Are Australian Fords REALLY so bad?

[Dash_XR]

I've owned 4 Falcons and everyone has had either gearbox or suspension issues. There is so much I like about them but also allot that frustrates me. I've owned 2 jap cars and both just felt so much more solid and well built.

Cheap performance is the only thing that keeps me in a Falcon tbh.

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by wildrider

from experience the worse falcon of the whole lot was the EA series. shame too I like the shape of the EA. thou oddly enough I know of one or two that are getting around with no problems!! ford must of built these ones on a day other then Friday lol. I really think with cars its the luck of the draw. there is no such thing as the fault free car.

Actually I was very happy with my EA. It was a series II with the 4 speed auto.

The model which was a piece of $#!%& was the BA. In the desperation to recover from the AU debacle, Ford released the BA half baked.

[Cheese3]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Actually I was very happy with my EA. It was a series II with the 4 speed auto.

The model which was a piece of $#!%& was the BA. In the desperation to recover from the AU debacle, Ford released the BA half baked.

Debacle by outselling B-series and being more reliable ? yup major debacle I agree

[xisled]

I think the people most critical of Ford or any brand for that matter are the customers who have purchased the car. People do not want to think there $30000 plus car has problems and it only takes one bad story for a reputation to be killed.

But on average Ford has a good product, I would guess that there is thousands more happy customers than unhappy customers. It just unhappy customers use their voice more than happy customers.

[FGII-XR6]

the worst ate the " a friend of a friend of a friend had a bad falcon so all falcons are bad " brigade! The uninformed ignorant morons who love spreading negativity regardless of the facts, you know who you are

Originally Posted by xisled

I think the people most critical of Ford or any brand for that matter are the customers who have purchased the car. People do not want to think there $30000 plus car has problems and it only takes one bad story for a reputation to be killed.

But on average Ford has a good product, I would guess that there is thousands more happy customers than unhappy customers. It just unhappy customers use their voice more than happy customers.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

the worst ate the " a friend of a friend of a friend had a bad falcon so all falcons are bad " brigade! The uninformed ignorant morons who love spreading negativity regardless of the facts, you know who you are

Well and good to stick the boot into the 'brigade' who have purchased a NEW Ford/Falcon and then they have some issues with it they post about it, when you dont own a new Ford.

Sorry but it annoys the crap out of me when you and other people say folk are bagging Ford when they have laid down their hard earned on a NEW Ford, only to have some issues.

That said there is plenty of people out there that have had nothing to complain about after purchasing a new Ford, (Me inc) and yeah not many who have had a good time of it will post the good things. I have i was all praise for my last car and am heading that way again.

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by xisled

I think the people most critical of Ford or any brand for that matter are the customers who have purchased the car. People do not want to think there $30000 plus car has problems and it only takes one bad story for a reputation to be killed.

I think you are so close to the point.
Customers have the right to be critical having spent 30,000+ dollars and have the evidence of the issues. As many on this forum are owners of a ford with reliability issues.
Secondly Ford should be listening. whose signature says the boss doesn't pay the wages the product does!
Finally as I mentioned before the dyed in the wool believer will ignore, insult or abuse those who have valid grievances with the product and ultimately dismiss the reality yet at the same time perpetrate the same ridicule upon another manufacturers product, ignoring the vast empirical evidence to the contrary.
In fact, I'm sure some people will follow this path as self justification for their decision to support Ford and Buy model XX, despite how bad a decision it might have been.
JP

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Actually I was very happy with my EA. It was a series II with the 4 speed auto.

The model which was a piece of $#!%& was the BA. In the desperation to recover from the AU debacle, Ford released the BA half baked.

the BA we had was alright but I can deal with the problems the BA had compared to the EAs head gasket issues and faulty computers!! face it was the EA any better then the BA??

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by wildrider

the BA we had was alright but I can deal with the problems the BA had compared to the EAs head gasket issues and faulty computers!! face it was the EA any better then the BA??

From my experience my EA had less issues than my BA.

