I have a question for you Ford owners. How well have they worked for you? What do you think of the quality? I have never heard anything good about them outside of this forum and magazines. My dad says the ford trucks at work have frequently broken down in the past. The Dodge vans, however, last signifigantly longer than the Ford vans. Nobody I know has a high opinion of any Ford except the Model T. We all admit that Mustangs are cool, but I've only ever met one person who has one.
Lets see,
My 2003 Cobra is modded, puts about 500 HP to the wheels, and I race it as well as drive it every day. It has 46,000 miles and has needed a clutch, and alternator, oil changes and tires. Of those only the alternator isn't directly atributable to modding it.
My wifes 07 Explorer just turned 20,000 and hasen't need anything but oil changes. Completly trouble free.
My previous work truck was a 79 F-150 with a 460. It was still running with 375,000 miles when I sold it, but it did have an engine rebuild and various fixes needed. I'd say py the time it was 25 years old it was taking about $300 a year in parts, on top of normal maitnence (oil chnges, brakes, fluids) to keep running.
My current work truck is a 95 F150 with a 300 and 5-speed. 191,000 miles, runs fine. I bought it about 20,000 ago and haven't put parts in it yet. I'm pretty sure the 1-2 syncro is going though. Going to need to pull the trans eventually.
what others are saying is pretty accurate. Pre 1980, expect some level of "restoration". 1980-~1992, were only so-so in their time, and are pretty long in the tooth now. ~1992-~2001 Quality was coming up, but these cars are getting old. If well maintained they can be very good, but take it on a case by case basis. >~2002. They're good cars, better the newer they are but you can get, with good maintence 200,000 trouble free miles out of these cars.
I wouldn't have bought GM or Chrysler anyway (excluding Jeeps. I've always wanted one of those) but I definatly won't now.
El Tejon. If you liked the Charger check out the 2010 Taurus SHO.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/11/officially-official-2010-ford-taurus-sho/