Brand loyalty???

[Pinski66]

Cleveland engine plant??

He actually worked at 1, 2, and foundry.

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[MXGOLF]

Well I guess I have owned 11 vehicles. More Toyotas than anything. They are crap now.
First was a 64 Ford Short bed pickup that I needed to haul my dirt bike with to the races. That was in High School.
72 240 Z, 76 Toyota Corolla, 79 Toyota Celica, 82 Toyota Corolla, 86 Chevy Camaro,
92 Toyota Tacoma 4 WD, 95 Toyota Tacoma 2 WD, 99 Toyota Tacoma 2 WD Special Order,
2013 Ford Fusion, 2020 Ford Ranger Lariat. I might have forgot some too. Lots and lots of motorcycles both dirt bikes and street bikes. I still have the 99 Taco and my 2007 Yamaha FZ6.

 

[2020FRL]

I've been a buy "American Guy" for most of my life. Don't get me wrong, if I can get a great deal on a used Toyota truck, etc, I'm on it. I don't buy new anymore. I let others get the new car smell and the depreciation.

I haven't bought new in 25 years. I purchase the extended warranties and mostly haven't used them. I did buy a diesel f350 dually that blew an engine (I don't know much about diesel, so I'm not really sure what happened). The price tag for a new engine and misc other damage that occurred was initially quoted at $15-16K, not sure what the extended warranty people finally agreed on, but, my cost was $100 deductible. My current Ranger has a lifetime (as long as I own it) warranty w/$500 deductible.

When I lost everything (Chapter 7 Bankruptcy) due to a less than ethical landlord of the building my company leased for 20 years. I purchased 6 Honda Goldwings over three years, fixed them and sold them for more than I had in them. I saved those profits until I got enough to pay cash for my trike. Those bankruptcy days are behind me and I'm back to all American Vehicles (Well, not really since there isn't an all American vehicle anymore).

The reason I like Ford ... they feel solid, the switches and handles seem more solid. And to emphasize my thoughts, Ram has won awards many years in a row, but, Ford has out sold everyone (domestic for sure) for like 35-40 years in the truck world.

This Ranger is my 6th. My favorite was a V6 step side in white. Loved that truck. I'd still be driving it if it wasn't stolen from Norfolk Naval Base while I was deployed and taken for a joy ride. It was found about a month later driven into a pretty steep drop off. It didn't burn, but, you could almost fit the entire thing in a shoe box ... LOL. Only vehicle I ever owned that was totaled.

But as to why I bought this Ranger, during the test drive, my salesman told me to "step on it". I was pretty impressed. Couple that with the massive towing capacity and great fuel milage and that it is white ... I fell in love.

 

[Extreme01]

OK I'm with you, but what does that actually mean these days? Made in America? Profits go back to America? Hmmm.

Yes, profits stay here..

 

[slowmachine]

Yes, profits stay here..

Money flows to business activity - to resources and jobs. Taxes on corporate profits are an extremely poor measure of economic value. Ford, and other similar companies, pay legions of tax attorneys, accountants, and political lobbyists to minimize their tax burden. Every “foreign“ car company that builds and/or assembles cars in the USA creates jobs for American workers and consumes resources. When Ford, GM, Tesla, etc., build “American“ cars and/or components in other countries, the benefit to American families is a tiny fraction of the total. Ford is no different from any other global corporation in this regard.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

List of what I have owned:

64 Ford Fairlane Sports Coupe 500
68 Ford Mustang Convertible
73 Mazda RX3 Coupe
84 Mercury Topaz
88 GMC Screw 3/4 ton Sierra
96 Ford Ranger
02 Ford Escape (still got, still driven)
05 GMC Crewcab Sierra
19 Ford Ranger (still got, still driven)

Pretty much drive what I happen to like at buying time I guess.

Ohhhh, this brings back memories.

I remember seeing the commercial with the burning tire tracks when I was a kid and that image seared into my pre-adolescent brain like a hot stripper.

And of course later in life I ended up with a (highly modified) Turbo Rx7 that I loved/hated on an equal basis.

As much as I hated the reliability, or rather lack thereof, I still find myself occasionally browsing for another 3rd gen.

As to the Fords, this thread got me thinking and I added up my vehicles (way too many).

For cars I've had plenty of different manufacturers.

For trucks:

Chevrolet = 2
Isuzu = 1
Nissan = 3
Ford = 6 including current Ranger and Bronco

Like others have said, the Fords just seem to always check the boxes for what I was looking for.

 

[mgallo13]

Parents had always bought Ford's, at the time I was driving my 2001 TJ Wrangler (which I loved, but it did the Jeep thing where other than the 4.0+5spd nothing ever worked). My dad got his 2009 F150 with cash-for-clunkers when he traded in his 93' straight 6 f150. In between all that was the stereotypical ton of Explorers.

Parents bought me my first car, a 92' 4.0 Explorer, brown on beige two tone (HOT) with no AC etc. It lasted quite a while, then I bought my Jeep.

