Bought my 03 and never looked back, except to see the losers in the rearview.
Jared

 

Today I drove my Lightning...and I had no problems.




Seriosuly, people don't bitch about problems they DON'T have. Check out any message board. Even Toyota's, Honda's, and Bimmers, and you will here people bitching about things that went wrong with their vehicles. It's not just Lightnings. And a lot of the problems on other boards are also from idiots that push too much "bolt-on" power without upgrading internals, tranny's, etc... then blame the MFG.

I havn't had any serious issues in my 34k miles, cept all the Dealers really f'ing suck, especially the service departments. Can't take it in without getting it back scratched up. It pi$$es the crap out of me. But, there is not much the MFG can do about that, and we are apparently still better off than at a Toyota dealer.

 

today i drove my lightning and some dumb girls threw soda cups at my truck, yeppie. Sorry had to vent, besides that it worked fine.

 

threw soda cups at your truck? I hope you kicked them. . . .hard.

 

In no way shape or form have I ever looked back on buying my L. This is one he!! of a truck we all have here. Yes I too was not looking forward to all the stories I read here and else place. But I wanted this truck, and by dame I got it, even if I did know of all the problems they have. Man my luck is good so far, NOT one problem out of this BEAST, nothing, zip. Well unless you call 13:59 runs at over 101mph a problem, on a BONE STOCK truck, and this is with a full tank of gas, and stock air pressure in the tires. No way could someone take this truck from me, it is that dame good!!! Plus I love the looks on a person face when a truck kickes there butts with very little problem. My only lose was to a Zo6, but I still got his attension, cause I did stay with him a while, and yes he was modded a little. So like everone else on here, it's your money, do what you think is best for you and no one else. Because all you need to please is yourself.

 

Not to hijack the thread but is this factual? No 03's have blown a plug yet, stock or modded?

 

88K and still like the Lightning.

It does get on my nerves sometimes, then I just floor it and all changes.

 

Do you think if you bought a vette or Dodge something or other and put in a chip and blew it that they would welcome you with open arms and buy you dinner while you wait??
I only have 24K on mine, 2 sets of plugs , no warrantee because of pulley-chip etc., but just like any vehicle, there are POS's and cherries. Mine has been excellent. Buy a Saturn.

Proud member of L.O.M.S. (Lightnings On My Street.) very elite-only one member so far. lol

 

I'm with Lightninrod. Best vehicle I've ever owned.

Mine is lightly moded, and I have 70,000 miles on it.

Other than the IC problems, which only ocurred on 99 and 00's, and a trans replacement at 65,000 miles, it's been trouble free. Both were covered under warranty, and no hassles.

 

Why even post is what I'm wondering? Who cares if you decided NOT to buy a Lightning?

People *don't* buy Lightnings every single day and that's the way I like it!

 

 

You know, every one of these threads ends the same. People come on and bust the ***** of the person with engine failure and make statements like "If you're going to play, you gotta pay" or "If you didn't want it to break, you shouldn't have modded it".

For the record, these trucks CANT be built that well. With minor mods, the motor shouldn't come apart. Grand Nationals are a good example. They push more horsepower through their little V6 more reliably than the Lightnings do. I know plenty of stock (Motorwise) GN's in the 11's. The fastest GN's have actually run in the 10's on the stock motor. Stock heads, stock cam, stock intake, stock crank, STOCK. Why is it that if you add 50 horsepower to the L it starts becoming a risk? And why should you be willing to pay for it? Totally stock trucks with low miles are reporting the same types of problems, so why should a person be expected to step up to the plate and throw their wallet on the table when the problem lies squarely at the feet of the company that made the motor?

This post isn't an attack, just a statement of the facts. If Ford had done it's homework, the motor wouldn't be coming apart like it is. Unless someone gets stupid with their mods (Too much boost or something) or uses a tune that is way out of line (Too much timing, running too lean), the trucks [bold]should[/bold] be able to run low 12's without any reliability problems from the motor.

 

HAHAHAH, yeah, in fact many motors do run low 12's reliably, whats your point? Plus once you chip it, fords tune is out of the picture anyway, so once again whats your point? Last i checked theses are near 5000lb vehicles that are driving faster than most street cars including those in the sport car catergory. I think your point is completly out of line, just cause you read of a couple guys here and there with problems doesnt mean everyone has rods flying out the tail pipe. The warrenty issues are somewhat of a problem, but i think if people were more honest in general instead of ripping out all of their mods before showing up etc, then it wouldnt have been made into such a big deal. And its not like wont happen at other motor car companies. Show up to a bmw dealer with a NOS tank in the back and a blown engine be prepared to buy a new one, same goes for pretty much any company.

For this post i would like one of ****'s smileys but much bigger

Oh, and i didnt buy a lightning today, updates arriving daily.

 

 

It is completely Assenine...to say that Ford Service is not as good as Dodge or Chevy or Toyota or Honda or whomever!!

For 6 years of my life I worked for rental car company whos primary market was the replacement industry. Meaning Someone gets in a wreck have to get a rental...someone has to put they're car in the shop for repairs..have to get a rental..Can anyone guess this largest rental company in the world??

Last 2 years I was in house as a manager at a Chevrolet dealership with dodge and chrysler on the same lost since the owner owned them both.
And we serviced Pontiac, Ford, and Cadiallac and Toyota dealerships right down the road.

ALL OF THEM ARE THE SAME!!! They will warranty it if it warrants Warranty!!

No one was better than the other. Toyotas didnt show any more break downs than chevy than ford than dodge etc. Where was my most biz from Chevy!!! Why?? we were on site!!

If you mod something and try to warranty it, your risk..No matter what kind of vehicle it is..Loose your biases when it comes to repairs folks..Trust me..they all break down..We had a Chevy truck loose its Tranny at 1500 miles..we had a Dodge loose its at 8,000. They were warrantied..They werent modded.

But had they rolled in with a chip in there?? I am sure that they would of charged us!!!

Sillyness...Ford didnt build the motor right...I remember countless Corvettes coming in for motor probs...That dealership sold like 4 Vettes a month!!!

Give me a break!!!!!!!!!