I'm sure that if the 500 was in THAT bad of condition, they wouldn't have it out there for everyone to tear apart and then go posting horror stories all over the internet. I just can't believe a dealership would leave themselves exposed that way........then again - the way some of the members here have been treated by the salesmen leaves the door to the doubtroom open on that too.

I'm sure the Stang will be much better built than past generations. So much planning and effort and hype has gone into this car - the stockholders would KILL Ford for releasing a POS Mustang. I'm one of those stockholders - looking to make some $$ off Ford over the next couple years!!!

 

Crazyhorse,
Because "Honda Quality" cars don't have 300 HP in a good looking RWD coupe. It's quality should be questioned because Ford doesn't have the track record to not question it.

 

Absolutely.

 

I know when they designed the car, they had a lot of write ups on how there was a manufacturing design engineer. They designed the new Mustang so that it could be manufactured to better insure quality by reducing the strain of the line workers jobs on the car. Thai-Tang, who headed up the '05 Mustang program, and a lot of the engineers actually worked on the line in Dearborn to get an idea of what goes into building a Mustang. If they went to these lengths to improve quality, I am not to worried. Every car has a couple of first year jitters but they should be minimal.

 

I too stopped by my local Ford dealer this past weekend to look at the new Focus(for my wife) and saw the 500 and the Freestyle. All 3 vehicles, IMHO, are head and shoulders above in build quality than any GM or Crysler efforts I've looked at lately, and indeed are big improvements for Ford itself. I was immediately struck by the fit and finish on the exterior(complete lack of body panel gaps, etc) and better use of materials on the interior. There can't be anyone out there that can say with any objectivity that these vehicles don't represent a major improvement for Ford. The only caveat I can make is after having seen a GTO that same day, which was very well put together, but again an exception to the rule as it was all Holden's doing(Side note: I found out that a local area Pontiac dealer is asking upwards of $43K for an 04 GTO..yikes!!).

 

Troll somewhere else. [/b][/quote]
I'm with Grant

 

I really hope that you are not a troll. I have heard from people that have seen and sat in both the 500 and Freestyle and in terms of fit and finish and overall quality these two vehicles are head and shoulders above any Ford vehicle. Ford has emphasized many times that improving their overall car quality is what they are aiming for. I have seen the new F150 and that car was great, now add the 2005 Escape that my brother purchased which has great fit and finish and I would say that Ford is well on their way to giving customers cars that last and are not built like trash.

Your comments seem way out of left field, while there might be one or two vehicles that get out with some hiccups, I highly doubt the 500 was in as bad shape as you describe it. :scratch:

 

Why is a negative comment about our beloved mustang met with a "get out of here Troll" comment. It would be, dare i say, ignorant to ignore someones concerns completly. Maybe he saw a pre-production model? Test mule? But, I dont think its fair to completely dismiss him. He did join almost 3 weeks ago and has posted 12 times. Troll??? As far as ive heard, I'm like the rest of yall, i've heard nothing but good. I havent seen any in real life, but the pictures alone look much better than previous products. On the other hand maybe this may point to some "sugar coating" on Ford's behalf of their durability. I remember not too long ago reading an article on an X-Type's exhaust falling off during a test (car and driver i believe, my archive is not with me) which as many know is a heavily ford engineered car. This car too was intially percieved as being "well screwed together". Please dont take my comments wrong. I love this mustang as much anyone here (I have the blue/white ford racing mule as my background) but it is always smart to stop, close your ears to the hoopla, and look at something realistically. In conclusion though, if this car is even 25% better built (which i think is the case) than its predecessor (no offense to anyone with an older stang), i think ford will have no problem selling the heck out of this car .

Jason

 

I can't imagine that this new Stang would not be light-years ahead of the outgoing model in EVERY way, including build quality, fit and finish. If it's as well built as the Mazda 6 (same plant and assembly techniques, after all) then that ought to be good enough.

Will it be a Lexus? Of course not. Not even Mercedes is as good as Lexus now! But if it's as good as Mazda, eveyone should be happy!

With Mazda build quality, and safety systems co-engineered by Volvo, this should be the greatest Mustang EVER. Ford is taking the quality issue seriously, and rectifying the situation in part by leveraging its other holdings, which is a very, very smart move!

Gotta remember, the North American auto makers are making great strides, but we lost a lot of ground to the imports (Japanese, specifically) over the past 20 years, and we're still playing catch-up, which is frustrating. And part of the problem is the WAY we build cars, and I don't just mean the technology, but also the UAW.

