jug said:
i dont know how any fiat owner can say anything about the blue oval. ford has been better since time began and still is. did the stilo compete with the focus? they arent even in the same class. did the mondeo struggle to steal sales from the marea, i think not. could the punto keep up with the fiesta & ka, well its not quite so convincingly ford this time but ford won fair and square by a big margin.
Though Ford are technically owned by Ford USA, they are seen as a British car whereas Fiat are obviously Italian. Therefore a lot of people buy British in preference to foreign cars. Also, Ford has a much, much larger dealer base in the UK than Fiat, therefore there is much more opportunity to buy them due to availability when compared with Fiat.
And also remember that though Ford beats Fiat on UK sales, Fiat have trounced Ford in European sales with some of their models. Uno for instance was the best selling car in Europe for a number of years
And I'm fairly certain both the Cinquecento and Punto followed that up as best sellers in Europe too.
jug said:
and ford dont make a cinq/sei competitor because toy cars aren't ford's thing.
I think the Fiat Cinquecento is very firmly in the same 'super-mini' market category as the Ford Ka...
jug said:
the only fiat that beat ford was the coupe, and thats only because the cougar was a rush job. ford transits may be rusty but they rust on the roads while scudos are stuck in the mud at scrapyards. 90% of people will agree that ford make better cars than fiat, and the other 10% missed school too much.
Depends. In the 80's Ford made some shockingly bad cars. The Escorts and Fiestas of the time rusted to bits and had antiquated engines. The Sierra was ok to drive long distance but felt worn and tatty by 80k miles (not including the Cosworth here). Most of their models of that era weren't rated at all and were regularly beaten in road tests by just about every other manufacturer. It wasn't until the Mondeo of the early 90's did Ford finally make a well built car, and the then new range of Zetec engines finally brought them up to the standard of everyone else.
By the time the Focus was released Ford had really got their act together. The cars are very well assembled and most of the engines are good. Not only that but the cars are NICE TO DRIVE, something you couldn't say about an 80K 1980's Escort/ Sierra ('soggy' is an understatement!)
But there is more to a car than just being built well. Old Mercedes are built well but aren't exactly fun to drive. A Citroen AX GT is great to drive (when it stays in one piece!), but has shocking build quality. Don't ask how I know :bang:
I've owned and driven many Fords in the past. I loved my mk5 Cortina 2.0 litre Ghia, and in fact still own a mk3 Cortina 2000E with a 2.8 V6 conversion. Modern Transits are amazing to drive compared with older models, but then again, so are the vans from a lot of modern manufacturers..
I've also driven mk1, 2 and 3 Granadas, which were ok if a little tail happy. Mk3/4 Escorts were horrible, and mk2 Fiestas were dull (the XR2 and XR3 had no hope with competing with a Golf GTi/ Pug 205 GTi).
However, though I've owned and driven many Fords at the moment I'd be unlikely to buy another. Why? Simply because none of them appeal to me, with the exception of the top end performance Focus. I just don't like the way they look, which also applies to many cars of today - simple as that. But who knows, maybe a Ford will come out that I will lust after. Until then I'm sticking with what I've got.
jug said:
I'm not sure if you mean it is good or bad? S1 RST was a horrible car in my opinion. Sorry. It was poorly built, unreliable, dreadful engine (CVH engines were bad enough N/A let alone turboed!), rusted like crazy, didn't handle well compared withe the opposition (Golf/ Pug/ R5 and Strada Abarth could run rings round it) though its straight line performance was ok. Very few left now, and that's hardly surprising.
All manufacturers have their good and bad points. Ford make good cars today, well built, finished and reliable. Fiat aren't as good, but in general are a lot cheaper. You get what you pay for, though a lot of Fiats are tough and will go on for miles even if they feel like they are about to fall to bits!
Swings and roundabouts I guess :chin:
