Ford Australia and quality?

[xe351]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

...... are pretty stiff, so you have to pull fairly hard and you pull the whole thing towards you. I think I might have grabbed it the wrong way, instead of flipping the latch towards me I pulled on it and it snapped off.

not sure why, but after reading this and your sig, i must admit i did chuckle some

its no secret that Ford have had fragile handles for years, and if they aren't treated with respect they do break, xa-xf door handles are a good example. That being said, if the door is adjusted right with the hinge kits done, they rarely break

[XR_6falcon]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Wouldn't surprise me haha, I went inside the dealership to buy some parts from spares a few weeks ago and there was a yelling fight going on between two mechanics and the spare parts guys getting involved, and everyone in there dresses like bogans.

LOL i happen to work at a ford dealer thats near a honda dealership...

[irish2]

Originally Posted by Fairlane

Yeah the fit aint the greatest in the Falcons. Sit in a good 15 year old Japanese car and you realise Aussie cars arent screwed together all that well, but I guess weve gotten used to it, given our limited resources of the Aussie manufacturers something has gotta give.

And yep Ive broken a latch in my BA. And no i dont cop the argument thats its user abuse, never broken a latch in any other car. Its a pretty crummy design, whats wrong with the old skool latch style, impossible to break.

I have also sat in 15 year old jap cars that are falling to bits. On the other hand I own a 45 year old ford that is in very good nick and hardly been touched. It would be very hard to find any jap car that is 40+ years old that isn't closer to resembling iron ore.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by XR_6falcon

LOL i happen to work at a ford dealer thats near a honda dealership...

Haha Essendon Ford.

[XR_6falcon]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Haha Essendon Ford.

yeh and you work at essendon honda?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by XR_6falcon

yeh and so you work at essendon honda?

I do indeed, competitors.

How did you guys go in the sale last week?

[XR_6falcon]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I do indeed, competitors.

How did you guys go in the sale last week?

not sure really, im a first year apperntice lol

how did you guys go?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by XR_6falcon

not sure really, im a first year apperntice lol

how did you guys go?

Me too haha.

Yeah we went alright, our salesmen hit their targets for the month and we got 4 E series Falcons traded in haha.

[XR_6falcon]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Me too haha.

Yeah we went alright, our salesmen hit their targets for the month and we got 4 E series Falcons traded in haha.

haha

yeah I have to agree about the qaulity tends to be a little on the questionable side really

[TUF_302]

I broke the one in my EB 4 years ago, it just seemed fall apart in my hand, the one in my EL is fine though

[GK]

Originally Posted by irish2

I have also sat in 15 year old jap cars that are falling to bits. On the other hand I own a 45 year old ford that is in very good nick and hardly been touched. It would be very hard to find any jap car that is 40+ years old that isn't closer to resembling iron ore.

Nicely said!

GK

[vztrt]

Never had this problem in my BA or BF. Definitely haven't seen it with the FG (glovebox are their new bonnet release). But as has been said earlier, the FG is better then the B-Series. If the Falcon continues on, then the newer models will get better.

[GasoLane]

Sometimes the words " Ford Australia and quality?" just don't go together. Like "Military Intelligence" or "Humble American"

[anto]

thats a bit harsh
Ive never had any of these so called "fit and finish" issues with any of the fords Ive owned up to and including the FG. ( excluding of course the tragic EA ).

I guess I must be either be very luckywith the cars Ive owned or others tend to over exagerate ?

On my previous BA GHIA the bonnet latch cable would slip out of the plastic catch from time to time but the cable would never break. It was a bit of annoyance but hardly worth complaining about.

[PETE_XR6]

This morning i pulled on the latch to open the hood on my 2005 BA XR6 and the latch broke off the plastic housing on the fuse box. I have cable tied it to the housing so it wouldn’t fall down on my feet while driving . I can still open the hood by holding onto the latch and pulling the lever. Upon close inspection i think the problem is a material called “ cheap Taiwanese plastic” used to hold the latch in place.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by irish2

I have also sat in 15 year old jap cars that are falling to bits. On the other hand I own a 45 year old ford that is in very good nick and hardly been touched. It would be very hard to find any jap car that is 40+ years old that isn't closer to resembling iron ore.

Hanging around wrecking yards looking for parts as I do, I can say it's not just the Jap cars that are age tragics, the Euro cars fair worse. It's the Falcons and Commodores that hold up much better in comparison, especially their plastic components. Obvious things like cracked dashes, sloppy seats, retractable seatbelts, faded instrument clusters, etc are stock in trade for anything not made here. About the only thing I dislike about the Falcons when scaveging parts is the oily engines and bays.