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

From my experience my EA had less issues than my BA.

haven't seen too many B series with blown head gaskets compared too the E series. front suspension problems and front brake rotor come too mind with the EA. they both have there issues and the fact that the EAs did have head gasket issues (well known fact) puts the EA behind the BA in my book for reliability. as I've said before. I am a wear of faults in the BA but i'd rather have that then a blown head gasket

[FGII-XR6]

you obviously didn't read my post

Originally Posted by au3xr6

the worst ate the " a friend of a friend of a friend had a bad falcon so all falcons are bad " brigade!

or my sig go back and read what I posted about the 3rd hand complaints then you can apologise you your unfounded rant . and I own I AU XR6 and an NF fairlane

Originally Posted by DJM83

Well and good to stick the boot into the 'brigade' who have purchased a NEW Ford/Falcon and then they have some issues with it they post about it, when you dont own a new Ford.

Sorry but it annoys the crap out of me when you and other people say folk are bagging Ford when they have laid down their hard earned on a NEW Ford, only to have some issues.

That said there is plenty of people out there that have had nothing to complain about after purchasing a new Ford, (Me inc) and yeah not many who have had a good time of it will post the good things. I have i was all praise for my last car and am heading that way again.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

you obviously didn't read my post or my sig go back and read what I posted about the 3rd hand complaints then you can apologise you your unfounded rant . and I own I AU XR6 and an NF fairlane

Yep my bad, misread your post, so apologies.

But my point still stand but not in reference to your post, but to people that get the craps when people who buy NEW cars find and issue and everyone thinks they are bagging ford, yet they wont hand over their cash for a NEW Ford.

[FNQracing]

Originally Posted by wildrider

they both have there issues and the fact that the EAs did have head gasket issues (well known fact)

It took Ford Australia 10 years (read it - Ten Years) to sort out the dodgy head gasket. It wasn't until the AU that they sorted it out. Count'em - EA, EAII, EB, EBII, ED, EF, EFII, EL, ELII.

[FGII-XR6]

It's cool. I understand someone who buys a bad car having a whinge but those who , as you said don't even own a ford should leave the complaint to the few with a genuine gripe. I often ponder on the motives of the members who don't own a ford and seem hell bent on dragging the ford name down why are they here ?

Originally Posted by DJM83

Yep my bad, misread your post, so apologies.

But my point still stand but not in reference to your post, but to people that get the craps when people who buy NEW cars find and issue and everyone thinks they are bagging ford, yet they wont hand over their cash for a NEW Ford.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by FNQracing

It took Ford Australia 10 years (read it - Ten Years) to sort out the dodgy head gasket. It wasn't until the AU that they sorted it out. Count'em - EA, EAII, EB, EBII, ED, EF, EFII, EL, ELII.

I was talking to my mechanic who put my new head and head gasket on my EL for me when I was having the go fast crap done to it and he was saying that he was doing 4 or 5 a week in the 90s/00s.

But he also mentioned it could be avoided or chances reduced by changing the coolant often with fresh stuff, when you neglect the cooling system in E series thats when they tend to blow the head gasket he was saying.

He also said that what Ford specifies to torque the head bolts down to isn't tight enough when I said I have the factory workshop manuals in the back if he needs to know any of that info.

My old man had an EA which blew a head gasket twice, that car was what got me into liking Fords haha.

[Barnaby]

I recently bought a second hand car and was tossing up between 4 or 5 (I have owned Holden, Toyota, VW & Honda) brands. I went to all the forums to do some research and they all had their issues. Yes, the "BF, what issues have you had" thread was daunting but maybe better the devil you know. Most of the Jap/Euro competitors to the BF I was looking at were about double the price, which I didn't care too much about but in the end I paid over market value for a grandpa owned BF Fairmont I6. The guy was a Nazi about care and maintenance of his vehicles (he waxes his mower!), so I know it's as good as I am going to get.

Some guy previously posted that Ford ownership is not like following a footy team and I say why not? We always like to stick with brands, I know I do. This community was a part of my decision as well, as with my AU XR6 Ute, all my problems with it have only been a search away from a solution on Ford Forums. Maybe with the exception of the Commodore, the depth of information in regards to common faults and remedies for the Falcons is just not out there for the other makes.

I guess it helps to be a bit handy with your car too, doing your own maintenance and repairs. If you just want transport get a Corolla I guess...

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by pmacc

Bloody oath its a load of crap especially the 'bulletproof' Hiluxes

At one stage 2 years back me and my mates had 5 current gen D4D Hiluxes between us. Every single one of the diesels around 100k mark had atleast 2 leaking injectors $400 each injectors to fix if your lucky enough to have a diesel mechanic mate with a trade account otherwise a toyota to fix was $1200 per injector. On further research i found that pretty much every one of the D4D motors suffered the same problem and toyota still hasnt sorted out the problem.

