[Shotimes] (OT) CTS-V in Detroit Free Press

[Josh Salaets]

>>> Ford needs to give it up and just build SUVs, Mustangs & fleet vehicles.
I know I probably won't buy another Ford product, unless its an SUV or
'Stang.  Ford doesn't have a clue about what the public wants in a sports
sedan.  The public expected similar, if not better, performance from the
300hp Marauder compared to the older 260hp SS. <<<

No, Ford doesn't need to give up on their car market, they just need to
start bringing their cars from Europe over AS IS, without the North American
guys screwing it up in an effort to "make it appeal to the US consumers."
Ford Europe has A LOT of awesome cars over there, including the Focus, which
was rated the "most relieable car" in Germany last year, OVER BMW and
Mercedes.  Yet the Focus over here is plagued with tons of brake and quality
control problems.  I'd LOVE to have the ST220 (basically a newer Contour
with a 3.0 Duratec and 220 hp) - it's the car the Mazda 6 SHOULD have been.

Ford US is slowly going in the right direction, kicking and screaming all
the way.  Even though the Contour was a flop, it's still a really nice car,
and very solid - much more so than any other car that came from Ford US at
the time.  The Focus is another decent car - it is so much better built than
the Mustang, it's scary!  The current Mustang is fun, but quality control on
that car is so bad, it's a disgrace.  I'm hoping the redesigned Mustang will
at least match, and hopefully succeed the build quality of the Focus and
Contour.

And if everyone thinks Ford is the only one with problems, ALL of the
domestic car makers can't sell a car to save their soul right now.  The
Japanese and German competition is just too stiff.  Why buy American when
you can get better quality, more power, and a decent warranty for the same
price?

Imports are also not perfect - the WRX's current 5-speed is like glass, and
grenades faster than you can say "blown diff" for our SHOs, Toyota is having
issues with their V6's gumming up and ruining themselves, and all of the
cars we see from Honda are designed (and mostly built) in North America, and
have reliability and quality control problems to match.

I'll just never understand why the US doesn't "deserve" to get the same cars
Europe has.  All the cars over here are made like crap, yet over there the
same cars are awesome, with better materials, stronger engines, and more
aggressive styling.  Maybe it's because they they can skimp on US cars and
get away with it, where, if they did in Europe, the buyers simply wouldn't
buy them.

Josh Salaets
95 SHO MTX (See it at: www.cardomain.com/id/sh0gun)
85 Omni GLH-T (Yeah, it's fast)
NWSHOC Member
Eugene, OR