Headline: Die hard Ford Man Buys A GM! No Signs of Regret!

well, fellas, i went and jumped ship. I've been driving, fixing, modifying, racing and defending Fords for almost 15 years. Sunday night though, i bought a GM.

a little back story. i had a 93 bronco 5.0, and for my 30th birthday, i wanted to take my boat down to FL and go out on the water with my best friend, my family, and anyone else who wanted to help me drink rum. the little POS bronco, with over 200k on it, drove from Columbus Oh to clear water, FL without issue, despite its tenancy over the last 2 years to fail at every opportunity. the only issue i had a was a total bearing failure on the boat trailer, landing me in a Ramada inn, and then a Canadian Brother's auto parking lot the next morning for a repair.

however, once there, the bronco began doing what it has seemed to always have done: it broke. first a spark plug fouled, then it blew a coolant hose in a target parking lot. then the idle air control died. i spent a total of 10 hours of my 4 day vacation fixing it. on saturday night, it was clear the old ford wasn't taking us home.

so i drove a few vehicles, read endlessly online about others, and finally settled on a 2008 cheverolet suburban. it had the 5.3L, a 4 speed, is fully select-able 4WD, has a touch under 99K, and is FANTASTIC to drive. its smooth as glass, rides like a caddy, pulls like a mule, actually stops well (a new trick for large GM's in my experience), and get this, all 81 tons of it got 19.5 MPG at 75+ all the way back to Ohio (no boat, i left it in clear water, where ill go get it back in the spring).

i dont have any pictures of it, but its this:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzY4WDEwMjQ=/z/IfwAAOSwo6lWKNAD/$_35.JPG

i really like it, and after driving some fords from the same era (think 97 to about 2010), i feel like chevy simply made a better product.

anyways, that is all.

-J0N

I can't blame you. The GMT platform is what they do best.

another one lost too the darkside of recall's and horrible maintnence. Ok so the gmt platform is pretty easy maintnence. not my personal cup of tea but i hope it rides better then a 22 year old bronco.

@ dropstep - i should note, i drove fords. 3 of them that day, and a few beforehand, all in the 2003-2010 range. the expedition is a joke. the interior is made of egg cartons and squeaks, the seat is made of iron and spikes, and i can't get past the issue on the triton motors of the plugs blowing out/breaking off. i mean c'mon, we've been making engines for a hundred damn years, keeping the plugs in the motor, and being able to remove them with tools shouldn't be a design flaw at this point. the explorer is too weak, as they dropped the V8 for some reason. nice car though (notice i said CAR). the F-250 rides like it did in 1960 when they built the first one, and the interior is made of the same awful materials i found in the expedition. the F-150 of that vintage isn't any better, but gets an extra check mark in the POS category for the super thick seat backs that make an otherwise big cab feel like a 80's Toyota. plus the fuel mileage of everything ford made in that era is simply not as good as the GM, or in some cases even the dodge, which i also drove. the service engine light came on 100 feet outside the dealer lot. i almost hit a curb i was laughing so hard.

the GMT400, 800, 850 etc is simply a better vehicle in almost every way. sure dexcool sucks when it breaks down and turns into muddy epoxy, but that's a maintenance issue more than a flaw. and yes the exterior door handles are apparently made of cardboard, but item for item, GM simply made trucks better than ford, for a good 12 years.

now, current models, i have no idea. my dad has a 2500 dodge, which has been great. my FIL has a 15 ecoboost f150, which is excellent, but that's all out of my price range.

-J0N

The only things GM did wrong those years were to make self rusting rockers, clunking steering wheels, horrible materials for brake/fuel lines, and marginal automatics. Great driving vehicles beyond that.

I liked the wife's 04 Avalanche, much more so then the 12 Suburban, we trade in to get the other. Biggest thing for me is the seats, the Avalanche had actual seat bottoms that weren't flat as a piece of plywood. The brakes on the sub sucked, dealer put new rotors and OE pads in it during UCI, until I put Hawk LTS's all the way around. They still underperform but not like the OE crap. The 6 spd auto can't make up its mind what gear to be in besides first at a stop and sixth when going 75 on flat land.....

I didn't switch from Ford to GM, but I did switch from Honda to GM ... nothing but Honda's (other than winter beater Subarus) since 1976 ... (7 total) and bought a new Chevy Sonic ('14) ... been relatively happy with the purchase since new ... Honda didn't make anything that hit my needs

Look into the range AFM delete module or tuning it out of the program before your engine vomits oil. Look up AFM 5.3 issues, not trying to scare you but it has been a severe problem for many people, myself included.

My Grandfather did the same thing, Ford man all his life. When his travel trailers got bigger and he wanted to take me with him, Ford offered nothing other than a van (he hated vans). So Suburban here we came. It is a great vehicle regardless of your allegiance. He got a 2500 with a 454. Got 12 mpg everywhere, pulling or not, uphill and down hill. 12.

Easy to predict fuel costs... Congrats on the happy buy.

Did you leave the boat in clear water...

...or in Clearwater?

The latter should be OK, but the former may not be there when you get back.

dropstep wrote: another one lost too the darkside of recall's and horrible maintnence. Ok so the gmt platform is pretty easy maintnence. not my personal cup of tea but i hope it rides better then a 22 year old bronco.

Or, if you look at it another way.

Another one saved from consistently breaking down, super high repair costs and never reaching the destination you set out for. Which has been my experience with the fifteen or so Ford vehicles that I have been unfortunate enough to have to depend on daily over the last twenty years.

I have worked for a few GM dealers as a tech. That is why I drive Fords.

Any vehicle, when it gets old with high mileage are prone to have problems.

A 22 yr. old vehicle will have close to 300K mile.

Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote:

dropstep wrote: another one lost too the darkside of recall's and horrible maintnence. Ok so the gmt platform is pretty easy maintnence. not my personal cup of tea but i hope it rides better then a 22 year old bronco.

Or, if you look at it another way. Another one saved from consistently breaking down, super high repair costs and never reaching the destination you set out for. Which has been my experience with the fifteen or so Ford vehicles that I have been unfortunate enough to have to depend on daily over the last twenty years.

So your experience with the fifteen or so Ford vehicles that you have been unfortunate enough to have to depend on daily over the last twenty years....yet it took you 15 vehicles to stop driving them? I would have stopped driving them after having problems with like 2 or 3......

You don't get to be much more of a Ford die-hard than me. Hell, I worked there for 15 years. My first car was a 77 Cougar, and my second was a Granada. Our fleet is currently all Ford except for that stationary German object out in the barn. I've had 6 F-150s and 4 5.0-powered Mustangs.

Having said that, there's a good chance they are about to lose me, at least partially. Next spring I want to get a fun daily driver, something midsize with 4 doors with a bit of speed and fun to it. Ford has the SHO, which is a fine vehicle that I may end up buying. But GM has the Chevy SS and Chrysler has the Charger/300. The pull of V8/RWD may well be too strong for me to resist.

Flight Service wrote:

Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote:

dropstep wrote: another one lost too the darkside of recall's and horrible maintnence. Ok so the gmt platform is pretty easy maintnence. not my personal cup of tea but i hope it rides better then a 22 year old bronco.

Or, if you look at it another way. Another one saved from consistently breaking down, super high repair costs and never reaching the destination you set out for. Which has been my experience with the fifteen or so Ford vehicles that I have been unfortunate enough to have to depend on daily over the last twenty years.

So your experience with the fifteen or so Ford vehicles that you have been unfortunate enough to have to depend on daily over the last twenty years....yet it took you 15 vehicles to stop driving them? I would have stopped driving them after having problems with like 2 or 3......

I didn't have any choice in the matter. Ford sells them cheap, companies like cheap. Profits and productivity goes way down when crews and materials don't make it to the jobsites.

I too like the Ford and the Charger calls my name....

There are tons of those burbs on the road around here, and I have never heard some one say they don't like it or regret owning one. I'm not saying they are perfect in every way, but owner satisfaction is way high.

For me, it's all about GM making stupid business decisions and crying for a bailout when they went belly up. Ford tightened their belts and rode it out. Tells you all you need to know.

Who ever the engineering manager is for the Suburban is Da MAN! That thing has been right for a long time. The only thing I can remember that was bad was the marginal trans in the 1500 for a few years other than that. They are right.

Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote:

dropstep wrote: another one lost too the darkside of recall's and horrible maintnence. Ok so the gmt platform is pretty easy maintnence. not my personal cup of tea but i hope it rides better then a 22 year old bronco.

Or, if you look at it another way. Another one saved from consistently breaking down, super high repair costs and never reaching the destination you set out for. Which has been my experience with the fifteen or so Ford vehicles that I have been unfortunate enough to have to depend on daily over the last twenty years.

Cant say in the 12 years ive been driving ive had any issues. Primarily foxbody mustangs even in ohio snow. The 300 dollar fuel pump for my 98s10 was my deal breaker. My most reliable vehicle currently is my 78 mercury wagon. Sadly had to drive it in snow last spring when the s10 vomited coolant out the exploding radiator.

We shall agree to disagree while my wifes daily goes back to the dealer to have a recall repair fixed. 5 trips in the last year.

At the end of the day the stuff we're talking about is anecdotal. Ford and GM both make good cars and bad cars. The vast majority of both are pretty good, but if you get a few bad ones from one company, it's perfectly understandable that you'd stop buying them.

My Fords have mostly treated me well, with a few exceptions (04 Freestar, 99 F-150), the only reason I'm considering leaving the fold is that they don't sell what I want.

GM must be doing something okay with the 'Burban that they've been making them for as long as they have.

Only one of many

Tom_Spangler wrote: At the end of the day the stuff we're talking about is anecdotal. Ford and GM both make good cars and bad cars. The vast majority of both are pretty good, but if you get a few bad ones from one company, it's perfectly understandable that you'd stop buying them. My Fords have mostly treated me well, with a few exceptions (04 Freestar, 99 F-150), the only reason I'm considering leaving the fold is that they don't sell what I want.

which is why I left Honda ... what I wanted was 40+ avg. and nothing Honda made came all that close ( CR-Z maybe) the Sonic does ... depending on how I drive

the Fit would come close, but my Mom has a '12 base model, and I do almost all of her driving ... and the ergonomics are no better for me than any other Honda for the last 15 - 20 yrs

couple notes: its a 4 speed, so no wonky first gen 6 speed. i have read a little about the AFM issues, and that's why i insisted on a warranty that covers it. i don't know that i intend to disable it right now, but i will be happy to entertain the idea when the warranty expires. i find the brakes on this to be SUPERB, especially compared to my fathers old 97 Yukon, which were abysmal at best. the boat is at my brothers, in Clearwater FL. i will agree that while i believe that the 'burb really is the best fit for my needs, the S-10 is, was, and will go down in history as, the worst small truck in history. to add to that, i swore off GM when i had a 2000 venture van. that thing was a bigger POS that my truck, and even more unreliable. but those are different categories, different plants, and different segments of admittedly the same company. it seems the people in charge of the GMT platform were far better at their jobs from start to finish.

i've now driven it to work twice, so i'm starting to get a feel for how i'll like it as a daily, and i gotta tell ya, i almost feel guilty, its SUCH a nice thing to drive...

-J0N