Objectively, does Ford make good (reliable) cars and trucks?

Objectively, does Ford make good (reliable) cars and trucks? - 1

Their cars are pretty good now but their trucks, especially the diesels, are not so much.

Objectively, they're better than I could make. That's all I can say.

It depends on what you mean by reliable. Reliable as in comparison to others, or long term overall. It also depends on what year and make. For example, I know a lot of people who had TERRIBLE Ford Focuses. And I know people who have had good and nightmare Ford trucks.

If I were to buy one, I would research the exact year, make and model if used and see what others have to say about it. But the ones I have driven have always disappointed me when it comes to handling and performance in comparison to what I'm used to.

Now if you are asking for my opinion alone, objectively overall from my experience and word from friends and coworkers, then the answer would be NO. Most Ford vehicles have been garbage that I know of. High maintenance in comparison to what I'm used to. But I'm a Toyota fan who gave up on Ford and GM after MANY letdowns. I owned many Ford and GM cars. Constant repairs. I thought it was standard maintenance to switch out alternators, starters, ignition systems, and have regular electrical issues.

Then I bought a Toyota after seeing friends and coworkers. Never looked back. I have owned 4 Toyotas and driven several others. Loved them all. No problems like I did before. My favorites are the Corolla, Camry, Rav4 and 4Runner (4Runner is a guzzler, but BIG, roomy and POWERFULL). But their trucks are awesome according to my friends. Scions are sweet too and cheaper Toyotas with no haggle pure pricing.

Last word of input. The most reliable I have seen are Toyota (I know a 600k mile Camry), Honda (so-so), and Nissan recently.

***EDIT*** The biggest way to tell is to look at the older cars that are still on the road. Which ones make up to old age the most. How many old Fords do you see on the road and how well did they hold up?

You can't say reliable and Ford in the same sentence. God created sh**, Ford put it on wheels

Much depends on model and year plus originating plant it was built in. At moment and last couple of years ford have been level pegging with Toyota for reliability and build quality.
prior to that they did churn out vast numbers a s quality did suffer. Also as quantity in circulation was higher than other cars one will correspondingly get more number of faults found.
do own research e.g. Car reviews .magazines etc as these in main tend to be written by unbiased professional journalists.
having owned many cars and driven many different makes over several decades. I can attest that all suffer faults on occasion. However with competition so bitingly fierce in later years ( especially with japanese products) Ford and others have stepped up the game. However like all reputations. A bad one is easily gained and hard to lose. A good one hard to gain and easily lost.
factually. You find that cars with happy owners have nothing to say and only tell when asked. Those on other hand whom have a car with an issue will tell everybody and anybody they can! Hence bad news travels fast! You will also find a lot of anti Ford bias in USA whereas in Europe they have a much more open minded attitude .probably a result of having a wider variation of car manufacturers and products available to them to choose from.

Overall quality and reliability rating of Ford Motor Co. Vehicles are well below the industry average. In fact, they are nearly dead last.

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