Actually, when I took the car to AAMCO the first time, the three other cars in the shop were all Tauruses(Tauri, Taurii?), which is why I bought the Life-Time Guarantee.
Turns out that 1st-gen Tauruses all have major reliability problems with transmissions, even more so than the general run of Ford AODs, and that the non-SHO 3.0L engines got the worst tranny of all the Tauruses. Also keep in mind that when I got rid of that POS, it still only had 60k miles on it, and that the first 38k were put on it by my Great-Aunt Virginia, who gave me the car when she decided to stop driving at the age of 89.

Also, when I got it out of my life, the quarter panels had rusted through in numerous spots, the headliner had decided to fall down for no reason that I ever figured out(yes I know that cigarette smoke can eat the adhesive that holds the headliner together, but no-one EVER smoked in that car.), and the tailights had been rewired because they had gone so dim that you could barely see them even at night. And I am religious about taking care of my cars...
So... IMO, F*rd=POS(IMO)

Okay man.


Here, I'll use the same reasoning:

My '83 Bonneville had a V6 that was seriously underpowered. I would floor it and it wouldn't go anywhere. Seriously, we're talking 110 hp, even less tq, just wouldn't move. On top of that there was rust everywhere I pointed, and you could look through the floorboard and see the street.
So... IMO, P*ontiac=POS(IMO)

My '82 Chevy Impala had an oil leak from hell. Had the gaskets replaced, it leaked. Had the mains replaced, it leaked. Valve covers replaced, it leaked. It smoked to beat hell and would often bog. Got it checked each time for these. Finally went to a place that knew what they were doing. Diagnosis was that compression was getting past the cylinders into the oil pan and building up so much pressure that it was pushing the oil out of every seam and crack.
So... IMO, Chevy=POS(IMO)

The mid-80'* Chevette was a POS car. Chevy put it out, so they suck.

Seriously, how can you pass judgement on every car a make puts out by one car, or one model of car? Instead of telling me one bad apple, or one bad model (every make has them) tell me why the entire line of Fords suck?

Simple fact is, this is a pontiac board. Most members are going to be strongly biased towards Pontiacs and GM'*. That being said all manufacturers have lemons or bad year runs, or recalls. Its a fact of life. Lets get over the brand bashing unless its a Yugo....

Thank you very much!!

Now back to the Mercury Marauder....

I was just making a point that the car makes me nuts!!! I've got seperate issues with Ford... Different topic, different forum...

I'm sorry... :? ...I thought I was following along with your topic...just to be sure, is it the Marauder that bugs you, or the idiot drivers?

'lil bit of both! Let'* drop this for now.... LOL.

I wasnt bashing Mercury Vital, I like Fords as they have always been more reliable then anything else we have owned, including a lot of european cars when we were overseas. The Maruader (sp?) does have style, it has that in your face type of look. If I had the money, I would buy one of those instead of a SSEi, mainly because I like the roar of V-8s. If you have had bad experiences with Ford'* in the past, dont base a car you have never owned off of that. Its easy to pin point a glitch with a vehicle and then carry it on to every model that company produces, especially if you dont care for it. Its like I hate Chevy Trucks with a passion, but I wont criticize a new one because of bad experiences in the past.

I owned a 93 Taurus with 130k miles on it, with the original engine and tranny. It was a simple model with the basic 3.0l. It never failed me once. TW, my Bonne has had three tranny'* put in it since 97', hopefully this is the last one.

LOL!! Doood, I'm cool, man. No worries.

I'm in total agreement there. I think this town I live in is Idiot-driver central. We have a main road that is 45mph speed limit that has a yellow flashing light to warn of a crosswalk with a light ahead. I couldn't tell you how many people slow clear down to 15-20 miles an hour at that light during rush-hour thinking it'* a school zone. Talk about causing a hazard.

My cousin owns a Yugo, you better watch it
I shouldn't really bash Ford in it'* totallity. They have always produced excellent trucks/vans, and their RWD platforms(Fox-bodies, CV/Grand Marquis) are as good as anything Chevy or Dodge puts out, but the Tauruses from that generation had massive problems with their trannies(not just me speaking, anecdotal evidence[I know, hearsay] from many other Taurus owners).
Not to mention the fact that they all, to a car(and this can be confirmed visually on your average commute), rusted in exactly the same spots, and that those spots were at precisely the right spots to weaken the structure of the car in a rear-end accident.
Now, I have to say that Ford solved all these problems on the 2nd-gen Tauruses, which are excellent, reliable cars, as is the Contour/Mystique. But the 1st-gen Tauruses were, for the most part, miserable heaps, and I won't mention burning Focuses...