Toyota may still be the leader, but Ford is no laggard when it comes to hybrids

I am sorry but Ford is the worst car company out there. I will never buy anything from them again . I had a Ford Taurus and It cost more in the two years fixing it than the car blu booked for.

I too agree that "Ford is the worst car company out there." Just ask any car mechanic, tow truck drivers, engineers, and probably ford service reps, and they will all agree. My parents owned a '94 taurus for about 6 years and during that time, their were a couple of times that car would, all of a sudden, not start and something would always be wrong with the transmission. My sister currently owns a '03 ford focus ZX3 with 65,000 miles and it is practically undriveable because something drains the battery in about a day that the posts stay connected (alternator seems to be working fine). Parents were given a Ford Focus '08 and right at 1000 miles, the fuel pump wasn't working properly. Ford only stand for Fixed Or Repaired Daily, Found On Road Dead, and my favorite, F***ed On Race Day.

My first two cars were Fords: An '87 Taurus and a '92 Sable. The Taurus never once had any problem - it got regular mainenance and nothing else. I traded it in for the Sable because I wanted a quieter car. The Sable went for 6 years before requiring anything but normal maintenance. The next four years involved an annual oil leak fix.

I never had trouble with electrical systems or the car reliably getting me from point A to point B.

Just to get the other side of the story out there...

Mercury Villager! I manage to get 247,000 on my old minivan and I loved it. I did have a lot of issues with it but it was a love affair... it was MY van. I now own a Honda Odyssey and well, it is better in that I don't have to contend with fuel pump, blower motor, constant changing the light bulb and fixing it because it flashes to quickly... but it's a free country buy what you like and want don't worry about it...

I have a 91 Ford F150, purchased in 93. Truck has been very dependable over these past years. Eldest son raked up about 45K during his law school days, then we used the rig to move demolition trash from an old house he renovated. "hey dad, I loaded up the old truck w/ 3k pounds of trash" remarkably no broken axles etc. etc. Now at 200K its developed an undiagnosed oil leak. No complaints here about the ford product.

Well I had a 1998 Explorer and was one of the first V8s off the line. When it developed a problem chewing up fan belts, Ford sent an engineer and they fixed it forever. When I had repeated problems with a German luxury car, which I am forbidden to name after a Lemon Law suit I cannot name they gave me nothing but lip and arrogance. So I got another Explorer and it has been a perfect car at 70000 miles.

For those with inquiring minds, actually Toyota had more recalls than any other auto company in 2008. No Ford or GM vehicle for that matter were even in the top ten. Interesting, but most Toyota parts are now made in China - WHICH MAKES JUNK. Yes they are assembled in the United States - so what! With Chinese parts. No Thanks would rather buy American that some brand with lead tainted parts which is probably the same company that made the tainted pet food.

By the way, for all of you people who think domestic auto makers buy their parts from China too - news flash! In order to be considered a domestic car, it has to have 70% of its components made domestically. Basically Ford, GM and Chrysler are the only companies that have this. Honda comes in a distant 4th with a couple of its cars with 40% domestic components.

Ford is making some excellent products, didn' t take the bailout and is beating Toyota. Kudos to Ford and all the American's building those cars.

Shame on all the un-patriotic Americans who have caused our tax base to erode, putting Americans out of work and made our standard of living go down by buying cracker box foreign cars and other foreign products. We have lost whole industries and manufacturing capabilites because of so-called free trade. Now we are in the process of detroying our agriculture base by filling our supermakets full of unsafe foreign made food, meats and fruits and vegetables.

The madness has to stop

What you want to quote is the percent of cars recalled. If Toyota sold way more cars than anyone else and then had more recalls by the number, but you don't give the number (which you don't) uninformed readers may assume that's the whole story, which it isn't.

I have had Toyotas for decades. Most reliable cars I have ever owned. Can't say that about my brush with US cars. I think US automakers build garbage, and I won't buy a US, maintenance headache, gas guzzling vehicle ever again.

