Triple-H

Bugsy

I've had a long Ford history, and I want to like them... but it's hard to forget the awful lemons I had with them in the past.
70 Ranchero 351w - transmission, engine, body rust, frame rot. Went to the crusher in 78.
74 Econoline. Rot. Oil leak, reverse gone, rear main seals, piston slap. - went to the crusher 81
74 mustang II. Cam lobes wore off. Went to crusher in 81.
86 Mustang Gt. Better car. Body and subframe cracks. Sold.
96 Windstar. Electrical problems. Compression failure, transmission failure, AC failure. Sold. It died on new owner on their way home.
I tried to like them...

Triple-H

I have to say the same thing I say to the Hyundai and Kia haters
Times change, products improve, maybe it's time to re-evaluate them from a fresh perspective?

I know it's different when you have been an owner and money has been involved, believe me, I know
I got burned badly by the '94 Chevy S10 purchase, burned badly, and it is hard for me to forgive GM
But GM is doing nothing as impressive as Ford, so I guess for me it's just easier

Triple-H

By the way I had these
'64 Ford Falcon, I6, 170ci, 3-in-the-tree - loved the car!!!
'67 Ford Fairlane 500, I6, 250ci, 2-speed slush box - lots of golden memories with that one too

Crazy_Schizo

I am very interested in the Hyundai Sonata. And this is coming form a guy who said never again to Hyundai when I sold the Accent and bought the Subaru.

Hyundai has stepped up. And I'm really interested in this "guaranteed value" promo they have going on. The biggest knock on them lately has been resale value, and it looks like they want to address that.

Bugsy

Oh, I owned an 88 Ranger in 92.
Engine exploded.
I swapped a mustang 5.0 into it. Went great then...sold.

Only ford that I really,really want is the 05-6 GT.
What a great car.

A 2

Haven't rented a car in a long time, so I cant say for sure. There was a time though when I rented regularly and 4 out of 5 times I'd end up in a Kia or Hyundai that looked like a cheap knockoff of some other car. They have come a long way since and are perhaps the next Honda. Atleast their approach seems to be right and they also have plans for a coupe.

Being part of rental fleets apparently drives down a cars value, not sure how?

That said, I don't know if I will ever buy one. As of now I have no need for a new car. And when I do, Honda will get first preference unless they have nothing I want (no not the CR-V )

Crazy_Schizo

My theory:

People abuse rental cars. You also have people driving them that aren't necessarily the best drivers in the world as well. SO you run into a situation like what I had about 2 years ago when I had a Corolla as a rental. The car had obviously been curbed at some point, as the steering was off and the feel wasn't great. Now, I think I have enough automotive smarts to recognize something like that, but your average consumer may not, and will tell their friends about the POS rental they had, so the perceived value of the vehicle drops.

Also, rental vehicles tend to be "bare bones" models. I don't think I've ever been in a nicely optioned rental car before. Again, drives down the perceived image of the car.

Triple-H

And please, if you test drive the Sonata, you gots to test drive the Kia Optima, same basic platform, but there are huge differences between Kia and Hyundai when it comes to how they outfit them. When Mo and I shopped it was clear, hands down, the Sorento was much richer feeling than the Santa Fe, and they are exactly the same basic vehhicle.

I love the look of the Optima

Triple-H

Hey badger boy, check it out....