A Nissan Titan or Wait for 2007 Sport Trac?

[Josh Langel]

I love American cars! A big Hurray for American cars!!! Quality #1!!! Yay!!!

 

[Andy Szkutak]

Ford wil begin taking orders for the '07 sport trac Dec 1 of this year...That's a week from this thursday!! just wait another week and a half and go to the dealer...So u can stick with american and your trac!!



Andy

 

[Nelson Atwell]

So the '07 engines and transmissions will be built in the US this time? My ST engine was built in Germany, and the transmission was built in France.



It really makes no difference in where a vehicle is built. The most dependable vehicle I ever owned was a Toyota Corrolla built in California. What matters is how well the vehicle is engineered, and how skillful the assembly is done. The Japanese automakers have been focused on building cars the past several decades and only recently began making trucks to compete with US trucks.



IMO Toyota has come closest to catching Ford as the best trucks. The thing that makes me prefer Ford is that they use heavier metal and design the vehicle from the ground up to be a working vehicle. Toyota carried over the idea of using lighter weight materials to maintain fuel efficiency. To me, that makes me wonder how strong the vehicle will be after 10 - 20 years of work. Sure the engine will still be good, but what good is that if the frame is shot?



Lindycu, I would go for the F-150 Lariat 4X4. The current STs are close to $30K fully loaded, and I suspect the new ones will be even more expensive.



More details on the comparison between Ford and other trucks may be found at the website below.

 

[FlipTrac_511]

Could it be quality of workmanship then, and not deficiency in design?

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I tend to blame workmanship issues on the assembly line. It doesn't matter how skillful the assembly is, if the design is weak. If an American engineer designs a weak transmission, should we blame the French worker that flawlessly assembled it when it fails? I know it is fun, but is it fair? :unsure:

 

[Tom Schindler]

That is the point. If something is designed by a certain type of person, you can't blame it on the ones that assembled it. The blame falls on the designer.





Tom

 

[VJ Bolton]

Here's how I look at endemic 'quality' control...



If the corporate culture encourages leaving things as-is until someone complains, that allows continued defects in design, construction, and workmanship to slide.



Every single person makes mistakes, so more robust designs can survive more screwups.



You can make high-quality parts anywhere... if you spend the effort and $.