Which car manufacturer do you hate most?

[azdamay]

Originally Posted by xwhit3devilx

The transit connect IS a last gen focus. Its built off the same platform and uses the same engine and tranny. Its awful, and I cant even imagine what it would be like with a full load.

I know, I've been driving one since Oct. 2010. I just wasn't sure if the transmission was exactly the same one used in the Focus or a modified version of it. And it is very slow, but for its intended purpose it was never meant to be fast.

Frankly I'd just like the ability to get up a hill without breaking traction. FWD plus all the weight over the back wheels is bad. I went to a customer last week where once I drove down his driveway I realized "oh crap, I don't know if I can make it back up this driveway." Sure enough, I just had to keep the pedal down and endure the burning rubber and twitching steering wheel. We almost got to the point of him getting his 4WD truck to push me up the driveway.

These things were apparently designed with flat city streets in mind.

Originally Posted by xwhit3devilx

On the plus side being a Focus in van form means you bolt an fswerks turbo kit to it, as well as a catback system and CAI. Actually, now I kind of want to buy one and do that....

It's not an exact bolt-on, but yes... and someone already did just that. He's on the Transit Connect forums.

[xwhit3devilx]

Originally Posted by azdamay

I know, I've been driving one since Oct. 2010. I just wasn't sure if the transmission was exactly the same one used in the Focus or a modified version of it. And it is very slow, but for its intended purpose it was never meant to be fast.

Frankly I'd just like the ability to get up a hill without breaking traction. FWD plus all the weight over the back wheels is bad. I went to a customer last week where once I drove down his driveway I realized "oh crap, I don't know if I can make it back up this driveway." Sure enough, I just had to keep the pedal down and endure the burning rubber and twitching steering wheel. We almost got to the point of him getting his 4WD truck to push me up the driveway.

These things were apparently designed with flat city streets in mind.



It's not an exact bolt-on, but yes... and someone already did just that. He's on the Transit Connect forums.

Ah, didn't notice that you drove one in your info, today's going to be another one of those days I suppose.

[1hotfocus]

hon duhs. enuff said

[Luis360]

Honda!!

[rcjames1]

Why Honda?

[whynotthinkwhynot]

Originally Posted by CJohn364

I chose Chrysler. For some reason, I just don't like the looks of their cars.

LOL

I can do deeper than that, but before, Ford was a close second. The manufacturers that I have some affection for are the ones that end up disappointing me the most. I loved my old ChryCo cars, and their V8s. I've built at least one from every domestic manufacturer. The ChryCo SB was simply better in all respects. Rectangular ports? Every single cylinder head. Big MF head bolts? You won't find those on a Chevy or a Ford. Rocker arm shafts? For $1500 you can convert your Ford or Chevy head to have high rpm valve stability like a stock ChryCo. When the conversion to EFI came- ChryCo's conversion allowed you to modify older blocks in older cars to modern EFI systems. Look under the hood of a Durango (big trucks have a different manifold) and you'll see a single plane carb manifold with a TB on top like a 4bbl and injector bungs drilled in front of the ports. Great stuff.

All that praise stopped in the DSM years. What a bunch of non-engineered crap is this nonsense? You have to nearly remove the engine to replace the water pump- just to get a 12" long bolt out. The LHS design, heralded as the new age K car, was great on paper, but they cheaped it up so much that it was el-crapo from day one. ChryCo went from the over engineered magnificence of the 60's, to the super cheapened to be competitive disappointment that got them bankrupt in the 00's. All this when they really had the chance to pull ahead with a new design system that cut nearly 3/4 of the cost out of getting a car from paper to production.

Fords, my close second, seemed to be better engineered to me when I first started driving them. Now I find some disappointments in them as well. The almighty 2012 Focus? Oh yeah, 2 serpentine belts? WTF Ford? I have to remove a motor mount just to change a belt? WTF Ford? You still don't have a unified engine-trans bolt pattern? WTF Ford?

At first I liked Fords because compared to the GM FWDs I used for work beaters, the Fords seemed to have better designed parts. Sure, you paid a premium price for those parts, but you got premium performance to go along with it. Ford also seemed to be more interested in future development of Euro-proven technologies like OHC engines than the other 2 domestics. Yet at the same time, Ford is full of things that angst me. 2 piece spark plugs? Who thinks those are an advancement? Nobody that has a vehicle with those installed- I assure you. That's a perfect example of fixing things that aren't broken- a Ford original fault. Why so many changes to designs that work? Why would you build 2 transmissions with different internals making one weaker just because it is behind an engine with less power? Was it that much cheaper? Ford's biggest problem in reliability IMO is that they over design things that either don't need re-designing, or just to save a few pennies. Therein lies a trick they could learn from GM if they had the sense.