Problem is alot of people go on so called legends of a product. eg ford 9 inch is the best rear end, t400 is the strongest tranny, brembo make the best brakes and the toyotas are so reliable. in many cases it may be true but nothing in life (besides death) is guaranteed but for most thats good enough

The neighbour has one of the D40 hilux as well
Paid a fortune for it, the engine had a miss then it shut down in the middle of nowhere
The engine was stuffed 11,12 grand for a newie, for a 3L 4 pot .....
Then the turbo went ,another 4 grand
Not bad for a car that cost over 40 grand 2nd hand, hasn't got anywhere near 200 tho,and the muppet hangs it on me for owning patrols
He is a Toyota died in the wool owner,swears black and blue,they are the best
His old 2.8 diesel hilux done over 700,000 ks trouble free
There must be something in it ,the hilux dual cab is the 2nd biggest selling car ATM ....

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by 302 XC

The neighbour has one of the D40 hilux as well
Paid a fortune for it, the engine had a miss then it shut down in the middle of nowhere
The engine was stuffed 11,12 grand for a newie, for a 3L 4 pot .....
Then the turbo went ,another 4 grand
Not bad for a car that cost over 40 grand 2nd hand, hasn't got anywhere near 200 tho,and the muppet hangs it on me for owning patrols
He is a Toyota died in the wool owner,swears black and blue,they are the best
His old 2.8 diesel hilux done over 700,000 ks trouble free
There must be something in it ,the hilux dual cab is the 2nd biggest selling car ATM ....

You mean the D4D diesel? Yeah ask any Prado or Hilux owner with this engine about injector failure at 500 bux an injector and you'll probably get an abusive spray. Friends of ours' Prado (3yo Prado) had this happen, 2 injectors let go and at $500 a pop they werent too happy.

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by FNQracing

It took Ford Australia 10 years (read it - Ten Years) to sort out the dodgy head gasket. It wasn't until the AU that they sorted it out. Count'em - EA, EAII, EB, EBII, ED, EF, EFII, EL, ELII.

I like the early E series (EA, EB, ED). but for some people to say the BA was a heap of **** compared to the EA I have too laugh at. maybe if the argument was the AU being the better car or the FG. i'd agree with them not being as well built. even compared too an AU or FG the BA wasn't a heap of crap.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Actually I was very happy with my EA. It was a series II with the 4 speed auto.

The model which was a piece of $#!%& was the BA. In the desperation to recover from the AU debacle, Ford released the BA half baked.

The real problem with the BA was that with sales being so high, the factory was working absolutely flat out just getting them out the door, and corners get cut to get the numbers needed.

One of the reasons the quality on FG is so good, workers have plenty of time up there sleeves now to fix any little issue they see, there's no pressure to get the numbers out now. So there's at least one good thing that comes from low sales figures

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

The real problem with the BA was that with sales being so high, the factory was working absolutely flat out just getting them out the door, and corners get cut to get the numbers needed.

One of the reasons the quality on FG is so good, workers have plenty of time up there sleeves now to fix any little issue they see, there's no pressure to get the numbers out now. So there's at least one good thing that comes from low sales figures

I second that. you just have too look at issues the VT commodore had from holden not being able too keep up with the sale rush.

[Ryan]

Honestly? No. I even said in another thread that I feel (at times) Ford's product is better than Holden's.

I know plenty of people with older model Falcons that still have them with no real issues. Sure you get your lemons like every make, but they're still soild for what they are.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by 302 XC

The neighbour has one of the D40 hilux as well
Paid a fortune for it, the engine had a miss then it shut down in the middle of nowhere
The engine was stuffed 11,12 grand for a newie, for a 3L 4 pot .....
Then the turbo went ,another 4 grand
Not bad for a car that cost over 40 grand 2nd hand, hasn't got anywhere near 200 tho,and the muppet hangs it on me for owning patrols
He is a Toyota died in the wool owner,swears black and blue,they are the best
His old 2.8 diesel hilux done over 700,000 ks trouble free
There must be something in it ,the hilux dual cab is the 2nd biggest selling car ATM ....