After the Jeep I had kinda decided I liked Ford: Did my senior year business capstone on the automotive bailout in 2008 and although the entire situation was a crap-sandwich I admired the way the company got itself through those times (not trying to start a political debate, for the love of god just take that at face value)

My buddies all drove WRX's and being in the northeast, I ski so I wanted to go fast(ish) and wanted to prove you didn't need a WRX- so I bought my ST and some winter/snow tires and proceeded to drive all the same places as them with no issue. I loved that car, however I am 6'3" and my skis basically didn't fit without laying the ENTIRE back seat down and I just kind of outgrew the car.

I have a ton of outdoor hobbies- skiing, fishing, hiking and routinely tow my small boat to fish. I was borrowing my dad's truck until I bought my house and decided it was time to upgrade- and here I am.

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Ranger_Pawl]

Yes, I have brand loyalty. I have been mostly loyal to Ford as it has been part of my family my entire life.

My dad quit high school to work on and race cars, specifically Fords. Eventually his automotive knowledge led to an engineering position at Ford (thanks to his cousin who was in management). So he drove and raced Fords and worked for Ford. Apparently my mom, also a lead foot, liked racing in the "powderpuff" races too. When my dad died (at the age of 38 due to diabetes complications) she also got a job at Ford, thanks to my dads cousin again. She worked in the PDC cafeteria, (probably serving lunch to Phil ? ) and soon became a local truck driver for Ford. So, she also drove and raced Fords and worked for Ford.

I became a designer and worked at Ford my entire career. Ford has been good to me, and my family. I have no interest in any other car brands. That may or may not be a good thing, but it makes me happy. And dad would probably approve.

 

[slm]

To me, brand loyalty means that the brand is loyal to me, not the other way around. When I pay thousands of dollars for a product, I expect absolute loyalty from the company that sold me the product. I would never spend that kind of money on a product because I feel some sort of "brand loyalty" to them. They are a lot better off financially than I'll ever be.

This is exactly how I feel as well

 

[slm]

I'm a Ford guy. No matter if I owned it or drove it as my Sheriff's ride. They set up the drivers controls logically for me (although I wish my Rangers HVAC controls lit up)

Are you saying your HVAC controls aren't illuminated like this?

 

[Kemo Sabe]

Are you saying your HVAC controls aren't illuminated like this?

Mine are not.

 

[slm]

Mine are not.

Wow, I'm shocked. I screen captured that from a night time drive video on YouTube of a 2021 XLT. I think I had participated in another thread about this and I was told it was only the PRND indicators on the shifter that were no longer illuminated. Yours is a 2019 model? Maybe Ford added the illumination to later model years?

 

[Fawnbuster]

Are you saying your HVAC controls aren't illuminated like this?

Yes. At least not enough to see them at a glance, due to the down and back angle. My wife's Lincoln has same setup buy higher up and much brighter even if the display is dimmed at night. I will go out tonight and see if I can get em brighter without killing my night vision. I have the lCD on night mode all the time so my old eyes adjust back to normal after headlights pass. My Durango and Charger had independent brightness controls for the lcd and dash speedo etc, that was one thing I did like about Dodge.

Just got used to being able to darken down the interior lights so I could see when creeping along in the middle of the night catching people breaking into cars. Way Less than 5 mph I could either hang my arm out with the mag light momentarily on or brights flash to pass just to verify the road was clear. Caught several thieves and 1 burglar that way ?

 

[NOVA_Ranger]

Yes. At least not enough to see them at a glance, due to the down and back angle. My wife's Lincoln has same setup buy higher up and much brighter even if the display is dimmed at night. I will go out tonight and see if I can get em brighter without killing my night vision. I have the lCD on night mode all the time so my old eyes adjust back to normal after headlights pass. My Durango and Charger had independent brightness controls for the lcd and dash speedo etc, that was one thing I did like about Dodge.

Just got used to being able to darken down the interior lights so I could see when creeping along in the middle of the night catching people breaking into cars. Way Less than 5 mph I could either hang my arm out with the mag light momentarily on or brights flash to pass just to verify the road was clear. Caught several thieves and 1 burglar that way ?

*hit voice command button* "set temperature to XX degrees." Eyes never leave the road.

 

[Fawnbuster]

*hit voice command button* "set temperature to XX degrees." Eyes never leave the road.

Had no idea that would work. I reset sync and got my display brightness to repopulate and have that turned down and on night mode, but I have to crank the dash lights way up for the hvac lights to really show. It's still daylight so the next time I drive (non pain pill day) I'll see how that looks.

In the last body style of caprice classics and some of the Dodge police pkgs we ran into the same issue, we either stuffed a towel over the instrument cluster for a short time as needed or used vinyl cling tinting. I have a roll of that stuff so I may put that on. Wife's Lincoln hvac is higher and angled better so you can see everything. Too many decades of night shift driving ?

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