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by anto

thats a bit harsh
Ive never had any of these so called "fit and finish" issues with any of the fords Ive owned up to and including the FG. ( excluding of course the tragic EA ).

I guess I must be either be very luckywith the cars Ive owned or others tend to over exagerate ?

On my previous BA GHIA the bonnet latch cable would slip out of the plastic catch from time to time but the cable would never break. It was a bit of annoyance but hardly worth complaining about.

I'm happy for you (no seriously, i am)

I'm onto my 4th Ford since 2006 and i can tell you, if the FG is anywhere near as shockingly bad as the BF (and the BA) then my next car will not be a Ford!

I have pages of bullet points of things gone wrong with the BF XR6T. The BA didn't have as many issues (tho i didn't own it for as long) but they were serious nonetheless

Even the Force 8 that we owned; that is (roughly) an $80,000 car yet the problems we had were disgraceful for that kind of money. Door inserts popping out, exterior door mouldings coming off, lumbar support bars popping out and falling into the bottom of the seat. The thing was falling apart before our eyes!

I've just bought the FG and within 24 hours we identified that the clutch pedal and related components need to be replaced as it crunches/grinds when pressing the clutch in and releasing it out.

The list goes on, and quite frankly i'm tired of making excuses and trying to defend Ford. I'm tired of finding reasons to justify their mistakes. These cars are NOT CHEAP ANYMORE so the excuse of 'you get what you pay for' is not good enough for me anymore.

[mik]

that`s not good , Inducted Breeze, so is this an ex taxi ,did you buy it new whats the story?

[Quicksand]

The FG XR6T is an ex Ford Credit company car, with very low KM (in the teens). It's being fixed by Ford under warranty which is acceptable, but that doesn't cover the loss of time to get it there and pick it up, the $$ to hire their 'courtesy car' (if its a courtesy car shouldn't it be free?), the frustration of yet another warranty claim...they didn't have the parts when we dropped it in a few weeks ago so now we have to take it back again in a week (paying for their courtesy car again, juggling our schedule with an 8 month old baby again)

Here's hoping the rest of the ownership goes smoothly, although now for some reason the speakers on the RHS of the car dont work when using the MP3 jack, but not an issue when using CD/Radio/etc. More troubleshooting needed there i think (could be a dodgy cable as it still happens with multiple MP3 players...).

Anyway, enough out of me

[charles_wif_xf]

Originally Posted by Inducted_Breeze

I've just bought the FG and within 24 hours we identified that the clutch pedal and related components need to be replaced as it crunches/grinds when pressing the clutch in and releasing it out.

The list goes on, and quite frankly i'm tired of making excuses and trying to defend Ford. I'm tired of finding reasons to justify their mistakes. These cars are NOT CHEAP ANYMORE so the excuse of 'you get what you pay for' is not good enough for me anymore.

I think my one may be suffering from the same problem; the clutch pedal action is a bit dicky (it clicks when I release the pedal) and the gear shifts aren't as smooth as they were when I drove out of the dealership. Mind you, I got the gearbox fluid replaced with a synthetic at the 3,000km service/inspection.

[GT450]

The trouble with the bonnet release is that a lot of people pull them towards themselves as you used to do on older model falcons but realy you should be careful and pull them down in an arc towards the floor from the horizontal position they sit in. A good yank on them by heavy handed people will inevitably result in a broken latch or at least the whole mechanism dislodges itself which, at least, is fixable.
Cheers
GT450

[mik]

au has the same bonnet release i think, never had a problem with mine, and a bit of wd40 on the bonnet lock mechanism will see them last forever.

[Kamshaaft]

Depends, My E series interior build qaulity is better than a mate M3 of the same vintage...
..No joke. And you go back further and naturally it's no problem.


But a family member's BF Mk. II Futura's interior is next to the worst thing I've seen, honestly fr what you'd expect. I can't believe every tim I mention it how I get shouted down as if my words are pure blasphemy. Some people seem to have it in our heds that I'm just making this up, or that the car in question is some special one-off cobbled together from all the half broken bits that accidentally escaped the factory..

Terrible cheap look, especially the dials which reek of something youd see up for 99 cent auction on ebay from China, the whole dash and door insides have
real quality control issues, with mismatching colours, large gaps all over the place that aren't even equally large, bits that aren't flush, evidence of the injection moulds still on plenty of things (thats the saddest thing to see), make it all look like cheap rubbish. As well as the literally low quality plastic used around the place on the dash, the knobs, the soffits of he door arm rests, in the console, etcetera.