I have a 1995 Ford Windstar van I bought new that now has 200K miles. When I drove it 5K miles per year it cost me an average of $100 per month in repairs (not including gas, oil, tires, batteries, etc). Now that my wife drives it (because it seats 7) 10K miles per year, repairs average $200-250 and lately $300 per month. The head gaskets and transmission need to be replaced every 50K miles, the window washer pump has never lasted more than 30 days after being replaced and no Ford dealer can align it as the design requires special equipment to shim properly (a dealer finally admitted this after I spent $1,000 there). NAPA now gives me a discount on the parts. I have also had numerous Toyotas and the only repairs for the first 250K miles were water pumps and thermostats usually every 75-100k miles.

The 'Ford licensed their hybrid technology from Toyota' is getting old and show who hasn't done their research.

http://www.worldautosguide.com/2009/07/ford-does-not-use-toyotas-hybrid-system.html

"The reality is that Ford independently developed its own hybrid system at the same time Toyota was masterminding its own. The basic architecture of both systems is the same and both are based on the concepts developed and patented by TRW engineers in the late 1960s. When Ford introduced the Escape Hybrid, Toyota went after Ford for infringing on its patents. Ford had patents of its own on the technology that Toyota was using. Eventually, the two companies reached a cross-licensing agreement that gives both companies the right to build their own systems. Such cross-licensing agreements are common in these kinds of cases, but Ford did not use the Toyota hybrid system."

In Re; Patrick with the Mercury Villager, I believe those were rebadged Nissan Quests'. Nissan makes very nice and sometimes cutting edge vehicles, i.e, The ledgendary Z cars. To M95 (owner of the money pit Windstar), a neighbor had one of those and the freeze plugs needed replacement at 75k. It wasn't as maintenance needy as yours (and I am truly sorry that Ford has not designated your vehicle a lemon-thereby qualifying you to another, hopefully more reliable Ford) Ford generally makes a reliable full size truck, the F series-but they're other vehicles (30k and less) don't match up with the Japanese offerings in features, quality and reliability. American people need something other than the sorry excuses doled out by service writers for the American manufacturers! I have a 2005 Toyota Tacoma (2 wheel drive) that has ESC (electronic stability control), Our govt is considering mandating this feature as standard equipment on all cars/light trucks in 2015. This is NOT available-even as an option in the current Ranger, Dakota or Chev/Gmc comparables. Detroit NEEDS to get they're collective heads out of the sand and give us something we are PROUD to buy & Own!

I have had a new Ford vehicle every 5 years for 20 years. Only routine maintenace was required. By the way, I thought they were Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers.

Sorry, but I drove a new Ford Fusion all weekend and all hybrid technology does for it is get it 35mpg.

I can go out and buy any Japanese small car and get that without paying for hybrid technology. My '88 Toyota got 30.

Ford is a company still without a clue.

...And the 85 Civic HF got 50mpg. The problem is most cars, including the Japanese cars, have gotten larger and heavier over the past 20 years.

Go to FuelEconomy.gov and find one new non-hybird car that gets 35mpg combined.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byMPG.htm
Infact, the only cars the fit in that category are the hybrids Prius, Insight, Fusion, and Milan. Even the tiny Smart, Aveo, Yaris, and Fit don't make 35mpg combined mileage rating.

Look folks, you are both right. In sum, US built cars were junk, but now many are on par with the best built by the Japanese and Korean. I do not buy the line that as an American, I have to buy American to be a patriot. Sorry, but that is the last resort of a failed industry...and US car manufacturers don't need to push this line anymore. I also hated that thinking when I lived overseas and some foreigners would not buy American because they wanted to support their own industries. That is the thinking of fools. I buy the best value...and right now, the best in class is the Ford Fusion Hybrid. I like it, it is technologically advanced, and I hope it stays reliable. If it does not, then next time I will look elsewhere next time...but so far, it is a home run.

People should research individual models and features and years of vehicles ( and plant/country built in) they purchase. FORTUNATELY I have never purchased a new vehicle.....had a couple returns/repos with about 3,000 miles on them.
Others purchased had over 100,000 miles.

I have had GM, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan. V W and Toyota/GM joint production from NUMMI. I have bought from friends, dealers, ebay, strangers, but always have a used vehicle checked it out by an independent or your own trusted mechanic.

Do research using Consumer Reports and other similar guides. Don't hurry...you (should) have plenty of time and choices before committing from $2,000 to $50,000 on your 1st or 2nd biggest purchase in your life.

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Various people in every country take the business loans from different banks, just because that is simple and comfortable.