I partially agree, but the proof is also in the pudding. All vehicles will fail, but these vans have a higher than usual failure rate. Consumer Reports magazine is one of the most unbiased, fair publications around. Look up the Freestar or the Monterey in a back issue. You'll see lots of big black circles (meaning trouble points with high failure rate) ... the transmission gets a nice big black circle. Then look up the Sienna and you'll see tons of nice, bright red circles (few problems). Yes any van can fail. But these have a much higher rate than they should be. You've got to admit that.
And to address your point about Kia and Chrysler vans. I also partially agree, but I have a friend with a Kia van and a friend with a Chrysler van. Yes, both of them have run into serious engine or tranny problems. But neither until over 100,000 K. A very high rate of these Fords/Mercury's are dying well below 100,000 K which is unacceptable.
It's interesting how these boards have either the "Ford can do no right" or "Ford can do no wrong" folks. Hardly any in between. I apologize if I've become one of the "Ford can do no right" folks but I fear it's more than just coincidence that I've owned six cars in my life. Three Fords and three imports. The Fords had nothing but problems. The imports had none other than normal maintenance.
I'm only coming down hard on Ford because I want them to be better. Make America proud so people don't have to buy from Japan. Then I'll be more than happy to be a proud Ford owner.
Last edited by MonsoonMike; 10-13-2009 at 08:39 AM..
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