Really lets a good - nay, excellent - car down and the sole reason I'd never buy a later model Ford than perhaps an AU, though I dont like them a whole deal.

Even just the design of the dash itself is inherently 'cheap' in feeling. That's partially subjective on that point, but seriously the materials usd on everything bar the bash covering look worse than what you'll find in a Hyudai these days and that is NOT an exagerration (though to be fair, Hyundai have really stepped it up in the last 5 6 years continuously).

[Kamshaaft]

EDIT: Dammit, can't edit that post - this is what it's supposed to say:



Depends, My E series interior build qaulity is better than a mate M3 of the same vintage...
..No joke. And you go back further and naturally it's no problem.


But a family member's BF Mk. II Futura's interior is next to the worst thing I've seen, honestly fr what you'd expect. I can't believe every tim I mention it how I get shouted down as if my words are pure blasphemy. Some people seem to have it in our heds that I'm just making this up, or that the car in question is some special one-off cobbled together from all the half broken bits that accidentally escaped the factory..

Terrible cheap look, especially the dials which reek of something youd see up for 99 cent auction on ebay from China, the whole dash and door insides have real quality control issues, with mismatching colours, large gaps all over the place that aren't even equally large, bits that aren't flush, evidence of the injection moulds still on plenty of things (thats the saddest thing to see), make it all look like cheap rubbish. As well as the literally low quality plastic used around the place on the dash, the knobs, the soffits of he door arm rests, in the console, etcetera.

Couple that with bits that sorta wobble a bit more than they should when you use them, the door handles on the arm rest dont feel very sturdy at all, the glovebox thank god is at least sturdy*.


Really lets a good - nay, excellent - car down and the sole reason I'd never buy a later model Ford than perhaps an AU, though I dont like them a whole deal.

Even just the design of the dash itself is inherently 'cheap' in feeling. That's partially subjective on that point, but seriously the materials usd on everything bar the bash covering look worse than what you'll find in a Hyudai these days and that is NOT an exagerration (though to be fair, Hyundai have really stepped it up in the last 5 6 years continuously).



*I know this is off topic but on a VZ in comparison's quality shat all over the BF & BA too, except a few MAJOR areas which make it a bit of joke - like the VY/VZ/VE serie's tendancy for the glovebox to just FALL OUT when you open it after the ar being in the heat. Yes, that's right, fall out on the floor, seen it happen on 3 different VZs and one very shakey looking VE. But th main point is the interior on average, even with those ridiculous design flaws, was quite a bit better than BA BF.

I only mention those points there cos it's the main competitor.



Right I've aid it how it is in my experience, and its the real truth, so if that seriously offends some of you SUPER blue blooded folk like it apparently does in the past, suck it up. Deal with it, that's the reality as far as I've known it.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by mik

au has the same bonnet release i think, never had a problem with mine, and a bit of wd40 on the bonnet lock mechanism will see them last forever.

The first ones in the BA were the AU type. It was changed about the BFII time. In the process between it their were a few different reasons why it was meant to have broken. Changes in the installation process was made in the mean time. The new design was then tested and for it to break you had to open the bonnet twice a day for 5 years for it to wear out. Naturally with everything a small percentage will not survive.

[anto]

Originally Posted by Kamshaaft

*I know this is off topic but on a VZ in comparison's quality shat all over the BF & BA too, except a few MAJOR areas which make it a bit of joke - like the VY/VZ/VE serie's tendancy for the glovebox to just FALL OUT when you open it after the ar being in the heat. Yes, that's right, fall out on the floor, seen it happen on 3 different VZs and one very shakey looking VE. But th main point is the interior on average, even with those ridiculous design flaws, was quite a bit better than BA BF.

I only mention those points there cos it's the main competitor.


.

sorry mate but i completely disgree, the commo interior in the VZ is shockingly cheap ! My old BA ghia interior had none of cheapness in the plastics and fit and finish issues you describe , in fact it was completely the opposite even by the time I traded it with 220k on it . A friend of mine has a VZ and he marvelled at the BA's interior in comparison when new..though he woulld never ever actually consider buying a ford himself. Ive been in his car many a time and for mine, thats about as bad a car interior can be ! No exageration whatsoever.

inducted breeze, sorry to hear about all the problems youre having, sounds like a nightmare.

[data_mine]

Originally Posted by ReVd_uP

to be honest ive never seen an update bonnet latch (fitted from BF onwards and available as a replacement for the dodgy BA one) break... so either you found a rare dodgy one or you're just a little heavy handed

My original one broke. The new one, us now much lighter (easier) to use then the original ever was.

[EgoFalcon]

I'd have to say its your luck damo, just like that poor cat you hit. Lol!