesels, flat beds, u name it. now, the older trucks i can say with confidence, all have had **** go bad on them. power anything doesnt work, which means the windows, locks and ac. batterys die left and right, speedometers stop working, radios stop working, seat get all torn up, cd players dont work, windshield wipers dont work. but hey, my dad has beat and abusing these trucks, and they still get the job done, so in the end, they may not have all the bet technology that doesnt break, but the car itself (besides batterys, but that mostly user realted) still works perfectly. if i ever buy a truck, most ded f150 or 250