OMG Don’t get me started on Hilux’s.
A couple of years back I was the Commercial Manager for a large group of gold mines in the WA goldfields. We spent about $1M a year buying new Hilux’s (and about another $1M on cruisers) plus another $5M+ maintaining the ones we had. The “We must buy Hilux’s, they are so reliable” mindset was UNBELIEVABLE. One of my predecessors had bought a few D22 Navaras, which everyone agreed were “heaps of ****.” Because of this they were relegated to the worst areas in the bottom of the (salt laden) pits. Yet ask people why they are “shit” and the only answer was that they were “unreliable,” but in fact they had LESS downtime, and cost LESS to maintain than even the newest Hilux’s.
Worse yet, one of the reasons that so many roles demanded Landcruisers, was because of the unbelievably stupid design of the Hilux’s. They had such a huge front overhang, that they would bottom out on the nose going through some of big ditches.
I almost got lynched because I put a stop to buying Hilux’s and looked at the alternatives. In the end, I won the argument by pointing out that with my current budget I could buy maybe 17 new Hilux’s, or I could get 25 new D-Max’s or Rangers. I was fortunate that the new Isuzu dealer was very keen, and lent us a demo to flog around the pits, so I gave the key people a day each, and they all agreed that it was firstly better than the Hilux, and also a more viable alternative to the LC for some applications.
Our maintenance manager held up the usual “we only know how to fix Toyotas and it’s cheaper for us to only hold Toyota spares” line. Until I pointed out the Isuzu dealer had put forward a proposal to setup and staff an onsite workshop where they would do the repairs under contract. Suddenly he “looked into it” and discovered Isuzu were NO harder to repair, and parts were actually CHEAPER.
Personally I had hoped and pushed for Rangers, as they were very much on a par. But in the end the eagerness of Isuzu to get our business made them uber competitive, and their pricing to get the vehicles upto mine spec was phenomenal. I'm pretty sure they did the latter at or below cost to win our business. At the time, I think they would have struggled to match the delivery volume that Toyota were capable of, particularly in regards to conversions, but we were looking for staggered delivery anyway.

[Franco Cozzo]

With the Toyota D4D injectors being so expensive, price up an injector for a TDCI Focus, $922 EACH.

I think its just a common rail diesel thing.

Set of 8 injectors for my IDI 6.5L, $250

[SPArKy_Dave]

Originally Posted by irish2

I don't know how much you know about cars. Generally shock absorbers don't last past 100,000k's, doesn't matter which car or make. Also the BTR 4 speed is extremely simple. A service is probably all it needs.

In my experience, falcon shocks are good till around 300,000km.
(or were)

Have several falcons still on all original suspension (yep, bushes and all)
at 278,000km and 285,000km respectively.

[davistev]

Interesting thread. Whenever I take the family for a long country drive we always take our comfortable EA Fairmont. It just feels like a cruise on our lounge suite. A beautiful luxurious drive that averages 10.4 L/100km. For a 23 year old car, it is our favourite ride. The secret is to keep changing the fluids and filters.

I would love to see a basic simple Falcon for $29,999. Just give a simple car with airbags and AC .

[ryeman]

It seems to me that much of the high tech in cars doesn't return any 'whole of life' saving because the complexity ultimately end up costing more to fix/maintain when it's aimed at a placarded fuel figure on the showroom floor.

[Maka]

Are Australian Fords REALLY so bad? In a nutshell NO! Yes buying preferences have changed but the core product's are world class & buyers today are spoilt for choice. We live in a constantly changing world but the one thing that wont change is Ford's commitment to providing the world market, great value vehicles that cover EVERY base.

cheers,Maka

[SB076]

I have had no issues with either my G6ET or my previous Ford. I think being a Ford forum we are more likely to read about issues with Fords and as most of us are enthusiasts we are more particular about our vehicles.

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by ryeman

It seems to me that much of the high tech in cars doesn't return any 'whole of life' saving because the complexity ultimately end up costing more to fix/maintain when it's aimed at a placarded fuel figure on the showroom floor.

This is the argument me and the minister are having
She wants a new dual cab 4x4 and wants to unload the GQ patrol
Had the patrol about 5 years and other than replacing original components,namely the radiator $500,the plastic fan $60 ,4 tyres $1000 (tyres are on all cars and need replacing sometime)we haven't replaced anything else
She sees the proclaim economy the new breed get ,its half what the GQ gets ,but when you add in cost of parts, the service interval costing ,,its a hard ,very hard sell for me
Then to add insult ill then have a bill to drive new around $700-$1,000 a month