Long term ownership?

[Kentcomp]

I'm in the process of a buying a new FFH (which I love!), but I have never owned a Ford nor have I ever had a first year model. I typically keep a car for 10+ years and my commute to/from work is only 4 miles. Is that sort of use case going to prematurely depreciate the car? The 3 year/30k mile warranty makes me feel like "long term" isn't something Ford expects from their cars.

 

Am I being paranoid? Anyone a long term Ford owner? I want to be a satisfied customer like many of you but I'm worried instead I'll be griping about my purchase.

[fsb99]

I'm in the process of a buying a new FFH (which I love!), but I have never owned a Ford nor have I ever had a first year model. I typically keep a car for 10+ years and my commute to/from work is only 4 miles. Is that sort of use case going to prematurely depreciate the car? The 3 year/30k mile warranty makes me feel like "long term" isn't something Ford expects from their cars.

 

Am I being paranoid? Anyone a long term Ford owner? I want to be a satisfied customer like many of you but I'm worried instead I'll be griping about my purchase.

 

Like you, I plan for long term ownership (still have my 96 Toyota 4Runner - 187k miles), never bought a Ford and love this vehicle. I think the FFH is a very well engineered vehicle and I can feel it.

 

Bumper to bumper is 3/36, powertrain is 5/60, hybrid unique components are either 8/100 or 10/150, depending on which state you reside. Toyota has similar warranty. If you're worried about first year model (plus the electronic gizmos that it has - new and tested), you can purchase Extended Service Plan (not to be confused with Maintenance Plan) from online dealers like buy-ford-warranty.com. Make sure you know the lowest price so that you can decline during your purchase if you get a higher price. Of course if you purchase separately, you can't fold it into the loan.

 

Good luck!

[akirby]

The 3 year/30k mile warranty makes me feel like "long term" isn't something Ford expects from their cars.

 

Honda and Toyota both have 3/36k warranties. Do you think that they don't expect their cars to last "long term"?

[VonoreTn]

I worked at Ford as an engineer, the last 18 years in engine. I can tell you that a durability, reliability, wave sweep through Ford in the 1990's based on 3 things:

 

1) Competition:

 

Being competitive with Toyota and Honda was a direct driver. It meant we raised our durability requirement from 50,000 miles to 150,000 miles on cars, 200,000 on trucks. Engineers welcomed this change, since it allowed us to spend money in key areas. We bought and tore down Toyota's and Honda's to the last bolts, and studied how to match or exceed every design decision involved. One small example, we switched from Neoprene accessory drive belts to EPDM rubber belts and the main failure mode, rib cracking, jumped from about 50,000 miles to 150,000 miles plus, just due to higher temperature resistance to the EPDM rubber aging. We actually beat Honda and Toyota on that item, they followed us based on the common suppliers sharing their technology.

 

2) New Statistical Methods to project durability:

 

Since designing for 150,000 miles can be difficult since we can't run cars that long in a timely manner to support the product change, we have to rely on accelerated bench tests of components and assemblies, thus we were more likely to achieve 200,000 miles than 150,000 miles, with all the safety factors we had use to error on the safe side.

 

3) Government mandates:

 

The government required that emission parts had to last 100,000 miles, which slowly evolved to include key engine sensors, and the entire exhaust system. Remember how you used to need a new tail pipe and muffler like maybe at 60,000 miles, so you'd go to Midas and get a now one just like the old one, but it had a lifetime warranty (for the current owner only). That was just a business thing, they played the odds that you wouldn't own the vehicle for another 60,000 miles. But now the entire exhaust system is made of stainless steel. On my 2000 Explorer, my entire exhaust system (stainless steel), was still fully functional when I turned it in at 187,000 miles.

 

This is also one reason why cars cost more than they did before the mid 90's. Keeping your car for 10 years is a good plan. It worked well for me. I never got the extended warranty and never needed it.

 

 

I'm in the process of a buying a new FFH (which I love!), but I have never owned a Ford nor have I ever had a first year model. I typically keep a car for 10+ years and my commute to/from work is only 4 miles. Is that sort of use case going to prematurely depreciate the car? The 3 year/30k mile warranty makes me feel like "long term" isn't something Ford expects from their cars.

 

Am I being paranoid? Anyone a long term Ford owner? I want to be a satisfied customer like many of you but I'm worried instead I'll be griping about my purchase.

[rfruth]

IMO the Fusion hybrid is like a state-of-the-art flat screen HD TV, sure you could (I hope) drive it till the wheels fall or it (the TV) won't power on but why get the latest-&-greatest if thats the goal (first year for the FFH so no choice) ?

Edited November 25, 2009 by rfruth

[Kentcomp]

Thank you all for your great insights! I really appreciate it. I'm going to take a leap of faith and get it although I'll probably get the extended warranty. :-)

 

PS I have an Infinity which had a 5 year/60k mile warranty so that's what I was comparing Ford's to.

[junehhan]

3) Government mandates:

 

The government required that emission parts had to last 100,000 miles, which slowly evolved to include key engine sensors, and the entire exhaust system. Remember how you used to need a new tail pipe and muffler like maybe at 60,000 miles, so you'd go to Midas and get a now one just like the old one, but it had a lifetime warranty (for the current owner only). That was just a business thing, they played the odds that you wouldn't own the vehicle for another 60,000 miles. But now the entire exhaust system is made of stainless steel. On my 2000 Explorer, my entire exhaust system (stainless steel), was still fully functional when I turned it in at 187,000 miles.

 

This is also one reason why cars cost more than they did before the mid 90's. Keeping your car for 10 years is a good plan. It worked well for me. I never got the extended warranty and never needed it.

 

 

I remember on one of my early vehicles how the exhaust system rotted at about 60k miles, and I went to Meineke mufflers(they seem to have gone out of business) to get a new one with a lifetime warranty. Well with the abusive use of road salt around here(our roads are often bleached white from first snowfall till March), I ended up needing a new exhaust system every year.

 

I am glad to see that things are being made with better stuff these days. Cars these days also seem to feel more substantial as they feel more metallic and beefier than I remembered the early Honda's and Toyota vehicles. My dad drives my old Crown Victoria which is 10 years old now, and it still has the original exhaust on it along with all of the original emissions related sensors.

[Oman]

The muffler shops made their money from their "lifetime warranty" exhaust systems a number of ways. For some only the muffler was covered, not the pipes, connectors, and labor. For others the labor was of course not covered when the warranty parts failed and the labor was 90% of the cost.

 

Jon

 

 

I remember on one of my early vehicles how the exhaust system rotted at about 60k miles, and I went to Meineke mufflers(they seem to have gone out of business) to get a new one with a lifetime warranty. Well with the abusive use of road salt around here(our roads are often bleached white from first snowfall till March), I ended up needing a new exhaust system every year.

 

I am glad to see that things are being made with better stuff these days. Cars these days also seem to feel more substantial as they feel more metallic and beefier than I remembered the early Honda's and Toyota vehicles. My dad drives my old Crown Victoria which is 10 years old now, and it still has the original exhaust on it along with all of the original emissions related sensors.