There is something to be said for GM's design motif of making the same old parts fit in every situation. I'm certain it's annoying for engineers, but for consumers it translates into cheap alternators, cheap starters, cheap transmissions, cheap flywheels, and multiple engine options for all vehicles (yay hot rodders). Yes, prepare yourself, an OEM single mass flywheel for your friend's Cruze = $35-100. That's how much of a difference one flywheel for all engines can make. The steel is no different. The thickness is not different. It's just that that one flywheel fits a multitude of FWD engines with designs back to the 80's when GM first went to the unified engine-trans bolt pattern. Put that in your $400 DMF pipe and smoke it. Thanks Ford! Yes DMFs have their advantages, but it would be so much cheaper if the same DMF that fit a Focus fit every FWD MT engine from way back. The same goes for alternators. GM builds one for every car. That means you've got a lot going for your alternator if you have a base vehicle. The starters are also the same- with the exception that the mount base might be rotated.

This translates into cheap parts, and unfortunately for GM- it also translates into an abundance of poorly built cheap rebuilds which is why I went Ford in the first place. I'd rather pay 2x the cost for a part that lasts 2+x as long. In a perfect world, that's how it would work. Why I nearly put down Ford is because lots of times those more expensive parts don't last 2x as long. Like the sway bar end link design we have with 2 ball joints- that is a superior design, but it fails too soon in some applications like the Focus. It's really annoying to have a simple fault with a better engineered part that costs more than 2x what the competition costs.

That's why Ford nearly made the top of the list. That being said, it's interesting that nobody hates Mazda. I personally haven't found anything worse about them than anyone else. If they ever bring the SkyActiv Diesel over here like they swore to- I'll be even more impressed than before. Damn thick headed domestic manufacturers cannot get it through their head that this country wants a small turbo diesel. We might even want a small 2 cycle turbo diesel- and yes, that can be made to pass stringent emissions, and it's an old American design as well. Unfortunately the owners of the design are too freaking lazy to design anything, and more than happy to exist as an equipment engine design only. At one time ChryCo was investing in research, but maybe Detroit D didn't give them a decent lease option for the patents.

[mac.mogul]

Originally Posted by xwhit3devilx

The Cube however can go die in a hole.

Square peg won't fit in a round hole

[lyonsroar]

Originally Posted by mac.mogul

Square peg won't fit in a round hole

Either StanceWorks or Canibeat featured a stanced Cube maybe a week or so back. Not too bad.

[rcjames1]

Interesting info about Ford and Chrysler.

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by ranger_mclaren

I like how everyone keeps not liking chrysler for the tranny issues. Even thought they have fixed the issue. I love Ford more than any other company out there but they can't build a auto tranny to save their lifes.

There's still a lot of Chryslers running around with the sub-par transmissions. The only ones that are worth anything are the abandon Benz transmissions (kind of like their platforms ... all abandon Benz stuff).

Originally Posted by azdamay

The transmission in the Transit Connect sucks, which I believe is related to or the same as, the transmission in the pre-2012 Focus. And judging by the complaints about the 2012, that isn't much of an improvement.


Like I said earlier, Chrysler has the capability to be an innovative company. I want to like them. I'm not sure I get why so many people seem to dislike them, but I guess someone has to be the villain. They make some crappy products, but so does every car company (that makes cars for ordinary people, anyway).

The difference between the last gen focus and the transit connect is the transit connect has a lower final drive ratio. I think the auto in the focuses is like 4.10 and the auto in the transit connect is 4.30

I want to like them too. They make the last TRUE SUV (Wrangler). The Charger is a NICE looking car. Hell, they make the last pickup with a manual transmission (Cummins TD). I don't trust ANY of their vehicles farther than I can push them.

Originally Posted by ranger_mclaren

Not a single auto transmission in the rangers are worth a damn either.

5R55 are a problematic transmission. Seems they also have a lot of problems the valve body plugging up. It's neat to read how they work to make it a 5 speed. They took a poor transmission to begin with and made it more complicated.

Originally Posted by xwhit3devilx

The transit connect IS a last gen focus. Its built off the same platform and uses the same engine and tranny. Its awful, and I cant even imagine what it would be like with a full load.
Watch this video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcgHF..._order&list=UL

look at that engine bay; familiar? Oh and this guy does a 0-60.

On the plus side being a Focus in van form means you bolt an fswerks turbo kit to it, as well as a catback system and CAI. Actually, now I kind of want to buy one and do that....

If the transit connect was available as a 5 speed, there is NO doubt in my mind I'd be DD'ing one. To be honest, 4 or 5 years out, I wouldn't mind getting one and doing a 5 speed swap and turbo install.

But the transmission is a CD4E variant like in the 00-11 Focus. A HORRIBLE transmission that should have died long ago. Kind of like the AX4S/AX4N ... bad.