What POs me, is people in North America who rationalize buying inferior quality products - and find erroneous faults with imports - all under the guise of, "I only buy American." What a load! If YOU drop the ball and then blame it on the other team, well, "da Nile ain't just a river in Egypt," as the saying goes.

And remember, "Amercian" companies like Chrysler, for example, are actually German. It's a global economy. Be competitive and offer equivalent quality, or go under. It's just that simple. And I think Ford is starting to "get it."

Sadly, the 500 is ugly as sin. A better design would have made this car faaaar more competitive in a highly-contested market segment. I don't think the current iteration of the 500 will be around long, cause I think it will get trounced by the competition. Ford should have seen that. Oh, well, change doesn't come overnight.

On the other hand, the British car magazines are raving about the GT - one of them even ranked it number one ahead of the Ferrari 360 Modena Stradale and the Porsche...whatever model the Porsche was, can't remember. :worship:

 

reasons:

1) he has never seen a stang, yet says it is probably bad.
2) there are no such "bad reviews" of the Five Hundred that i could find on google
3) 12 posts in 3 weeks
4) "i couldnt get the driver door to close" either he is an idiot who cant close car doors, or a liar. there is no way it would pass inspection if that was the case

want more? just ask

 

Nope, quality will be just fine. Maybe we should start a poll with this question.

 

Let's just hope he didn't build the mustang like he builds his football teams.

 

Ford wanted this vehicle to launch and be nothing BUT quality. The work and effort that went into this car is unbelievable. Ford wanted flawless, and this is what the car represents. American carmakers have come a LONG way in the past few years to shake this lack of "quality" issue that they had back in the 80's. Give them a chance to prove just how far they have come.

 

What footbal team would that be?

 

Uhh, I don't believe this guy. He's likely a troll. There's no way Ford would give that car an "OK TO SHIP" if it was that shoddily built. Ford knows it can't afford to ruin its reputation. It needs to build a reputation, not destroy it further with subpar products.


The Lions .. ?

Calling the 500 ugly as sin is quite harsh. It's conservatively styled, so I don't see how that can be possible but I'll let you burn your bridges where you may. Nonethless, to add to your topic Ford has actually decided they are going to redesign with a more aggressive grille starting with the 2006 model already. That's right. The current design will be changed already next year. I think Ford is starting to realize that changes, even small, draw in people to buy the car. Nobody wants to buy a new car if it looks the same as a model that is 4 years old.

 

I was hoping the 500 would look something like the 427 concept car.
As far as quality goes, isn't it built on the platform they share with Volvo? I can't believe that would be a low quality design.
I will agree that GM has to come along way. Had my GTO been designed and built in the states, I would not have bought it because it would have had the same ugly interior and same plastic addons as other Pontiacs.

 

I would worry about quality if this 05 was released last year. 3 years ago I remember insiders at Ford leaking that 04 was to be the roll out date for what is now the 05 Mustang. Seems to me that they waited to get it right the first time.

 

by the way, what the heck happened to the 427 car? i think ford should have made a vehicle like the 427, look at the response that the chrysler 300 is getting.

 

as stated in my example, do you think Jaguar would one want of its car (the car that was supposed to bring Jaguar even with other lux brands in sales) to have its exhaust fall off during a test with one of the largest car magazines in the world? I DONT THINK SO, but it happened and since then X-type sales have been dissapointing at best.

Dont act so stubborn in realizing that sometimes cars (even fords, remember the Cobras of late with their faulty engines) do have bad runs in their design. Im not saying ANYTHING ford is making is under such certimstances, it just sometimes happens. Infact I fully agree with everyone here in betting that this mustang will be the best built, best performing (stock, non-cobra) mustang ever. But before you proclaim anything, wait till the car actually hits customer hands before you make any assumptions. BTW, ive probaly had less than 12 posts in probaly over a 1 month+, am i a troll??? Please dont flame me, im only trying to think reasonably

Jason

 

reasons:

1) he has never seen a stang, yet says it is probably bad.
2) there are no such "bad reviews" of the Five Hundred that i could find on google
3) 12 posts in 3 weeks
4) "i couldnt get the driver door to close" either he is an idiot who cant close car doors, or a liar. there is no way it would pass inspection if that was the case

want more? just ask[/b][/quote]
i totally agree!!!!