unclebeldin- Nope, We just strolled through to see what they had. We tried working a deal at Cals, but they're such picks. So we headed out to Nye and had no problems.

P.S. Check your email.

 

Buy the Focus. It's sold by an American company and it will help our economy. The profits made on the Civic will go back to Japan which will be used to market more stuff to us in an effort for Japan to gain market share which will do nothing to help our economy and will have the net effect of putting our people out of work.

Besides, who says foreign built cars are better? Let me tell you this. When a foreign built car breaks, the parts are EXPENSIVE. I had a Nissan and the alternator burned out. A new one cost over $500 and that didn't include installation! Also had a Mercedes that blew the tranny. Cost close to $4000 to repair.

 

I do not own a Ford Focus but my wife used to own the other "World" car that Ford built, the Contour. She had a '95 Ford Contour SE with the V6. Everything was fine until 30,000 miles, which she got to at 3 1/2 years, so it was out of warranty. She was leaving work and all of a sudden the car just died. The Ford dealer was only 1/2 mile away so I pulled it down there with my truck and left it. They call us the next day and tell me that the timing "slipped" and the engine is trashed. The car is out of warranty so we are screwed. After a week of arguing with Ford they agreed to chip in $500 (whoopee!!!...the bill was over $4000). The Ford dealer took almost a month to fix it and lied numerous times so I go another $500 from them, but I was still out over $3000. The day it was fixed we drove it straight to the Honda dealer and bought an Accord. The Contour was $19,500 new and we got $8500 for a trade-in. This was sight unseen so they did not know anything about the engine problems. The Accord now has over 35,000 miles on it and has never been in the shop for anything. The Accord was $19,000 new and is worth $12,500 as a trade after 3 years.

Any manufacturer can make a lemon but I do not think I will ever buy another Ford car because of my experience with them. I almost sold my truck at the time because Ford Corporate pi$$ed me off so bad, but my truck has been great.

The truth is that Honda's will hold their value better and will break down less in the long run. Their cars run and run.

The wife wants a minivan now and I am not even considering the Windstar, even though I can get X-plan pricing on it. This is because it is based on the Taurus. Used prices are ridiculously low on the Windstar compared to the Honda Odyssey. This is mainly due to their poor reliability record. We are going to buy a Honda Odyssey.

Back to the Focus vs. Civic. I just looked at the Carmax website and found the following:

'99 Honda Civic LX:
New price: $16,000
Used price: $12,500

'00 Ford Focus LX:
New price: $15,000
Used price: $9,998

I do not care about brand loyalty anymore. I grew up in Michigan and swore I would be a Ford man for life, but I will not just throw hard earned money away. I will continue to buy Ford trucks because they are the best. I will not buy a Ford car because they are not the best.

 

...Hey! He just trashed my car!

Bought '95 Windstar new. Currently 89,000 miles. Drives like new, everything works, it's a quiet, comfortable, smooth ride.

Don't care about resale. This van is going straight from me to the junkyard or some really desperate person.

 

Raoul,

Nothing personal. If I was going to drive the van into the ground I may think differently but we will probably keep it 3-4 years and then sell it for a new one. There are '00 Odysseys going for over $20,000 ($26,000 new) still because demand is so high. '00 Windstars that were over $30,000 new are in the high teens.

I am sure there are some who have had great experience with Windstars and Contours and Focii (is that the correct plural of Focus?). I just happened to be the recipient of a lemon that I got $crewed on.

 

ok ok, my list is short.

When I see anything bad about something on my list I have to jump in.

gotta go, someone just posted something bad about Haynes socks up in 'Other Body'.

 

I hate it when that happens!!!...lol

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the new toyota Matrix as an option. It looks just like the Focus, if you like the look, and it should maintain value, like the Honda. The reliability records for Toyota is among the best also. I don't know where it is made though. My 2 cents.

 

My new Focus was built in Wayne, Michigan. My '99 and '00 F-150's were assembled in Kansas City, and my '01 was built in Ontario.